Are you willing to undertake a dangerous mission behind enemy lines, knowing that you may never
return alive?
What you have just heard is the question asked during the war of agents of the OSS.
Ordinary citizens who to this question answered, yes.
This is Cloak and Dagger.
Black warfare, espionage, international intrigue.
These are the weapons of the OSS.
In today's adventure, Windfall, the part of McAllister is played by Lestremayne.
Jan Miner plays Jen and Mike Slade is played by Bill Quinn.
The story is suggested by actual incidents recorded in the Washington files of the Office
of Strategic Services.
A story that can now be told.
We had three new guests at the lodge at Noirmont that day.
The first one blew in just after lunch and I recognized him right away.
At least I thought I did.
I didn't know who he was, you understand, but I thought I knew what he was.
A fellow American for one thing and probably a member of the diplomatic mission at Barron.
I wish now that that was all he had been.
You have a reservation for me?
The name, monsieur?
Haywood.
Frederick Haywood.
One moment, monsieur.
I made a mental note of that name as I shuffled my cards and dealt myself another hand of
solitaire.
I was sitting in the lobby close to the desk and not by accident either.
I made it my business to catch the names of new arrivals.
If you know a man's name, he's usually more willing to sit down at a card table with you.
And if the guests at Noirmont didn't play cards with me, how could I eat?
Well, clerk, do you have the reservation or not?
Yes, here it is, monsieur.
It was found in yesterday from Berm.
Room is being prepared now, sir.
Let me know when it's ready.
I'll be in the bar.
I went to work then.
I followed them into the bar.
I was sure by then that I'd size them up right.
A secretary or a file clerk could come to the lodge to ski and relax.
He was ripe for picking, I figured.
I found him at a table by the window looking out over the mountains of snow and ice and
down into the green valley where Switzerland became France.
Nazi occupied France.
Welcome to Noirmont, Mr. Haywood.
Who are you?
Name's Slade, Mike Slade.
I heard you ask for your reservation.
I couldn't help overhearing your name.
You're an American?
That's right.
You mind if I sit down?
Thanks.
Up here to do a little skiing, I suppose?
Perhaps.
Planning to stay long?
That depends.
Oh, on what?
On a number of things, none of which are your business.
Relax, Mr. Haywood.
You don't have to be afraid to talk to me.
I'm not on the enemy side.
In fact, I'm not on anybody's side.
I'm just a plain, ordinary private citizen.
Oh, and what are you doing in Switzerland?
He asked, so I told him a whole sad story.
How I'd shipped out of San Francisco when I was 15, how I'd jumped ship in Shanghai,
how I'd spent the next 25 years gambling my way around the world till I hit it big, knocking
over a roulette wheel in Paris for a million francs.
So you're up here blowing your million francs, huh, Slade?
No, not exactly.
Didn't last long enough to blow.
A week after I won it, the Germans marched into Paris and my money wasn't worth a thin
dime.
I got away and landed up here at Noirmar and been waiting ever since.
Waiting for what?
Why, for someone to win this war, of course.
Someone?
Anyone, you mean?
Oh, I'm not too particular, Mr. Haywood.
Like I say, I don't play sides.
I'm what they call a neutral, I guess.
A neutral American, huh?
Well, it's been a long time since I was in America.
I just want them to get the war over with somehow so Jen and I can get out of here.
Jen.
My girl, Mr. Haywood, she's one of the skiing instructors here at the lodge.
When I go, she's promised to go with me.
I see.
I'll go see if my room's ready.
Oh, wait a minute.
How about another drink?
No, thanks.
Well, look, if you're not doing anything tonight and you'd like a little game of stud...
No, thanks, no.
It's as good a way as any to pass the evening up here.
Maybe, but I'm rather particular about the kind of men I gamble with, Slade.
Especially the kind of Americans.
Oh, well.
I figured some guys couldn't help being patriots.
Me, I had other things to worry about.
Not enough money in my genes to pay for my room at the end of the week and no stud game
in sight.
Hello, Mike.
Jen.
How are you, baby?
Well, I came into the bar a few minutes ago, but you were talking to somebody here.
Who was he?
Oh, a guy named Haywood, an American.
Just checked in from Beirne.
From Beirne?
But Mike, he couldn't have.
What do you mean?
Well, after that heavy snow last night, he couldn't have come by automobile.
And you know perfectly well, the train from Beirne doesn't arrive for another three hours.
Hey, I forgot about that.
And how the devil did he get here?
There's only one way.
He must have walked.
Walked all the way from Beirne?
Of course not.
