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FLAG OFFICER IN CHARGE AND HIS STAFF OFFICER, INTELLIGENCE ARE THE ONLY ONES TO BE INFORMED.

5. SIGNALS.

IF OPERATION SUCCESSFUL, SIGNAL “MINCEMEAT COMPLETED” FROM GIBRALTAR STAFF OFFICER, INTELLIGENCE, TO DIRECTOR OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

6. CANCELLATION.

IF NECESSARY, SIGNAL “CANCEL MINCEMEAT,” THEN SINK THE CASE WITH BODY INSIDE IN DEEP WATER.

DELIVER BRIEFCASE TO GIBRALTAR STAFF OFFICER, INTELLIGENCE, WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO BURN IT UNOPENED.

7. ABANDONMENT.

IF NECESSARY, SIGNAL “MINCEMEAT ABANDONED.” FOLLOW PARA. 6 ABOVE.

8. COVER.

CONTAINER LABEL OF “OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS” PROVIDES COVER DURING OPERATION. AFTERWARD, COVER IS THAT WE HOPE TO TRAP AN ACTIVE GERMAN AGENT IN ORDER TO GET SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO HAVE SPANIARDS EJECT HIM.

IT SHOULD BE IMPRESSED ON THE CREW THAT ANY LEAKAGE BEFORE OR EVER AFTER THE OPERATION WILL COMPROMISE OUR POWER TO GET THE SPANIARDS TO ACT IN SUCH CASES.

ALSO, IF SPANIARDS EVER SUSPECT THIS AS A PLANT, THERE WOULD FOLLOW FAR-REACHING CONSEQUENCES OF GREAT MAGNITUDE. SECRECY IS PARAMOUNT.

E.E.S MONTAGU

LT-CDR. R.N.V.R.

31.3.43

* * *

“Fascinating,” Charity said as she passed the sheet to Jamison. “Okay, so now what?”

“Now,” Montagu said, his tone solemn, “we create our man.”

[FOUR]

OSS Algiers Station Algiers, Algeria 0810 31 March 1943

“My plan right now, Stan,” Major Richard M. Canidy, USAAF, said to Captain Stanley S. Fine, USAAF, “subject of course to change at any damn moment, is to run a modified Special Operations team. Instead of an officer, a local liaison, and two radio operators, it’s just going to be Nola and one commo man.”

Canidy and Fine and Free French Forces Navy Commander Jean L’Herminier, captain of the submarine Casabianca, were seated in the main dining room of the villa. The morning breeze blew in through the open double doors that overlooked the harbor. The table had just been cleared of the breakfast plates. Canidy and Fine had china mugs of coffee. L’Herminier sipped tea from a heavy, clear-glass cup.

Over breakfast, Canidy had explained everything he had learned from Francisco Nola—specifically, that they still had no clue about what had happened in Sicily after Canidy blew up the cargo ship, that the villa with the yellow-fever hosts might still be intact, and that Nola had agreed to be Canidy’s eyes and ears in Palermo.

“What about the officer?” Fine said.

“Me,” Canidy replied. “I’ll stay as long as I have to stay.” He paused. “Which may not be long, if what we expect to find is in fact there.”

“Are you sure of this plan, Dick?” L’Herminier said.

Canidy shrugged.

“Hell if I know, Jean. We can always add more men later. Right now, though, we do not have that luxury. We just don’t have time to wait for more. I need to know about the gas—and I’m really no further along in that regard than I was yesterday. After I get all that worked out—if I do—then we can get back to the discussion of setting up a resistance network on the island.”

L’Herminier nodded.

“Well, I can certainly get you in,” he said, trying to be encouraging. “The boat is being replenished as we speak.”