by Arno Baker
Julius quickly busied himself clearing the dining room table and setting up four glasses for a nightcap as Ethel spent some time in kitchen.
“Davy, when did you find out you’d be stationed in New Mexico?” asked Julius as he cleaned off the wooden table without looking at his pudgy brother in law with his perpetually placid smile on his round boyish face.
“A couple of weeks ago, not more.”
Julius wasted no time, he was a man in perpetual motion, excited, immersed in something far bigger than himself with the magnetic ability to communicate his dedication and trepidation to those around him.
“Davy, listen to me carefully: you must realize that you are now in a fantastic position to really help the cause. You can make your mark, trust me.”
David smiled and looked almost embarrassed; he was planning a quiet life for Ruth and himself after the army and wanted to go into business with his brother in law.
“Aw, Julie come on, don’t be so dramatic. I‘m at the bottom of the barrel. What can someone like me do anyway? ‘Sergeant Greenglass, reporting!’ he made a mock military salute and sank back into the couch with his arm around Ruth’s shoulders, giving her a quick affectionate kiss on the lips. But Julius would not accept Davy‘s lazy attitude.
“Ruth, will you please explain to the man in your life how vital it is that he help us! And that he do so right now, not sometime in the distant future!”
The petite and spry Ruth Greenglass with her hair tightly rolled up in a bun and her shiny dark eyes also looked rather excited. She‘d been talking with Ethel earlier that afternoon and there was no question in her mind that this was the right thing to do and besides it could also be very lucrative for all of them. Ethel had been very persuasive,
“Young couples always need more money and this is a sure way to get a sizeable nest egg! Something for you and Davy to build upon.”
Ruth was now on her feet and looking down at her husband, whom she had known since they began dating when they were fifteen years old. Ruthie was the girlfriend, the younger sister, the thinking head that David trusted more than anyone else.
“Julie is right, Davy, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and you can get a little money in the process. Right Julie?”
Julius smiled and nodded at David who looked at him with a glimmer of fear in his eyes. But then Ethel returned and David always became very nervous when Ethel got into the act, any act. It usually meant she’d get her way by bullying him gently at first and then roughly until she‘d start raising her voice. She sat next to David and put her hand on his arm in a very patronizing way, forever the big sister.
“Davy, don’t let your mind wander off now, and listen to what Ruth is saying. She’s a smart girl. This will come easily to you and besides, it’s consistent with what you’ve always believed in, what we all believe in so strongly. It’s the future of humanity, Davy! You must do everything you possibly can to help.”
Julius was becoming impatient and pacing nervously around the table. Finally he broke in,
“Ok, ok, now let’s get practical here. Davy you’re going down there next week, right?”
Greenglass suddenly looked more reassured once he heard Julius’ description of what was to happen next.
“Next week? Yeah, those are my orders.”
“Davy listen…Ok, we need a few very specific pieces of information that you can easily find out once you’re settled in. Lists of your co-workers and their political ideas; a layout of the facility; charts, maps and drawings that you can either copy or memorize: that kind of thing. You must not take any unnecessary risks, don‘t make waves, just be your usual charming self. When you‘re ready with the material mail me a postcard with the word “greetings” as part of the text and a special courier will come down there to collect the first batch. Maybe we‘ll also have Ruthie help you in case we can‘t send someone when you‘re ready. She can bring the stuff back north on the train.”
David suddenly looked surprised and asked with a worried frown on his face,
“Courier, what courier?”
“Don’t worry about who it is Davy. He or she will come to your door, you will not know who they are and most probably neither will I. But you’ll have no trouble recognizing them. Here just use this.”
Julius went into the kitchen and came back with an empty Jell-O box and a pair of scissors and cut a jagged line across the cardboard dividing the drawing and lettering in two parts, handing one to David.
“The courier will say something like ‘I come from Julius’ and give you the matching half of this box. That’ll be the sign that he or she is the genuine item.”
