Curtain of Death (Clandestine Operations 3)
Page 32
“Where,” Cronley asked in German, “did you get the hospital bed and stuff?”
Max replied in German: “The hospital loaned it to us.”
“And what,” Cronley asked in English, “was his prognosis?”
Max, still in German, replied: “He’ll probably have limited use of his right arm from here on, but aside from that, he’s all right. In pain, but all right. The hospital gave us some morphine.”
“Enough?”
“I think so,” Max replied in English and then switched to Russian. “Are you in pain? Would you like some morphine?”
The man in the bed showed no signs of understanding.
“This is Major Bischoff,” Cronley said in English. “Formerly of Abwehr Ost. Which I think you already know. I also think you speak English, Russian, and German. Your eyes gave you away. So when Major Bischoff comes back in here to talk to you, you can’t get away with pretending you don’t understand him.”
He gestured for the others to leave the room and then followed them out.
Tedworth closed the heavy door.
“Konrad,” Cronley said, “inasmuch as I don’t trust you—based on what you were doing to Colonel Likharev before I stopped you—to do nothing but try to talk to this guy, I’m ordering Sergeant Tedworth to break all the toes on your right foot before he calls to tell me you don’t know how to obey orders.”
“You really don’t have to be so melodramatic, Herr Cronley.”
“I think of it as being careful,” Cronley said. “I really want to turn this guy. And I really don’t want to put him in—”
“I will of course obey your orders, Herr Cronley.”
“As First Sergeant Tedworth will scrupulously obey mine. And now that’s been said, what are you thinking?”
“My intuition is that this man—he was in the passenger seat of their ambulance, not in the back or driving—is the officer in charge. And I think you are right that he speaks Russian, which is to be expected, and also German and English. All of that—plus the importance of the mission to kidnap Fräulein Colbert and her sergeant friend—makes me think he’s probably a se
nior NKGB captain, perhaps a major.”
“Not a lieutenant colonel or a colonel?” Tedworth asked.
“They’ve already lost one colonel. I doubt if they’d risk a colonel to kidnap a female sergeant.”
“They save the colonels to kidnap me?”
“Yes. I believe they would.”
“Do you think he can be turned?”
“Possibly. He knows what the alternative would be. It would be better for us if he knew Colonel Likharev is safe with his family in Argentina.”
“How could we do that?”
“A photograph of the Likharevs standing in front of a Buenos Aires landmark with one of them holding a recent copy of the Buenos Aires Herald showing readable recent headlines would probably do it.”
Cronley thought that over and grunted.
“As soon as I get back to the Compound, I’ll get that started,” he said. Then he turned to Tedworth. “Honest Abe, as I’ve told you before, Major Bischoff is very good at what he does. Watch him carefully and learn from him. And at the same time make sure—”
“That he obeys your orders. Yes, sir.”
“You about ready to go back to the Compound, Max?”
“Yes, sir.”