The Assassination Option (Clandestine Operations 2)
“‘I’ll do what I can to help, of course,’” Gehlen parroted. “There are two things that make the Mossad so good, Jim. And they are really good. Even better than the Vatican. One is that they really believe in their cause. The second is what Friedrich just said. Jews all over the world are willing to help them, even eager. Ev
en when helping them violates the law.
“The same, I think, is true of Colonel Parsons and Major Ashley. Not only do they really believe Operation Ost, and the entire DCI, should be under the Pentagon, but as Jews all over, like our friend Friedrich here, are willing to help the Mossad, so will just about everybody in the Army support Parsons and Ashley.”
“I got the feeling earlier today that General Smith is on our side,” Cronley said.
“I’m sure he is. But I am not sure about every member of his staff who is in a position to help Colonel Parsons and hurt the DCI.”
“For the good of the service,” Dunwiddie said, drily sarcastic.
“Jesus Christ!” Cronley said. “So what it boils down to is that it’s us against just about everybody.”
“President Truman seems to be on our side. Or vice versa,” Gehlen said.
“Even though we’re the good guys,” Cronley went on, “maybe what we should do is connect somehow with this Mossad. Maybe they could show us where we can get some help. Right now, I feel like Custer at the Little Big Horn. Where did all these Indians come from?”
He expected a chuckle, or at least a smile, from Gehlen and the others. Dunwiddie and Hessinger did in fact smile. But Gehlen’s face was expressionless.
“You’re a Jew, Freddy,” Cronley went on. “How’s chances you can get your co-religionists, the super spies of Mossad, to come galloping to our rescue before we’re scalped?”
Hessinger, smiling, gave him the finger.
“Actually, in a sense, that’s already happening,” Gehlen said.
“Sir?”
What the hell is he talking about?
“Seven-K in Leningrad is a double agent. She’s an NKGB officer and a Mossad agent,” Gehlen said.
“My God!” Cronley said.
Gehlen smiled and nodded, and then went on: “One of the things Mossad is very good at is getting Jews out of Russia. When I realized getting Mrs. Likharev and her children out of Russia was really important, I asked her to help.”
This is surreal. His agent—which means our agent—in Leningrad is an agent—a female agent—of this super Jewish intelligence organization—Mossad—that I never heard of?
“Why would she do that?” Hessinger asked before Cronley could open his mouth to ask the identical question.
“Over the years, we have been helpful to one another,” Gehlen said. “I thought of that when Colonel Parsons told us he has had little experience with the ‘nitty-gritty’ side of intelligence. This is the nitty-gritty side.”
“I’m lost,” Cronley confessed.
“You’re aware that middle-to-high-level swine in the Schutzstaffel grew rich by allowing foreign Jews—so-called Ausländer Juden—particularly those in the United States—to buy their relatives and friends out of the death camps and to safety in Argentina or Paraguay?”
“Cletus Frade told me,” Cronley said.
“I hadn’t heard about that,” Dunwiddie said.
“Once the ransom money had been paid, Tiny,” Gehlen explained, “SS officers would go to Dachau or Auschwitz or wherever and remove the prisoners ‘for interrogation.’ They were not questioned, because the camps were run by the SS. Nor were they questioned when they reported the prisoners had died during interrogation. That happened often during SS interrogation.
“What actually happened to the prisoners was that they were taken first to Spain, and then to Portugal, where they boarded vessels of neutral powers for transportation to South America.
“When this came to my attention, I knew I couldn’t stop it. The corruption went right to the top of the Nazi hierarchy. If not to Heinrich Himmler himself, then to those very close to him. But the idea of getting people out of prison camps had a certain fascination for me. I didn’t understand the fascination, but it was there. I told Ludwig here, and Oberst Niedermeyer—you met Otto in Argentina, right, Jim?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I told them to think about it, and Otto came up with Mossad. We knew they had been active in the Soviet Union for a long time. The question then became what did we have that they wanted? And the corollary, what did they have that we wanted?”