“So, then what happens?”
“You hand over the papers, whatever they are, and the courier will give you an envelope with some money. You don’t have to exchange any words or anything else. It‘ll all be over with in less than ten minutes.”
David took the two pieces and matched them carefully then pulled them both apart and looked up at Ruth and Ethel before he again turned to Julius. That little demonstration confirmed what he‘d repeat so often to Ruth that Julius was a natural, a brilliant man, someone with the genius to get things done.
“Hey, that’s real smart Julie, how’d you figure that one out?”
He asked with childish disbelief.
Then Ruth chimed in,
“See, it’s so simple Davy, just do what Julie tells you. He’s got it all figured out.”
From experience Julius knew that David Greenglass would fall in line, he’d accepted the leap into the unknown and his fears were erased by a few simple words and the cash Julius had counted in front of him earlier in the bedroom. It was a lot of money: five thousand bucks, unbelievable and half of it could be for Ruthie and himself. David needed the money badly, just like anyone else, after all.
Julius produced a bottle of white wine:
“Let’s all have a drink now. To our success. To the Soviets!”
“Julie is one clever man. Davy you are so lucky to have such a smart brother in law. That’s a fact!” said Ethel.
Julius interrupted the chorus,
“Ok, ok, Davy you just file those details away into your memory cabinet and drink up, there’s a lot more to be done. Ruthie you may actually have to take a trip or two acting as courier…there are strict procedures to be used in such cases.”
Julius was excited and enthusiastic; he‘d have his brother in law deep inside Los Alamos, an incredible stroke of luck, something that doesn‘t pass you by more than once in a lifetime. The only real problem would be to harness both David and Ruthie who were constantly play-acting like two teenagers. But money was very important to them, more than anything, and that thought bothered Julius deep down because he knew them all too well: they were not true believers. No matter, the work had to get done, momentous scientific and military discoveries were being made at Los Alamos and he, Julius Rosenberg, the son of immigrants, an impoverished Jew from the Lower East Side, had found a way to burrow deep inside that fortress...The Russians had asked him about that facility in New Mexico: did he know anything about it, wasn‘t there anyone within his network of engineer friends who might be connected to the place? The research facility, on a huge U.S. Army base with the capitalists having no intention of sharing any information with the USSR, it was his duty to go ferret it out for his comrades.
Out of the blue came an urgent call for machinists, shop guys to be posted inside the army barracks for top secret tasks. And who of all people gets called in: David Greenglass! Julius couldn’t believe it, machinist at Los Alamos, an amazing stroke of good fortune: nothing could have been better. He signaled his case officer, the new guy, Alex. Julius liked Alex but he was often put off by his rigid ways, he wasn’t a ‘simpatico’ like good old Sam who liked to have few drinks and shoot the breeze. Sam was a buddy. Alex was younger and an exacting taskmaster who almost never smiled and followed his orders to the letter … But he was also a perfect street man. Julius knew he could re
ly on him and his stolid presence anytime. Alex was so solemn and careful that Julius was always thinking of new ways to surprise him. As if he were competing with the case officer‘s mounting expectations: the kind of challenge Julius was forever determined to win.
Feklisov was going to make a familiar point,
“But Irina, you must not minimize the Second Front! It was a fundamental directive coming from the Politburo to all of us. We were sent to inspect the cargo being loaded on Liberty ships, to make sure it was of the highest quality; that it left on schedule and that the Americans provided adequate escort protection. So many ships were torpedoed and sent to the bottom of the ocean. We desperately needed those supplies they were the lifeline that kept us going even though we didn‘t admit it. As you know we were instructed to complain and never praise our allies. But it worked along with the terrible sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.”
“You never mentioned that!” said Irina.
