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Ludwig Fahr rolled a fresh sheet of paper into the typewriter, tapped his fingertips together as he glanced out at the harbor and composed his thoughts, then began typing:
* * *
HIGHEST SECRECY
TO—
BRIGADEGENERAL HANS OSTER, DEPUTY DIRECTOR
ABWEHR HEADQUARTERS, BERLIN
FROM—
HERR ERNST BECK, DIRECTOR
GERMAN TRADE MINISTRY, SICILY
1125 HOURS
1943-05-30
BEGIN MESSAGE
AS PER YOUR DIRECTION, URGENT MESSAGE FROM FATHER TO SON WAS DELIVERED THIS DATE AT 0800 HOURS.
I PERSONALLY WATCHED HIM READ MESSAGE.
THERE IS NO QUESTION (A) THAT THE MESSAGE WAS IN FACT BELIEVED TO BE FROM THE FATHER AND (B) THAT THE DETAILS OF THE MESSAGE ITSELF WERE BELIEVED TO BE GENUINE.
&n
bsp; ADDITIONALLY, THERE DID NOT APPEAR TO BE ANY REAL SURPRISE -- SUCH AS ANGER OR DENIAL -- ABOUT THE GRAVITY OF WHAT THE FATHER WROTE.
THE REASON FOR THAT, I THINK, IS THAT IN THE COURSE OF OUR CONVERSATION IT BECAME CLEAR THAT THE SON ALREADY BELIEVED AS THE FATHER DOES.
FINALLY, SON UNDERSTANDS THAT THIS CHANNEL IS NOW OPEN AND AWAITS FURTHER WORD.
STANDING BY.
BECK
END MESSAGE
HIGHEST SECRECY
* * *
Oberleutnant zur See Ludwig Fahr tugged the sheet of paper from the typewriter, read over what he had typed, penciled two corrections, then noisily slid his chair back.
He stood, and took a long look at the harbor and then the sea. Out in the strait, he saw that a sleek Kriegsmarine Schnellboot—literally “fast boat”—was reducing its speed between the outer channel markers, making an approach to enter the mouth of the port. He grinned appreciatively.
What beautiful lines she has!
Fahr, having briefly commanded one before moving to U-boats, was quite familiar with the fast-attack S-boats. Built in slightly different designs, they all were about one hundred feet long with wooden hulls and massive engines—one variant packed triple two-thousand-horsepower Daimler-Benz diesels—and were capable of hitting more than forty knots.
S-boats were heavily armed with 4cm Bofors, four-barrel 2cm flaks, and 53.3cm torpedoes. To deliver the torpedoes on target, it would wait in the dark to ambush a submarine or ship, then strike quickly. Then it would run, as it carried only the fish in its tubes. The weight of additional torpedoes would slow the boat’s fast attack—and faster departure.
Fahr looked beyond the S-boat and saw an unarmed, unattractive bulky barge-shaped vessel—and grinned even more broadly.
