W E B Griffin - Honor 2 - Blood and Honor

by Blood

  "I don't have anything on him, God knows, and I don't think he has any-thing on me."

  "Then how are you involved in this?"

  "In what?"

  "I hope you're being discreet," she said.

  "Discreet about what?"

  Inge looked at him intensely for a long moment.

  "You don't know, do you?" she asked. "God, I think I'm going to be sick to my stomach!"

  "I don't know about what?"

  "Peter, tell me honestly-look into my eyes-what are you doing in Mon-tevideo?"

  "I flew Goltz here in the Embassy Storch," Peter replied. "In addition to my other duties, I'm the Storch pilot."

  "And you don't know what Goltz is doing here?" she asked.

  "Haven't the foggiest idea."

  "You do know who Goltz is?"

  "He's the liaison officer between Reichsprotektor Himmler and Parteileiter Mart¡n Bormann."

  "Would you believe me if I told you that if one word I said about Werner being pink, or Goltz knowing it, not to mention about Jews and Sachsenhausen, got back to Goltz, you and I would be dead?"

  "Yes," Peter said simply. "I'm aware that Goltz is a very dangerous man."

  "I can't believe I have been this stupid," Inge said. "I simply presumed... How did you get out of Germany?"

  "An Argentine officer, an observer with von Paulus, was killed at Stalin-grad. I brought his body home. And was assigned as Assistant Attach‚ for Air at the Embassy."

  She looked intently into his eyes, and then he saw something in them. "You told me your father was a general, didn't you?"

  "I don't remember if I did or not," he said.

  "Is he?" Peter nodded.

  "Where is he stationed?"

  "With the OKW."

  "All right. He got you out of Germany. Maybe he has something on Goltz." "I can't imagine what that could be."

  "Then maybe Goltz has plans for you here, using your father in Germany to make sure you do what you're told."

  "Aren't you being just a little melodramatic?"

  "When I came here with Werner, Herr Standartenf�hrer Goltz told me that if I went an inch out of line, the next I would hear from my father would be one of those postcards saying Reichsprotektor Himmler desired to inform me my father had died of pneumonia in Sachsenhausen."

  "You didn't think coming to my room was out of line?" Peter asked. "He wasn't talking about my sex life, so long as I don't make Werner look like a fool. He was talking about..."

  "Making yourself rich getting Jews out of Sachsenhausen?" Peter asked.

  "You'll get us both killed, Peter, and my father killed, and maybe even yours, if you ever let those words out of your mouth again. Here, or anywhere else. Do you understand that?"

  "Yes. We never had any of this conversation. You were never here." She shook her head.

  "I was here. I may have been followed. Or the car was seen. If I'm asked, I'll say I was here. And you too."

  "All right," Peter said. "So what do we do now?"

  She turned and took the bottle of champagne from the cooler, filled her glass, and walked to the bed.

  "What do you think we do now, Liebchen?" Inge asked. She got into the bed, rested her back against the headboard, met Peter's eyes, and deliberately tilted the champagne glass and spilled champagne down her breast.

  "Remember this, Peter?" she asked, and motioned for him to come to her.

  Chapter Sixteen

  [ONE]

  Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo

  Near Pila, Buenos Aires Province

  0230 14 April 1943

  The lights went on in the apartment of el Patron, startling him. He sat up quickly in bed and saw Chief Schultz and Enrico.

  "You scared the hell out of me," Clete confessed. "What's up?"

  "You got a reply on the oh one thirty call," Chief Schultz said. "Should I have waited until morning?"

  "No, of course not," Clete said, pushing himself up against the headboard and reaching for the sheet of paper Schultz extended to him.

  TOP SECRET LINDBERGH

  URGENT

  DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN

  MSG NO 2545 DDWHO 1650 GREENWICH 13APR43

  PROM ORACLE WASHDC

  TO STACRTEF AGGIE

  REFERENCE YOUR NO. 0002

  ORACLE DIRECTS YOU FURNISH QUICKEST MEANS IDENTITY CAVALRY AND GALAHAD AND PROVIDE REASONS YOU BELIEVE THEY HAVE ACCESS TO INTELLIGENCE DESCRIBED.

