CHAPTER SIX
_Eagles for Moscow_
Had Colonel Welsh calmly pulled out an automatic and fired the wholeclip through the ceiling of Room Twelve Hundred, Dave Dawson and FreddyFarmer wouldn't have been half so surprised as they were right at themoment. Like two sitting statues of stone, they froze motionless, andgaped wide-eyed at the Colonel. A billion questions spun around in theirbrains, but for several seconds neither could have made his lips speakwords; not for a million dollars in cold cash.
In time, though, Dawson succeeded in getting his tongue back intoworking order.
"Sweet tripe!" he exploded. "That is a new one for us! Decoys for theGestapo rats! Gosh!"
"It doesn't meet with your approval, Dawson?" Air Vice-Marshal Leman putthe question with a slight frown.
"Sure, one hundred per cent, sir," Dave came right back at him quickly."But it was so sudden like--well, it's sort of got me still swinging atthin air. One right on the outside corner that I didn't even see thepitcher let fly."
"Eh, what?" the senior R.A.F. officer grunted with a blank look on hisface.
"Another American expression, sir," Colonel Welsh explained immediately."Dawson means I took the wind out of his sails. Caught him flat-footedoff the bag, you might say."
"Oh, yes, quite!" the English officer murmured, but didn't exactly losehis blank look. "Well, I'm glad that you approve, because we aredefinitely counting on you two for help. If this bit of a mission iscompletely successful, there's no telling how much it may change thecourse of the war in our favor, you know."
"If it can be done, we'll both do our best to hold up our end, sir,"Freddy Farmer murmured.
"And you can say that again for me," Dawson added his bit. Then, turningto Colonel Welsh, he asked, "What's the plan, sir? Or shouldn't I askthat now?"
"You should, and I'll answer it," the American Intelligence chiefreplied. "Here is the picture as we've doped it out. You two, whetheryou admit it or not, are not exactly unknown to the Gestapo. Ten to onethe Gestapo knows that you are here in London. In fact, it's almost aneven money bet that Gestapo agents in London know that you are here inthis office right now."
"Gosh!" Freddy Farmer breathed softly. "That doesn't give a chap a verypleasant feeling. But go on, sir."
"What I'm working up to is this," the Colonel continued. "If the Gestapohas wind of the Tobolsk business, and I'll bet a year's pay that theyhave, they are going to be just a bit more excited to learn that you twohave been brought into the picture. And it is our plan to bring you intothe picture right out in broad daylight, so to speak. In other words,the Air Vice-Marshal here, you two, my agent, and Agent Jones and myselfare going to have lunch as Simpson's at the Savoy Hotel this noon. Thenwe are all coming back here for a short while. Tonight you two willtravel to Aberdeen in Scotland. There you will board a bomber that willfly you direct to Moscow. When you reach Moscow the Soviet Intelligencewill take over. You will disappear from sight, and you will remain outof sight for a bit. Then at the right time you two and a RussianIntelligence officer, who knows every square inch of the Tobolsk area,will take off by plane and head down the front to the village of Urbakh,which is on the Russian side of the front."
The Colonel paused a moment to catch his breath and shift his weight onthe chair.
"Meantime," he presently continued, "Agent Jones will also be making alittle journey. You see, we hope that you two will be able to draw theGestapo away from Jones. He will be sneaked out of England by air, andgo to Gibraltar, and on to Alexandria, and up through Iraq, and Iran,and up through the Caucasus to the village of Urbakh. There he will meetyour party coming down from Moscow, and--well, from that point on, ourplan is only general. You, of course, will have to make your own plansfrom hour to hour, according to how the situation shapes up. The goal,of course, is for all of you to get over into Tobolsk behind the Nazilines and contact Ivan Nikolsk, and learn what he has to say, in theevent you can't get him out of there by air."
"Zowie!" Dawson breathed aloud without thinking. "Just like that, huh?I--Sorry, sir."
Colonel Welsh gave a little wave of his hand to signify that Dawson'scomment was taken in the right spirit. In fact, he grinned, and noddedhis head vigorously.
