IWCF 67 - The Line Is Busy

I was a communist for the FBI. Starring Dana Andrews in an exciting tale of danger and espionage. I was a communist for the FBI. Many of the incidents in the story you're about to hear are based on the actual records and authentic experiences of Matt Svetik. who for nine fantastic years lived as a communist for the FBI. Here is our star, Dana Andrews, as Matt Svetik. Secrecy among communists is the product of a strange, unholy philosophy. They consider it their inalienable. Right to make your secrets their own. And once having stolen them, they'll protect those secrets to the last breath of your life. This is the story of one such secret and too many lives. In a moment, listen to Dana Andrews as Matt Svetik, Undercover Man. Undercover Man. Now here is Dana Andrews as Matt Svetik, undercover man. This story from the confidential file is marked, The Line is Busy. Get away from the commies? Uh-uh. It's just not done. You can put miles between yourself and your red comrades... 200 miles in my case, you can check in at an obscure hotel in a town on the border of oblivion. You can hold up and hide for a week, even 10 days, under cover of a phony excuse like a business trip. But just as you start relaxing, just as the nerves uncoil a bit.... Who is it? Telegram for Mr. Svedek. Okay. Mr. Svedek? Yeah, I'll take it. Sign here, please. There you are. Thank you, Mr. Svedek. Don't leave town. Instructions will follow. Webster. Webster. Why don't they let me alone? Why don't they let me alone? Webster, comrade Harry Webster, leader of a commie cell 200 miles away. Yet no farther away from me than, well, than this telegram. His instructions came the next morning by registered mail. Rent an apartment at 224 West Globe Street, they said. Install telephone. Wait for me there. Signed, Webster. 224 West Globe Street. Quiet building. Unpretentious. In the lobby, I checked the names on the mailboxes, seeking some clue to this strange, new, calming assignment. Johnson. Resnick. Maloney. Clark. Rager. Rager. Rager, Rager, that name. The name of. Something I can do for you? Uh, yes, I... I'm Mrs. Chanik. How do you do? My name is Svetik. So? I was just wondering about apartments. The manager... That's me. I got two apartments vacant. They both got one bedroom. That big enough? Just right. You want a lease or month-to-month? Well, month-to-month, I guess. Cost $ 5 more that way. Take a lease. I'd rather not. Your wife would like it better with a lease, too. Well, this is for a friend of mine. I'm just renting it for him. He travels quite a bit. Oh, I see. He's married? No, he's... We don't like noise here, you know. We don't like that. Well, you needn't worry about my friend, Mrs. Chanik. You'll vouch for him? By all means. Well. He doesn't like noise or excitement either. He's really a very desirable tenant. Uh, may I see the apartment now? The apartment was on the third floor rear, furnished in neat, unimaginative, bad taste. I paid Mrs. Chanik a month's rent and registered the place in Harry Webster's name. And then after a quick wire to Comrade Webster, I found a phone booth and placed a long-distance call to the FBI. There you are, operator. Beaker? Beaker, this is Redd. I haven't left yet. My clients have plans for me. Good or bad? Too early to tell yet. They may want me to stay here in town. For how long? I can't say. They told me to rent an apartment. Even named the building they wanted. Uh-oh. What's the address? 224 West Globe Street. 224 West... Hold on a minute. Hurry up, Beaker. This is long distance, you know. I'm just checking something here. Yeah, here it is. What? The Albatross Tool Corporation's in that town, right? Well, that's right. The government just gave Albatross a big order. They'll be manufacturing parts for a new atomic weapon. The Albatross plant is a long way from Globe Street. Not as far as you think. Washington's assigned one of its top scientists to work as an advisor at Albatross. Your little red playmates would give their eye teeth to know what he knows. Yeah, that's probably what they have in mind. Who is he? Rager. Dr. Martin Rager. And he's staying at 224 West Globe Street. Ah, Svedek. Good, good. Hello, Webster. Come on in. You didn't waste any time getting here. Naturally not. You might offer to help with your cell leader's suitcases. A proletarian revolt is dedicated to a classless society, comrade. Carry your own suitcases. Spetic, if you weren't so competent, I despise you. Is there a phone? Yeah, it was installed this morning. Don't know who would be calling us in this town, though. I'm not interested in our phone calls, comrade. I'm concerned with Dr. Rager's calls. Do you notice he lives in this building address? Yes. He's a pretty important scientist, I understand. Very. Important to the Americans, therefore important to us. We'll be tapping his phone. Tapping his phone? You don't expect him to be telling atomic secrets on the phone, do you? I do. You're underestimating the enemy, comrade. No, Svedek. One of Dr. Rager's associates at Albatross happens to be an associate of the Communist Party. No, I didn't know that. You'll see that Dr. Rager uses the telephone quite a bit. You know, casual conversations, after-hours, sudden thoughts, worthy of informal discussion. And you expect our agent to pump secrets out of Dr. Rager that way? One secret, in small, insignificant doses. Our own scientists need the formula for one of the metals used in this project. And once he gets the formula, his orders are to clear out, fast. We're tuning in on his calls to Rager as double protection. In case our man is picked up. Still, phone tapping is such a primitive method of time. Primitive, you say? Yes, it's just... Here, Sveddink. Open the suitcase. What? Open it. Okay. What's all this? Wiretapping equipment, comrade. I want to brief you on this one particular phase of simple wiretapping. Okay. Don't you think I've had enough education for one night, Webster? No, once more. Describe the phone circuit. A closed circle of wire carrying voice vibrations with the current. In office or apartment