Page 11 - Tales the Maggid Never Told Me

The Herati Gambit

Arabian Sea. The Italians have the expertise—their own Roman
aqueducts are models—but can’t go far without German and
Japanese logistical support. The men and materiel are being smuggled
in overland over the old Silk Routes. Herat is headquarters.”
“This installation will be bombed in less than a week if you can get
word back to your spymasters,” said Korbin excitedly, “or the
dissidents will make a serious move against Hitler if they find out the
war could go on and on.” Then his mood fell. “But not if our
masquerades are discovered before we can make contact: we would
disappear as quickly as the men we replaced.”
Retsu nodded. “I presume your instructions are the same as mine:
report back to the High Command in a noncommittal way, then get
word to our sponsors via prearranged means.”
“Correct. Do you know what will happen to us if we are lucky
enough to get that far?”
“I’ve chosen not to think about that.”
Nishtikstein shook his head slowly. “Our friends will kill us within
hours, making it look accidental or blamable on their enemies. They
could not risk our being discovered before their response goes into
effect. Do you concur?”
Goh pursed his lips. “Yes, it makes sense,” he said tensely.
“All right.” Korbin adopted the manner of a German
schoolteacher. “Now it is time to consider what to do, based on
looking ahead several moves on the chessboard. Those who
exchanged us for major pieces did not allow for the possibility of our
being taken out of the game prematurely. Therefore we must change
the moves, revise the gambit. I see no way for us not to lose our
lives. Escape is not going to work: no airplane has the range to get us
to any neutral territory—what few there are. And we are as likely to
be shot down as rescued if we flew unannounced into Allied airspace.
But we want to make certain our side understands what has
happened without giving away the game to the other. We have one
advantage: the other side does not yet suspect us. As we cannot be
assured of continuing the charade much longer, the goal is to give
sufficient warning to our friends without giving ourselves away to the
enemy. That leads me to the only way we can alert our controllers
that something important is going on here without raising a red flag

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