FOUR EACH REPEAT FOUR EACH PART NUMBER 23 8710
ABOVE NOT REPEAT NOT AVAILABLE LOCAL ECONOMY
NO FISHING LUCK AT ALL
ACKNOWLEDGE
TEX
* * *
“Parrot” was the code name of the Lodestar. “Couth” was Mr. Ralph Stevenson, the Cultural Attaché of the American Embassy in Montevideo. “Carioca” was Rio de Janeiro. And “Birdcage” was the U.S. Army Air Corps base in Pôrto Alegre, Brazil. “No Fishing Luck” meant that no ship even suspected of being a German replenishment vessel had appeared on the radar screen.
“‘Urgently require,’ Chief?” Clete asked.
“If I don’t say ‘urgently’ they’ll send it in time for Christmas 1945. There’s no problem with the radar, skipper. Stein is just being careful. Even Urgent, though, it takes two weeks at least to fly parts down in the diplomatic pouch to the Embassy, and a couple of more days before Lieutenant Pelosi can get them out here.”
Clete nodded his understanding.
“Looks fine, Chief,” he said. “Send it.”
“Aye, aye, Sir.”
“Hey, honey, we have to get back,” Clete called to Dorotéa.
With obvious reluctance, she laid the .45 down.
VIII
[ONE]
The Embassy of the German Reich
Avenue Córdoba
Buenos Aires, Argentina
0815 3 May 1943
The moment Ambassador von Lutzenberger appeared for work, Fräulein Ingebord Hassell followed him into his office. He sat down at his desk and then looked up at her.
“Excellency,” Fräulein Hassell said, “there is a Most Urgent, Most Secret from Berlin.”
“Who did the decryption?”
“I did, Excellency.”
He held his hand out for it. She gave it to him, took a step backward, and folded her hands over her stomach, awaiting her orders.
* * *
CLASSIFICATION: MOST URGENT
CONFIDENTIALITY: MOST SECRET
DATE: 24 APRIL 1943
FROM: FOREIGN MINISTER