Secret Honor (Honor Bound 3)

TO: IMMEDIATE AND PERSONAL ATTENTION OF THE REICH AMBASSADOR TO ARGENTINA BUENOS AIRES

HEIL HITLER!

RECEIPT OF YOUR MOST SECRET OF 20 APRIL 1943 IN RE THE DEATHS OF STANDARTENFÜHRER GOLTZ AND OBERST GRÜNER IS ACKNOWLEDGED AND HAS BEEN RECEIVED WITH THE GRAVEST CONCERN. THE SITUATION IS BEING EVALUATED AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF THE GOVERNMENT.

AT THE REQUEST OF GENERALFELDMARSCHALL KEITEL, REICHSFÜHRER-SS HIMMLER HAS SECONDED SS-OBERFÜHRER MANFRED VON DEITZBERG TO THE OBERKOMMANDO DER WEHRMACHT, WHERE HE WILL SERVE AS GENERALMAJOR OF THE GENERAL STAFF. FELDMARSCHALL KEITEL, REICHSLEITER BORMANN, REICHSFÜHRER HIMMLER AND I ARE AGREED THAT GENERALMAJOR VON DEITZBERG WILL SUPERVISE THE INVESTIGATION OF THIS INCIDENT. VON DEITZBERG WILL PROCEED TO BUENOS AIRES IN THIS CAPACITY ON THE NEXT LUFTHANSA FLIGHT. DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER GEORG VON LÖWZER AND STANDARTENFÜHRER ERICH RASCHNER WILL TRAVEL TO BUENOS AIRES AT THE SAME TIME.

ADDITIONALLY, WITH THE CONCURRENCE OF ADMIRAL CANARIS, I HAVE DESIGNATED KORVETTENKAPITÄN KARL BOLTITZ AS NAVAL ATTACHÉ AND HE WILL PROCEED TO BUENOS AIRES AS SOON AS CERTAIN ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS CAN BE CONCLUDED.

THE PRESENCE IN BERLIN OF FIRST SECRETARY GRADNY-SAWZ, MAJOR FREIHERR VON WACHTSTEIN AND STURMBANNFÜHRER VON TRESMARCK OF THE EMBASSY OF THE GERMAN REICH IN MONTEVIDEO WILL BE REQUIRED IN THIS REGARD. YOU ARE DIRECTED TO ADVISE THE GERMAN AMBASSADOR IN MONTEVIDEO, AND TO ARRANGE FOR THESE OFFICERS THE HIGHEST PRIORITY FOR TRAVEL TO BERLIN ON THE NEXT LUFTHANSA FLIGHT.

IT IS PRESENTLY INTENDED THAT THESE OFFICERS WILL BE RETURNED TO THEIR POSTS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

AT THE DIRECTION OF THE FÜHRER.

VON RIBBENTROP, FOREIGN MINISTER OF THE GERMAN REICH.

* * *

If she were a man, von Lutzenberger thought for the five hundredth time, she would make an excellent Stabsfeldwebel—Regimental Sergeant Major.

He read it carefully, without expression.

It was more or less what von Lutzenberger had expected. The only good news was that he himself had not been ordered to Berlin—an order that would have carried with i

t the powerful suggestion that he was being held responsible for the deaths of Goltz and Grüner, or, worse, the failed attempt to smuggle the Operation Phoenix “special cargo” into Argentina.

That good news could change, of course, when Gradny-Sawz, von Tresmarck, and von Wachtstein were questioned by the SS—probably by Himmler himself.

He thought a moment about the specific ways the good news could become bad.

Gradny-Sawz, for starters, now believed that von Wachtstein had nothing to do with how the Americans learned the details of the “special shipment” landing; but if it looked to him as if he were himself under deep suspicion, a man who had betrayed his country would have no compunctions about throwing someone to the wolves—anyone: von Tresmarck, von Deitzberg, von Wachtstein, or even Ambassador Graf Manfred Alois von Lutzenberger.

As for von Tresmarck, von Lutzenberger knew very little about him except that he was SS, and that meant that he would be perfectly willing to point his finger at anyone at all, to divert it from being pointed at him.

It was bad news pure and simple that von Ribbentrop was sending von Löwzer, a dangerous man and, even worse, a devout Nazi.

It was even worse news that they had chosen to send von Deitzberg, a far more dangerous Nazi, even though it had to be expected that the hierarchy would send someone from the SS to conduct an investigation.

The naval officer was obviously one of Canaris’s agents, and was probably going to take over Grüner’s Abwehr intelligence functions. And von Deitzberg’s deputy, Raschner, was almost certainly going to take over Grüner’s Sicherheitsdienst responsibilities.

Somebody—probably Canaris—had recognized that it had been a mistake for Grüner to serve as both the senior Sicherheitsdienst officer and the Abwehr’s resident agent under cover of his military attaché function. Not only was it too much responsibility for one man, but the Abwehr liked to keep an eye on the Sicherheitsdienst, and vice versa, and that was impossible if both offices were held by the same man.

Of course, come to think of it, it is entirely possible that von Deitzberg’s primary mission might be to make sure the next attempt to smuggle the “special cargo” into Argentina is successful. Despite what the message said.

Speculation is useless. I will know what they are after only after they arrive.

He looked up at Fräulein Hassell. “Ingebord, is Herr Gradny-Sawz in the Embassy?”

“Not yet, Sir. The First Secretary normally arrives at nine.”

“And Major von Wachtstein?”

“The Herr Major will probably come at the same time, Excellency.”

“As soon as they find time to come to work, would you ask them to see me immediately, Ingebord?”

“Jawohl, Excellency.”