“But then the situation changed a bit when Graham realized first that the President is determined to learn who Galahad is, on one hand, and, on the other, is quite concerned that the ransoming operation does not become known to people who shouldn’t know about it.”
“He knows about that, too?”
“Only in the most general of terms,” Dulles said. “But that brings us back to those who handle encrypted material get to read it. So when Colonel Graham and I discussed this, we decided that we had to bring Fischer on board, so to speak.”
“Can you explain that?”
“Once Fischer gets both the SIGABA device and the Collins transceivers up and running, he will return to Vint Hill Farms Station. All your communications vis-à-vis the ransoming operation, Galahad, and that regicide business we were talking about yesterday will, with their own code, be routed through Fischer at Vint Hill, and passed only to Colonel Graham and myself.”
“Not to General Donovan?”
“Colonel Graham and I will decide what General Donovan is to get in these areas.”
Frade pointed at Fischer. “For Christ’s sake, he’s a second lieutenant.” He paused and looked at Fischer. “Right?”
“Yes, sir,” Fischer said. “I’m eligible for promotion in sixty days.”
“And you don’t think Donovan is going to send some colonel out to Vint— whateverthehell—”
“Vint Hill Farms Station,” Dulles furnished.
“—to stand
“Both Colonel Graham and I have told General Donovan that if something like that happens, he and I will personally deliver our resignations to the President.”
“And,” Frade challenged, “you don’t think General Donovan could think of a way around that? ‘And not only will you give me a copy of everything, Second Lieutenant Fischer, but I order you not to tell anyone—including but especially Graham, Dulles, and Frade—that you’re going to do it.’ ”
“Actually, that potential problem occurred to Fischer,” Dulles replied. “And he came up with a rather clever simple means to let us know if that has happened. ”
Frade looked at Fischer and made a
“Yes, sir. Sir—”
“Whoa,” Frade interrupted. “No ‘sir.’ No ‘major.’ From right now.”
“Yes, si— What do I call you?”
“Clete. And you?”
“Len. Leonard.”
“Okay,
“There’s no way I can do that, but if it happens, when I open the net in the morning . . .”
“Explain that, please.”
“There will be a regular contact every day at a time to be determined. First, the contact is established. Then there is a brief gibberish message, encoded, to test the SIGABA and its signal operating code. You know, something like ‘Mary had a little lamb’; ‘There is nothing to fear but fear itself’; ‘Lucky Strike Green has gone to war’; ‘Play it again, Sam’ . . .”
“Okay, I get the picture.”
“If I have been compromised, I send yesterday’s gibberish as the test encryption. ”
Frade thought it over and said what he had been thinking.
“That’d work. But how do we know you’d do it?”
“Two reasons. One, I’m a Jew, and I think the President is right. If this ransoming operation gets out, no more Jews will be able to get out of German concentration camps. . . .”
“You told him about that?” Frade challenged Dulles.
Dulles nodded. “He would have come to know anyway.”
Frade raised his eyebrows, then looked at Fischer.
“And reason two?”
“Colonel Graham made certain threats about what would happen to me if I betrayed the trust he was placing in me. I believe him, and I’m a devout coward.”
Frade said nothing for a long moment.
“What are you thinking, Cletus?” Dulles asked, finally.
“I was thinking that Len and I already have something in common,” Frade said. “I think we both wish we had never heard of any of this. Or of the fucking OSS.”
Dulles’s face showed no expression.
After a long moment, Dulles said, “There is one other thing.”
He stopped and leaned to the side of his chair. After a moment, Frade understood he was reaching for something. Something he probably had in a briefcase.
Dulles came up with a leather case containing a camera and slid it across the table to Frade.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a thirty-five-millimeter camera,” he said. “Specifically, a Leica I-C.”
“German?” Clete asked as he opened the case.
“German,” Dulles confirmed.
“It looks brand new.”
“It is. I bought it—actually, I bought three; all they had—in a camera store in Zurich a week or so ago.”
“What am I supposed to do with it?”
“When you’re in Argentina, I want you to take Len to see Herr and Frau Frogger,” Dulles said. “While he is with them, I want you to take a picture of Len with them. I want one of the Froggers to be holding that day’s
“Am I allowed to ask what this is all about?”
