The White Vixen (33 page)

“The Super Etendard will be able to deliver the weapon quite efficiently,” Heinz said. “The

have rehearsed a similar attack many times with the same aircraft and dummy weapons. If the pilot executes the mission properly, we will succeed.”

“I have every confidence our pilots will prove worthy of the mission,” Willy said. He wished he felt as confident as he sounded. Something had been eating at him ever since they’d left Valhalla that morning aboard a Bund private jet. Heinz had told him that he wanted to discuss something of importance, but after the inspection. Willy had a feeling he knew what the subject would be.

“What are they doing now?” Willy asked.

Reinke answered. “They are in the midst of the warhead assembly, Herr Oberst.” That produced the usual reaction, a sharp intake of breath, from his guests. “There is nothing to fear, I assure you. The weapon is not yet armed.”

Willy swallowed and said, “I’m sure they are taking every precaution.”

“I really must compliment our scientists,” Reinke said. “The weapon has almost six thousand parts. Once assembled, it will weigh about five hundred kilos.”

“A remarkable achievement, to be sure,” Willy said, fighting back against an almost unbearable urge to flee the room.

One of the blue-suited figures on the floor below was next to a rack of equipment, checking items off on a clipboard. The movement on the landing near the main entrance caused the figure to shift its gaze slightly from the rack to the landing. The pen kept moving on the clipboard, a bit slower, but nobody noticed. After a half-minute, the figure turned back to the rack, and a minute later moved casually to a side door and left the floor.

Sweating inside the clean suit, Brian Jamison quickly made his way up the stairs and through the short maze of halls and doors that had led to the lower-level side entrance to the final assembly area. He’d recognized four of the men on the landing. The fifth man, the youngest, was unimportant, but two of the others were Gasparini and his commanding officer, Reinke, whom Jamison recognized from a photograph produced during his briefing in Santiago. The other two faces hadn’t registered immediately, but when they did, he knew he had to leave, right now. He’d seen enough to confirm MI6’s suspicions about the place anyway. Now there was new information to be brought out. Vital information.

Back at Century House, Jamison had been told of the existence of the Siegfried Bund, and given a rough outline of what SIS had learned was called CAPRICORN. He was shown photos of several men said to be high-ranking Bund members, including one man whose mere existence surprised Jamison and required further explanation. Two of the other photos were of middle-level but important Bund officers. Those were the men he’d seen in the assembly room. They certainly weren’t here on holiday. They were here to make sure everything was going according to plan. CAPRICORN was a fact, and from what Jamison had seen in the building, it was near completion. And if Germans were involved, especially the man who should’ve been long dead, that was very bad news indeed. Century House didn’t like bad news, but it had to hear this.

***

The Bund private jet, a new Messerschmitt Blitz model, lifted off from Bariloche three hours later. Heinz had insisted on treating Willy to dinner at the city’s best restaurant. He was pleased with the security at the facility, and impressed with Reinke. “We’ll have to keep him in mind,” he said while carving his steak.

“For what?”
Willy asked. His friend just smiled and changed the subject.

They were the only two passengers on the jet. The lone female attendant served them each a cognac, and then retreated to the small steward’s cabin, leaving the men alone. Willy was tired and decided he didn’t want to wait any longer. “You said on the way down we needed to discuss something, Heinz. What is it?”

Heinz reclined back in his comfortable seat, his jacket off and draped over a nearby chair, his tie loosened. He swirled his cognac in his glass. “Do you remember that conversation we had back at your estancia, Willy? Christmas time, it was.”

Willy thought for a moment. It came back to him clearly. “Yes. What of it?”

“Have you thought any more about it?”

Of course he had. “Some,” he said. “Please come to the point, Heinz. It’s been a long day.”

