The Assassination Option Part 9

I can see that sonofab.i.t.c.h suggesting to General Greene that Parsons take me to dinner "to get to know me." I can also see Parsons reasoning that Greene is on his side-otherwise why the "get to know him" suggestion-and interpreting "get to know him" to mean making it clear to the junior captain that this is still the Army, and in the Army, lieutenant colonels tell junior captains what to do, and junior captains say, "Yes, sir."

But I can't take orders from a lieutenant colonel whose mission it is to take over Operation Ost.

So what do I do?

"Would you be shocked to hear that I am not thrilled with the prospect of Colonel Parsons buying me dinner?"

"You not being thrilled doesn't matter. Colonel Mattingly called and said Colonel Parsons would probably call and invite you to dinner, and you had better go. Alone."

Well, there's the proof. I can hear Mattingly saying, "Parsons went out of his way, Admiral, to get along with Cronley. He even invited him to a private dinner. Cronley refused to go."

Making nice to Parsons tonight would be just delaying the inevitable confrontation. Mattingly-or maybe Parsons himself, he's clever-would make sure there was a confrontation.

Back to what do I do?

What I do is get this over with.

But as the soon-to-be chief, DCI-Europe, not as Junior Captain Cronley.

Which means I take off this Ike jacket with its brand-new captain's bars and put on the one with the civilian U.S. triangles.

"You know how to get Parsons on the phone, Freddy?"

"He's here in the hotel."

"Please call him back and tell him you've heard from Mister, repeat, Mister Cronley and he, General Gehlen, and Captain Dunwiddie, who had already planned to dine at the Vier Jahreszeiten at eight, would be delighted if he and Major Whatsisname could join us."

"You heard what I said about Colonel Mattingly saying you should go to dinner alone?"

"Anything else for me, Freddy?"

"Oberst Mannberg asked me when General Gehlen will be back. He says he has something to report."

"Whatever that might be, I don't think we want to share it with the FBI, do we?"

"So what do I tell Mannberg?"

"Tell him the general will be in your office just before we go to dinner with Colonel Parsons and Major Whatsisname."

[TWO].

Suite 507 Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Maximilianstra.s.se 178 Munich, American Zone of Occupation, Germany 1935 29 December 1945 Former Colonel Ludwig Mannberg was sitting with Sergeant Friedrich Hessinger at the latter's desk, both of them bent over a chessboard. They both stood when Cronley, followed by Gehlen and Dunwiddie, came into the room.

Mannberg was wearing a well-tailored suit and tie. Fat Freddy was in pinks and greens.

Cronley thought, more objectively than unkindly, Looking at the two of them, you'd think Gehlen was a black marketeer caught dealing in cigarettes and Hershey bars and Mannberg was his lawyer. His English lawyer. I'm going to have to do something about getting the general some decent clothes.

How am I going to do that? "Excuse me, General, but in that ratty suit, you look like an unsuccessful black marketeer."

"I just had one of my famous inspirations," Cronley announced. "Freddy, call the dining room and tell them there will be two more at dinner."

"Who?" Hessinger asked.

"You and Oberst Mannberg."

"Is that wise, Jim?" Dunwiddie asked. "Mattingly said you were to go alone."

"I know," Cronley said. "Do it, Freddy."

"General," Mannberg said, "we have heard from Seven-K."

Who the h.e.l.l is "Seven-K"?

"And?" Gehlen asked.

"She reports Natalia Likharev and her sons, Sergei and Pavel, do in fact occupy a flat at Nevsky Prospekt 114 in Leningrad. It's a luxury apartment building reserved for senior officers of the NKGB."

Seven-K, you soaking-wet-behind-the-ears amateur intelligence officer, is obviously Gehlen's agent in Russia. If they said his name out loud, someone might hear. She?

"Which means," Gehlen said, "especially since the NKGB knows Colonel Likharev is now in Argentina, that they are watching them very carefully, and that it's just a matter of time before she is arrested. Pour encourager les autres."

To encourage other NKGB officers not to change sides because the penalty is having your wife and kids sent to Siberia. Or shot. Or tortured. Or all of the above.

"Yes, sir," Mannberg agreed. "She also reports the Underground Railroad is in disarray."

"She"? That's twice Mannberg said "she." Seven-K is a woman?

Jesus, stupid! You should know the Russians have women spies. One of them made a horse's a.s.s out of you. So why should Gehlen having female agents be such a surprise?

"Underground Railway"? As in the States? Getting slaves out of the South? Mannberg is obviously talking about this woman's setup to get the Likharevs out of Russia. Interesting that the Russians use a term from American history.

Gehlen said, "Send her 'Act at your discretion.'"

"Signed?" Mannberg asked.

Gehlen pointed his index finger at his chest.

I wonder what your code name is?

"Jawohl, Herr General," Mannberg said.

"Why don't we all go down to the bar and have a drink before we feed the nice men from the Pentagon?" Cronley asked.

"Once again," Dunwiddie said, "are you sure that's what you want to do, have us all there?"

"I don't want to face them all by my lonesome," Cronley replied.

