But how does he know? Did von Wachtstein tell him that, too?
I don’t think von Wachtstein knows any more about von Deitzberg than that he is SS; not that he works for Himmler.
“No,” Boltitz said, looking at his coffee cup and taking a sip. “Of course we did not.”
“Then define your mission in terms of the priorities, one, two, three, et cetera,” Frade ordered.
“You will understand, Major Frade, that this is my assessment of the situation. It was never spelled out, one, two, three, et cetera.”
“Okay, then let’s have your assessment.”
“I would say that Operation Phoenix is of the greatest interest to the senior officers involved,” Boltitz said. “Von Deitzberg, I suspect, but can’t prove, is involved in the ransoming operation of the concentration camp inmates. I have never heard any suggestion there is a Wehrmacht involvement in that. That would be your one and two. Three, which of course has impact on the success of one and two, is discovering the traitor in the embassy.”
“Operation Phoenix can be defined as setting up places where the big shots— maybe even Hitler himself—can hide here when the war is lost?” Frade asked.
“Yes,” Boltitz said simply.
“Did you share any of your suspicions of Peter with von Deitzberg?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“A
s I told you, I serve Admiral Canaris,” Boltitz said.
“But you were going to tell him after Peter here committed suicide by airplane?”
“No. I thought I had made that clear. Once Peter had done the honorable thing, I would have done what I could to divert any suspicion from him.”
“ ‘The honorable thing’?” Frade parroted sarcastically. “Jesus H. Christ!” Then he asked, “Did you share your suspicions, even hint at them, with anyone else? Anyone?”
“No,” Boltitz said simply, meeting Frade’s eyes.
“Let me turn the question around,” Frade said. “Did anyone, von Deitzberg, what’s that fairy SS guy’s name in Montevideo? Oh, yeah, Sturmbannführer Werner von Tresmarck. Or that fat Austrian diplomat, looks like somebody stuffed him? Gradny-Sawz? Did anyone confide in you their thoughts that Peter was the fox in the chicken coop?”
Despite himself, Boltitz had to smile at the happy Texas cowboy’s characterizations of von Tresmarck and First Secretary of the German Embassy Anton von Gradny-Sawz.
And he knows them, not only by name, but also by their sexual preferences and appearance.
The Americans have really penetrated not only the embassy but Operation Phoenix, and that filthy SS operation ransoming Jews from the concentration camps.
“Both von Tresmarck and Gradny-Sawz, Major Frade,” Boltitz said, “came to me and suggested that since they were not the traitor, it had to be one of the other two. But neither was able to provide anything concrete.”
Frade, obviously in deep thought, said nothing for a long moment.
“Okay,” he said, finally. “Now let’s get to the heart of this. What happened, Captain, to change your mind about all this? When Peter failed to do the honorable thing and kill himself, why didn’t you turn him in?”
“Ambassador Lutzenberger sent for me and showed me two letters,” Boltitz said. “They had been smuggled to him on the last Condor flight. One was from my father and the other from Admiral Canaris. My father said he knew I would follow, without question, whatever orders I received from Admiral Canaris.”
“Why should he bother to tell you that?” Frade asked. “You’re an officer. You obey the orders you’re given, right?”
“My father knew what those orders probably would be. He wanted me to know he knew.”
“Who is your father? Where does he fit in here?”
“My father, Major Frade, is a navy officer. Vizeadmiral Kurt Boltitz.”