  AIRCRAFT (HEREAFTER PARROT) WILL BE AVAILABLE PORTO ALEGRE BRAZIL AIR STATION (HEREAFTER BIRDCAGE) AFTER 1700 GREENWICH 16 APR43. COLONEL J.B. WALLACE USAAC USAAC (HEREAFTER BIRDDOG) WILL RELEASE PARROT TO YOU ON YOUR FURNISHING HIM YOUR NEW ORLEANS TELEPHONE NUMBER.

  BIRDDOG ADVISES PARROT WILL BE MARKED AS REQUESTED AND PAINTED APPROXIMATELY DESIRED COLOR; HAS 1600 MILE RANGE; CIVILIAN ONLY REPEAT CIVILIAN ONLY RADIO AND NAVIGATION SYSTEM. REQUESTED ON SITE TRAINING AVAILABLE FOR YOU AND COPILOT.

  ADVISE UNDERSIGNED QUICKEST MEANS WHEN PARROT MOVEMENT COMMENCED AND COMPLETED.

  GRAHAM END

  "Looks like you got your airplane, Major," Chief Schultz said when Clete looked up at him.

  "All I have to do is fly it into Argentina from Porto Alegre, wherever the hell that is, right?"

  "It's on the Atlantic Coast, maybe a third of the way between Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo," Schultz said. "I got a chart."

  He handed it to Clete.

  "Is that typewriter still in there?" Clete asked, jerking his thumb toward the sitting room of the apartment.

  Schultz nodded.

  "Do me a favor, Chief," Clete said, swinging his feet out of bed. "While I'm getting dressed and Enrico is going to get Capitan Delgano out of bed, extract enough from this message so that I can show it to Delgano without telling him anything that's none of his business."

  "Aye, aye, Sir."

  "Be so kind as to present my compliments to el Capitan Delgano, Suboficial Mayor," Clete said. "And ask him to join me at his earliest convenience."

  "S¡, mi Mayor," Enrico said, smiling.

  "See if you can rustle up some coffee on your way," Clete added.

  "Coffee, mi Mayor? Not chocolate?"

  "I'm glad you thought of that, Enrico. I'm jumpy enough the way I am. I don't need any coffee. Chocolate, please."

  "Chocolate for me too, please, Enrico," Schultz said. "I can't handle Ar-gentine coffee."

  Enrico shook his head in disbelief and then followed Schultz out of the bedroom.

  Clete went into the bathroom and took a quick shower, hoping it would wake him up.

  When he came out, Schultz had already finished the extract. Clete read it, then started to get dressed.

  AIRCRAFT AVAILABLE AT PORTO ALEGRE BRAZIL NAVAL AIR STATION AFTER 1200 LOCAL TIME 16 APR 1943

  AIRCRAFT HAS ARGENTINE REGISTRY NUMBERS FURNISHED AND IS PAINTED SAME COLOR AS STAGGERWING.

  AIRCRAFT HAS 1600 MILE RANGE AND CIVILIAN ONLY RADIO AND NAVIGATION SYSTEM.

  REQUESTED ON SITE TRAINING AVAILABLE FOR YOU AND COPILOT.

  "I didn't know if you were planning on taking Delgano with you or not, is why I left that training business in."

  "This is just what I wanted, Chief," Clete said. "And I'm not taking Del-gano with me. He's an Argentine intelligence officer. Getting the airplane is a temporary truce, nothing more. I'm sure he would be fascinated to have a look at a Brazilian Navy Base. And I don't want to piss the Brazilians off by bring-ing an Argentine officer with me. If I didn't have to, I wouldn't even let him know where the airplane is."

  "You don't need him to help you fly it?"