Heinz sat up and leaned forward, looking his old friend directly in the eyes. “Very well. CAPRICORN is within a few weeks of execution. Everything appears to be ready. The pilots will be ready. The bomb will work. The English fleet will vanish; in one blinding moment, thousands of brave men will die, without ever knowing what happened. The war for the Malvinas will be over practically before it starts.”

“If all goes according to plan, yes,” Willy said, taking a sip of his drink. He had an uneasy suspicion he knew what was coming.

“Willy, a nuclear weapon has not been exploded in anger in nearly forty years. I’m sure you have thought about what the reaction will be in London. In Washington, Moscow, Brasilia. Everywhere.”

“Am I worried about an English counterattack, Heinz? No. Will the Americans move against us? They’ll scream at us, their doddering old president will go on television to condemn us, but they will not move against us. The Brazilians will run to the U.N. for protection.” He let his irritation seep into his voice. “This has
all been thought through.” Was Heinz getting cold feet? He wouldn’t have thought it possible.

“Yes, it has been thought through. More than you think,” Heinz said. He took another drink. “Willy, have you heard about an operation called VALKYRIE?”

“No,” Willy said. “What is it?”

“Something I became aware of only a few weeks ago myself,” he said. “I would have told you sooner, but I wanted to confirm some details. Then I had to discuss it with…certain individuals.” He looked at Willy. “Forgive me for not bringing it up sooner, but you’ll understand when I explain.”

“Please do.”

Heinz finished off the rest of his glass and re-filled it from a nearby bottle. “Our dear fathers have been working on something for some time now.
Here and back in Germany.”

“West Germany?”

“Both East and West,” Heinz said. “They have put together a plan they call VALKYRIE. Its goal is the reunification of our beloved Fatherland. They will achieve this through a
putsch
.”

Willy had to blink at that. “What?
Reunification, through an uprising? How could such a thing be done?” Among the older Germans in Argentina, reuniting their old country was a common topic. The general belief was that it would never happen unless one side triumphed over the other on the field of battle. A very few thought that reunification would eventually be possible through political means. Like most of his generation, Willy hadn’t paid much attention. Whether or not Germany ever reunited would mean little to faraway Argentina. Or so he always thought.

“Consider the political turmoil that will result among the western powers when CAPRICORN is executed,” Heinz said. “The English will be almost out of their minds, with their precious fleet gone. For hundreds of years, their fleet has been the only thing protecting their islands from invasion. The psychological impact alone will be devastating. Do not forget that the Royal Navy is an important part of the NATO defense plans. The English and the Americans will immediately begin to worry that the Soviets will take advantage of the situation by moving against West Germany.”

“Heinz, a land war in central Europe will involve infantry, armor and aircraft, not ships.”

“Naval forces wouldn’t be involved immediately, that is true,” Heinz countered. “But NATO’s plan to defend West Germany from Soviet invasion relies on quick reinforcement from North America. That reinforcement will have to come by sea. Without those troops and equipment, the American forces on the continent will not last two weeks against a coordinated assault by the Warsaw Pact. The NATO war plan calls for naval reinforcement to begin within days after the outbreak of hostilities.”

“All right, but how does this involve us?”

“The U.S. Navy, while powerful, is not invincible. In the North Atlantic, they must rely on the English to help safeguard the sea lanes from Soviet submarines. There is also the prospect of Soviet air attacks against Allied convoys, operating from bases they might seize in Norway or Iceland. Removing the Royal Navy from the equation will leave those countries virtually defenseless. Using them as platforms for air strikes, plus their submarine attacks, will allow the Soviets to interdict the Allied convoys and destroy them. That is critical to the Soviet plan for winning a war in Europe. This we know from our sources in Moscow and other Warsaw Pact nations.”

“Again, I ask—“

“Don’t you see?” Heinz set his glass down on the end table rather forcefully. “When the realization of CAPRICORN sinks in, there will be panic in London and Washington. Likewise, there will be panic in Moscow. The Soviets are not prepared to exploit such an advantage, but the western powers don’t know that. The Soviets may think the Americans will launch a pre-emptive strike. Both sides will come to a war footing very quickly. But until they do, there will be confusion. This will create a brief window of opportunity.”

