Death and Honor

[ONE]

Office of the Director Office of Strategic Services National Institutes of Health Building Washington, D.C. 0930 29 June 1943

“Why is it, Alex,” OSS Director William J. Donovan said, looking up from his desk to meet Colonel Alejandro Graham’s eyes, “that I suspect I’m not going to like that cat-who-has-just-swallowed-the-canary smile on your face?”

“Bill, you know that I always love to bring you proof that one of your orders has been carried out with alacrity.”

“Try telling that to your man Frade.”

“As a matter of fact, I have just heard from Major Frade.”

“And you’re smiling. So what’s the bad news?”

Graham extended a message fresh from the radio room. Donovan snatched it from his hand and scanned it. His eyes widened and his eyebrows rose as he read it more thoroughly:

PRIORITY

TOP SECRET LINDBERGH

DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN

FROM TEX

MSG NO 205 0405 GREENWICH 13 JULY 1943

TO AGGIE

REFERENCE AIRLINE

HUMBERTO DUARTE, HEREAFTER TÍO HANK, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BANCO DE INGLATERRA Y ARGENTINA, HEREAFTER BANK, ADVISED ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE TO OBTAIN PERMISSION TO FORM AND OPERATE AIRLINE WITHOUT PARTICIPATION OF SENIOR ARGENTINE OFFICER, ENTIRELY ARGENTINE FLIGHT CREWS, AND APPOINTMENT OF BUREAU OF INTERNAL SECURITY OFFICER, HEREAFTER BIS, AS CHIEF PILOT TO ENSURE AIRLINE DOES NOT CARRY OUT OSS ACTIVITIES.

SOUTH AMERICAN AIRWAYS, S.A., HEREAFTER SAA, FORMED LAST NIGHT WITH INITIAL CAPITALIZATION OF $3,432,000. TEX SIXTY PERCENT MAJORITY STOCKHOLDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR WITH INVESTMENT OF $2,200,000 OBTAINED FROM BANK WITH LOAN AGAINST LOCAL PROPERTIES.

BANK HOLDS FIFTEEN PERCENT OF REMAINDER. SEÑORA CLAUDIA CARZINO-CORMANO, HEREAFTER TÍA CLAUDIA, AND TÍO HANK 12.5 PERCENT EACH. THEY WILL SIT ON BOARD OF DIRECTORS WITH COLONEL JUAN DOMINGO PERÓN, HEREAFTER TÍO JUAN. MAJOR GONZALO DELGANO, BIS,

QUOTE RETIRED END QUOTE, HEREAFTER HAWK, HAS BEEN NAMED CHIEF PILOT.

PLEASE ARRANGE FOR FOURTEEN PARROTS PLUS SIXTY-DAY SUPPLY OF SPARES TO BE SENT TO BIRDCAGE FOR PICKUP BY TEX AND HAWK. ONE PARROT NEEDED IMMEDIATELY, OTHERS AT SEVEN- TO FOURTEEN-DAY INTERVALS.

ALSO URGENTLY NEED SIX REPEAT SIX 500-WATT COLLINS MODEL 295 TRANSCEIVERS AND ADEQUATE REPEAT ADEQUATE SPARES FOR SAME.

ADVISE HOW YOU INTEND TO PAY FOR ALL THIS.

FISHING NONPRODUCTIVE

ACKNOWLEDGE

TEX

“You believe this?” Donovan asked.

“I have no reason not to.”

Donovan shook his head unbelievingly.

“What does he mean by that ‘fishing nonproductive’ remark?”

“Presumably, that he has found no replenishment ships in the River Plate.”

“Okay. I presume ‘parrots’ means airplanes—”

“Lockheed Lodestars,” Graham confirmed.

“Does he have enough money to buy fourteen of them?”

“They go for about a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. Fourteen would be one and three quarters million.”

“I know who Perón is, but who are these other people?”

“Aunt Claudia was Frade’s father’s . . . how do I put this? . . . great and good friend.”

“You mean ‘mistress’?”

“ ‘Mistress’ means to me some young tootsie being supported by a sugar daddy. Señora Carzino-Cormano is just about as well off as Frade was. As our Frade now is. I’m guessing that she’s an investor and on the board, because if she is, there won’t be some other Argentine. Same thing for Uncle Hank, whose wife is the late Colonel Frade’s sister. Or, equally possible, both of them saw it as an interesting investment. The bank’s in for fifteen percent.”

“Presuming we send him the airplanes—”

“I think we are morally obliged to send him the airplanes. We told him the President wanted an airline, and he’s set up one.”

Donovan ignored the interruption, and went on: “—what good is this airline going to do the OSS? With an Argentine intelligence officer as the chief pilot? With all pilots Argentine?”

“I don’t know. Do you think in his Machiavellian way Roosevelt had another purpose besides helping the OSS when he ordered the OSS to set up an airline?”

“Like what?”

“Like sticking it in Juan Trippe.”

“If he did, he’d never admit it.”

“There’s one way to tell,” Graham said. “First you tell him the good news, that there’s going to be an airline down there. Then you tell him the bad news, that the OSS can’t use it for anything, because there are Argentines deeply involved in it just to keep that from happening. Then you compare his reactions. If he’s not really unhappy about the bad news . . .”

“Why don’t you tell him? I’m going to the White House for cocktails at five, and I’m sure the President would be delighted if you came. Then you could judge his reactions for yourself.”

“If I did that, he likely would be able to ask who Galahad is again, and God only knows where that would lead.”

“That thought ran through my mind, frankly. Why don’t I meet you in the lobby at, say, quarter to five? That way, we can be sure that nothing will happen to keep you from going.”

“I really don’t want to go over there, Bill.”

“Yeah, I know. But Allen Dulles is going to be there.”

Graham didn’t reply. But he certainly was curious as to why Dulles, the OSS station chief in Switzerland, was in the States.

Donovan went on: “I think Dulles is the real reason the President wants to know who Galahad is. And I think the President would like you to tell him why you won’t tell him.”

“I presume my invitation to this is in fact an order?” Graham asked coldly.

Donovan nodded. He met Graham’s eyes for a long moment, then said, “Yes, Colonel, it is. And in the meantime, why don’t you start working on getting a Lodestar on its way to Pôrto Alegre?”

“To where?”

“Our air base at Pôrto Alegre, Brazil—the ‘birdcage.’ ”

“You remembered the code name!” Graham said in mock awe.

“I forget very little, Colonel Graham. It might behoove you to keep that in mind. For example, I’m not about to forget quarter to five in the lobby.”

“What about the radios he wants?”

“I guess I’m not perfect after all. I forgot that.”

“I can’t believe that.”

“Call the Army Security Agency, tell them you need the radios and some expert who’ll know how to set them up. We’ll send him and the radios down there on the first Lodestar.”

“And what do I respond to Frade?”

“Why don’t you wait until you have his reaction to the news that you’re sending the first of fourteen Lockheed Lodestars that will be of little or no use to the OSS in Argentina?”

“And what about the financing of this enterprise?”

“You can ask the President that, too. I would guess that since he would have to repay Frade that two point two million from his unvouchered funds, he would be pleased if Frade used his own money. As you point out, he’s got lots of it.”

“That’s not fair, Bill.”

“We’re in the OSS, Alex. The word ‘fair’ is not in our lexicon.”