He walked from down there.
In the valley.
He came across the French border.
Baby, you're forgetting there's a war on.
There aren't any Americans touring France these days.
No, but there are some fighting for France.
Fighting with the French Marquis.
I don't know what you're talking...
American intelligence agents, Mike.
Hey, wait a minute.
Maybe you've got something there.
That would explain why Haywood brushed me off that way.
He must be one of those OSS guys we heard about.
It was the only answer.
I didn't think much of it.
I figured an OSS agent just out of occupied France wouldn't have enough money to finance
a game of studs, so I went looking for someone who would.
We wish to arms clerk.
One for the dear start, one for myself.
Crouts were crouts and you didn't have to be a patriot like Haywood not to like them.
But I figured if these two guys at the desk were a couple of jokers on a holiday, they'd
be well healed.
Welcome to Noirmont, gentlemen.
Well, what about those rooms?
I don't believe I quite caught your names, gentlemen.
If you please, my friend, we are trying to get the accommodations.
I am sorry, Herr Keitel.
All I can give you and Herr Wirstadt is a double room.
There are no single ones?
No, sir.
The American who arrived today took the last one.
What?
The American who arrived today took the last one.
What?
The American who arrived today took the last one.
What?
The American who arrived today took the last one.
What?
The American who arrived today took the last one.
The American who arrived today took the last one.
Oh, an American arrived today?
I'm an American too, Slade's my name, Mike Slade.
But it was not you who just came.
No, no, no.
I've been around for nearly three years.
The new guest is Mr. Haywood.
Mr. Haywood, eh?
And his room?
18.
Room 18.
I'm in 27 myself, gentlemen.
If you'd be interested in a friendly game of stud poker this evening, I'd be...
It is not her, Slade.
I'm afraid we are going to be busy this evening.
It's not true.
It's not true.
Yeah, that is true.
We are going to be very busy.
So that took care of my last chance to put some meat on my thin bankroll.
Jen and I had dinner at the lodge that night.
Then I walked her back to her cottage above the hotel.
The moon was bright.
Dry snow squeaked under our feet.
It was the same as any other night at Noir-Mont.
It seemed the same anyway.
Even the things we talked about were the same.
You must be patient, Mike.
We will leave Noir-Mont someday.
Yeah, but when and how?
We'll never get out until I lay my hands on some dough.
Big dough, I mean.
Not the kind I can win from a bunch of yokels who don't know two pair from a straight.
Your government would send you home, maybe, Mike.
Yeah, sure, sure, and shove me in the army.
Only they don't have any use for a guy my age, and that makes it mutual.
Besides, they wouldn't let you go with me.
But I would wait.
And when the war is over...
No dice, kid.
When I go, you go.
So the answer's still money.
Mike, listen.
Oh, it sounds like somebody's been hurt.
Come on, honey.
Down, down this way, Mike.
There's something lying in the snow.
Yeah, yeah, that must be him.
Mike, Mike, it's the American, Mr. Hayward.
It was Hayward, all right.
But it didn't look much like him anymore.
His nose was broken and the rest of his face was pushed out of shape.
Lord knows what else they've done to him.
You...
All right, take it easy, fella.
We'll get the doctor at the lodge.
No, you...
Shoe...
Slave...
Shoe...
You understand him, Jim?
It sounds as if he's saying shoe.
Heel... left shoe.
The heel of his left shoe.
Macalester.
What?
What was that?
Macalester?
Yes.
He's fainted.
I'll get Dr. Gunther, Mike.
Never mind Dr. Gunther, Jim.
He's dead.
Dead?
No.
How could it have happened?
You think he fell from the rock up there?
No, baby, he didn't fall from any rock.
He fell into the hands of a couple of Germans.
It was all clear by then.
Hayward had been an OSS agent.
And the only winter sports the crowd succumbed to noir marfaux was torturing and beating him.
It was tough, plenty tough, but then I still had problems too.
I unlaced Hayward's left boot and slipped it off his foot.
What are you doing, Mike?
Finding out what hitler's happiness boys were after.
Look, the heel slips right off the shoe.
Yeah, there's something inside it.
Wait a minute.
There.
Mike, it's a little cylinder.
It looks like a bullet.
That's no bullet, baby.
It's a cylinder of microfilm.
Microfilm?
Pictures of what, though?
I don't know.
Whatever it is, it's important.
Whatever's important is valuable.
What are you thinking, Mike?
Me?
I'm thinking about you and me, sweetheart.
You mean...
Never mind.
Now look, you take this film and get back to your cottage and hide it.
