After a moment’s thought, Hansel said, “If you two could carry him up the passenger stairway, and then down the aisle . . .”
“Not a problem, sir,” Sergeant Clark said.
He bent over the stretcher, unfastened the buckles, picked Dzerzhinsky up, and then, cradling him in his arms, walked without apparent effort up the passenger stairway. Lewis followed.
“Sturdy fellow, isn’t he?” Major Johansen observed.
“Well, that’s it,” Cronley said. “Thank you for waiting, Captain von Wachtstein.”
“Happy to oblige.”
“When you get close to Buenos Aires, it might be a good idea to call ahead to have an ambulance and a stretcher waiting.”
“I can do that.”
“Have a nice flight,” Cronley finally said. “You, too, Father Welner.”
“I’m sure it will be less stressful than my last flight. God bless you, Jim.”
He then started up the stairway.
Von Wachtstein shook Cronley’s hand, and then Major Johansen’s, and started toward the crew ladder.
“Captain,” one of the MP lieutenants said. “Don’t forget those two medics you have onboard.”
“They’re going,” Cronley said.
“Sir, I didn’t see any passports or travel orders,” the lieutenant said to Major Johansen.
Johansen looked at Cronley. Cronley turned so that only Johansen could see his face, and put his finger in front of his lips.
Johansen looked at him for a long moment.
“Not a problem, Stewart,” Johansen said. “It’s an intelligence matter. You didn’t see those medics get on that airplane. I’ll explain later.”
“Yes, sir.”
Both sets of stairs were pulled away, and the doors closed.
There came the sound of engines starting, as Cronley shook Major Johansen’s hand and then walked toward the ambulances.
[ ELEVEN ]
Park Hotel
Wiesenhüttenplatz 28-38
Frankfurt am Main
American Zone, Occupied Germany
1705 9 November 1945
Cronley took a healthy sip of his double Dewar’s scotch whisky—to which, he decided, he was most certainly entitled—and went through his mental To Do list.
The major item—Orlovsky—was off the list obviously. So was the potential problem of someone questioning Kurt Schröder’s right to fly a U.S. Army Storch. He had flown back to Kloster Grünau immediately after dropping off Clark and Lewis at Eschborn. The ambulances would return to Kloster Grünau in the morning, after picking up Cronley at the hotel and then driving him to Eschborn to pick up his Storch.
Only two things remained to be done, he concluded, and the sooner he did them the better.