Blood and Honor (Honor Bound 2)

"Vis-a-vis Oberst Frade," Goltz went on, "I am convinced that there is an understanding on the part of the Argentine military that we did what had to be done, and, more important, that our audacity in the matter is respected. And vis--a-vis the repatriation of the Graf Spee officers, I feel that the same thing will happen. Do you disagree, Graf von Lutzenberger?"

"There probably is something to what you say," von Lutzenberger said. "I would suggest the resentment from Frade's close friends will be the greater problem..."

"It will pass," Goltz said firmly.

"... we are going to have to deal with," von Lutzenberger went on, "mag-nified, of course, if one of his friends, General Rawson, for example, became President of Argentina. Do I correctly infer from your orders, Herr Standartenf?hrer, that I am forbidden to a

sk for reconsideration of the plan to break the in-terned officers out?" von Lutzenberger said.

"You and I, Graf von Lutzenberger, are forbidden to do anything about our orders but carry them out."

"The highest priority, as I understand it, is to move these funds ashore?" Gr?ner asked.

Ah, the military mind, von Lutzenberger thought. When you receive an or-der, you start to plan to carry it out. Never consider the morality; that is a ques-tion for your betters.

"Safely ashore," Goltz said.

"Then the major problem, in my opinion, would be to find some absolutely secure place to store these funds once they are ashore. Taking them off the ship will be a relatively simple matter. Perhaps it would be better to attempt to find two, or three, or even six places to store the material. So that, in case one loca-tion is detected, all would not be lost-"

"Herr Oberst," Goltz interrupted. "I appreciate your enthusiasm. But I think we all need now to take some time-twenty-four hours, perhaps even forty-eight-to think all of this over. Afterward, we shall meet again, and dis-cuss specifics. I caution you to discuss any of this with no one not present here." He paused. "Unless there is someone?"

"I was thinking of Major von Wachtstein," Gr?ner said. "I think we will need him. For one thing, he is very friendly with the man who runs the Anglo-Argentine bank. For another, his Spanish is impeccable."

"Can he be trusted?" Goltz asked.

"I would say so, Josef," Gradny-Sawz said. "He is a fine young officer of an old Pomeranian family. He received the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross from the hands of the F?hrer himself."

"Graf von Lutzenberger?"

"He is a trustworthy officer," von Lutzenberger said. "And I agree with Gr?ner. I'm sure we'll need him, if we're to be involved in a matter of this kind. He flies our Storch, and I can see where-"

"All right, then," Goltz cut him off. "You may bring him into this, Graf von Lutzenberger."

"I don't mean to challenge your authority in any way, but I would suggest that Oberst Gr?ner deal with Major von Wachtstein. For one thing, they are both soldiers."

That distances me from Peter, and if he learns anything from Gr?ner, he'll tell me.

"Yes, perhaps it would be best if he did," Goltz said. He stood up.

"Thank you for your time, gentlemen," he said. "Have a pleasant weekend. I will look forward to hearing your further thoughts on this operation on Mon-day." And then he thought of something else: "Your secretary, Graf von Lutzen-berger?"

"A reliable woman. A good National Socialist."

"We'll need someone to keep records, of course, but someone who is ab-solutely trustworthy."

"Fraulein Hassell is reliable," Gr?ner said.

"Well, then, we seem to have taken the first step in carrying out our orders, haven't we? We have chosen the members of our team," Goltz said. "Anton is going to give me a tour of the city."

He walked to and opened the door.

"Ready, Anton?"

"At your service, Josef," Gradny-Sawz said.

"Oh, one more thing," Goltz said, closing the door. "I made contact over the weekend with one of our agents here. He tells me that one of the OSS agents has been asking dangerous questions-the Jew, his name is Ettinger-" He inter-rupted himself to look at Gr?ner. "Not one of your agents, Herr Oberst. A spe-cial agent reporting directly to Reichsprotektor Himmler. His identity must remain a secret."

"I understand, Herr Standartenf?hrer," Gr?ner said. "Should I know, how-ever, the nature of the dangerous questions?"