the country. Probably with more security than trying to slip them out of
North Sea or Channel ports. Those ports were clamped tight, obsessively
patrolled. Had they not been, much of his own work would have been
unnecessary. The only really remarkable aspect of the operation was that
Rhinemann could get blueprints - on anything - related to Peenemdride. That
was extraordinary. Peencintinde was a concrete and steel vault buried in the
earth. With the most complex system of safeguards and backups ever, devised.
It would be easier to get a man out - for any number of invented reasons -
than to remove a single page of paper.
Further, PeenemUnde kept its laboratories separate, vital stages
coordinated by only a handful of elite scientific personnel under Gestapo
check. In Buenos Aires terms, this meant that Erich Rhinemann was able to
(1) reach and buy diverse laboratory heads in a systematic order; (2)
circumvent or buy (impossible) the Gestapo; or (3) enlist the cooperation
of those handful of scientists who crossed laboratory lines.
David's experience led him to disqualify the last two possibilities; there
was too much room for betrayal. Rhinemann must have concentrated on the
laboratory heads; that was dangerous enough but more feasible.
As Kendall talked, David decided to keep his conclusions to himself. He
would ask several questions, one or two of which he really wanted answered,
but he would not form a partnership with Walter Kendall at this time. It
was an easy decision to make. Kendall was one of the least likable men he'd
ever met.
'Is there any particular reason why the designs have to be delivered in
stages?' Spaulding asked.
7hey may not be. But Rhmemann's smuggling them out section by section.
Everybody's got a schedule; he says it's safer
170
that way. From his projections, we figure a period of a week.'
'All right, that makes sense.... And this Lyons fellow can authenticate
them?'
'There's no one better. I'll get to him in a few minutes; there are a
couple of things you'll have to know. Once in Argentina, he's your
property.'
'That sounds ominous.'
'You can handle him. You'll have help.... The point is, as soon as he's
cleared those blueprints, you send the codes and Rhinemann gets paid. Not
before.'
'I don't understand. Why so complicated? If they check out, why not pay him
off in Buenos AiresT
'He doesn't want that money in an Argentine bank.'
'It must be a bundle.'
'It is.'
'From what little I know of this Rhinemann, isn't it unusual for him to be
working with the German undergroundT
'He's a Jew.'
'Don't tell any graduates of Auschwitz. They won't believe you.
'War makes necessary relationships. Look at us. We're working with the
Reds. Same thing: common goals, forget the disagreements.'
'In this case, that's a little cold-blooded.'
'Their problem, not ours.'
'I won't pursue it.... One obvious question. Since I'm on my way to Buenos
Aires, the embassy, why this stop in New York? Wouldn't it have been easier
to just rotate from Lisbon to Argentina?'
'A last-minute decision, I'm afraid. Awkward, huhT
'Not too smooth. Am I on a transfer listT
'A whatT
'Foreign Service transfer sheet. State Department. Mlitary attachd.,
'I don't know. Whyr
'I'd like to find out if it's common knowledge that I left Lisbon. Or could
be common knowledge. I didn't think it was supposed to be.'
'Then it wasn't. Why?'
'So I know how to behave, that's all.'
'We thought you should spend a few days getting familiar with
171
everything. Meet Lyons, me; go over the schedule, What we're after, that
sort of thing.'
'Very considerate.'David saw the questioning look on Kendall's face. 'No,
I mean that. So often we get thrown field problems knowing too little
background. I've done it to men myselE ... Then this discharge, the combat
in Italy, they're the cover for my Lisbon activities? For New York only.'
'Yeah, I guess that's right.' Kendall, who'd been sitting on the edge of
his desk, got up and walked around to his chair.
'How far am I to carry iff
'Carry whatT Kendall avoided looking at David, who was leaning forward on
an office couch.
'The cover. The papers mention Fifth Army -that's Clark; Thirty-Fourth
Division, One Hundred and Twelfth Battalion, et cetera. Should I bone up?
I don't know much about the Italian Theater. Apparently I got hit beyond
Salerno; are there circumstancesT
'That's army stuff. As far as I'm concerned you'll be here five, six days,
then Swanson will see you and send you down to Buenos Aires.'
'All right, I'll wait for General Swanson.' David realized there was no
point in pursuing G-2 rituals with Kendall.... Part professional, part
amateur. The hesitation waltz.
'Until you leave you'll spend whatever time you think is necessary with
Lyons. In his office.'
'Fine. I'd like to meet him.' David stood up.
'Sit down, he's not here today. Nobody's here today but the receptionist.
Till one o'clock. It's New Year's Eve.' Kendall slumped into his chair and
took out a cigarette, which he squeezed. 'I've got to tell you about
Lyons.'
'All right.' David returned to the couch.
'He's a drunk. He spent four years in jail, in a penitentiary. He can
hardly talk because his throat got burned out with raw alcohol.... He's
also the smartest son of a bitch in aerophysics.'
