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Why the hell did he do that?

If Homer didn’t give Parsons everything he had . . .

If he told him he had very little . . .

Homer had to have a reason.

Well, the one thing I’m not going to do is tell this Pentagon sonofabitch that Homer Greene lied to him.

“Sorry, Colonel,” Hammersmith said. “I’m afraid I can’t be of any help.”

“That’s a pity,” Colonel Parsons said, and then went on: “You realize, of course, Cronley, that I’m going to have to tell G-2 that DCI has absolutely nothing of importance on Odessa. Is that going to embarrass you?”

“I don’t see why it should, sir. I can’t give them anything I don’t have. May I suggest you tell them that if we turn up anything, I’ll immediately give it to you?”

“Of course,” Parsons said. “Let’s hope that happens. G-2 obviously thinks this is important.”

He gestured to Major Ashley that they should leave.

“We’ll be in touch, Cronley,” Parsons said. “Good evening, gentlemen. Miss Colbert.”

—

When the door had closed behind them, Cronley said, “Thanks, Hammersmith.”

“What for?” Hammersmith replied.

Cronley chuckled.

“I wondered why the admiral suddenly decided we should start looking into Odessa,” Cronley said. “And now we know.”

“I don’t understand,” Hammersmith said.

“G-2 was told to stay away from Operation Ost. That cut the military attaché in Buenos Aires, who is under G-2, out of the picture. But that doesn’t mean the attaché doesn’t have a pretty good idea what’s been going on. But the ‘leave it alone’ order has meant he can’t officially report what he’s found out since he’s been told to leave it alone. But because the FBI is asking about it, what choice does he have but to cooperate with the FBI?

“And the joint FBI–G-2 investigation will come up with what we’ve been doing. In other words, there are Nazis in Argentina, sent there by mysterious, certainly illegal, organizations called Odessa and Operation Ost, which are probably the same thing. When Hoover lays this on President Truman’s desk, as he will, the President will have no choice but to be terribly surprised, shocked, and outraged.

“Which means we get—DCI gets—flushed down Sir Thomas Crapper’s marvelous invention, taking with us a bunch of good people.”

Hammersmith thought: Damn. He’s right.

And among the good people getting flushed down the crapper will be Homer Greene.

And his old friend Jack Hammersmith.

“Unless, of course, we can catch some senior people in Odessa,” Cronley went on, “and damned soon, before the FBI and G-2 finds out too much. Then, when Hoover lays their report on Truman’s desk, Truman can say, ‘Edgar, old buddy, the reason I told you to lay off this was because I knew those brilliant people in my DCI-Europe were about to lower the boom on Odessa. Which they did last week.’”

Hammersmith thought: There’s damned little chance of that happening.

“And how are we going to do that?” Hessinger asked.

“I don’t have a fucking clue,” Cronley said. “Sorry, Dette.”

She made a disparaging wave of her hand.

“But in the last few minutes, I’ve had a couple of wild ideas,” Cronley said. “Based on my vast experience as an intelligence officer.”

“Let’s hear them,” Hammersmith said, and was surprised when he heard himself.