Breaking the seal I took out the only paper
it contained, glanced at it, smiled to myself and went to work--swift
work, for at any moment Schmidt might return.
If I had not made my plans long ahead, the simple taking of the
document would only have added to the problem. Understand, I did not
want to steal the document, merely its contents. Now, in the brief
minutes that I had beside the luggage, it was impossible to memorize
all the contents of the document. So I judged would be the case and I
had come prepared.
Under my arm was a popular novel and between the pages of this lay a
sheet of special lotion paper, chemically treated in a way known only
to the German Secret Service and capable of taking a quick clean print
of anything written in pencil or ink. As I lifted the dossier from
the kiste I noticed that it was embossed on a greenish white paper,
not unlike a bank of England note in color. It was written in German
and signed with a foreign office cipher, the letters W and B
intertwined. Following this was the numeral 24, the Wilhelmstrasse
serial number of the document.
Taking a chance that Herr Schmidt would be fascinated just a minute
longer by the magic skyline of New York, I slipped the dossier against
the special lotion paper and took an accurate print by sitting on it
for two minutes. I then replaced the document in the dispatch
envelope and being sure to leave everything appearing as it was, even
to fixing the broken seal as best I could, lest by chance Herr Schmidt
should return and glance at his kiste.
Pages:
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218