A Despicable Profession Read Online Free

FBI and the War Department at a time of great danger.”
    I didn’t bite. If we were facing another Pearl Harbor Jacobson would have to say how before I got myself all hot and bothered. “What do you and Bill Donovan plan to do about it?”
    â€œWhat little we can.”
    â€œHow black, how wet? What are we talking about?”
    Jacobson took another pull of beer. “We’re talking about keeping the Red Army from rolling tank divisions across the Elbe and seizing all of Germany while we have our backs turned.”
    Huh
? The papers were full of heartwarming stories about Yanks, Brits and Reds working together to rebuild Germany.
    â€œYou think our Russian allies are planning an
invasion?”
    â€œSome of our White Russian émigré friends think so” said Jacobson. “I only know one thing for certain.”
    â€œWhat’s that?”
    â€œIf Stalin is planning to seize Germany he couldn’t pick a better time.”
    This got my attention. A serious mission. I eyed my beer, it was going flat. Tough shit.
    â€œWho does Global work for? Who’s their customer?”
    â€œPOTUS.”
    â€œWho’s that?”
    â€œThe President of the United States.”
    â€œOh. Directly?”
    â€œDonovan has a back channel.”
    â€œSo CIG knows about Global.”
    â€œI have a relationship with the Chief of the Berlin Detachment if we need to co-ordinate.”
    â€œSheesh, what a sideways setup.”
    â€œAd hoc espionage. Best we can do.”
    â€œWhat’s the chain of command?”
    â€œYou would report to me.”
    â€œAnd if I needed to take it upstairs?”
    â€œYou talk to Bill Donovan.”
    â€œAnd if I’m captured?”
    â€œWe never heard of you.”
    I grinned, or grimaced. Just like old times. “And my first assignment would be?”
    Jacobson leaned in. “Track down Klaus Hilde.”
    â€œWho he?”
    â€œA former
Abwehr
General with encyclopedic knowledge of Soviet orders of battle. He reached out to us before war’s end. Word is he tried again recently but OMGUS screwed up.”
    â€œOMGUS?”
    â€œOffice of the Military Government of Germany, US.”
    â€œWhere’s Hilde now?”
    â€œHeaded south most likely, down the Rat Line to Lisbon and South America. Find him before the NKVD does. Take this.”
    My former Case Officer was acting like my future Case Officer. He handed me a small leather purse with a drawstring. It was heavy. “What’s in it?”
    â€œGold sovereigns.”
    I fondled the purse. There had to be a dozen half-dollar-sized coins in there. A king’s ransom.
    â€œOkay, say I find this Hilde, what then? We turn him over to CIG?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œIt’s complicated.”
    â€œTry me.”
    â€œOMGUS wants us to work together with our Russian allies. They think gathering military intelligence on the Red Army would be provocative. Brigadeführer Hilde is a treasure trove of Soviet military intelligence.”
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œThere’s more. The Chief of the Berlin Detachment of the CIG describes his group as semi-covert.”
    â€œThat’s funny.”
    â€œYes it is.”
    â€œHave they been penetrated?”
    â€œI don’t think so.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œWhy bother?”
    Jacobson had my motor running I will admit. A chance to be a hero, an opportunity to atone for my sins. And a bag of loot to pave the way.
    â€œWhy me?”
    â€œI said why.”
    â€œWhy really?”
    â€œWe’re shorthanded. And you’re a lifer.”
    Me? A
lifer
? No way, no how. I said so.
    â€œSettled down in a cozy cottage with a doting wife are you?”
    â€œUp yours!”
    â€œAnd yours as well.”
    I giggled. I was dingy with travel and surprise and too much information. And so parched I was tempted to lick the beer rings off the table.
    â€œSay I run