The Honor of Spies

"Everyone was loaded onto the truck, which then drove to this point, near Dolores--about two kilometers from here--where von Deitzberg detrucked and got into a Mercedes sedan--diplomatic license tags--driven by the first secretary of the German Embassy, Anton von Gradny-Sawz. That car took off in the direction of Buenos Aires.

"Twenty minutes ago, the car passed this checkpoint"--Cortina pointed with the riding crop--"which leads us to suspect that it is headed for the petit-hotel at O'Higgins and Jose Hernandez in Belgrano, which von Gradny-Sawz recently leased. We should know that for sure in an hour or two.

"The truck then proceeded to this point"--Cortina pointed again--"on the road to Tres Arroyos. There is a field there in which Company B of the 10th Mountain Regiment had bivouacked overnight while on a road march exercise. The SS officer and his men left Senor Loche's truck and got into two trucks belonging to Company B.

"Cranz and Raschner conferred briefly with el Coronel Schmidt, commander of the 10th Mountain Regiment, and then everybody left. Herr Loche's truck, carrying the Argentinos who had been on the beach, plus Cranz and Raschner, headed up National Route Two toward Buenos Aires--"

He paused and pointed at another map.

"--and twenty minutes ago passed this point. Thirty minutes ago, the Mountain Troop convoy passed this point--" He pointed at another map. "It seems logical to presume they are on their way home to San Martin de los Andes."

Cortina turned his back to the map.

"Does el Coronel wish to add anything?"

Martin said, "No. You covered everything very nicely. But the Inspector General might have a question."

" 'Might have a question'?" Nervo asked. "Jesus Christ! I don't know where to start!"

"Maybe at the beginning?" Martin asked.

"How the hell did you know where and when the submarine was going to be in Samborombon Bay?"

"An American friend told me."

"Your friend Frade?"

"No. I understand Don Cletus is on his way to Lisbon."

"Another American friend, then. You are going to tell me who?"

"He speaks Spanish like a Porteno, and wears--convincingly--the garb of a gaucho. There is a rumor that he is a U.S. Navy officer working for something called the OSS."

"And he's a friend of yours?" Subinspector General Nolasco asked in credulously.

Martin nodded.

"How did your gaucho friend know about the submarine?" Nervo asked.

"They had a radio device, called a radar, which allows them to see things on the River Plate almost to Uruguay. At night. Even through fog."

"And this machine is where, did you say?"

"There's a rumor it's on Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo."

"You seem to have become very friendly with our American friends," Nervo said.

"I didn't plan it, but that seems to be the way it's turned out," Martin admitted.

"That's what it looks like."

"You're sure it was el Coronel Schmidt?"

"Yeah. This is the second time he's used his trucks to get Germans from Samborombon Bay to San Martin de los Andes. This time I think we have photographs of him."

"Think?"

"The film should be at the Edificio Libertador by now, being processed."

"What's in the wooden crate?" Nolasco asked.

"Money or gold. Or diamonds, other precious metals. Probably some of each."

"A crate full?" Nolasco asked incredulously.

"You didn't tell him about Operation Phoenix, Santiago?"

"He told me. I didn't believe it," Nolasco admitted.

"Didn't, or don't?"

"I'm starting to believe it."

"Then maybe you'd also believe that machine guns from el Coronel Schmidt's Mountain Regiment are what just about took down Don Cletus's house in Tandil." He paused, then added: "And that there are photographs of el Coronel Juan Domingo Peron standing beside those machine guns."

"You asked me to back off from that, and I did," Nervo said. "Peron was there, and you have pictures of him?"

"Peron was there, and Don Cletus has pictures."

"You believe that?" Nervo said. "Not that I wouldn't believe anything I heard about that degenerate sonofabitch."

"I believe it," Martin said. "The question now becomes: Do you believe what Cortina just told you?"

"Yeah, I believe it," Nervo said. "You're not smart enough to come up with this yourself."

"Thank you."

"The question I have is: What are you going to do with it?" Nervo said.

"I know what I'm supposed to do with it."

"If you took this to Obregon, you and everybody connected with you would be dumped in the River Plate halfway to Montevideo," Nervo said.

El General de Division Manuel Frederico Obregon was director of the Bureau of Internal Security.

"He's another asshole who thinks Hitler and the Nazis are saving the world from the Antichrist," Nolasco said bitterly.

"That thought, both of those thoughts, have run through my mind," Martin said.

"What about taking it to Rawson?" Nervo said. "Lauffer?"

It was obvious that Lauffer was choosing his words before speaking them.

"I really like General Rawson," he said. "He's a good man, but . . ."

"Not very strong, right?" Nervo said sarcastically.

Lauffer did not respond directly.