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No," Murphy admitted." I don't suppose it was. "He writes a very stirring
letter," von Heurten-Mitnitz said. "If you see him, please don't hurt his
feelings by letting him know I had already reached very much the same
conclusions he has."
"I'm pleased to hear that," Murphy said.
"But I still suppose it is expected of me to relate what we have learned about
the extermination camps and the special SS squads."
"I probably know more about that than you do," von Heurten-Mitnitz said.
"It was a factor in my decision."
"We have been led to believe that, outside of the circle of those actually
involved, it is pretty much of a secret in Germany."
"Milller has a friend, wounded in Russia, who came here on recuperative leave.
He got drunk and told Milller-and he knew about everything, not just the
extermination detachments at the front. MUER had me to dinner, got him drunk
again, and had him tell me all over again. I had heard whispers, and now there
was proof. Mi iller's friend is a Leica-what's the word?-snapshot
photographer."
"Why do you think MUER did that?"
"Because I tell him things I think he should know, and he does the same.
"Was he morally outraged?"
"He's a policeman," von Heurten-Mitnitz said.
"Nothing shocks him."
"Motivate, then," Murphy said.
"What would it take to motivate him? "Money," von Heurten-Mitnitz said.
"A good deal of money."
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"That's been thought of," Murphy said. He took two envelopes from his jacket
pocket.
"There's mixed currency in each of these," he said.
"Mostly Swiss francs, some Reichsmarks, some dollars, some pounds, altogether
about twenty-five thousand dollars' worth." Von Heurten-Mitnitz looked at them
as if they were dog droppings. "We wanted to make sure that you had cash
available in case the need arose," Murphy said quickly.
"Hence the envelope for you." Von Heurten-Mitnitz looked closely at Murphy.
"But you wouldn't have blinked an eye, would you, Mr. Murphy, if I had said
that wasn't nearly enough to buy me."
"I never believed you were for sale, Herr von Heurten-Mitnitz, " Murphy said.
"I have no choice but to take your word for that, do I?"
"You have my word," Murphy said. "I will give Milffer one envelope," von
Heurten-Mitnitz said. "And retain the other, should I need it.
Afterward I will give you a precise accounting."
"That's not necessary," Murphy said. "Yes, it is, Mr. Murphy," von
Heurten-Mitnitz said.
"To me, it is necessary."
"I was about to say I understand how you feel. But that wouldn't be true."
"Pray you never find yourself in my situation, Mr. Murphy," von
Heurten-Mitnitz said. Their eyes met for a moment, then von Heurten-Mitnitz
looked away. "There was something symbolic about your twenty-five thousand
pieces of assorted silver," von Heurten-Mitnitz said.
"I presume that now you will tell me just what you want from me."
"I didn't look at the money that way," Murphy said. "Perhaps because it is
written in Scripture that it is more blessed to give than receive," the German
aristocrat said dryly.
"I wonder how Putzi is being paid."
"He's not," Murphy said.
"Roosevelt, by executive order, exempted his art gallery from seizure under
the Enemy Property Act."
"I'm surprised Putzi permitted him to do that." Murphy didn't reply.
"I really am curious what specifically you want from me," von Heurten-Mitnitz
said.
"Presumably it has to do with the invasion of North Africa.
"What makes you think we're going to invade North Africa?" Murphy asked.
"Roosevelt made that clear when he abandoned the Philippine Islands.
The major thrust of the American effort will first be against Germany.
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That leaves the question where," von Heurten-Mitnitz said.
"I doubt, despite the enormous effort being made by Roosevelt to turn Joseph
Stalin into Friendly Uncle Joe, that the American people would stand for
sending American troops to fight in Russia. Not the Balkans, certainly, after
Churchill's Gallipoli debacle' in the First War. Not the Continent itself, not
yet. Where, then, else?"
"Have you heard anything?" Murphy asked, poker-faced. "Conjecture," von
Heurten-Mitnitz said.
"Nothing specific. The French doubt that you are capable of attacking
sovereign French soil with the forces you presently have in England even if
you would dare try it. They also do not believe you are capable of launching
an invasion force across the Atlantic directly from the United States. I do."
"Well," Murphy said, seeing his opportunity, "since we are not, so far as I
know, about to invade North Africa, where we think you could help is not
connected with any such invasion."
"Then what?" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked. "FEG is developing a jet engine for
aircraft," Murphy said. "We have to have a set of authentic specifications
and, if we can get it, an actual engine. "Frankly, that's not what I
expected," von Heurten-Mitnitz replied and then added wryly, "Fulmar
Elektrische Gesellschaft, the ubiquitous young Mr. Fulmar."
"From what he says, I don't think he'll be much help in this. I gather he is
not the apple of his father's eye."
"Hardly," von Heurten-Mitnitz agreed.
"I should think that getting the plans would be virtually impossible.
I can't imagine they'd be left anywhere where anyone could get to them, and I
daresay the plans for an aircraft engine would not fit in a valise.
"In April 1915, in a plan devised by Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the
Admiralty, fifteen British Commonwealth divisions were landed at Gallipoli
with the intention of capturing Constantinople and forcing the Dardanelles
Channel. After suffering 213,980 casualties, the force was soundly defeated by
the Turks and withdrawn. Churchill was forced to resign as First Lord, and
went to France to command a battalion of infantry in the trenches.
"We need the metallurgical and machining specifications," Murphy said.
"I don't see how I could get them," von Heurten-Mitnitz said. "What about an
engine itself?"
"Could you arrange for that?"
"From somewhere in the back of my mind I recall that on the Fulmar family
estate near Augsburg FEG has an experimental electric smelter.
I don't know why I remember this, but I do. I was told that it simply melts
everything in, say, an auto engine. They then extract the copper and other
alloying material. Wouldn't it seem likely they would send experimental ?1)
aircraft engines there? Failed ones, worn-out ones "Can you find out?"
"I will make inquiries," von Heurten-Mitnitz said.
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"It may take a little time-perhaps months. I will have to wait until I can
find someone who knows. My telephone calls are monitored, and I suspect my
mail is being opened."
"I'm surprised to hear about the mail," Murphy said. "The Bavarian corporal
doesn't trust people like me," von Heurtenp Mitnitz said dryly.
"I can't imagine why."
TWO I The House on 0 Street, NW 1715 Hours August 3, 1942
When he heard the sliding door to the library open, Lieutenant Colonel Edmund
T. Stevens, a tall, thin, silver-haired man in his late forties, looked up
from a first-edition copy of Lee in Northern Virginia he had found on the
shelves. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]