  "No. It's not much of an airplane. A little twin-engine aerial taxi, is all it is. I can handle it by myself."

  "How about navigating it by yourself? I could go along with you."

  "You stay here and make sure Ettinger stays here," Clete said. "But thanks for the offer, Chief."

  Schultz shrugged to indicate thanks were not required, then asked, "While we're waiting for Delgano, you want to write your reply to
the message?"

  "No big deal. The next time you're in contact, tell them I expect to be at Porto Alegre shortly after the airplane is ready."

  "What I meant is that they want you to identify Galahad and Cavalry," Schultz said. " 'Quickest means' is what they said."

  "I'm not going to identify them," Clete said. "I don't want to run the risk of having either of them exposed."

  "The Luftwaffe guy and Colonel Martin, right?"

  Clete didn't answer.

  "Mr. Frade, I work for you," Schultz said. "That was just to keep things straight in my mind. If anybody else asks me, I don't have a clue who Galahad and Cavalry are."

  "How did you pick up on Martin?"

  "I figured it had to be either him or Captain Lauffer, but Delgano works for Mart¡n. Two and two usually makes four."

  "Usually," Clete said, chuckling.

  "I don't think you can just ignore them," Schultz said. "I think you have to tell them you have reasons not to identify them."

  "You really think so?"

  "Either that or make up names," Schultz said.

  "Oh, shit," Clete said, and walked out of the bedroom and sat down in front of the typewriter. He rolled a sheet of paper into the machine and looked thoughtful for a long moment. Then he typed a single sentence, tore the paper from the machine, and handed it to Schultz.

  Regret that to obtain absolutely reliable intelligence from galahad and cavalry it was necessary to give my word of honor that their identities will not be furnished to third parties.

  "You really want me to send this?" Schultz said, chuckling.

  "It's more polite than 'fuck you, I ain't gonna tell you,' isn't it? Send it word for word."

  "Aye, aye, Sir."

  A sleepy-eyed maid entered the room carrying pots and cups and saucers. A moment later, Capitan Delgano, in a bathrobe, and Enrico came in.

  Clete handed him the extract Schultz had prepared.

  "I would prefer to discuss this subject in private, Se¤or Frade," Delgano said.

  "I prefer that Chief Schultz stay," Clete said. "Sorry."

  "Very well," Delgano said. "I rather suspected the aircraft would be at Porto Alegre. It's a major Brazilian base, and both U.S. Navy and Army Air Corps units are stationed there."

  "Is that so?"

  "With that in mind, I did a little preliminary planning," Delgano said. "May I show you on the map?"

  "Of course."

  Delgano laid Chief Schultz's map on the desk beside the typewriter and pointed with his finger.

  "This is Santo Tome, in Corrientes Province," he said. Christ, Graham said Corrientes Province is where they 're going to infil-trate the new team into Uruguay!

  "It's across the Rio Uruguay from Sao Borja, Brazil. It's approximately five hundred fifty kilometers from Porto Alegre to Santo Tome. Since your aircraft has a range of sixteen hundred miles, we should have no difficulty-"

  "Wait a minute," Clete said. "Now that I think of it, I don't think the C-45 has a sixteen-hundred-mile range. That's probably a typo. A thousand seems more like it, and it may be as little as six hundred."

  "Six hundred miles seems a short range for a transport aircraft," Delgano said.

  "It's not a transport aircraft," Clete said. "It's a liaison aircraft, a small twin-engine aerial taxi."

  Delgano looked at him dubiously. "In any event, even if it has a range of only six hundred miles it's no problem. Six hundred miles is nearly a thousand kilometers. We should have no trouble making it."

  "I'm going alone, Capitan Delgano," Clete interrupted. "There's no way I'm taking you to Brazil with me."

  Delgano considered that for a moment.

  "In that case, actually," he said finally, "things may be less complicated than I thought at first. Let's talk about Santo Tome."

  "Why Santo Tome?" Clete asked. "Why couldn't I just fly directly here?"

