"Let me tell you something, Lieutenant Pelosi," Graham said, and paused, framing what he was about to say. "First, Sergeant Ettinger is dead because he disobeyed Major Frade's order to stay on the estancia. Get that clear in your head. Second, you are an officer in the United States Army, not a thug working for Al Capone in Chicago. Standartenf?hrer Goltz is not an Italian gangster who may be killed according to the Mafia Code of Honor as it applies to revenge. Are you with me so far?"
"Yes, Sir," Tony said, coming to attention. He was now on the carpet and knew it.
"Good!" Graham went on. "Third, the OSS is a military organization. On occasion it may be necessary for us to eliminate people, but we only do so when there is an unmistakable military necessity to do so-and revenge never meets that criterion. In this situation, the elimination of Standartenf?hrer Goltz would be counterproductive."
"What did he say, Se¤or Clete?" Enrico asked.
"He says Tony cannot blow Goltz's brains out his ears," Clete said.
There was something in Major Frade's flippant sarcasm-which was enough to cause Captain Maxwell Ashton to chuckle-that caused Colonel Graham to turn his wrath tot Major Frade.
"This applies to you, too, Frade," he said angrily. "I find it difficult to be-lieve that you are unaware of the importance of Operation Lindbergh to the de-gree that you would even think, much less seriously suggest, that we assassinate the man who is the key to it, Standartenf?hrer Goltz."
Enrico glared at Graham.
"What did he say?"
Clete's mouth ran away with him.
"He says I can't shoot Goltz between the eyes, either," Clete replied.
Captain Ashton chuckled again, which was enough to ignite the Latin tem-per of Alejandro Fredrico Graham, Colonel, USMCR.
"I've had about all I intend to take from you, Frade!" Graham flared, turned to Ashton, pointed his finger at him, and nearly shouted, "This is not funny, goddamn it, Ashton!"
"Sorry, Sir," Ashton said, but he did not seem genuinely contrite.
Commander Delojo looked pleased, having decided that Major Frade was about to receive his long-overdue comeuppance.
But when Graham turned back to Clete, he had regained control of his tem-per.
"I should not have to spell this out for you, Clete, but I will," he said rea-sonably. "The elimination of Goltz would cause the people he works for to ask themselves who did that and why. They would quite logically conclude that it was probably you. Since they are aware that you are OSS, they probably would wonder how much you-and the OSS- have learned about what we are call-ing Operation Lindbergh. They would therefore take greater pains in the future to ensure the secrecy and security of Operation Lindbergh, which, of course, they will continue to operate. Are you with me so far?"
"Yes, Sir."
"The way things are now. we know-and the Germans do not know, or at least aren't sure that we know-about the operation, and that Goltz is running it, with the assistance of whatsisname-what's Bagman's name?"
"Von Tresmarck, Sir," Clete said.
"... of von Tresmarck in Montevideo," Graham went on. "Between you here, and Stevenson in Montevideo, plus Milt and Milt's people here, and the FBI in Montevideo, we can keep an eye on Lindbergh and von Tresmarck until the decision is made what to do about it."
"I don't understand that, Colonel," Clete said. "What decision?"
"That'll come from the President," Graham said. "Who so far hasn't been told about it. We're dealing with the lives of thousands of Jews in the concen-tration camps as well as the sanctuaries the Germans are trying to set up here and, maybe, in Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, and who knows where else. Deciding what to do about it is a decision I'm glad I don't have to make."
"Why hasn't the President been told?" Clete wondered aloud.
"Because Director Donovan doesn't wish to go to the President without more facts. Including the identity of Galahad, how come Galahad has knowl-edge of Lindbergh, and his motivations for telling us. I was sent down here specifically to obtain that information, Clete. That's how important Donovan thinks it is."
"Milton, you didn't know about this before?" Clete asked.
"I heard whispers," Leibermann said. "I asked around. The Jews know I'm from the Embassy, and almost certainly who I work for. A wall is up. And I'm the only Jew in the FBI down here, and the Jews here are not about to tell some norteamericano Irisher or Mormon about something like this."
"You heard what I said, Clete, about the primary reason I'm down here?" Graham asked.
"I'm sorry, I can't tell you any more about Galahad than I already have."
"We have to talk about that," Graham said without rancor, which almost visibly disappointed Commander Delojo.