Spaulding stared at Kendall without replying for several moments. When he
did speak, he made no attempt to conceal his shock. 'That's kind of a
contradictory recommendation, isn't it?'
'I said he's smart.'
'So are half the lunatics in Bellevue. Can he function? Since he's going to
be my "property" - as you put it - Id like to know what the hell you've
given me. And why, not incidentally.'
172
'He's the best.'
That doesn't answer my question. Questions.'
'You're a soldier. You take orders.'
'I give them, too. Don't start that way.'
'All right.... O.K. You're entitled, I guess.'
'I'd say so.'
'Eugene Lyons wrote the book on physical aerodynamics; he was the youngest
full professor at the Massachusetts Institute Of Technology. Maybe he was
too young; he went downhill fast. Bum marriage, a lot of drinking, a lot of
debts; the debts did it, they usually do. That and too many brains no one
wants to pay for.'
'Did what?'
'He went out of his skull, a week's bender. When he woke up in a South Side
Boston hotel room, the girl he was with was dead. He'd beaten her to
death.... She was a whore so nobody cared too much; still, he did it. They
called it unpremeditated murder and MIT got him a good lawyer. He served
four years, got out and nobody would hire him, wouldn't touch him.... That
was 1936. He gave up; joined the skid row bums. I mean he really joined
them.' Kendall paused and grinned.<
br />
David was disturbed by the accountant's smile; there was nothing funny in
the story. 'Obviously he didn't stay there.'It was all he could think to
say.
'Did for damn near three years. Got his throat burned out right down on
Houston Street.'
'That's very sad.'
'Best thing that happened to him. in the hospital ward they took his
history and a doctor got interested. He was shipped off to the goddamned
CCC, was reasonably rehabilitated, and what with the war coming he got into
defense work.'
'Then he's all right now.' Spaulding made the statement positively. Again,
it was all he could think to say.
'You don't clean out a man like that overnight. Or in a couple of years....
He has lapses, falls into the booze barrel now and then. Since working on
classified stuff he's cooped up with his own personal wardens. For
instance, here in New York he's got a room at St. Luke's Hospital. He's
taken back and forth just like your socialite drunks.... In California,
Lockheed's got him in a garden apartment with male nurses round the clock,
when he's away from the plants. Actually, he's got it pretty good.'
1-73
'He must be valuable. That's a lot of trouble .... *
'I told you,' interrupted Kendall. 'He's the best. He's just got to be
watched.'
'What happens when he's on his own? I mean, I've known alcoholics; they can
slip away, often ingeniously.'
'That's no problem. He'll get liquor - when he wants it; he'll be ingenious
about that. But he doesn't go outside by himself. He won't go where there
are any people, if you know what I mean.
'I'm not sure I do.'
'He doesn't talk. The best he can manage is a hoarse whisper; remember, his
throat was boiled out. He stays away from people. ... Which is fine. When
he's not drinking - which is most of the time - he's reading and working.
He'll spend days in a laboratory stone sober and never go outside. It's
just fine.'
'How does he communicate? In the lab? In a meeting?'
'Pad and pencil, a few whispers, his hands. Mostly a pad and pencil. It's
just numbers, equations, diagrams. That's his language.'
'His entire language?'
'That's right.... If you're thinking about holding a conversation with him,
forget it. He hasn't had a conversation with anyone in ten years.'
174
18
DECEMBER 31,1943 NEW YORK CITY
Spaulding hurried down Madison Avenue to the northeast comer of B. Altman's.
There was a light snow falling; taxis rushed past the few pedestrians
signaling in the middle of the block. The better fares were at the
department store's entrance, carrying last-minute purchases for New Year's
Eve. People who shopped at Altman's on the afternoon of New Year's Eve were
prime passengers. Why waste gas on less?
David found himself walking faster than he had reason to; he wasn't going
anywhere, to any specific place that required his presence at a specific
time; he was getting away from Walter Kendall as fast as he could.
Kendall had finished his briefing on Eugene Lyons with the statement that
'two hulks' would accompany the scientist to Buenos Aires. There'd be no
liquor for the hermit-mute with his throat burned out; the male nurses
carried 'horse pills' at all times. Eugene Lyons, with no drink available,
would spend hours over the work problems. Why not? He didn't do anything
else. No conversations, David mused.
David turned down Kendall's offer of lunch on the pretext of looking up
family friends. After all, it had been over three years. ... He'd be in the
office on January 2.
The truth was that Spaulding just wanted to get away from the man. And
there was another reason: Leslie Jenner Hawkwood.
He didn't know where he'd begin, but he had to begin quickly.
175
He had roughly a week to learn the story behind that incredible evening two
nights ago. The beginning would include a widow named Bonner, that much he
knew.
Perhaps Aaron Mandel could help him.
