The two left the office, wearing looks of self-approval. After they were gone, Martin leaned forward, picked up a small cup of coffee, and took a sip. When he set it down, he saw that el Almirante de Montoya had left his desk and assumed what Martin thought of as his Deep-In-Thought position: He was standing in front of his window, staring out over the Rio de la Plata. His hands were behind his back, his fingers were moving nervously, and he was rocking slightly from side to side.
Finally, he snorted and turned to face Martin.
"I am curious, Martin, why I was not aware until just now that you had this man Delgano reporting on el Coronel Frade."
"I was aware, mi Almirante, of your friendship with el Coronel Frade..."
"Friendship is not the point, Martin. Friendship is friendship; information is information."
"... and if Delgano went to Frade and informed him of his relationship with me, I wished to leave you in a position where you could truthfully tell el Coronel Frade that you knew nothing about that... that you stopped the surveillance the instant you did hear about it; and that you are dealing harshly with the man who ordered it."
I am touched by your loyalty to me, and your willingness to sacrifice your career to protect me, de Montoya said.
"I am loyal to you, mi Almirante," Martin said. "And 1 feel I can serve you best by not sacrificing my career unless absolutely necessary."
El Almirante de Montoya looked at Martin with a frown, then he slowly smiled.
"El Comandante Habanzo is the officer who put his career at risk by enlisting Delgano," Martin said.
"You are a devious fellow, Bernardo," el Almirante de Montoya said approvingly. "I'm sure this was a painful decision for you to make."
"At first, it was. And then I began to develop suspicions about el Comandante Habanzo."
"And have these suspicions been confirmed?"
"Let me say this, mi Almirante: If sacrificing el Comandante Habanzo's career for the greater good of the BIS becomes necessary, I will not consider it a particularly heavy loss."
"There is such a thing as being too discreet, Bernardo."
"Nevertheless, I am not completely sure of my facts. It seemed odd to me, however, after I personally charged Habanzo to surveil young Frade, and to use any assets and personnel he considered necessary, that the men who tried to kill young Frade, and who murdered that poor housekeeper, were able to gain access to the house without being seen."
"But you did not pursue this line of thought?"
"Young Frade made that impossible, mi Almirante. It's difficult to interrogate dead men."
"Yes, you're right, Bernardo," el Almirante said thoughtfully. "Curious. And what do you conclude?"
"That it's quite likely that Habanzo has a relationship with the Germans."
"Quite possible," el Almirante said, pausing for a moment to stare out over the river. Then he went on, "Let me say, Bernardo, ex post facto, that you handled the situation at el Coronel Frade's guest house as I would have handled it myself. That required both imagination and a willingness to assume responsibility."
"Thank you, mi Almirante. I did what I thought you would want me to do in those circumstances."
De Montoya smiled and nodded: "So then we must consider the motives of the Germans, mustn't we? Is this replenishment vessel of theirs so important to their submarine operations that they would be willing to alienate a man who may well become President of Argentina to preserve it?"
"If you would permit me to express my thoughtsnot conclusionsabout that, and then tell me where I may have gone wrong?"
"Please do."
"Possibility One is that their replenishment vessel is in fact so important that they would be willing to pay any price to ensure that it remains operationaleven if that means earning el Coronel Frade's hatred by killing his son ... and/or the embarrassment of being caught by us."
El Almirante de Montoya grunted, accepting that theory.
"Possibility Two," Martin went on, "is that they wished to demonstrate both to the Americans, and in particular to el Coronel Fradeand the Grupo de Oficiales Unidosthat they are so powerful that they can do whatever they wish with impunity. They caused the disappearance of the first OSS team that was sent here to deal with the replenishment vessel. By eliminating the head of the second OSS team"
"Let me interrupt for a moment," de Montoya said. "What about young Frade? Is he a professional intelligence officer, or was he sent down here because he is his father's son?"
"I at first thought the latter," Martin replied. "Now I am having second thoughts. It seems certain that the OSS sent him here to deal with the Reine de la Mer."
"You think they can sink her?"
"No, Sir. I don't think that will happen. The man I had on the pilot's boat when the Reine de la Mer entered our waters reportedI sent you his report, mi Almirantethat she is heavily armed for a merchant vessel, with what we believe are two dual forty-millimeter Bofors cannon, plus heavy machine guns, and what is very likely a radar antenna."
"A what?"
"A device that uses radio waves to detect other vessels, or boats, within a ten-to-twenty-mile range."
"I've heard that both the Germans and the English have such devices, but I was not aware they were commonly available."
"The replenishment vessel is tremendously important to the Germans. It would follow she would have the best available equipment."
"So young Frade's mission is doomed to failure?"
"That is my belief, mi Almirante. If we are to believe everything Delgano said about the current activities at Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo, Frade intends to bomb the Reine de la Mer with incendiary devices, apparently designed to explode her fuel tanks, or at least set them on fire. And all he has to do this with is his father's airplane, which is, as you know ..."
"I know," de Montoya said impatiently. "I've flown in it. It is not a warplane."
"As I was saying a moment ago, mi Almirante, my second theory vis-a-vis the motives of the Germans is that killing young Frade would send the message that they have the better intelligence operation; that they are so powerful that they don't care if they enrage a possible President of Argentina; and, as a secondary benefit, they protect the Reine de la Mer.''
"In either case, young Frade dies?"
"I'm afraid so, mi Almirante."
"Pity. It will be difficult for his father personally, and difficult for us, my friend, if we have a President who hates the Germans."
"I don't see how it can be avoided. The Americans are apparently determined to make the attempt against the odds."
"And what, in your opinion, should our course of action be?"
What I have been thinkingwhat I would like to present for your concurrence, mi Almirante is that we do nothing, simply let happen what happens."
"Based on what reasoning?"
"We are a neutral power. We don't know that the Reine de la Mer is in fact a replenishment vessel in our waters, thus violating our neutrality; and we don't know that young Frade is in fact an OSS agent sent here to sink her, thus violating our neutrality. Consequently, however the attempt to sink the Reine de la Mer turns out, we can express surprise, regret, anger, whatever would be appropriate. But to repeat, I think young Frade will fail."