As far as anybody's concerned, you weren't with me when I found Hayward's body.
I don't understand.
You will.
Get going, baby.
But what are you going to do?
Not a thing.
Just sit around and cool my heels and wait for a guy named McAllister.
Of course I had to report Hayward's death.
I reported it to Dr. Gunther, the house physician at the lodge.
Oh, this is terrible.
Such a tragic accident.
I didn't say it was an accident, doctor.
Oh, but it was, of course.
Now, wait a minute.
I said so.
And I am the doctor.
Yeah, but you can't...
Now, here, Hayward slipped and fell from a rock.
We will all do our best to see that there's no another such tragedy.
Will we not, Herr Slade?
It gives the lodge a bad reputation.
So Gunther had already been briefed by his fellow crowds, and Hayward's death was an
accident.
Well, I was all right with me.
It didn't hurt my ankle a bit.
The next morning, Gunther got all the guests together in the lobby and broke the sad news.
And I know, my friends, that you will all want to pay your last respects to the victim
of this unfortunate accident.
Services for Herr Hayward will be held in the chapel at three o'clock this afternoon.
I turned away and I felt a little sick.
Sometimes these Nazis made it hard for a guy to stay strictly neutral, I was thinking.
Then a hand clapped me on the shoulder.
Good morning, Herr Slade.
Hello, Keitel.
This is very sad, this news about your fellow countrymen.
Yeah.
You're all broken up about it, aren't you?
Dr. Gunther informs me it was you who found the body.
You and Dr. Gunther keep each other pretty well informed.
I was wondering, Herr Slade.
Yeah?
I was wondering if by any chance you also found something else.
Were you?
Well, you keep right on wondering, Herr Keitel.
I spent most of that day playing solitaire at my favorite table near the desk.
I wasn't listening for the names of poker prospects anymore.
I was listening for another name, McAllister, but I didn't hear it.
At three o'clock, I went down to the chapel.
I figured I ought to pay my last respects to Heywood too.
Was the least I could do, considering how much I was going to owe him?
The accidental death of a passing stranger may seem like a trivial thing.
Believe me, my friend, it is not.
It was almost over when a big blonde guy sat down next to me on the peel.
You're Mike Slade?
Yes, that's right.
You found Heywood's body last night.
What was left of him?
He was still alive, wasn't he?
Slightly.
Did he say anything?
Not much.
Mention a name?
McAllister.
Maybe.
I'm McAllister.
Okay.
He gave you something for me?
No.
Good.
When can I get it?
When can you pay for it?
Pay for it?
That's what I said.
Why, you dirty, easy bow.
I want 25,000.
Franks?
Dollars.
Of all the filthy, double-trushing...
Watch it.
Is that a way to act at your buddy's funeral?
And now, dear friends, let us all bow our heads in prayer.
The minister's sermon wasn't the only one I heard that day.
On the way back to the lodge, McAllister preached one too.
When you call your friend McAllister, you've got my proposition.
Take it or leave it.
You know what's on that microfilm?
Do you realize what it is?
When do you think I could get that kind of money?
You might try the embassy at Beren.
And if they won't buy it?
Then maybe Berlin will.
Berlin?
You'd actually sell that film to the Nazis?
Sell out your own country?
I haven't had a country for a long time.
You were born in America.
Sure, but I've lived in Switzerland for quite a while.
Some of its neutrality has rubbed off on me.
I stayed away from Jen all that day because I didn't want to attract any attention to
her, but as soon as it was dark, I started out for her cottage.
I didn't get very far.
Good evening, Herr Slade.
Herr Wirstad and I wish to talk to you.
You guys pick funny places for conversation.
On the contrary, this fits our needs admirably.
The three of us are alone.
We had another conversation last night in a similar place.
They would regret to have this one end in the same way that one did.
Okay, what are you after?
The microfilm, of course.
Please give it to us, Herr Slade.
I don't know what you're talking about.
Then I suppose we will have to instruct you.
His arms, Wirstad.
Wirstad pinned my arms behind me.
Keitel let me have it square on the face with a fist as hard as a sledgehammer.
Where's the microfilm, Slade?
You'll never get it this way.
You think not?
You didn't get it away from Haywood this way, did you?
Why don't you meet heads get smart?
Kill me and you'll never lay hands on that film.
And if we don't kill you?
Then you might have a chance.
How much would the chance cost us, Slade?
Now you catch an eye.
How much?
Well, I would have let you have it cheap before you started to push me around.
The price has gone up.
I want 50,000.
50,000 marks?
Dollars.
Take it over, boys.
