Curtain of Death (Clandestine Operations 3)

“And

told you I’m chief, DCI-Europe?” Cronley demanded angrily.

“He did. And he told me the circumstances.”

“Jesus Christ! And what did he tell you those circumstances were? And more important, why was he telling you about them?”

“To answer your second question first: He said that he knew Colonel Mattingly and I were friends, and because of that, he thought I should know what the actual circumstances of your appointment were should Colonel Mattingly come to see me. Which, shortly after General Greene came to see me, Colonel Mattingly in fact did.”

“What did he want?”

Wassermann took a moment to collect his thoughts.

“What General Greene led me to believe he would: to enlist me on the side of those who believe that DCI and, specifically, DCI-Europe have to be taken over by G-2 here and in the Pentagon. And, Mr. Cronley, if General Greene had not come to see me and told me what he did, I would have enlisted. Both because Bob Mattingly is not only an old friend, but an officer for whom I have a great deal of admiration.”

“Tell me what General Greene told you,” Cronley said.

“In brief, or in detail?”

“In detail. Every fucking detail.”

Cronley sensed Mannberg’s eyes on him. When Cronley raised his eyebrow, Mannberg nodded, just perceptibly.

Jesus! I expected an icy Gehlen-style glare.

But that nod means I’m doing the right thing!

“General Greene told me he had no authority to tell me what he was about to tell me, but that he had decided because of my assignment, and because he knew Bob Mattingly and I were friends, that he was going to tell me, even if I wasn’t in the loop.

“He said that he had just come from seeing General White. He said General White had told him that Admiral Souers had gone to see him at Fort Riley, just before he came back over here, bearing a letter from President Truman. The handwritten letter made it clear that Souers was speaking with the authority of the President.

“General White said Souers told him about the formation of DCI, and the command structure of DCI-Europe. The major problem DCI-Europe would face was that the OSS’s movement of Germans to Argentina would be exposed. That Operation Ost would be placed under DCI-Europe. Ensuring that Operation Ost remained secret was the highest priority.

“The second most important problem facing DCI-Europe—the DCI itself—was that its formation was going to displease the Pentagon, the Navy, the State Department, and the FBI, all of whom had urged the President to disestablish the OSS and have its functions transferred to them.

“Almost immediately after disestablishing the OSS, the President realized that he had made a mistake. He—the Office of the President—needed an OSS-like organization answerable only to the President. By Executive Order, he established the DCI and named Admiral Souers as director.

“General Greene told me that General White had told him that Admiral Souers had told him that he—Souers—had been selected for two reasons. One was that the President had turned over to Souers—then assistant chief of naval intelligence—just about all of the OSS operations, including Ost, that had to be kept running when the OSS was disestablished.

“The second reason was that the President and Admiral Souers were close, longtime personal friends. He trusted him. General White said that Admiral Souers told him that he had told the President that it was to be expected that Army G-2, which had some nominal authority over the OSS—more in law than in fact—would now begin to attempt to swallow DCI, starting with DCI-Europe, and that he didn’t think that should be allowed to happen.

“White told me that Souers’s recommendation to keep that from happening was to make Generals McNarney and Bull aware of the President’s desires and to establish a command structure within DCI-Europe which could resist the efforts of USFET G-2 to take it over.

“It was generally assumed that Colonel Mattingly would be named chief, DCI-Europe. Souers recommended that Colonel Mattingly remain with USFET-CIC, where he and many OSS officers had been assigned when the OSS had been disestablished. Souers had met Mattingly and had come to the conclusion that Mattingly, who had applied for a regular army commission, would likely decide that his bread would be better buttered if he joined those who believed that G-2 should swallow DCI-Europe.

“White said that Souers told him he had suggested to the President a scenario which might solve most of their problems. The President had recently met a very young OSS officer to whom he had awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and promoted from second lieutenant to captain for something he’d done in South America that remains classified.”

“The DSM?” Spurgeon blurted. “What the hell did you do?”

“I just said, Lieutenant, that General White said that was classified,” Wassermann said. “Button your lip, Charley!”

“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”

“General White said that Admiral Souers had recommended to the President that for both obfuscation and to, quote, have someone to throw to the wolves should Operation Ost be exposed, unquote, newly promoted Captain Cronley could be named chief, DCI-Europe. The appointment of a junior officer to that post, when it inevitably became known, would tend to suggest that DCI-Europe, and thus Operation Ost, was not very important.

“The question of having a more senior and more experienced officer on hand to both advise Captain Cronley and to step into the chief, DCI-Europe, post should that become necessary would be solved by assigning another former OSS officer, Major Harold Wallace, who was now in USFET CIC, to command a CIC detachment in Munich. General White told me the President had also approved that scenario and it was put in place.

“That’s about it, Mr. Cronley,” Wassermann concluded.