The Honor of Spies

"Our mission, Gradny-Sawz, is to ensure the Argentines think of Germany as an honorable ally in the battle against the godless Communists. Having it come out that we are even remotely connected with the assassination of el Coronel Frade, the two failed assassination attempts on his son, and the incident at Casa Chica would hardly serve to confirm the image we are trying to project, would it?"

Von Gradny-Sawz looked very uncomfortable.

"Well, I'll tell you what, Gradny-Sawz," Cranz went on. "You come up with a plan that absolutely precludes the possibility that photographs of Juan Domingo Peron with a group of SS personnel at a machine gun, the bodies of those SS personnel sometime later, riddled with bullets, and a map showing what looks like the Third Reich's plans for South America appearing in La Nacion or any other newspaper, and I will give you permission to eliminate Don Cletus Frade yourself.

"And while you're doing that, I will inform SS-Brigadefuhrer von Deitzberg that it is my professional judgment that this American OSS sonofabitch poses an immediate threat to Operation Phoenix and the other operation and has to be dealt with. I will seek SS-Brigadefuhrer von Deitzberg's wise advice and direction on how to do that, as I can think of no way to do anything that would not cause an international incident that would pose serious problems to Operation Phoenix.

"Except, of course, to send Boltitz home with von Wachtstein to charm the sonofabitch as best they can, and to learn as much as they can about what he's up to. Understand, Gradny-Sawz? The Yankee OSS sonofabitch has got us cornered. And I'm not going to be the man responsible for the failure of Operation Phoenix."

He let that sink in a moment, then stood up.

His right arm snapped out in front of him.

"Heil Hitler!" he barked, then marched out of the room.

[SEVEN]

Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo

Near Pila

Buenos Aires Province, Argentina

1230 13 August 1943

Don Cletus Frade, wearing khaki trousers and a yellow polo shirt, came out onto the shaded verandah of the big house carrying a bottle of Bodega Don Guillermo Cabernet Sauvignon '39, two long-stemmed wineglasses, a long black cigar, and a corkscrew bottle opener.

Two people hurried after him. One was a plump female in her late forties wearing a severe black dress, Elisa Gomez. The other was Enrico Rodriguez, wearing a business suit and cradling his twelve-gauge Remington Model 11 riot gun in his arms. Around his neck was a leather bandolier of brass-cased double-aught buckshot shells.

"All you had to do was ring, Don Cletus," Elisa Gomez chided him as she took the bottle from him. Her tone suggested that the chief housekeeper of Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo was not in awe of its patron.

"I humbly beg your pardon," Frade said, deeply insincere.

She shook her head, quickly uncorked the wine, poured a taste in one of his glasses, and waited for his reaction. He swirled the wine, sniffed at the glass, and finally took a sip. And grimaced.

"I think I've been poisoned," he announced.

She shook her head, filled the glass, and marched into the house.

"Enrico, why do I think she doesn't like me?" Frade asked.

"Don Cletus, she loves you," Enrico said, and then added, "And you know it."

Frade lowered himself onto a leather-cushioned wicker armchair, crossed his battered Western boots on the matching footstool, bit the end from the cigar, and then lit it carefully with a wooden match. Then he picked up the wineglass and took a healthy sip.

Five minutes later, a glistening black 1940 Packard 160 convertible coupe drove through the windbreak of trees that surrounded the heart of Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo. Frade had been waiting for the Packard to appear. As soon as the car had left Estancia Santa Catalina on a road that led only to Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo, its presence had been reported to the big house by one of Frade's peones.

Clete thought the Packard was gorgeous. It had been the top of the Packard line, except for limousines, and only a few--no more than two hundred--had been manufactured. Beneath its massive hood was the largest Packard Straight-Eight engine, which provided enough power for it to cruise effortlessly and endlessly at well over eighty miles an hour. It was upholstered in red leather and had white sidewall tires.

Each front fender carried a spare tire and wheel, and sitting on the front edge of the fenders was the latest thing in driving convenience: turn signals. With the flipping of a little lever on the steering wheel, one of the front lights flashed simultaneously with one on the rear, telling others you wished to change direction, and in which direction.

The Reverend Kurt Welner, S.J., stepped out of the Packard, put on his suit jacket--shooting his cuffs, which revealed gold cuff links adorned with some sort of gemstone--then walked up the shallow flight of stairs to the verandah.