Espionage, German -- United States -- Fiction; Germans -- United States -- Fiction; Spy stories
Harrison Grant had selected Heinric von Lertz as the spy for whose
activities he would be responsible, and Dixie Mason had accepted the
post of keeping watch over Baroness Verbecht, who had succeeded in
gaining her liberty from the Tombs under bail, after the discovery of
the invisible ink messages on her body by Grant and Mrs. Blank. Before
either of the spies they were watching had made a suspicious move,
reports were received from other operatives that the judgment of Grant
that Germany was preparing for a break was correct. Any number of the
lesser spies of the Kaiser in America had received orders direct from
Washington which took them to the interned ships of Austria and Germany
in all the harbors of the United States.
"Not one of these ships must be useful to the United States in the
event of war," was the order delivered to each interned boat. "Where it
is possible engines must be destroyed, otherwise the boat must be sunk.
Make plans now and when the wireless lanes are filled with dots, just
dots, then let the work commence."
Nothing could be done to prevent the consummation of this plan for
the holds of interned vessels were forbidden property to the Secret
Service under international law. So, despite the fact that it was known
from many sources that these were the orders which had been sent forth
to every Austrian and German commander who had a boat in an American
port, the best that could be done was to station operatives near every
interned boat to rush aboard the minute war was declared.
For several days Grant and Dixie had little to do except stay near the
New York offices of Heinric von Lertz. Each morning he would go there
and spend the entire day until evening then go to the Hohenzollern
Club. Apparently he had no part in any of the affairs which were
engaging the other members of the Kaiser's spy army in America. He saw
no one and received none but the most ordinary messages.
Then he suddenly became active. One evening just before he left his
office he sent a long code message to Washington. The next morning
before the message had been deciphered for Grant, Von Lertz received
a summons and went to Washington. Then he returned and started by
automobile on a trip in which he employed every dodge he could think
of, but Grant, Dixie and Sisson kept him in sight and at last found a
real clue to his plans.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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