"If they don't consider the airplane a threat, they won't fire on it," Graham said.
Clete said nothing, but shook his head in either resignation or, possibly, contempt.
"To continue," Graham went on. "From a two-mile distance, using telephoto lenses and the new film, we have the capability of making photographs, which, when enlarged, will permit us to see a man's mustache."
"Where do you plan to develop and enlarge this super film of somebody's mustache?" Clete asked. "Did anybody think of that?"
"The original idea was to have it developed at Porto Alegre," Graham said. "The Navy has a photo lab there. Ashton brought a supply of the special chem-icals with him. The original idea, of course, was to have photographic evidence that we were aware of the location of the Comerciante del Oceano Pacifico. This would be presented to the Argentine government in the hope that they would then order the Oceano Pacifico to leave its waters."
"Simply for anchoring in Samboromb¢n Bay?" Dorotea asked. "Why would we do that?"
"Why would we do that" is what she said.
"Because, Dorotea," Graham said, desperately trying to keep his annoy-ance at her question out of his voice, "because they would correctly infer that it was a subtle warning that unless they ordered the ship from their waters, the United States would take other action."
"'Other action' meaning what you did-as Cletus did-with the first ship?"
"Yes."
"That might work," Dorotea said.
Thank you very much. It warms the cockles of my heart to know that a nineteen-year-old girl approves of the best idea the Assistant Director for West-ern Hemisphere Operations of the OSS-and a half-dozen other people all old enough to be your father-could come up with after a hell of a lot of thought. And your beloved, Little Lady, didn't sink the Reine de la Mer all by himself. There was a destroyer and a submarine who made a little contribution to send-ing the Reine de la Mer down.
"I said, before, 'the original idea.' All of this planning, of course, was be-fore we became aware of Lindbergh, and of the intelligence Clete came up with last night," Graham went on. "Now there are two issues involved here. The, quote, neutral status, unquote, of the Comerciante del Oceano Pacifico, and the money Clete's source says they are going to smuggle ashore this morning."
"I don't quite understand," Dorotea said.
Graham glanced at Clete.
"What's the new idea?" Clete said.
"Maybe killing two birds with one stone," Graham said. "Or at least with one set of photographs. Tell me about this Air Service Captain... Delgano?"
"Delgano," Clete confirmed. "What about him?"
"I have the feeling he's more than just a pilot," Graham said.
"He's BIS," Clete said. "He works for Coronel Martin."
"You're sure?"
"He told me."
"OK. New plan. Tell me what you find wrong with it," Graham said. "You go pick up the Lockheed. Digression: Presumably Captain Delgano is going to help you fly it here, right? You cannot fly the Lockheed alone?"
"No. I mean, yes, I can fly the Lockheed alone. And I got Mart¡n to agree that I didn't need Delgano's help. It took some doing. He wanted Delgano to see what I planned to do with the Lockheed."
Is that one more proof, Graham wondered, that Cavalry is el Coronel Martin?
"So do I," Graham said. "Damn!"
"I'm not following any of this," Dorotea announced.
"What I wanted to do, Dorotea," Graham said, "was have Capitan Delgano aboard the Lockheed when we took the pictures of a boat leaving the Oceano Pacifico to smuggle something into Argentina. Of the boat leaving the Oceano Pacifico, of the boat landing on the shore of Samboromb¢n Bay, and returning to the Oceano Pacifico. Lieutenant Pelosi would take two photographs of every-thing, giving us a duplicate set of negatives. One set of negatives would be given to Capitan Delgano, together with the necessary special chemicals to de-velop them."
"Yeah," Clete said appreciatively. "He goes to Mart¡n and says, 'I know these are legitimate. I was there when they were taken.'"
"And the Americans have copies," Graham said. "So they couldn't simply ignore them-'What photographs?' Actually, it gives them a way out. Nobody has mentioned the other reason why the Comerciante del Oceano Pacifico is in Samboromb¢n Bay resupplying German submarines. The Argentines could then go to the Spanish ambassador and tell him they were ordering the Oceano Pacifico out of Argentine waters because it was caught in the act of smuggling, and here's the photographs to prove it."