Frade shrugged.
“General Bendick told me they were supposed to be on the ground at Val de Cans only long enough to take on fuel, but then there was a message saying to wait for further orders. They were still there when we took off. I have no idea where they might be.”
“There’s something about these Secret Service agents that’s not right,” Mattingly said. “Something that bothers me. It goes without saying that Eisenhower—SHAEF—would do everything possible to keep Nazis from escaping to South America. And SHAEF has the assets to do so.”
“And Eisenhower would be unlikely to ask for Secretary Morgenthau’s assistance?” Gehlen asked.
“Exactly,” Mattingly said.
“And if Morgenthau offered Eisenhower his Secret Service agents?” Gehlen asked.
“Ike would say, ‘Thank you just the same, Mr. Secretary, but I can handle this myself.’”
“Which leads us . . . where?”
“I’m not trying to suggest that Ike is in any way lackadaisical about arresting and bringing to trial the Nazis,” Mattingly said. “But I don’t think it would be unfair to suggest that Morgenthau doesn’t think Ike has a passion—the necessary, in Morgenthau’s judgment, passion—to deal with the Nazis. Morgenthau’s passion is that of a Jew, and God knows they have the right to be passionate.”
“So Morgenthau is sending assistance, whether or not General Eisenhower wants it?” Gehlen asked softly.
Mattingly nodded. “I think there would have to be a subterfuge. Morgenthau knows he can’t challenge the authority of the Supreme Commander. But some second assistant deputy secretary of the Treasury could take it upon himself to send a planeload of financial experts—who just happened to be Secret Service agents—to look into the financial records of the Third Reich. This would not come to Eisenhower’s personal attention, but rather to a one- or two-star in military government, who would presume it was authorized—”
“And some Air Forces brigadier,” Frade interjected, “sympathetic to Morgenthau’s problem could arrange for the Air Forces Constellation . . .”
“Which would fly via Brazil . . .” Mattingly picked up.
“Once someone in Europe thought it was time—in other words, safe—for the Connie to arrive in Berlin . . .”
“Or Frankfurt . . .”
“Which would explain the ‘hold in place’ message . . .” Frade said.
“Until SHAEF completes its move to the I.G. Farben building,” Mattingly concluded. “When the arrival of one more airplane would not cause comment.”
Mattingly looked at Gehlen, who was smiling.
“You’re amused, General?”
Gehlen nodded.
“By the way you finish one another’s thoughts,” Gehlen said. “Otto Niedermeyer and I were—how do I put it?—smiled at when we did that at Abwehr Ost.”
“You weren’t smiling at our scenario?” Mattingly asked.
Gehlen shook his head.
“Actually,” he said, “your scenario normally would have wiped away any smile. Despite what Colonel Frade said before, I think we have to consider that somehow Morgenthau has heard of the arrangement I made with Mr. Dulles. Let me go down that path. If Morgenthau has heard of it, I think he would presume that General Eisenhower knows all about it.”
“Ike knows nothing about it,” Mattingly said.
“Morgenthau would presume he does,” Gehlen insisted. “So how can Morgenthau—who I presume you all have heard wants to shoot the senior one hundred Nazis when and where found, and who wants to turn Germany into an agrarian society, and who is not known to be especially critical of the Soviets—stop something he truly believes is evil?
“He would have to go to President Truman, and he would have to go to him with proof. Since Eisenhower is involved, he would need proof that Eisenhower is certainly not going to be willing to provide. So he would have to get that proof himself. Thus, the quiet dispatch of the financial experts to look into the finances of the Third Reich.”
“How long can we reasonably expect to keep the deal secret?” Frade asked.
“Presuming OSS isn’t shut down tomorrow, not for long,” Mattingly said. “And if we are shut down, for an even shorter period.”
“So what’s going to happen?” Frade asked.