let's stop here. The situation in Korea, of course, is acute. The commies are breaking into the South with terrible force, but I'm not interested in this now…”
The admiral closed the folder, put it on his knees. He stared at the head of state somewhere around the bridge of his nose. His face was the classic sea wolf of Jack London’s novels, and also impenetrable. Truman suddenly realized the admiral fit in perfectly on the bridge of a warship, like that same Missouri. He was also quite imposing right here, in the Oval Office. Well, wherever a person is, that is their place, but it is a rare quality to seem at home in such different locations.
The Republicans in Congress will not forgive him because intelligence practically clapped its hands to its ears. This allowed the North Korean army to invade the south of the peninsula. Now everyone, from UN officials to the heads of the leading world powers, is forced to puzzle over how to resolve the Korean crisis, which is descending into a full-scale local war. China has already climbed onto the heap, with the implicit support of the Soviet Union. Now the American fleet is heading into the conflict area at full steam. But it’s not even about this conflict. If the latest reports from South America are accurate, geopolitical domination will be decided there. And what will the head of the youngest yet most ambitious power structure in the world say to this?
“Admiral,” the President continued, “naval intelligence reported that not just fascist henchmen, but even some of the world’s leading nuclear experts, have built their nest in one Latin American country. Simply put – runaway German nuclear physicists. What do you know about this?”
Hillenkoetter's cheek twitched. The president would not have noticed if he had not already been staring at his inscrutable face. The admiral answered evenly and calmly:
“We’ve been working on this topic for a long time, ever since the Argentines handed us those fugitive German submarines. Lengthy interrogations of the crews and commanders of the German submarines yielded practically nothing, but specialists of the Office of Strategic Services concluded that these two submarines brought some passengers to the coast of Argentina. The Argentine Coast Guard found nothing suspicious in the coastal zone, but this means nothing. Volksdeutsche Germans inhabit the entire coast near Buenos Aires. They were at one time very loyal to the Hitler regime and could well have sheltered the fugitives.”
Truman got up from his chair and walked to the large window, pulling open the curtains. He turned to the admiral.
“Go on, go on. It's all very interesting. As I understand it, it was not the party bosses of the Third Reich that arrived on these boats?”
“Yes, sir. Our specialists examined the cabins of the submarines with great care. They found nothing unusual until the radiation specialists intervened.”
“Radiation?”
“Yes. Our work on nuclear weapons had already reached the final test stages, and we knew perfectly well that the Germans had advanced quite far in their research in this area. Anyway, it occurred to someone to examine the cabins with a dosimeter…”
“And?”
The admiral smiled with one corner of his mouth.
“One compartment had a small spike. Not much, hardly noticeable, but this allowed us to assume that there were some radioactive substances or people who had direct contact with it, previously transported in it. Back then, it was not too alarming. The war was ending. We were head and shoulders ahead of everyone in the nuclear race. Real-world tests were just around the corner. We postponed that case. But now, after the Soviets have reached relative parity with us – not in terms of carriers of nuclear weapons, we are still far ahead of them with bombers – the time has come for a renewed search in this direction.”
Truman sat down in a chair opposite the admiral, leaned back.
“And you think that former Nazi scientists, if they exist, could help us make some kind of leap forward in the development of nuclear weapons of greater power?”
The admiral nodded.
“Exactly.”
“And what is being done in the search for these most mysterious physicists?”
“We’ll use our agents in Argentina and Chile in the operation, and use the Chilean ‘station’ for operational communication, since we still feel at home there. Argentina is more complicated. The local dictator, Juan Perón, is very independent, widely implements a policy of nationalizing enterprises and the natural resources of the country, encouraging trade unions and flirting with the Volksdeutsche. He is interested in investments, and the fugitive Germans brought a lot of gold there. But we already focused our residency on solving the problem.”
Truman rubbed his palms contentedly.
“Bravo, admiral, bravo! Consider yourself redeemed in my eyes for the Korean crisis. No, no, I can’t guarantee you that you’ll not resign from your current post. I can’t mess with both houses of parliament right now. But I promise you that you will remain in the Navy, regardless!”
“Thank you.” Hillenkoetter stood up quickly, bowed his head in a sign that he understood the president perfectly. “May I go now?”
“Go,” Truman waved his hand. “Leave the adventures in Korea to the military, focus completely on the Argentine problem yourself. The last thing we need is for the Russians to come to grips with it. And may God bless you!”
An old, but time-tested Dakota howled with effort, her engines trudging in a veil of clouds at a height of only six thousand feet. The leaky interior didn't add any comfort, but what could you expect from a glorified army truck with only wings?
In the cargo hold, the three gentlemen sat on the hard wooden side seats. Walsh glanced furtively at the third one. Rosenblum had introduced him only yesterday as soon as they returned to the station in Santiago. There, a big man was waiting for them, at least six feet and three inches tall, a broad-shouldered, tanned, blue-eyed blond, as if he had just stepped through one of those German posters of the society "Strength through Joy". Smiling with a dazzling smile, he held out a wide hand to Redrick and introduced himself:
“Martin. Martin Bohnenkamp.”
He spoke with a slight German accent.
“Martin represents the German… let's say, information service, with which we have been closely cooperating in the last year,” Rosenblum hastened to explain. Walsh nodded in understanding.
Why doesn't this surprise me? he thought. A quote from the British politician John Palmerston came to mind: "England has no permanent allies or permanent enemies – only her interests are permanent and eternal." So he shook hands with the German, who, perhaps five years ago, could have sat on the opposite side of the barricades. Although he looked no older than twenty-two.
“Martin will be responsible for communications with the local Volksdeutsche who, scum, probably know a lot, but are unlikely to share their knowledge with anyone who, until recently, were their enemies on the battlefield.”
Walsh nodded in agreement. He had the same problem in Chile, too. He more than once faced open hostility from the local German diaspora towards the Americans and the British, who were trying to conduct their simple business in that country. It's a different matter for a corporation – they don't give a damn about anything or anyone.
“In addition, Martin is well-versed in hand-to-hand combat, strong, and will be quite adequate as a field agent.”
Well, Walsh
