Crossword by Alan Bricklin Page A

seemed to be a contemporary of Kent's, that same eager
look on his face. A look that combined subservience and a desire to do
something tangible to help the war effort, with a certain feeling of awe that
he was actually privy to these behind the scenes machinations. David Ruckelman
had been recruited from the civilian arena only recently, bringing resources
that were needed by the OSS for this particular project.
    Ruckelman was a chemical engineer, or at least that's what
he was trained as, but aside from a brief period on the faculty of the
University of Chicago, he really hadn't done very much at all in what he
considered to be his field of expertise. When he was honest with himself, he
admitted that even his time at U of C was more babysitting grad students than
any kind of useful research. It was not surprising, therefore, that when he was
offered a position working with a team of scientists being assembled by
professor Fermi for a secret wartime project, he accepted without even asking
for any of the details. In point of fact, it wouldn't have mattered if he did
ask, because no one would have told him anyway. He had hoped, nonetheless, that
this would be his chance to prove his worth as a chemical engineer and to do
something to help his country. In the latter he was successful, but
unfortunately, the former remained a more elusive goal, for after a mere six
months on the Manhattan Project it was the opinion of Fermi that David was much
better at engineering people than at engineering fissionable elements. He
became the project personnel manager and liaison with the military. Still
unable to feel fulfilled in his work, he readily agreed to be put on loan to
the OSS, hoping that some new endeavor might provide him with the
self-justification that he so needed. Therefore, he sat at the table with hope
in his heart and tried to look attentive and capable while waiting for Dulles
to continue his explanation.
    "It is possible that an agent can cross into Southern
Germany by way of Lake Constance, retrieve the plutonium from where Schroeder
hid it and make his way back the same way."
    "Where is it hidden?" Julian asked, his mind
already thinking about possible routes and methods of transportation.
    "He hasn't exactly told us although we believe it is in
the vicinity of Munich."
    "When is he 'exactly' going to tell us?"
    Kent thought that Julian was getting too close to sarcastic
with Dulles but felt comfortable with Templeton's ability to deal with these
kinds of exchanges with his superiors without seriously ruffling anyone's
feathers.
    "Actually, Julian, he's not."
    "Well sir, with all due respect, if we don't know where
we're going it's unlikely that we'll get there."
    "He's afraid that if he tells us now, he gives up his
only bargaining power."
    "Just what is it that he's bargaining for?"
    "He wants immunity and safe passage to South
America." Dulles puffed slowly on his pipe and was about to continue when
Julian interrupted. Kent noticed the brief flicker of irritation that crossed
Dulles' face.
    Julian plunged ahead, "Can't we set up some sort of
guarantee that will make him trust us?"
    "If he tells us," Kent interjected hesitantly,
"can't we just bomb the shit out of it so the Nazis can't use the
plutonium?"
    Allan looked at Kent first. "We would have no way of
knowing for sure if we succeeded, plus which, to hit a target that small we'd
have to have personnel on the ground anyway." He now turned to face
Julian, his eyes narrowing just perceptibly, and went on, "As I started to
say," and the phraseology was not lost on anyone, "he feels he needs
to hold an ace in his hand because whoever we send in has to bring out his ward,
a young woman in her twenties. To insure that that happens, she is the one who
will take our agent to the plutonium."
    Everyone in the room knew that this would make a very
difficult operation harder, but it was Julian, the only one with any experience
running field operations, who really knew the