Washington, D.C. February 24th It was_just before 2 A.M. and raining hard as the unmarked black Ford sedan drew UpOutside the rear entrance to the White House.

As the three passengers climbed out,Secret Service men led them briskly through to the Oval Office.

President Eisenhower was already seatedbehind his desk, wearing a dressing gown, his face looking tired and drawn, andhe stood briefly as the three men were ushered into the room. "Take aseat. Coffee's on the table if anyone's interested."

There was a pot of steaming coffee and atray of cups on a side table but no one bothered to touch the refreshment.Lights from the city arc lamps outside blazed beyond the tinted windows ontothe expansive lawns. There was an air of anxious restlessness as the men sat.

Allen Welsh Dulles, the Acting Directorof the CIA, took the chair next to Eisenhower. Appointed Director only sixweeks previously, and not to be sworn into office for another four days, thesixty-year-old Dulles was to be the CIA's first professional director, butneither looked nor behaved like one.

A big, wide-shouldered New Yorker withrumpled white hair and a mustache, he had an easy manner and a taste for partygoing.That early morning, however, his face appeared tense and there was no sign ofthe charming seductiveness for which he was noted. A distinguished intelligencechief, he had led America's OSS in Europe from his wartime base in Switzerland,being responsible for secret missions into Nazi Germany and, more notably,Operation Sunrise, the srender of all German troops by SS General Karl Woll'fin the last and bloody stages of the war in Italy.

Normally a calm and relaxed man, thatFebruary morning Dulles seemed a bundle of nerves.

The other two men in the room were theAssistant Director of the Soviet Division, William G. Wallace, and KarlBranigan, the Special Operations Chief. Both men sat facing Eisenhower's desk,and both, like Dulles, looked tense and restless.

It was exactly two when Eisenhower openedthe meeting, in a voice raw from sleep and a lifetime of too many cigarettes.

"You had better begin, Allen. It'sbad enough being woken at one-thirty A.M., so let's not waste any moretime."

Dulles leaned forward and formallyintroduced the other two men present. "Mr. President ... the AssistantDirector of the Soviet Division you know already."

The Assistant Director nodded toEisenhower. "Mr. President ..."

"Good to see you, Bill."Eisenhower frowned and smiled slightly. "Or maybe not, as the case maybe."

"Sir, this is Karl Branigan,"Dulles went on quickly, "Soviet Division's Special Operations Chief."

Branigan raised himself briefly from hischair, but Eisenhower indicated with a wave that he should remain seated."Relax, Mr. Branigan, we don't stand on formality at two A.M. in the WhiteHouse. Right, Allen, let's get to it. I presume this isn't going to be goodnews?"

Branigan sat down again as Dulles clearedhis throat. "Sir, I believe we have a major problem."

"I already gathered that from yourcall," Eisenhower said sharply.

Dulles placed a red folder in front ofEisenhower. It was stamped "For President's Eyes Only."

"Mr. President, sir, as of thismoment we believe Moscow may be aware of our intention in regard to OperationSnow Wolf."

At once Eisenhower reacted. There was alook of alarm on his face and he instantly paled. "You're certain aboutthis?"

"As certain as we can be."

Eisenhower sighed deeply and ran a handacross the back of his neck as if to ease a growing tension in himself. He saidsoftly, "Jesus Christ."

The anger showed instantly on his face ashe stared over at the other two men in the room, then back at Dulles. "Youmind telling me how in God's name one of the most sensitive, topsecretoperations your department's ever handled has been blown? What in goddamnedhell's gone wrong?"

Dulles opened the file and shakily handedit to Eisenhower. "Inside you'll find all the details, Mr. President. ButI'll run through them to save time. At exactly ten-thirty last night adiplomatic attache named Kislov from the Soviet UN Mission in New York boardeda plane for London, with onward connections to Moscow. As you might expect,Kislov is no attache-he's the KGB station head in New York. He had with him adiplomatic bag. We believe it contained information from a copy of a secretfile we had given Massey on Stalin's personal information and habits."

Eisenhower frowned. "And what makesyou assume that?"

"It's rather complex, Mr. President."

"Then tell me as simply as youcan."

Dulles explained about the bodies foundby the police in the Brooklyn apartment after a shooting had been reported, andthat one had been identified as Dimitri Popov, who worked for the CIA. The bodyof the second man was Feliks Akashin, a Soviet attache and KGB major. It tookDulles several minutes more to outline the complete details of how the CIA hadbeen alerted by the FBI. Branigan had learned of the alert and knew Popov hadbeen seconded to Massey for agent training, so Branigan had decided to have thehouse in New Hampshire visited for the sake of necessity.

Dulles went on worriedly, "The cabinhad been burned to the ground and Massey and his people had vanished. Branigancalled in one of our teams to check the property. As of an hour ago four bodieshave been found, three in the woods, another near the lake by the cabin. One ofthe bodies is of a killer named Braun who worked for the Soviets, and the bodyhad a single file hidden on it-the file I referred to. Massey had been suppliedwith a copy for Stanski to study. It contained details on Stalin's background,his personality, his weaknesses, his strengths. Even his medical data. Hispresent necessity arrangements, as far as we can ascertain. The layout of theKremlin and the Kuntsevo dacha he uses. It was top secret."

"Did the file contain any detailsabout Snow Wolf?"

"No, sir, it did not."Eisenhower said impatiently, "Then just how do you suppose the Sovietscould have deduced what we intend? This man Braun is dead and the file didn'tcontain any suggestion of our intentions."

Dulles hesitated. "I think maybe theAssistant Director can better answer that question, sir." Dulles nodded toWilliam Wallace, who sat forward.

"Mr. President, as you know, for thesake of necessity and the extremely sensitive nate of the mission, Snow Wolfwas ultra-covert. No one knew about it but us four here in the room and thepeople directly involved. By that I mean Massey, and the man we're sending in,Stanski. Not even the woman accompanying him knew the target." Eisenhowersaid abruptly, "Get to the point."

The Assistant Director lookeduncomfortable. He glanced at Dulles for support, but when none came, he said,"our forensic people believe Braun's body had already been discoveredbefore we found it. We also now suspect Moscow had been watching the woman andsent Braun to kill or abduct her. It seems the likely scenario. Braun must havefound the file in the cabin, sir, before he was killed, most obviously byMassey or one of his people. We concluded that when Braun and the others didn'treturn, the KGB sent someone, possibly another team, to check. We don't thinkKislov flew to Moscow just to report Akashin's death and the deaths of theothers-that would hardly warrant such a trip. We think he flew there becausethe team sent to find out what had happened to Braun also found the file. Theyexamined it but left it on the body. Kislov was informed and realized what theinformation might suggest. A man like Kislov is no fool-with the kind ofdetails in the file and with Massey being involved, it's more than likely he'llhave reasoned we intend an operation against Stalin, and soon, considering mostmission training is done shortly before a drop takes place."