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“I am a serving officer. Our nations are at war. I have, as has Admiral Canaris, come to the conclusion that Adolf Hitler, and most of the senior officials and military officers around him, must, in the interests of Germany, be removed from power.

“This is an internal matter. While on its face it is treason, that treason is limited to removing the National Socialist government—the Nazis—from power. Neither Admiral Canaris, nor myself, nor any of those associated with us are willing to betray our soldiers, airmen, or seamen by taking any action, or providing to you or anyone else any intelligence which could affect their combat efficiency and therefore place t

heir lives in danger.

“Is that your understanding of the situation?”

“Frankly, Captain . . .” Graham replied, so quickly that Dulles looked at him with what could have been surprise or alarm or both. “. . . is that what I call you, ‘Captain’?”

“If it pleases you,” von und zu Waching said.

Graham went on: “You’re aware, I’m sure, Captain, that we are both serving officers in the naval service of our respective nations; that the U.S. Marine Corps is part of the U.S. Navy?”

“So I understand.”

“Well, in the United States Navy, we have a saying, and I would be surprised if there isn’t a similar saying in the Kriegsmarine.”

“And that saying is?” von und zu Waching asked with a smile.

Graham switched to German and said, rather unpleasantly, “Why don’t we cut the bullshit and get down to business?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“There are two cold facts coloring this conversation,” Graham said pointedly. “One is that you’ve lost the war, and you know it, and the second is that you want something from us. So why don’t we stop splitting hairs about what constitutes treason and get down to what you want from us?”

Von und zu Waching’s face turned white.

“Captain,” Graham said, “I came a very long way at considerable inconvenience because I thought that Admiral Canaris had something important to say, not to listen to crap like you just mouthed.”

Von und zu Waching looked at Dulles.

Graham snapped: “Don’t look to Dulles to bring me up short, Captain. I don’t work for him, and he can’t order me to give you whatever it is you want from me. And you wouldn’t have asked him to get me here if you could get what you want from him.”

Von und zu Waching said nothing.

Neither did Dulles.

“Okay, getting to the bottom line, Captain,” Graham said, coldly reasonable, “why don’t you tell me what it is you want from me, and what you’re willing to offer in exchange?”

“Has Mr. Dulles shown you the material from Oak Ridge?”

“He showed me what you purport to be material from Oak Ridge,” Graham said.

“The Russians have spies in Oak Ridge and elsewhere within your Manhattan Project. I am prepared to identify them to you.”

“Come on, Captain. If you work for Canaris, you didn’t get into the intelligence business last week.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” von und zu Waching said.

“Okay, a couple of givens in here. Germany doesn’t want the Russians to get their hands on the atomic bomb, or the details of how one makes an atom bomb.”

“I would suggest, Colonel, that keeping the Russians from getting the atomic bomb is also in the interests of the United States.”

“Well, we’ve found something to agree on,” Graham said sarcastically. “Let’s see if we can build on that. So you know there are Russian spies at Oak Ridge. Why didn’t you just give their names to the FBI?”

Von und zu Waching did not reply.

Graham went off on a tangent: “As Admiral Canaris’s Number Two, I presume that you are privy to most of his communications with others?”