“Well, let‘s say we didn‘t know about it but there were rumors and well planted stories that surfaced after the war. From the beginning right wing Americans and many in the British cabinet were openly betting that Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union would bleed one another to death. Herbert Hoover said so and Lord Beaverbrook thought as much with the encouragement of Mr. Churchill himself. We had to play a subtle game. We were weak at the beginning and Hitler almost managed to knock us out by the fall of 1941 as he had planned.
Stalin played several cards at once: first with the Germans he‘d hint at possible negotiations for a cease fire. They rejected the overtures, yet they listened. After all Brest-Litovsk was in 1918! The Germans’ problem was that their leader wasn’t a pragmatic officer of the Kaiser‘s army but an ignorant provincial corporal with no real understanding of grand strategy and the vast resources of the USSR. He was pigeonholed in his absurd ideology: even a controlled independence with puppet governments given to the Baltics and the Ukraine, would have wiped out the USSR! All the nationalities would have violently revolted and rushed to the German side. Fortunately Hitler was also an idiot. But the lesson was not lost and Roosevelt and Churchill spent a lot of time fearful of “losing” Stalin. This created vast possibilities for us.”
Irina shook her head,
“This takes too far from the subject colonel. I would strike it out.”
“But even though we don‘t actually know what the allies were discussing secretly the fact remains. To my knowledge there were 22 or more contacts between Germany and the USSR on the subject of a cease fire. The Japanese were encouraging such an outcome very strongly prompting the other Axis allies like Italy, Romania and Hungary to push for the same. Ask the Center whether we should expand upon these themes or not…”
“Yes colonel, I shall.”
Feklisov smiled and suddenly kissed Irina’s hand in a moment of enthusiasm. She knew that he had made up his mind and wanted her, at last.
XIII
It was just one week shy of Christmas 1944, and Julius was walking to the men‘s room before leaving the Emerson Electric Engineering plant inside the Brooklyn Navy Yard. His mind was on Davy and Los Alamos and he felt reassured that Ruth was down there now; she was tough and would keep an eye on him. Davy was prone to falling by the wayside. He’d have to discuss a courier with Alex at their next meeting. Strangely it was scheduled for the day before Christmas and the plant was closing on the 23rd so Julius would have a day off.
He walked slowly toward the locked cage where the discarded metal parts were thrown in a heap. Huge dumpsters filled with equipment overflowed with components falling occasionally to the floor. He’d been picking up those parts, one at a time, a piece of steel plate, a few screws, the inner blades of the device he‘d seen fully mounted by the engineering group next to his bench.
It was called the Proximity Fuse (PF), and was a top secret electronic targeting mechanism with a heat sensitive reader that would seek and transmit the exact targeting information back to the bombardier. In the minutes he could spend alone in the locker room, Julius was able to reconstruct a complete PF using the discarded parts before they were then taken to a smelting plant near Red Hook. No components were allowed outside the plant under any circumstances without the written approval of the Naval commander in charge of security.
Just a few more finishing touches and the little monster would be complete and as luck would have it, that same day he spotted the missing piece sticking from the bin. He simply put in his gym bag nonchalantly just as he did everything and if anyone would ask him what he was doing he’d answer “Why nothing, just getting ready to go home.” All this with a broad smile and maybe even a wink or two.
Facetious, smiling Julius, outwardly cool and funny and inwardly tense and dedicated, only Ethel knew what was driving him and then only in part. She kept him in line when he’d tend to stray. She had been playing the role of disciplinarian with David since he was born so she acted the same way with her husband whom she mothered as much as her own children. No, the only person who saw the real Julius was Alex, his case officer and brother in arms...
Now the fuse was ready and he’d have to take it out of the plant. It had to be done on the sly, but there was no possible margin of error. He knew that the truck with the discarded metal and aluminum parts from scores of devices left for the plant every two days. That week he found out that a guy named Gorman would be driving the scrap to Red Hook so he waited every evening to monitor how and when Gorman made his run. Two days before the holiday weekend Julius approached the driver as he was smoking a cigarette while he waited for the truck to be loaded.