  "Across Uruguay?"

  Clete nodded.

  "It would be better to avoid crossing Uruguay at all," Delgano said. "The Uruguayans patrol their border with Brazil, and we patrol our border with Uruguay, at least in the Rio de la Plata estuary. Your chances of being detected would be far less if you crossed directly from Brazil into Argentina, and into Corrientes Province, not into Entre Rios or Buenos Aires Province."

  That's the reason Graham ordered the team to be infiltrated through Cor-rientes Province. They'll probably have to paddle across the river, but the idea is the same, less chance of being caught crossing the border.

  "OK," Clete said. "Tell me about Santo Tome."

  "The Second Cavalry Regiment is stationed at Santo Tome," Delgano said. "The commanding officer is a member of Grupo de Oficiales Unidos. More im-portant, there is an airfield, of sorts, there."

  "Of sorts?"

  "When your father was a teniente coronel, Mayor Frade, he was the Deputy Commander of the Second Cavalry. It is a tradition that an officer serves as the Deputy Commander of the First or Second Cavalry Regiments before being promoted coronel."

  "Is that so?"

  "'Santo Tome,' your father used to say, 'is two hundred kilometers from nowhere.' It was during his assignment at Santo Tome that he became very in-terested in the potential value to the army of liaison and observation aircraft. It was by then generally understood that he would be promoted, as in fact he was-when he assumed command of the Husares de Pueyrred¢n. Thus, when he requested that an airstrip be built at Santo Tome, and that an Army aircraft be assigned to the Second Cavalry for experimental purposes, the request was granted. An Army aircraft, a Piper Cub, incidentally, was assigned to the Sec-ond Cavalry, together with a pilot-me-and a small detachment of mechanics. "Under my supervision, a dirt field was laid out adjacent to the Second Cavalry barracks. At your father's 'suggestion,' the runway was made some-what longer than it had to be to accommodate a Piper Cub. He wanted it long enough for a Beech stagger-wing to use it safely. He had just purchased such an aircraft, and it was en route from the United States. When he was summoned to the Edificio Libertador, it would permit him to travel to Buenos Aires in a matter of hours, instead of the twelve or fourteen hours the trip took by automobile, or the overnight trip by train."

  "The Army went along with this?" Clete asked. Delgano nodded.

  "And you were the pilot of the stagger-wing?"

  "The delivery pilot from Beech taught me how to fly the stagger-wing," Delgano said. "And I also found myself flying one of the Piper Cubs your father kept on his estancia-San Miguel-near Posadas."

  "What was that all about?"

  "Your father found the quarters provided at Santo Tome for the Deputy Commander of the Second Cavalry inadequate. He spent his weekends-the weekends he did not spend in Buenos Aires or here-at Estancia San Miguel."

  "Was this before or after you went to work for Coronel Martin?"

  "El Coronel Mart¡n assumed his duties after your father was promoted and had assumed command of the Husares de Pueyrred¢n," Delgano said. "I had worked for the man he replaced."

  "In other words, you were spying on my father all the time?"

  "I prefer to think of it as performing my duties as an officer of the Bureau of Internal Security," Delgano said. "Your father came to understand that, Mayor Frade."

  "OK," Clete said after a moment. "So this airfield you built so my father could spend his weekends in Buenos Aires is still there?"

  "It was not used much after your father was promoted and transferred, but it is still there. Recently, the commanding officer was told to make sure it is still capable of accommodating an aircraft such as the stagger-wing."

  "When was he told this?"

  "Immediately after we came to our understanding of the terms under which you are importing the aircraft from Brazil."

  I get it. If the coup d'‚tat fails, Delgano will fly Ramirez, Rawson, and the others in my airplane to this airstrip-which will be in the hands of the Second Cavalry. It will then be refueled and flown either into Brazil or, more likely, into Paraguay.


  "In other words-"

  "I think you understand the situation, Mayor Frade. I don't think we have to discuss the specifics."