Chapter XII

68

STRANGE FISH

The plan, when it first hit him, seemed very good. It came with one of those flashes, an instinctive certainty that it was the answer. But it wasn't the kind of a plan you could keep thinking about and continue to believe it would work. In short, it was pretty wild stuff, and he didn't want to sound like a fool explaining it.

Nothing happened to them during the drive to the Creely ranch.

CREELY was a pot−bellied half−Osage buck with a big grin and a double−barrelled shotgun of the kind frontiersmen used to call a Zulu. He was coöperative.

Doc got Washington on the wire, got a series of army officials.

“I want to talk by phone to Johann Jon Berlitz, the man who is about to be recognized by the Allies as the German leader. I want to talk to him immediately,” he told everyone he got on the wire.

The thing stretched out. Berlitz was in Europe, and it was a trans−Atlantic call. But the mechanical complexity of the call was a small matter. The official red tape wasn't. It began to look as if the matter was going to have to be okayed by an International conference and the United States congress.

Doc kept at it patiently. He was yelled at, but didn't yell back. When he got a flat no, it was impossible, from one source, he started on another. The lateness of the hour made it difficult, too. No one with that much authority seemed to be on duty in the Pentagon in Washington.

He was surprised when he finally did get an okay. The matter was irregular, mysterious, and he had no official rank warranting such a thing.

Creely stood around looking nervous, probably wondering if he was going to get stuck for part of the costs of this.

For some time, the long−distance operators in New York, London, France and in−between points fussed at each other. Then there was a squabble with a German−speaking secretary who objected to calling Berlitz from conference.

Johann Jon Berlitz had a blunt voice with oil on it. The voice of a man who was used to saying things he meant, but not yelling them at people, and having the things he wanted done. He spoke German.

Doc identified himself. Berlitz said, “Oh, yes, of course, in a vague tone which indicated he had never heard of Doc.

Doc said, in German, “I am calling to verify or disprove the statement made by a man named Bill Hazel that he is working for you.”

There was silence over the wire. It seemed startled.

Then, “He is there?” Berlitz demanded.

“Yes.”

“The town, the location, please.”