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“It was Schultz’s idea,” Niedermeyer said. “And he talked his friend General Martín of the Argentine Bureau of Internal Security—BIS—to go along with it. Now when I’m wandering around Argentina—for that matter, the world—what I’m doing is promoting American tourism in Argentina, and vice versa.”
“Makes sense,” Wallace admitted.
“Schultz had another idea—this is what I should have told you—that I should take over certain DCI objectives. High on that list is the destruction of Odessa and putting the Odessa leadership in the Tribunal prison. And at the top of the list of Odessa leaders is former SS-Brigadeführer Franz von Dietelburg. Schultz has given me the authority to draw on any DCI assets to carry this out. He also told me that he had charged Cronley with taking out Odessa and suggested that I should get together with him.”
“No one told me anything about any of this,” Wallace said.
“Until I asked for your help with something, there was no need to tell you,” Niedermeyer said. “I’m only telling you now because yo
u’re questioning Cronley about his being in Vienna with me. But since that question has come up, Cronley was there because I wanted him to help me find von Dietelburg.”
“He’s supposed to be in Nuremberg protecting Justice Jackson.”
“He’s supposed to do whatever Mr. Schultz—or Mr. Schultz’s agent—tells him to do.”
“And you’re ‘Mr. Schultz’s agent’?”
“I was the first Abwehr Ost officer sent to Argentina. Schultz was then Colonel Frade’s deputy. I became Schultz’s deputy . . . not formally, but in practice. Colonel Frade’s OSS Buenos Aires station was run the way Frade and Schultz wanted it to run. Apparently when Schultz went to Washington as Number Two to Admiral Souers, he thought I would be more useful to DCI as his deputy there as Argentina was by then pretty much under control. The problem was that a former German officer serving as Schultz’s Number Two would raise eyebrows all over the Washington intelligence community. So it was decided that his Number Two would be based in Argentina, with the Argentine-American Tourist Board as his cover.”
“In other words, you are Schultz’s deputy?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I’m a little annoyed that I wasn’t told about this,” Wallace said.
“El Jefe told me to tell you when the moment was right. This is the moment. You know what they say, the more people who know a secret, the quicker it gets out.”
“Does General Gehlen know about this?”
“I’m about to tell him what he doesn’t know.”
“And then you’re going back to Argentina?”
“Via Tokyo and Seoul, South Korea. The nose of the Russian bear is under our tent there, too.”
“I don’t understand your role in that.”
“There are two kinds of intelligence officers, the brash and the cautious. Schultz is the former, and I’m the latter. The greatest service I provided him in Argentina—and what the admiral hopes I will provide in my new role—is to keep him from acting impetuously.”
“I don’t think I understand.”
“It’s come to the admiral’s attention that General Gehlen wishes to—has plans to—assassinate a Hungarian named Gábor Péter, who runs the Allamvedelmi Osztaly for the NKGB.”
“Gehlen has plans to do what?”
“When the admiral asked me what I thought, I told him Gábor Péter deserves to die, but now is not the time.”
“How did the admiral know about this?”
“General Gehlen told him.”
“Gehlen went over my head to the admiral? That sonofabitch!”
“The admiral, and El Jefe . . . speak with General Gehlen frequently. Gehlen is doing things for DCI that have nothing to do with DCI-Europe.”
“And the admiral and Schultz didn’t think I should be told?”
“I’d offer the guess—both of them admire you—they thought you would know this was standard practice.”
