I wonder if von Lutzenberger also told Mart¡n ?
And do I tell Peter I already heard about it?
No. I don't know why no, but no.
"I'm interested in this SS guy. Why is he here?"
"That sounds like the OSS asking," Peter said.
"You sound like you're trying to straddle a fence, Peter," Clete said softly.
"You have to understand, my friend, that I have this large yellow streak run-ning down my back," Peter replied. "I don't want Goltz finding out about it, as he's likely to do if he learns you-the Americans-are onto him, and starts wondering who could have told you. He's SS-SD. They follow the charming Nazi philosophy that it's better to garrote, or castrate, one hundred innocent men than have one guilty one get away."
Clete didn't reply.
"Not only am I not used to-what's that charming phrase in international law? 'giving aid and comfort to the enemy?'" Peter went on, "but I don't like the odds that Goltz will hear about it and order Gr?ner to have somebody cut my throat and blame it on burglars. Not only would it foul up what my father wants me to do, but I think it might hurt."
"So what's the SS guy up to?" Clete asked.
Peter looked at him and chuckled.
"Believe it or not, according to von Lutzenberger, the same thing I am. We are. Making safe investments in Argentina. For different people, I'm sure, but the same thing."
"Tell me more," Clete said.
"As Mata Hari said to the nice young Spad pilot?"
Clete chuckled.
"I thought what Mata Hari said to the young Spad pilot was 'why don't you let me play with your joystick?'"
"God, that's terrible!" Peter said. "Your sense of humor is not only juve-nile, but vulgar beyond-"
"So what's the SS guy up to?" Clete asked again.
"I don't know much-von Lutzenberger didn't have time to tell me much-but there's apparently a lot of money on the way here-plus jewelry and negotiable securities."
"How on the way here? And how much is a lot of money?"
Peter hesitated.
"This is difficult for me, you understand," he said. "There is a difference in being philosophically opposed to what the Nazis are doing and in giving infor-mation to the enemy who will use it in such a manner as to cause the deaths of one's countrymen, many of whom are not Nazis, and some of whom are as op-posed to Hitler as I am."
Clete did not reply.
"A replacement for the Reine de la Mer is en route," Peter said, finally. "A Spanish ship called the Comerciante del Oceano Pacifico."
"If it makes you feel any better, we already knew that," Clete said.
That's not the truth. What the OSS knows is that a replacement ship is en route. This is the first I've ever heard her name. Why did I lie-and so automat-ically-to Peter? As a good intelligence officer, wanting to keep his source feel-ing less guilty? Or as his friend?
"You did?" Peter asked, surprised.
Clete ignored the question. "The money you're talking about is aboard that ship?"
Peter nodded. "He didn't say-von Lutzenberger didn't say-how much money. But he did say Goltz told him they already have twenty million of your dollars in Uruguay. That reminds me of something my father told me-"
"Tell me about the twenty million dollars in Uruguay," Clete interrupted.