Frade said nothing for a long moment.
“What are you thinking, Cletus?” Dulles asked, finally.
“I was thinking that Len and I already have something in common,” Frade said. “I think we both wish we had never heard of any of this. Or of the fucking OSS.”
Dulles’s face showed no expression.
After a long moment, Dulles said, “There is one other thing.”
He stopped and leaned to the side of his chair. After a moment, Frade understood he was reaching for something. Something he probably had in a briefcase.
Dulles came up with a leather case containing a camera and slid it across the table to Frade.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a thirty-five-millimeter camera,” he said. “Specifically, a Leica I-C.”
“German?” Clete asked as he opened the case.
“German,” Dulles confirmed.
“It looks brand new.”
“It is. I bought it—actually, I bought three; all they had—in a camera store in Zurich a week or so ago.”
“What am I supposed to do with it?”
“When you’re in Argentina, I want you to take Len to see Herr and Frau Frogger,” Dulles said. “While he is with them, I want you to take a picture of Len with them. I want one of the Froggers to be holding that day’s La Nación newspaper.”
What the hell is this all about?
“Am I allowed to ask what this is all about?”
“Take at least a half-dozen shots, then change film and take another half-dozen. When you’ve done that, have the film developed. You have someplace where that can be done discreetly, I suppose?”
“I’m sure I can find one.”
“Then give one set of the negatives to Len, who will bring them to the United States when he returns. The other set is to be given to Commander Delojo at the embassy with instructions to send them in the diplomatic pouch, eyes-only Colonel Graham.”
“If I gave a roll of film to that sonofabitch, there would be prints at the Office of Naval Intelligence before Graham got the negatives. Didn’t Graham tell you about him?”
“Colonel Graham said that you weren’t especially fond of Delojo.”
“Delojo doesn’t know I have the Froggers. And I don’t want him to know. If Graham wants the ONI to have copies of these pictures—and learn I have the Froggers—I guess I can’t stop him. But I’m not giving Delojo any pictures. And what the hell are they for, anyway?”
“I have a feeling that the Froggers may be of some genuine use to us in several areas. I haven’t given it a good deal of thought so far, beyond thinking it would be very interesting if someone called on Oberstleutnant Frogger at Camp Clinton and showed him the photograph of his parents.”
“You’re sure he’s there?”
Dulles nodded.
“I sent a message last night, after we met. I got the confirmation just before we came here. He’s fully recovered from his wounds, and is regarded as a Class III, which I found interesting.”
“What’s a Class III?”
“I have no idea. I presume Colonel Graham thought I knew. I don’t. I sent a message asking for an explanation, but there’s been no answer, and now there’s no time for one.”
“Why not?”