“Bernardo, you’ve really been earning your pay, haven’t you?” Nervo said.
Martín flushed.
“That’s very kind,” he said. “But your applause should be directed to my staff, especially to Captain Garcia here. He and his men spent the long nights surveilling these people, not me.”
“Professed modesty will not work for you, Bernardo,” Frade said. “People of genius, such as you and me, simply cannot hide it.”
“Throw your crutch at him, Bernardo,” Dorotea said.
“Well, now that we know, thanks to Bernardo,” Nervo said, “just about everything about everything—where do we go from here?”
“To what we don’t know,” Frade said. “Who’s surveilling us?”
“Pedro,” Nervo ordered, “find out.”
Nolasco nodded, stood, mimed using a telephone, and was directed to one on a sideboard.
“Are we sure there’s not a tap on that line?” Frade asked.
“I will use it knowing that’s a real poss
ibility, Don Cletus.”
“No offense, Pedro.”
“None taken, Don Cletus. General, when I have these people, should I bring them here?”
“No. Take them to the gendarmerie barracks in Mendoza. Charge them with unlawful trespass. Have one of the people we brought with us—one of the smarter ones—conduct the interrogation. And get a description of the Nazi bastard on the train, and get it to both the station in San Martín and the station in Bariloche before the train gets there. I want to keep an eye on him.”
“I can do better than a description, General,” Niedermeyer said. “Cronley brought our dossier on him from Germany. With photos. Give me an hour and I can have prints made.”
“That would be helpful,” Nervo said. “May I ask a question?”
“Certainly.”
“Abwehr Ost maintained dossiers on people like this?”
“Abwehr Ost did not. General Gehlen did. Actually, his Number Two, Coronel Mannberg, and I did. General Gehlen said it was our duty to protect Germany from all of its enemies.”
“Interesting,” Nervo said, and then went on: “Now that we have a little more probably irrelevant intelligence from Bernardo, let me go back to being the devil’s advocate. I think we’re all agreed that U-234 did make a landing here. Now what’s most important about that?”
“The uranium oxide,” Frade said.
“And what’s the worst-case scenario involving the uranium oxide?”
“That the Russians get their hands on it,” Frade answered.
“And how would that happen?”
“The Russian NKVD guy from Mexico . . .” Frade began.
“Egorov,” Cronley furnished. “Pavel Egorov.”
“. . . comes here with a suitcase full of money and buys it from whoever has it. ‘Whoever’ just might include Juan Domingo Perón.”
“Egorov’s here,” Martín announced, “legally accredited to the Argentine Republic as the new chief of the Soviet Trade Mission, replacing Oleg Fedoseev, who is staying on for an indefinite period until Egorov has his feet on the ground. But no suitcase full of money.”
“Why not?” Frade said.