The Honor of Spies

"More likely Pepe Ramirez--el General Pedro Pablo Ramirez--with Peron as his vice president. They get along pretty well, and nobody really likes Obregon."

"Jesus Christ!" Clete said bitterly. "So, what do you want to do with the weapons to keep them out of Schmidt's hands?"

"I think the best place for them is probably here. The Gendarmeria doesn't have any place to store them more securely than they are here. Inspector General Nervo left the decision to me, based on what I found here. And I can't fault your defense of Casa Montagna. What I have to try--try very hard--to do is keep you from having to defend it."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Well, Schmidt can't get here without using the roads, and the Gendarmeria owns the roads. We'll know immediately if--I think I should say when--he starts in this direction. You'll probably have two days'--maybe three or four--warning. And Inspector General Nervo will tell Wattersly and the others.

"In the meantime, today we're going to spread the word that the Gendarmeria came here, found a small cache of weapons, and took them off your hands. So there's no reason for Schmidt to come looking for them. Maybe that will stop Schmidt. Maybe it won't."

"And if it doesn't?"

"The only thing I can tell you for sure, Don Cletus, is that if there is a civil war, the first battle will not be between Schmidt's Mountain Troops and the Gendarmeria."

"But between Schmidt's Mountain Troops and Don Cletus Frade's ragtag little private army?"

"I don't want that to happen either," Peralta said. "But--and this is not a recommendation or even a suggestion--if you could somehow stall Schmidt outside your gates, perhaps there would be time for Ejercito Argentino officers senior to Colonel Schmidt to come here and ask him what the hell he was doing. I think that maybe even hearing that this was about to happen would send Schmidt back to San Martin de los Andes."

"Unless, of course," Nowicki said, "the Nazi bastard has decided--or been told--that now is the time to start the civil war."

"Unless, of course, the Nazi bastard, on orders or on his own, wants to start a civil war," Peralta said.

"How am I supposed to stall him at the gates?" Clete said.

When he looked at Peralta, he saw that Stein was standing in the door waiting for permission to enter.

"A mortar round or two, or several bursts from a .50-caliber machine gun, might do the trick," Peralta said. "I did not say that."

Stein's eyebrows rose.

"What have you got, Stein?" Clete asked.

"We have just heard from Moses, Major. A graven message fresh from Mount Sinai."

I suppose late is better than never.

"Let's have it," Frade said.

Stein walked to him and handed him Graham's message.

"Oh, shit!" Clete said when he had read it.

He looked around the room.

Peralta looked at him curiously.

"Let me ask a dumb question," Clete said. "Where is it that dead heroes go in the afterlife?"

"Valhalla," Peralta said. "They are taken there by Valkyries."

Okay, so you know.

Captain Madison R. Sawyer III does not know, nor does Staff Sergeant/Major Sigfried Stein.

What about Subinspector Estanislao Nowicki and Subinspector Navarro?

From the looks on everybody's faces, nobody except Peralta has a clue.

Dead heroes in the afterlife? Valkyries? What the hell?

Who am I fooling?

I'm going to have to tell Sawyer and Stein; I really should have told them before. I promised everybody on Team Turtle there would be no secrets between us.

And Subinspectors Navarro and Nowicki are going to ask Inspector Peralta what the hell is going on, and he's going to tell them.

And what are my detailed orders from Mount Sinai?

"Use your best judgment."

"I would appreciate it if you listen carefully to this," Clete said.

Everyone looked at him.

"Senor Kortig and Senor Moller are German officers," Clete began. "Moller is an SS major who told me he believes any officer who violates his oath of personal allegiance to Adolf Hitler is a traitor--"

"You brought a goddamn Nazi into Argentina?" Nowicki exploded.

"Easy, Estanislao," Peralta said.

Frade was nodding. "For reasons--good reasons--known to Inspector Peralta. He can explain them to you if he wishes later, but let me continue.