Blood and Honor (Honor Bound 2)

SS-SD STANDARTENFšHRER JOSEF GOLTZ (HEREAFTER BLACKSUIT) ARRIVED BUENOS AIRES BY LUFTHANSA 9 APRIL. SARNOFF BELIEVES HIGHLY PROBABLE THAT BLACKSUIT MISSION INVOLVES LINDBERGH WHICH COULD NOT OPERATE WITHOUT INVOLVEMENT OF HIGHLY PLACED GERMAN

OFFICIALS.

RELIABLE SOURCE (HEREAFTER CAVALRY) INFORMED STACHIEF BLACKSUIT TODAY ORDERED ELIMINATION OF SARNOFF ONLY REPEAT SARNOFF ONLY AS PRIORITY PROJECT. CAVALRY BELIEVES BLACKSUIT PROBABLY ORDERED ASSASSINATION OF WHITEHORSE.

"Whitehorse is... was... Frade's father, right?" Donovan asked. "Who's this reliable source, 'Cavalry'?"

"I can only guess. The Ambassador messaged that the red carpet was really rolled out for Frade when he arrived in Argentina. The War Minister, General Ramirez, met his plane and took him to the place where they had his father laid out in state. It could be Ramirez, but I doubt it. Ramirez was Infantry, and Frade's calling whoever it is 'Cavalry.' Maybe General Rawson. He was Cav-alry, and he and Colonel Frade were close. Whoever it is, it's somebody high enough up to have access to their intelligence about German activities. Which also means they must have somebody in the German Embassy."

Donovan considered that, nodded, and went on reading.

STACHIEF BELIEVES BLACKSUIT SPECIAL INTEREST IN SARNOFF MAY ALSO BE DUE SARNOFF'S QUESTIONING SHIPPING INTERESTS WHICH MIGHT INVOLVE NEW GROCERYSTORE ACTIVITIES.

IF FURTHER INVESTIGATION OF LINDBERGH BY SARNOFF IS DIRECTED REQUEST AUTHORITY TO DISCUSS AND POSSIBLY EXCHANGE INFORMATION WITH VACUUM. ABSENT DIRECTION TO CONTRARY SARNOFF WILL CONTINUE INVESTIGATION OF LINDBERGH.

STACHIEF BELIEVES OPERATION OVERTURN WILL CONTINUE DESPITE LOSS OF WHITEHORSE. MEETING OF OVERTURN LEADERS THIS WEEKEND SUGGESTS STRONG POSSIBILITY OF EXECUTION IN NEAR FUTURE.

STACHIEF END

"Do we have anything on this Blacksuit?" Donovan asked.

"We have Goltz listed as Himmler's liaison officer to Mart¡n Bormann-to the Nazi party," Graham replied. "Longtime Nazi. I think we have to presume that (a) Frade's source is reliable and (b) this fellow has given orders to take out Sarnoff... Ettinger. I'm surprised."

"Why are you surprised? They took out the entire team we sent down there before we sent Frade's team."

"I'm surprised that

Blacksuit ordered the elimination of Ettinger only. You picked up on that?" Donovan nodded. "Why not the whole team? The team poses the same threat it did before to their replenishment vessel. So why only Ettinger?"

"You tell me."

"By meeting Frade with that delegation of brass hats-which included Rawson, who is likely to become President if Ramirez doesn't-it looks to me that Ramirez went out of his way to send a message to the Germans that he (a) didn't like what happened to Colonel Frade, (b) he's not afraid of the Germans, and (c) neither are a great big bunch of the other brass."

"I wish we knew who 'Cavalry' is," Donovan said. "I don't like this."

"You believe this ransoming business?"

Donovan nodded.

"Neither Frade nor Ettinger are investigators," he said. "Ettinger is a radio engineer. Frade is a pilot. If they turned this up, I think we have to presume that the FBI guy down there already knows all about it. More about it than Ettinger does. Would you agree?"

Graham nodded.

"I can just see J. Edgar going in to see the President with this ransom busi-ness-that is, if he hasn't already been in to see him," Donovan said: "T told you all along, Franklin, that the only thing the Oh So Social (So called by detractors of the OSS, a reference to the fact that many OSS senior officers and agents had been recruited from the upper echelons of business, the Ivy League schools, and society.) is doing down there is spending money and assets and spinning its wheels. My trained inves-tigators, following my mandate to handle all intelligence gathering in the West-ern Hemisphere, have known about this business from the beginning. The nation would be better served if you left this sort of thing to the professionals, to the FBI.'"

Graham smiled and chuckled.

"We took out the Reine de la Mer" he said. "How will Hoover get around that?"

"In the Gospel according to Saint Edgar, the Navy took out the Reine de la Mer. If it hadn't been for the subcommander's After Action Report, we would have had a hard time getting Frade and Pelosi Good Conduct Medals, instead of what they got."

Graham nodded again, remembering the words: When the President read them-Graham had personally taken the After Action Report to him-he or-dered the award of the Navy Cross to Frade, and the next-highest award for con-spicuous valor, the Silver Star, to Pelosi.

19. The undersigned desires to state in conclusion that accomplishment of this mission would have been impossible had it not been for both the professional skill and personal valor of First Lieutenant C. H. Frade, USMCR, and Second Lieutenant A. J. Pelosi, AUS, who, in order to illuminate the target, flew their small unarmed aircraft deliberately into range of the heavy machine gun and automatic cannon antiaircraft weaponry aboard the Reine de la Mer in the certain knowledge that their aircraft would be hit, and probably destroyed, which in fact proved to be the case. Their dedication to duty and personal courage in the face of what appeared to be near-certain death was inspirational, and in keeping with the highest traditions of the Naval Service and the United States Army.

Bryce J. Stevens

Commander, USN