“Hey, you’re Gorman the driver, right? My name’s Julie.” The guy looked at Julius a little surprised but sporting a friendly grin.
“Sure thing, that’s me!”
Julius was delighted with the hint of an Irish brogue and a puff of smoke. Gorman offered him a cigarette but Julius declined.
“Wonder if you could do me a favor, Gorman?”
“Sure, why not?”
“I need a ride for a couple of days to downtown Brooklyn to buy some Christmas presents at a cut rate store for my kids.”
Gorman wasn’t wearing a wedding band and chuckled.
“Lucky you! How many kids you got, Julie?‘
The man was rough but simple and cordial. It worked out perfectly. That same evening Julius got in next to Gorman and they passed through the guards at the gate who carefully inspected their badges and especially the one Julius handed over. While this was happening one of the guards went to the back of the truck and parted the canvas cover to check the contents. Everything was in order so he waved them through. No one asked why Julius was hitching a ride in a truck filled with discarded but highly secret scrap metal. Gorman never stopped smoking and went on complaining about the job, the war he couldn’t serve in because of an old leg injury and so on, but he did express admiration for Julius because he was married and had a kid. Finally after dumping the scarp metal at a site not far from Flatbush he drove to Borough Hall where Julius took a short subway ride into Lower Manhattan.
On December 22 Julius placed the fully assembled Proximity Fuse in two thick brown paper bags that he then tied very securely with doubled up string. By the time the package was ready it looked like several toys on top of one another. He took a large sheet of gift-wrapping paper and some red ribbon and proceeded to wrap the package that quickly turned into a perfect Christmas gift. He slipped it into a new Macy’s shopping bag.
Gorman was waiting for him, leaning on the side of his pickup truck, smoking as usual while they filled up the back with boxes of scrap metal. Once they were finished Julius went to the back of the truck and placed the Macy’s bag right up front with its gift-wrapped bundle clearly visible inside and closed the back. Then he climbed into the seat next to Gorman.
“Hey Julie! You said you needed to make another stop this time?”
“Yeah, I hope it‘s not too much trouble. I’d like to stop for two minutes at Jewish
bakery off Flatbush. I‘m picking up some fancy stuff for the holidays.”
“Not a problem my friend! Got your badge with you?”
“I‘m all set.”
Gorman pushed into first gear and drove up to the gate.
Julius did have a plan should there be a problem at the gate. He‘d say it was a “gift for my wife” or “a toy for my son” naturally if they insisted on opening the package he’d be in serious trouble and would have to claim it wasn’t his original package, that someone else had planted it there and so on. The only hope was that the Emerson people would attempt to hush up the incident to avoid reprimands from the FBI and the fear of losing their security classification as a company and therefore their government contracts. At the most he figured he risked being fired. But if he ran into an overzealous guard or very curious detective? What then? It was a gamble. Anything could happen.
An older, surly looking guard Julius hadn’t seen on duty two days before walked up with a clipboard. It was getting rather cold and the guard had his long navy blue overcoat buttoned all the way up looking like one of those German cops they show in propaganda movies. Gorman handed over some paperwork and showed him his badge.
“Hey, Jaspers I hadn’t seen you this late at night in a long while.”
“Yeah, they got us old buzzards working overtime.”
He looked at Gorman’s badge and nodded as he made a check on his clipboard. Then he lumbered slowly to the passenger side. Julius noticed that Jaspers was alone; the other guards must have been off duty or elsewhere. He felt reassured.
“You’re Rosenberg, right?”
Julius nodded and smiled as Jaspers looked at him with his small beady eyes. For a fraction of a second Julius felt his lower lip quivering slightly with Jaspers staring directly at him inquisitively. What was it? Could the old guard suspect something was wrong, or was it the usual reaction to his name? A Jewish name, a Jew, the usual ancestral fears and hatreds imported from Europe that were alive and well in America. In the land of the free! Julius showed him his badge.