They must have seen some logic in it because they stopped slugging me and went away to talk
it over.
I didn't go to Jen's cottage after all.
I didn't want them following me.
So I went back up to my room and when I got there, my door unlocked.
The room was a shambles.
Somebody had gone through it like a cyclone.
Come on in, Slade.
You OSS boys know how to take a room apart, don't you, McAllister?
When we have to.
Did you have to do this?
No, I came up to do it.
But those Gestapo agents saved me the trouble.
It was already done.
I was afraid they might have found what they were looking for.
How do you know they didn't?
By the condition of your face.
They've been working you over, haven't they?
Whatever.
They wouldn't have bothered if they found the film.
You're quite a brain, aren't you, McAllister?
You're not, Slade.
If you were, you wouldn't be playing this game.
You're going to wind up just where Haywood is.
I'll take my chances.
You don't know what the doll means to me, you'd understand.
You don't know what these films mean to the Allies, or maybe you'd understand.
Those are pictures of German maps, Slade.
Maps.
Showing the location of every Nazi V2 rocket launching site on the French coast.
They could mean the saving of thousands of lives.
They could even mean winning the war or losing it.
Does that make any impression on you?
My price is still the same.
All right, then.
Let me tell you what Haywood went through to get those films.
You'll be wasting your time, my price is still the same.
Okay.
You're the guy who has to look in the mirror at yourself when you shave.
I'll be around if you...
Oh, I forgot about this.
What?
This picture.
It was on the floor.
I accidentally stepped on it and broke the frame.
Let me have that.
I noticed the inscription.
To Mike, with all my love.
Jen.
Okay, okay, let's have it.
She's the skiing instructor, isn't she?
Beautiful girl.
It'd be a shame if anything happened to that face.
Is that a threat, McCallister?
No.
No, the OSS doesn't go in for torturing women.
Maybe we're too sentimental.
Why would anybody want to torture her?
Because she's helping you play your little angle.
What makes you think so?
Just a guess.
And if I can guess it, so can Keitel and Wirstadt.
And they're not a bit sentimental.
Took me a while to fall asleep after that, but I managed it finally.
Couldn't have been much later when the phone beside my bed woke me up.
Yeah?
Mike?
Jen.
Baby, what's the matter?
I've got to talk to you, Mike.
Come to the cottage right away.
I was scared then.
All the way over, McCallister's words kept ringing in my ears.
And I was scared to look at her face, but there was nothing to matter with it when I
got there.
The only marks on it were the marks of worry and a guilty conscience.
I couldn't sleep, Mike.
I had to call you.
I've been thinking about it all night.
About my new business enterprise, I suppose you mean.
Yes.
You make money out of those microfilms.
It's wrong, darling.
We can't go through with it.
Two bits says McCallister was here.
Yes, yes, he was.
Waving the flag all over the place.
What he said made sense.
He told me what was on the film.
He made me see how Haywood had suffered to get it.
I'm surprised you didn't turn it over to him.
I wouldn't do that, you know it.
But I want you to turn it over to him.
I will.
For 25 grand.
No, Mike.
For nothing.
Because they belong to him rightfully and because they'll help the allies win the war.
No dice, baby.
Mike, do you want those vile, murderous Nazis to win?
All I want is my 25 Gs.
Then you and I can get out of here.
Not you and I, Mike.
What?
I won't go with you under those conditions.
You don't mean that.
I do, I do.
I love you, Mike.
But I couldn't go on loving you if you did a thing like this.
I'd come to hate you.
Jen.
I'm sorry, darling.
It's true.
I'm sorry.
Brown Mike.
I've waited 25 years for a break like this.
I'm not going to let it run down the drain.
Not even for you.
If you don't want to go, okay, I'll be traveling alone.
I don't think you'll be traveling anywhere just yet, Herr Slade.
It was Keitel.
It was Verstappen, and both of them carried Lugers.
Before I could move, Verstappen had used his.
The butt of it clipped me on the head.
I remember hearing Jen scream and feeling myself crumbling toward the floor.
When I came to, I couldn't move my arms and my legs.
It took me a minute to figure out why.
I was tied to a chair.
Slowly the room came back in focus and I saw the two Gestapo agents.
Then I saw Jen, what they've been doing to me.
Get your hands off her, you filthy rats.
Don't touch her again.
There will be no need to touch her, Herr Slade.
You will cooperate with us better than she has been doing.
Where is the microfilm, Herr Slade?
You still think you're going to find out for free, huh?
Yeah, we think so.
Where is the microfilm, Herr Slade?
