it something to do with Nagulin again?”
“Yes and no,” Richtengden shook his head vaguely. “The Admiral received very important information, and he received it personally. That's what made him come to me. The way in which the information was transmitted was quite unusual. Canaris was contacted using his home radio. Communication, of course, was one-way, but the invisible interlocutor knew perfectly well what questions the Admiral might have. After this contact, Canaris immediately requested a report from the direction finding service. You know that in Berlin no radio can go on the air, without being instantly detected.”
“And, of course, they didn't hear anything,” Schliemann said affirmatively rather than questioningly.
“Absolutely. None of the direction finders picked up extraneous radio transmitters.”
“Can I get to know what the Admiral has been informed?
“You can. I've been assigned this case, so you're going to be a part of it, too. Canaris was explained in a very detailed and reasoned manner, that the Enigma encryption machine is not at all as good as we imagined it to be, and that the British have been reading our headquarters' correspondence like an open book for a long time. The Luftwaffe, the Kriegsmarine, the Ground Forces – all the most important things they transmit on the radio are laid on Churchill's desk in decoded form, and it's been on his desk for months.”
“The source did not give his name?”
“No. He said only that he was a German patriot and a couple of other unimportant phrases in the same vein.”
“Is this a provocation?”
“It doesn't look like it. The information is already being verified, but the Admiral has no doubts about its truthfulness. His interlocutor was very convincing.”
“That is, someone unknown simply leaked reliable information of great importance to the Abwehr, and at the same time it is completely unclear, how he got it and for what purpose he passed it on to us. Did I leave anything out?”
“You got it right. Now let me ask you a question. Erich, does this remind you of anything? Who else among the players we know can just as easily obtain any information he needs, regardless of the level of secrecy, and immediately use it for his own purposes?”
“Well, not just any information…”
“Are you sure? However, you are right. We were able to hide something, which is why I'm hoping for this office.”
“The Russian marksman? But why would he help us? He's supposed to be our enemy. Wait a minute, though…” Schliemann leaned forward sharply and gazed into Richtengden's eyes.
“I see that you and I have come to similar conclusions,” the General grinned wearily. “Who told us that the Russian marksman is unique? There could be several like him, and perhaps one of them decided to play on our side. It would be good for us to understand why he needs to do that…”
“Mr. President, you instructed me to take personal control of General Nagulin's activities in China and report to you immediately of any news related to him.”
“Yes, Harry, I remember my request,” Roosevelt nodded and tore his gaze away from another ministerial report.
“Four hours ago the radio interception stations "Cast" and "Haipo" recorded an intense exchange of messages between the General Headquarters of the Japanese Navy in Tokyo and their base in Taiwan. Within two hours the intensity of the radio exchange was increasing and it successively included the enemy air bases in Hong Kong, Shanghai and northern Indochina. Decoding the messages took some time, but the result was worth it. A group of fighter-bombers bearing the identifying insignia of the Republic of China invaded Japanese-controlled space, from the Chinese coast. They made a diversionary maneuver, simulating a night raid on Taiwan, and then circled around the island and caught up with the heavy aircraft carrier Zuikaku, accompanied by two destroyers, at sea. Their attack resulted in the sinking of the Zuikaku and one of the destroyers.”
“I was expecting something like that,” Roosevelt grinned. “It seemed to me from the beginning that Nagulin would not be willing to indulge in petty local operations, but decided to show us right away that we took his promises seriously for a reason. But a heavy aircraft carrier… Perhaps this young general once again managed to surprise me.”
“Unfortunately, it didn't go as smoothly as we would have liked,” Hopkins replied without a smile. “The Japanese knew of the impending attack, and the aircraft carrier managed to raise its fighters and the destroyers opened barrage fire on the approaching Soviet planes. The Russians suffered casualties. There is no exact information about the number of downed machines.”
“Did General Nagulin take part in the attack?”
“According to the information received by our military advisors from the Chinese allies, Nagulin led the strike group that attacked the Zuikaku.”
“Has he survived?”
“His fate is not entirely clear. It is known that Nagulin did not die in the battle with the Japanese ships, but all further orders came not from him, but from General Kudryavtsev, who also took part in the attack on the aircraft carrier. After the destruction of the Zuikaku, the Russians' problems did not end. The Japanese somehow became aware of their escape route. The group included damaged planes that could not maintain high speed, and over the coast they were intercepted by enemy fighters, but the reinforcements called by Kudryavtsev managed to reach the Russians. More than 200 Japanese planes were involved in the air battle against about 60 Soviet twin-engine fighter-bombers.”
“It's not a good balance of power,” Roosevelt said softly.
“No doubt. But I can't say that the Russians were defeated in this battle. Both sides suffered heavy losses, but the Japanese had to retreat. Now the Soviet pilots are returning to their airfield. Nagulin is not among them. Our advisor to Chiang Kai-shek's headquarters tried to find out the details, but the Generalissimo was in no hurry to share information, or perhaps he did not have all of it himself. All we know is that the Chinese sent a special group to the site of the air battle, made up of the best graduates of the "Wampu" military school, with the task of rescuing and evacuating the surviving crew members of the downed Russian planes. The Russians also sent their own group. The Chinese personnel at the airfield near Chongqing, where the Soviet air regiment was stationed, turned out to be quite talkative. They saw a group of heavily armed paratroopers loading into a transport plane that flew out right after the fighters, sent to the aid of Nagulin's air group.”
“So,” Roosevelt stood up with a visible effort and took a few steps around the office. It struck Hopkins that the President's movements had become noticeably more confident since their last meeting. “What do we have in the end? The Russians sank the heavy aircraft carrier Zuikaku, taking casualties and getting into serious withdrawal trouble. In the air battle that followed, they shot down an unknown but apparently very significant number of Japanese aircraft, forcing the enemy's surviving machines to flee the battlefield. As a result of all these events, an unknown number of Russian pilots found themselves in territory loosely controlled by the Chinese, and with a high probability they include General Nagulin, allegedly wounded in the battle with an unclear degree of severity. Chiang Kai-shek immediately took action, to help the Russian pilots by sending his best men to the coast, while we remain on the sidelines. Is this normal?”
“We don't have any formal obligations in this case,” Hopkins' voice didn't sound confident, “but the Russians have acted in our interests, fulfilling and, perhaps, even exceeding the verbal promises made
