“Mr. Stevens didn’t seem to know if you or Señor Delgano will require any instruction in the operation of the Lodestar,” Wallace said. “The pilots who flew it here are available if you do.”
“Captain Delgano, who is chief pilot of South American Airways, has been checked out in the Lodestar,” Frade said with a straight face, “but I am one of those who believe there is no such thing as too much training. So we gratefully accept your kind offer, General.”
“Then why don’t I see if I can round up the pilots and have them come here to set that up?”
“And while you’re doing that, perhaps Mr. Stevens can let me know what has to be done about the documentation?”
“Good idea,” General Wallace said. “So if you will excuse me, gentlemen?”
Two middle-aged men, both wearing four-stripe epaulets identifying them as airline captains, appeared several minutes later.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” one of them said in Spanish. “I’m Captain McMurray of Lockheed. I understand someone needs a little time in the Lodestar?”
Delgano’s relief that Spanish was being spoken was evident.
Introductions were made and they left, taking Delgano with them.
Dulles waited until the folding partition screen had been replaced, then asked, “Is he a good pilot, Clete?”
“He’s a very good pilot, with far more multiengine time than I have. He’s also a better—”
He stopped, realizing he was about to say something that he shouldn’t: “intelligence officer.”
This earned him a small smile from Dulles.
“Let me make the proper introductions,” Dulles then said. “Major Frade, this is Lieutenant Fischer of the U.S. Army Signal Corps.”
“Sir,” Fischer said.
“How are you, Lieutenant?” Frade said.
“I think I should begin this by telling you Fischer has been cleared for Top-Secret Lindbergh,” Dulles said.
“He knows who Galahad is?” Frade blurted.
“Not yet,” Dulles said, “but if you think about it, he’s going to figure that out even if you and I don’t tell him. One of the problems no one talks about in this area is those people who encrypt and decrypt messages get to read them.”
Frade nodded.
“Colonel Graham found Lieutenant Fischer at Vint Hill Farms Station,” Dulles went on, and when he saw on Frade’s face that he had no idea what that was, he explained. “That’s the Army Security Agency base near Washington. The ASA does signal intelligence—intercepts, that sort of thing—and communications counterintelligence. And cryptography. That’s where Fischer primarily comes in; he’s an expert.”
Frade nodded.
“The original idea,” Dulles went on, “when Colonel Graham decided you needed better cryptographic equipment than you have was to get you something better from the ASA. They offered a SIGABA, and then the services of someone—Fischer here—to accompany the device to Argentina. The equipment is quite delicate, I understand.”
“So my commo man tells me,” Frade said.
“But then the situation changed a bit when Graham realized first that the President is determined to learn who Galahad is, on one hand, and, on the other, is quite concerned that the ransoming operation does not become known to people who shouldn’t know about it.”
“He knows about that, too?”
“Only in the most general of terms,” Dulles said. “But that brings us back to those who handle encrypted material get to read it. So when Colonel Graham and I discussed this, we decided that we had to bring Fischer on board, so to speak.”
“Can you explain that?”
“Once Fischer gets both the SIGABA device and the Collins transceivers up and running, he will return to Vint Hill Farms Station. All your communications vis-à-vis the ransoming operation, Galahad, and that regicide business we were talking about yesterday will, with their own code, be routed through Fischer at Vint Hill, and passed only to Colonel Graham and myself.”
“Not to General Donovan?”