"Zowie is right!" he echoed. "I'll admit that the assignment appears soscrewy, and dizzy, that a man would be a fool even to give a thought toits turning out even partially successfully. But on the other hand,that's something in our favor in a way. It's such a screwy idea thatmaybe even the Gestapo wouldn't believe we'd try to pull it off. Yousee, our hope is that they'll think that you're going to Moscow to turnover valuable information to Soviet Intelligence. In short--well, to bevery blunt and brutal, it is our hope that the Gestapo will fall allover themselves trying to _stop you two from reaching Moscow_, and intheir efforts will forget all about Agent Jones."
"Well, I wish them luck, I don't think!" Dawson said more cheerfullythan he felt. "At any rate, there should be some fun in beating thosemurdering bums to the punch. Check, Freddy?"
"Quite!" the English-born air ace managed to get out. "I've alwayswanted to visit Moscow, too."
"Well, our prayers will be that you'll have that opportunity," ColonelWelsh said almost fervently. "If you can shake them off at Moscow, evenif they suddenly realize they've been very nicely duped, and guess thereal truth, we hope there'll not be enough time for them to do anythingabout it."
"There's one thing I don't quite catch, sir," Dawson said after a coupleof minutes of general silence. "The trip over the Nazi front to Tobolsk.There'll be four of us in the party, and, we sincerely hope, five of uscoming out. That's quite a crowd to be charging about behind the Germanlines, to my way of thinking."
"I agree with you in principle," the American Intelligence chiefreplied. "But this is one of those occasions where we're banking on theidea of safety in numbers. In the first place, there must be someonealong who knows that area like the palm of his hand. That's where theRussian Intelligence officer will come in. He'll know the best place toland, and where to hide the aircraft from prying Nazi eyes. Secondly,there has to be the man to contact Nikolsk. That's Agent Jones, ofcourse. Thirdly, or it should be secondly, Nikolsk will have to befound, and that's where the Russian Intelligence officer will come inhandy again. He'll be able to hunt around while the rest of you liedoggo and wait. And lastly, there must be a pilot to fly the plane in,and to fly it out again. That's where you two come in. Double insurance,if you get what I mean?"
"I get it, sir," Dawson said grimly. "You hope that both Freddy and Iwill fly in, but there _must_ be one of us left to fly the ship out,eh?"
"I mean just that," Colonel Welsh said, and there was no smile on histhin face now. "One of you has _got_ to come back!"
"And _both_ of us will!" Dawson replied instantly.
"Definitely!" Freddy Farmer echoed, and seemed content to let it staylike that.
"Well, that's the picture in more or less detail," Colonel Welsh saidwith a glance at his watch. "We'll talk over some more of the detailsagain. Right now, though, I guess we've done enough talking. Let's breakup this meeting, and think things over. Maybe all of us will have thingsto add later. That agreeable with you, Air Vice-Marshal?"
"Quite," the senior R.A.F. officer said with a nod. Then, glancing atDawson and Farmer, "All the luck in the world, you chaps. And I need nottell you how I admire you both, and envy you, too, if you must know thetruth. I'd give every one of my stripes of rank to be able to go alongwith you."
"Thank you, sir," Dawson said for them both. Then, with a pointed glanceat the decoration ribbons under the tunic wings of the Air Vice-Marshal,he added, "And we'd like nothing better than to have you along, sir."
"See here, what about me?" Colonel Welsh snapped with a half grintugging at the corners of his mouth. "Am I supposed to be an old woman,or something?"
"Just Dawson's nasty manners, sir," Freddy Farmer spoke up with astraight face. "He'll never learn. But I can assure you that his wordsreally included you both."
> "And how, sir!" Dawson exclaimed hastily. "I figured you'd take that forgranted."
"Well, that's a little better!" Colonel Welsh growled in mock annoyance."But you'll never know, Dawson, how close you came to having to pay forthat lunch this noon. But of course, I understand, now. So I'll let youoff this time, and pay for it myself."
Dawson blew air through his lips, and went through the act of wipingbeads of sweat from his brow.
"Boy, did I come close to having to wash a mess of dishes!" he breathed."Because, if the truth must be known, I've got all of three shillings inmy pocket!"
"As though that were unusual!" Freddy Farmer shot at him. "Just name theday when your pay wasn't all spent before you received it."
"Quite!" the Air Vice-Marshal broke into the conversation. "But that's awell known R.A.F. habit, of course. Well, Gentlemen, shall we disband,eh, and meet later at Simpson's, what?"
And nobody put forth any objections.