Fire along, you're being...
Then tell us where it is.
All right, all right.
Stop it, and I'll tell you to stop it.
We have stopped, Herr Slade.
Now please tell us.
Okay.
The microfilm is...
It came from outside through the window, that revolver shot.
Virstad let out a groan and dropped to the floor.
Keitel dropped to the floor too, but he hadn't been hit.
He flicked the light switch as he went down.
The room went black.
The advantage was all his now.
He was in a pitch black room.
Whoever was outside was moving around in the bright moonlight, made even brighter by the
snow.
I saw Keitel's gun spit.
The gun outside answered...
I was still tied hand and foot to the chair.
There wasn't anything I could do or...
Or was there?
I remember that the light switch was just over my head.
I worked until I got my chair turned around so I was facing the wall.
I started butting upward at the switch with my head.
Three times I missed it, fourth time it clicked.
The room was flooded with light.
Keitel was outlined at the window like a sitting duck.
It wasn't any great surprise when a tall blonde guy walked in a minute later and started to
untie me.
Looks as if you had to choose signs after all, Slane.
Yeah, it looks as if maybe I did, McAllister.
You all right, Jen?
Yes, I...
I'll be fine now.
Sure, baby?
Yes, Mike.
Thank you, Mr. McAllister.
I should have said that too, McAllister.
Thanks for everything.
I'm glad you're okay.
I'm glad you're okay.
I'm glad you're okay.
I'm glad you're okay.
Thanks.
That's okay.
Mike.
Yeah, honey?
Don't you see now?
Don't you understand?
I don't know what you're talking about.
You do, you must.
The difference between him and those horrible brutes.
It's the whole point, Mike.
That's why you can't hold onto that microfilm.
Oh, yeah, yeah, the microfilm.
I've been thinking about that.
You've decided to give it to me?
No, I haven't, McAllister.
I'm a gambler, and gamblers don't give things away.
All they do give is a sporting chance.
What do you mean?
I'll cut cards with you for the microfilm.
Double or nothing.
If I get the high card, you'll give me the film.
Right.
And if I get high card, you'll pay me 50,000.
It's a deal, Slade.
Okay.
Here, shuffle McAllister.
You cut first.
One card does it.
Well, six.
Not so good, fella.
Go on, Slade, cut.
Well?
Four.
I win.
Yeah, you win.
Get him the film, Jen.
All right, Mike.
Now both sides in this war have cost me money.
Here.
Here it is, Mr. McAllister.
Thanks.
And good luck to you.
With his luck, he'll win the war single-handed.
These microfilms will help.
Goodbye, Jen.
Be seeing you, Slade.
Yeah.
Be seeing you, Slade.
Mike.
Why did you do it?
Do what?
Here's your card.
The one you got.
It wasn't a four.
It was a 10.
Yeah, I know.
You...
You had him beaten.
He would have paid the 50,000.
That's right.
Yeah.
You didn't have to.
All right.
I'll give you a ride.
All right.
Come on.
Thanks.
You're welcome.
I'll give you a ride.
I'll give you a ride.
You had him beaten. He would have paid the 50,000.
That's right.
Mark, why did you do it?
I don't know, baby.
I guess some guys just can't help being suckers.
So we were stuck in Switzerland for a couple of more years, Jen and I.
There were times when I could have kicked myself for being a sentimental chump.
Lots of times.
Until a day came after the war when I ran into McAllister again.
I felt better about it then.
I guess you know what that means.
I felt better about it then.
I guess you know what the Allied air forces did to those Nazi rocket launching sites along the French coast.
Couldn't have been done without the microfilm slain.
So you can take some credit for it.
You were the toughest ally the OSS ever had, brother.
But you did the job.
And once again, the report of another OSS agent closes with the words...
Mission accomplished.
Today's story was based on actual incidents recorded in the Washington files of the OSS and was brought to you on...
Cloak and Dagger.
Heard in today's Cloak and Dagger adventures, McAllister was less remain.
Mike Slade, Bill Quinn, Jen, Jan Miner.
Others were Grant Richards, Raymond Edward Johnson, Carl Weber, Charles Irving, Stefan Schnabel, Boris Aplin, Paul Arnold and Jerry Jarrett.
The script was written by Ken Field and the music was under the direction of John Gart.
Sound effects by Jerry McGee.
Engineering by Joe Silva.
Today's OSS adventure was based on the book Cloak and Dagger by Corey Ford and Alistair McBain.
This program was produced by Louis G. Cowan and Alfred Hollander.
And under the direction and supervision of Sherman Marks.