Victory and Honor (Honor Bound 6)

That caused general laughter.

“Even though,” Dulles added, “the gentleman in question clearly deserves it.”

More laughter.

“And your other two questions?” Dulles asked.

“How much time do we have before they shut down the OSS?”

“I really don’t know,” Dulles replied. “Much depends on what happens in the Pacific. Or, more precisely, President Truman’s perception of what will happen there. If he thinks that the war will continue for some time, he may decide that the OSS might prove useful and not shut us down immediately. On the other hand, if he thinks the Emperor will surrender—or seek an armistice, or something unexpected happens . . .”

Dulles met Frade’s eyes for a moment.

Clete thought: He’s talking about that superbomb, that “atomic” bomb!

“. . . in the near term, he may decide the OSS is no longer needed.”

Schultz was not satisfied with that answer.

“Time frame?” he pursued.

“From tomorrow to possibly as late as October or November. Sorry, Jefe, that’s really the best I can do.”

“And what are our priorities during that time?”

“Right now there are two. I’m not sure which priority is most important; both could be. Immediately, I would lean toward protecting the Gehlen operation. Because if President Truman hears about it—especially via Treasury Secretary Morgenthau—he will very likely order that the OSS be shut down that instant. And then probably order the arrest of everybody concerned with the Gehlen operation.

“I think that alone explains the absolute necessity for keeping it a secret. But let me express further how important it is: A moment ago, I said that you could not take out Colonel Flowers despite his having proven to be a danger to the OSS. That said, if Colonel Flowers were to learn of the Gehlen operation, and was about to pass what he had learned, or even thinks he had learned, on to anyone—”

“Then we could shoot him?” Schultz interrupted.

“That’s a very tough call to make, Jefe, and we would have to be absolutely sure the Gehlen operation was in imminent danger of being compromised. But . . .”

“Understood,” Schultz said, nodding.

Dulles added, “Colonel Frade, I think it important that you understand that.”

“I understand,” Clete said. “And what I want everyone else to understand is that we are not going to take out Colonel Flowers until I am sure we have to. I’ll make that decision. Everybody got that?”

There were nods and mumbles of “Got it” and “Okay.”

“Not good enough,” Clete said. “You will respond, Mr. Schultz, by saying, ‘Aye, aye, sir.’ Army personnel will respond by saying, ‘Yes, sir. I understand the order.’”

There was something in the tone of his voice that discouraged either wisecracks or insubordination.

“Aye, aye, sir,” Schultz said.

This was followed by multiple, overlapping, replies of “Yes, sir, I understand the order.”

“Thank you,” Frade said. “Please continue, Mr. Dulles.”

“The second problem falls under what I mentioned earlier,” Dulles said, “about the dangers unique to the end of a war. There has been a great deal of confusion—and, at times, outright chaos—leading up to the Germans agreeing to surrender unconditionally. And now afterward. Accordingly, the intelligence that we have, and continue to gather, is all over the chart. Some of it is solid and reliable. And some is so wild that it boggles the mind.”

“Let’s hear the wild stuff,” Pelosi said.

Schultz, sitting next to Pelosi, looked at him and chimed in: “Yeah, I’d like to hear something worse than the news that we’re being disbanded and taken over by our worst nightmare.”

There were a couple chuckles.