“I would suggest to the both of you,” Gehlen said, on the edge of unpleasantness, “that Captain Cronley’s ability to get his mind around all aspects of a statement, to question everything about a situation, not only is useful, but is far greater than your own. Jim, I hope you always ask whatever questions occur to you.”
He let that sink in a moment, and then went on.
“I was impressed with her from the first. Her ability to get from Moscow, where she was then stationed, to Vienna proved that she was high-ranking. It required false identity documents, et cetera, and carried the real risk that it was an Abwehr Ost plan to seize her.
“I don’t know this, but I suspect she told Nikolayevich Merkulov, the commissar of state security, or his deputy, Ivan Serov, that I had made overtures. They had to give her permission to go to Vienna. Why did they do so? For much the same reasons that I authorized Ludwig to meet with Mr. Dulles in Bern, when he first made overtures to me, to see what the head of OSS Europe had in mind.
“But what to keep in mind here is that what Rahil wanted to learn was what she might get from Abwehr Ost that would benefit Mossad, and only secondarily the NKGB.
“What is that phrase, Jim, you so often use? ‘Cutting to the chase’? Cutting to the chase here, very slowly, very carefully, Rahil and I developed mutual trust. I was useful to her, and she was useful to me. Much of what I learned about the plans of the NKGB for Abwehr Ost personnel when they won the war, I learned from Rahil.”
He paused for a moment and then went on.
“And much of what the NKGB initially learned about Mr. Dulles’s postwar plans for Abwehr Ost, they learned from me. It was what you call a ‘tough call,’ but in the end I decided it was necessary to tell her. It further cemented both our relationship with her and hers with her superiors in the NKGB.
“But I was not in contact with her from the time I surrendered to Major Wallace until I decided the importance of getting Mrs. Likharev out of Russia justified the risk. I wasn’t sure, when I told Ludwig to try to reestablish the link, that she was still alive, or more importantly would be willing to reestablish our relationship.
“Fortunately for us, she has apparently decided—and let me restate this—that the good the Süd-Deutsche Industrielle Entwicklungsorganisation can do for the Mossad justifies the risks entailed in getting the Likharevs out of Russia.”
“What good can we do Mossad?” Cronley asked.
“Rahil will think of something,” Gehlen said. “And if she manages to get the Likharevs out, we will be in her debt.”
“Yes, we will,” Cronley thought out loud.
“I don’t think Colonel Parsons even suspects anything about the Likharev situation,” Gehlen said. “And we have to keep it that way. It’s just the sort of thing he’s looking for.”
“I don’t see where that will be a problem,” Cronley said.
“The problems that cause the most trouble are often the ones one doesn’t suspect will happen,” Gehlen said.
No one replied.
“If you don’t have anything else for us, Jim,” Gehlen went on, “may I suggest we’re through here?”
“I’ll drive you to Pullach, General,” Hessinger said. “I’m going to need the Kapitän in the morning.”
“I’ll drive everybody to Pullach,” Cronley said. “I have to go to Kloster Grünau. When do you need the car in the morning?”
“Nine. Nine-thirty. No later than ten.”
“I’ll either have one of Tiny’s guys bring it back tonight, or I’ll bring it back in the morning.”
“You want me to go with you, Jim?”
“No. Thank you, but no.”
“What do you have to do tonight at Kloster Grünau?” Dunwiddie asked.
“There’s a problem with one of the Storchs. I promised Schröder I’d have a look at it.”
“Tonight?”
“I promised him yesterday.”
That’s all bullshit. Schröder didn’t say anything about a problem with a Storch.
What I want to do is have a little time to think, and I won’t have it if I stay in Pullach, and I don’t want to spend the night in the Vier Jahreszeiten.