But that's not the only reason I want everybody there.

In three days I will become chief, Directorate of Central Intelligence-Europe, which means essentially Operation Ost. I have zero, zilch qualifications to be given such an enormous responsibility. But I will have it, and I am about to compound the problem of the Pentagon's determination to take over control of Operation Ost from what they correctly believe to be a wholly unqualified-and very junior-officer by s.h.i.+fting into what Colonel Robert Mattingly has often referred to as my "loose-cannon" mode.

Specifically, I am going to apply what I was taught at my alma mater, Texas A&M: The best defense is a good offense.

If I told Tiny and Fat Freddy what I plan to do, they would conclude that I was once again going to do something monumentally stupid-and G.o.d knows I have quite a history of doing that. They would possibly, even probably, go along with me out of loyalty, but that's a two-way street.

If, as is likely, even probable, this blows up in my face, I want both Tiny and Freddy to be able to truthfully tell Mattingly, and/or General Greene-for that matter, Admiral Souers-that they had no idea how I planned to deal with Lieutenant Colonel Parsons and Major Ashley. So I can't tell them.

The same applies to General Gehlen. While my monumental ego suggests he would probably think it might be a good idea, I don't know that. So I can't tell him. If I did, and he suggested ever so politely that I was wrong, I would stop. And I can't stop, because it's the only way I can think of to deal with Parsons and Ashley.

[THREE].

The Main Dining Room Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Maximilianstra.s.se 178 Munich, American Zone of Occupation, Germany 2000 29 December 1945 Lieutenant Colonel George H. Parsons and Major Warren W. Ashley were not in the dining room when Cronley, Gehlen, Mannberg, Dunwiddie, and Hessinger arrived, but the table was set with places for everyone.

Important people arrive last, right? Screw you, Parsons!

Cronley took the chair at the head of the table.

"General, why don't you sit here?" Cronley said, pointing to the first side chair. "So that when Colonel Parsons arrives, he can sit across from you."

Gehlen, his face expressionless, sat where Cronley suggested.

Cronley then pointed to people and chairs and everyone sat where he pointed.

Twenty minutes later, Colonel Parsons-a tall, trim forty-five-year-old-and Major Ashley-a shorter thirty-six-year-old version of Parsons-walked into the dining room. Both were in pinks and greens, and both of them wore the lapel insignia of the General Staff Corps and the shoulder insignia of the Military District of Was.h.i.+ngton.

Parsons marched on Cronley, who stood up but didn't put down his whisky gla.s.s.

"Glad to see you again, Cronley," Parsons said. "Sorry to be late. Tied up. Couldn't be helped."

"Good evening, Colonel," Cronley replied. "I was about to introduce you to General Gehlen, but he just told me he thinks you met when he was in Was.h.i.+ngton."

"No," Parsons said.

"My mistake," Gehlen said. "There was a Colonel Parsons at Fort Hunt, and I thought it might be you. But-"

"I don't have the pleasure of Herr Gehlen's acquaintance," Parsons said, and put out his hand.

"Herr Gehlen"? Okay, Colonel, if you want to go down that route, fine.

"And this is Oberst-Colonel-Mannberg, General Gehlen's deputy," Cronley said. "And Mr. Hessinger, who is my chief of staff, and Captain Dunwiddie, my deputy." He paused and then said, "And you're Major Ashburg, right?"

"Ashley, Captain Cronley, Ashley," Ashley corrected him.

"Right," Cronley said. "I'm bad with names. Well, gentlemen, I'm really glad you were free to join us. We're celebrating Captain Dunwiddie's commissioning."

"General Greene mentioned that you had been . . ." Parsons began.

Cronley interrupted him by calling for a waiter.

". . . in Frankfurt," Parsons went on, "for the promotion ceremony."

"Yes, we flew up when General Smith let it be known that (a) he would like to partic.i.p.ate, and (b) that he wanted a word with General Gehlen."

"General Smith wanted to partic.i.p.ate?" Major Ashley asked, either dubiously or in surprise.

Thank you for that question, Major Ashley.

"It turned out-Dunwiddie never told us-that when he was born-what did General Smith say, Tiny? 'In the age of the dinosaurs'?-his father's company commander was Captain Smith."

"Oh, so you're from an Army family, Captain?" Parsons asked.

"Yes, sir."

"And you, Captain Cronley?"

The waiter appeared, saving Cronley from having to answer. When the waiter had taken their orders, Parsons had a fresh question.

"Let me go off on a tangent," he said. "You said you flew up to Frankfurt, and presumably flew back. Is there reliable air service between here and Frankfurt? The reason I ask is that it's a long ride on the train, and I expect that I'll have to-myself and Major Ashley will have to-go up there often."

"You're asking about MATS? The Air Force Military Air Transport Service?"

"Yes, of course."

"I really have no idea."

"But you just said you flew back and forth to Frankfurt today. How did you do that?"

"I loaded the general and Dunwiddie into a Storch, wound up the rubber bands, and took off."

"What's a Storch?"

"It's a German airplane. Sort of a super Piper Cub. We have two of them."