Willy’s heart seemed to slow down as the realization sunk in. “An opportunity…”

“Yes,” Heinz said. “Even as we speak, there are men in positions of importance in both West and East Germany.
Men who have control of army and police units. In the critical hours after CAPRICORN, they will move. The Red Army has a large supply of tactical nuclear warheads in East Germany. The Americans control the warheads in the West. The men on both sides of the border involved in VALKYRIE will seize these warheads, as well as the communications centers in both countries. The Soviet and NATO forces in the field will be cut off from their headquarters. Their most powerful weapons will be in the hands of the putschists.”

“Heinz, this cannot possibly work. Don’t you think the Americans have prepared for such an eventuality? Certainly the Soviets have. They’ve never trusted the East Germans.”

Heinz stood up and began pacing the cabin. “The plotters believe they only need a few hours. Yes, the enemy units in the field have alternate communications. They will know something is afoot, but they won’t know what. The Soviets in particular will do nothing without hearing from Moscow. Their command-and-control structure does not allow for initiative in the field. The Americans are more flexible, but they will still want to hear from NATO headquarters in Brussels. The public airwaves will be full of news about the destruction of the English fleet. By the time the Soviet and NATO field commanders re-establish links with their leadership outside the country, VALKYRIE will have succeeded. Once the rebels have the weapons under control, they will arrest the political leadership in East Berlin and Bonn. They will throw open the gates in Berlin and rebel forces from both sides will join up. So will units along the border between the two countries.” He sat down again, looking intently at Willy. “Imagine the power of those scenes on television, Willy. The Wall finally coming down. After more than thirty years of suspicion and fear, the German citizenry will see their soldiers, young men from East and West, embracing and flying one flag. The emotional impact of that scene is impossible to underestimate. What do you suppose the people will do when the rebels go on the air and announce that they have united Germany under one government? Do you think they will demand a return to the status quo?”

Willy could easily see it. He’d spent enough time in the Federal Republic to know the deep longing the people had for a
reunited country. Once the genie had been let out of the bottle, it could not be put back in. “The warheads will be their trump card,” he said. “The Soviets and NATO will have to back down.”

“Of course they will,” Heinz said. “Is Reagan willing to risk nuclear war with the Soviets over Germany?”

“Perhaps,” Willy said. “He has called them ‘the Evil Empire’.”

Heinz snorted.
“Rhetorical claptrap! He is showing the Soviets he can’t be intimidated by them, as his predecessor was. The Russians understand power, Willy. You can only negotiate with them from a position of strength. With nuclear weapons, the new Germany will be able to do that. Within a month, all foreign troops will be off German soil for the first time in nearly forty years.”

“They’re using us,” Willy said slowly as the truth bloomed within his mind. “CAPRICORN, the Malvinas, it’s all just a part of the overall plan.”

“Of course!” Heinz stood again. “Willy, that’s always been the plan: to reunite Germany, under their leadership. Who do you think will be running the new Germany? What do you think the Reichsleiter will do once Berlin is secure and the Russians are gone?”
        Willy looked up at him in alarm. “He means to return? To re-establish the Party? Heinz, that’s madness! The Russians will go insane!”

“Exactly,” Heinz said, kneeling in front of Willy. “At first, the new German government will be officially neutral between East and West. There will be not a whisper of Nazis returning. That will change once the foreign troops are gone. Weapons or not, the Russians will never allow the Nazi Party to rise again. They lost millions to Germany in the last war, Willy. They will fight to
the death to prevent that from happening again. There will be another war in Europe, and when the dust has settled there, what do you think the Americans will do about us? They will see us as just an extension of the Nazis. Do you think Reagan will allow a nuclear-armed Nazi nation in his own hemisphere?”