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“You must be the lady in charge of tours of the mansion,” Cronley greeted her.
“Wait till you see this place,” she said. “Unbelievable!”
“Lead on.”
—
“I saved this for last,” she said, pushing open one of the double doors on the second floor. “This is the lair of the laird of the manor, in other words, yours.”
Beyond the doors was an elegantly furnished three-room suite, plus an all-marble bathroom. After a second look at the smaller of the rooms, Cronley realized it was a wardrobe.
“Tell you what, Flo,” Cronley said, “in addition to your other duties, you are herewith appointed general manager of the Mansion. As such, you get the best room, to share it with the SIGABA.”
“Really?”
“I’ll take that room under the staircase.”
“But it’s small and there’s no window.”
“Making it impossible for anyone to take a shot at me through a window. Anyway, I’m keeping my room at Farber Palast, so the room downstairs is sort of a backup.”
“Are you going to tell me why?”
“Because former senior major of State Security Ivan Serov, now sporting the shoulder boards of an infantry colonel, is also staying at the Palast, as is his aide-de-camp, ostensibly an infantry major named Sergei Alekseevich.”
“What the hell is that all about?”
“His cover is that he’s in charge of the Russian judge’s security. Somehow I don’t think that’s the whole truth.”
“Have you seen him?”
“He bought us all dinner, and tomorrow morning, at Colonel Cohen’s suggestion, the three of us are going to fly to Paderborn for a look at Castle Wewelsburg.”
“Jesus Christ! What’s with Castle . . . what you said?”
“Wewelsburg. And while I’m gone, Max can tell you all about it.”
“So you’re not going to tell me why you’re going there? What am I supposed to say if someone—Colonel Wallace—asks where you are?”
“The reason I’m going is because Cohen has got some sort of agenda vis-à-vis Serov. I don’t know what, but Cohen isn’t taking Serov there to be nice. So far as Colonel Wallace is concerned—Mr. Cronley didn’t share with me, Colonel, sir, where he was going, just that he would be unavailable until 1730. Would you like to speak with Captain Dunwiddie, Colonel, sir?”
Florence chuckled. “Got it.”
“Tomorrow, I want the SIGABA moved here. And tomorrow, once that’s done, Sigmund Karwowski becomes chief of security for Judge Biddle, and you’re in charge of the SIGABA. See that Karwowski is assigned a room in keeping with his new status, which is Number Two to Max here.”
“Got it,” Flo said. “Boss, do you think Serov may be here to kidnap somebody else?”
“That unpleasant scenario has flashed through my mind, Flo. I’ve been wondering if I might be the desired kidnappee. When we got Colonel Mattingly back, Serov had to be humiliated. And I think he blames me. And they still want Colonel Likharev and family back in Mother Russia. He might be thinking kidnapping me is a splendid idea.”
“Do you suspect Serov was responsible for Lieutenant Moriarty’s . . .”
“Assassination? With Serov, anything is possible. And at dinner he offered his condolences for Moriarty.”
“Which means he has a mole in the Compound,” Max said.
“And wants us to know he has,” Flo said.
“And now, General Manager of the Mansion, I will take my leave,” Cronley said.