He took a dollar bill from his pocket and approached the doorman in front
of Altman's. A taxi was found in less than a minute.
The ride uptown was made to the accompanying loquaciousness of the driver,
who seemed to have an opinion on most any subject. David found the man
annoying; he wanted to think and it was difficult. Then suddenly he was
grateful to him.
'I was gonna catch the New Year's Eve crowds, like up at the Plaza, you
know what I mean? There's big tips over at those war relief things. But the
wife said no. She said come home, drink a little wine, pray to God our boy
gets through the year. Now, I gotta. I mean if anything happened, I'd
figure it was the tips 1. made New Year's Eve. Superstitions! What the
hell, the kid's a typist in Fort Dix.'
David had forgotten the obvious. No, not forgotten; he just hadn't
considered the possibilities because they did not relate to him. Or he to
them. He was in New York. On New Year's Eve. And that meant parties,
dances, charity balls and an infinite variety of war-created celebrations
in a dozen ballrooms and scores of townhouses.
Mrs. Paul Bonner would be at one of those places, at one of those parties.
It had been four months since her husband had been killed. It was
sufficient mourning under the circumstances, for the times. Friends - other
women like Leslie Jenner, but of course not Leslie Jenner - would make that
clear to her. It was the way social Manhattan behaved. And quite
reasonable, all things considered.
It shouldn't be too difficult to find out where she was going. And if he
found her, he'd find others ... it was a place to start.
He tipped the driver and walked rapidly into the Montgomery lobby.
'Oh, Mr. Spaulding I' The old desk clerk's voice echoed in the marble
enclosure. 'There's a message for you.'
He crossed to the counter. 'Thank you.' He unfolded the paper; Mr. Fairfax
had telephoned. Would he return the call as soon as possible?
Ed Pace wanted to reach him.
176
The thread was intact under the door lock. He entered his room and went
directly to the telephone.
'We got something in on the Hawkwood girl,' Pace said. 'Thought you'd want
to know.'
What is it?' Why, oh why, did Pace always start conversations like that?
Did he expect him to say, no, I don't want to know anything, and hang up?
'It fits in, I'm afraid, with my opinion of the other night. Your antenna's
been working overtime.'
'For Christ's sake, Ed, I'll pin a medal on you whenever you like. What is
itT
'She plays around. She's got a wide sex life in the Los Angeles area.
Discreet but busy. A high-class whore, if I don't offend you.
:You don't offend me. What's the source?'
Several brother officers to begin with; navy and air force. Then some of
the movie people, actors and a couple of studio executives. And the
social-industrial crowd: Lockheed, Sperry Rand. She's not the most welcome
guest at the Santa Monica Yacht Club.'
'
Is there a G-2 pattern?'
'First thing we looked for. Negative. No classified personnel in her bed.
Just rank: military and civilian. And she is in New York. Careful inquiry
says she went back to visit her parents for Christmas.'
'There are no Jenners listed in the phone book who've ever heard of her.'
'in Bernardsville, New Jersey?'
'No,' said David wearily. 'Manhattan. You did say New York.'
'Try Bernardsville. If you want to find her. But don't hand in any expense
vouchers; you're not on a courier run in the north country.'
'No. Bernardsville is hunt country.'
'What?'
'Very social territory. Stables and stirrup cups.... Thanks, Ed. You just
saved me a lot of work.'
'Think nothing of it. All you've had is the conduit center of Allied
Intelligence solving the problems of your sex life. We try to please our
employees.'
11 pron-Ase to re-enlist when it's all over. Thanks again.'
177
'Dave?'
'Yes?'
.Tm not cleared for the Swanson job, so no specifics, but how does it
strike you?'
'I'll be damned if I know why you're not cleared. It's a simple purchase
being handled by some oddbaUs - at least one ... no, two that I know about.
The one I've met is a winner. It seems to me they've complicated the deal,
but that's because they're new at it.... We could have done it better.'
'Have you met Swanson?'
'Not yet. After the holidays, I'm told. What the hell, we wouldn't want to
interfere with the brigadier's Christmas vacation. School doesn't start
until the first week in January.'
Pace laughed on the other end of the line. 'Happy New Year, Dave.'
'The same, Ed. And thanks.'
Spaulding replaced the receiver. He looked at his watch, it was one
fifteen. He could requisition an army vehicle somewhere, he supposed, or
borrow a car from Aaron Mandel. Bernardsville was about an hour outside New
York, west of the Oranges, if he remembered correctly. It might be best to
take Leslie Jenner by surprise, giving her no chance to run. On the other
hand, on the premise he had considered before Pace's call, Leslie was
probably in New York, preparing for the New Year's Eve she'd promised him.
Somewhere, someplace. In an apartment or a brownstone or a hotel room like
Robert Ludlum - Rhineman Exchange.txt Page 21