buildings, terminal boxes are usually located in the basement. They contain many.... On and on and on. All night, all the next day. The commie technique for education. Drum a man into submission. Drum out every conscious thought but the subject to be learned. One thought remained, though. I had to give word to the FBI. Beaker had to know. Dr. Rager had to be warned, and I was the only one to do it. But instead of protecting the national secret, I was playing stooge to a commie. Taking orders. Obeying command. holding a flashlight for Comrade Webster as he searched the basement for the telephone terminal box. Yes, Vedic. Over here. Hold the lights. I want to open this box. Are those lines the pairs? Bring the light closer. Good. See, each pair is attached to a set of terminal posts. We loosen the wires of our pair from our posts, so. I see. Now you'll cross them to the terminal posts of Dr. Rager's phone, Vedic. An apt pupil of primitive wiretapping. Now, let's go. That's all? That's all here. Now upstairs. Our apartment will be our listening post. Once that's arranged, Dr. Rager's private line will become our party line. Now, two things had to be done. One, I had to break that tap on Rager's phone. And two, I had to reach. Beaker at the FBI. But unless I could get away from Webster, I could do exactly nothing. Now, when Rager's phone rings, this phone will ring. You can hear both ends of his line on these earphones. Exactly. Now, the tape recorder, Svetik. Set it up over here, knock it. Be careful! Sorry, almost dropped it. What's wrong with you, comrade? You seem nervous, upset. Well, I'm tired, I guess. You've kept me up almost two nights now, educating me. Maybe I'd better. Here, hold this for me. Maybe I'd better get some air. No, pull it tight. A walk might do me some good. Don't be a fool. Our work's just begun. Relax, lie down, rest. Don't burn up your energy walking the streets. You'll need every ounce of it. Spedic. Spedic, wake up, you fool. It's morning. No. What is it? The phone, you idiot. Look alive. Hand me the earphones. Oh. Yeah, okay. There. Someone's answered it. Start the tape machine. Mrs. Rigger on the line. Now, the garden club meets Tuesday. Someone's husband has a rash behind his ear. Oh, turn off that fool machine. That's how it was most of the day. Conversations with grocery clerks, club women, solicitors. The only item of interest we heard was the fact that Dr. Rager would be home at 2 p.m. Evidently, our comic colleague knew that, too, for he didn't try to phone Rager at all. Then, about 2.30, Webster was dozing in. His chair, and. I. Oh, get it, Svedek. Okay. Hello? Turn on the tape. Rager's on the line. Dr. Rager, please. Speaking. Who is this? This is the Can-Do Garage, Dr. Rager. What's happening, Svedek? The Can-Do Garage, Doctor. Your car is ready to be picked up. My car? Why, it's already, Doctor. There's no one here to deliver it, so I'm afraid you'll have to call for it yourself. Well, I'll try to be there sometime as soon. As possible, Doctor. We're closing early today. All right. Who is this, please? The Can-Do Garage. No, no, your name, please. Oh, one of the mechanics, Doctor. We've met before. My name is Beaker. Beaker, here in town now. Just a few blocks away. In a little while, he'd probably be gone, out of reach again. I had to get to him now, right now. But how? How? How? How? Now back to Dana Andrews starring as Matt Siverik in I Was a Communist for the FBI and the second act of our story. I Was a Communist for the FBI. Beaker, on Dr. Rager's phone, right here in this miserable little town. Just a few blocks from this building, but out of my reach. Now I had to reach him. He and Rager had to know what the Reds were planning. And only I could tell them. Only. What's wrong with you, comrade? What? You're wet as a sheet. Oh, that... that phone call to Rager. We'd better follow him. Follow him? To a garage? To a garage or anywhere else. The party has a big investment in him, you know. Well, that's true, but. We can't afford to let him just. Walk away from us. These stakes are high, Webster. Any kind of insurance for the party's sake. And think of our own personal stake in this. What would happen to us if we lose track of Dr. Rager? One of us should train him. Relax, Shvedek. There's no need for us to. You of. All people can't afford any slip-ups now, Webster. The party put you in charge of this operation. Well, I can't very well leave here now. You would be hell responsible if Rager... But why should Rager duck out on us now? No one knows about our. How do we know that? Suppose our agent at the Albatross plant has pushed his luck too far. Suppose the FBI knows of this tap of ours. I say you'd better follow Rager. Well, can you handle the equipment alone? Well, I suppose I can if I... No, no, better not chance it. But one of us had better stay on Rager's trail. Yes. Yes, perhaps you'd better go. I? Are you sure? Go on, go on, Svetik. Somebody's got to trail him. Go on. It worked. Reverse English on the old con game. Now I was free, just for a few minutes, but I was free. Free to do the work I'd been trying to do for two days. Free to undo the work Comrade Webster had accomplished so efficiently. first to the basement of the building to find that terminal box again, to break the tap on Rager's phone while I had the chance. Yeah, right here. I knew this much about it. I knew that I could break the tap by disconnecting the wires of our phone from the terminal posts of Rager's phone. I knew, too, that the break wouldn't be recognized by Webster right away. It would just seem as though the phone were out of use for a while. There, they were loose. Now to it. Somebody there? Someone in the basement? Mrs. Chanak, the building manager. Now what? Yoo-hoo! Someone in the basement? Well, I could have sworn I heard. The tap was off Rigg's phone now, but there was no time to re-hook the lines as they originally were. I had to get out fast. Had to get to Beaker before Webster got wise to all this. Had to hurry, hurry, hurry. Taxi! Hey, taxi! The Can-Do Garage, just about four blocks down there. Make it snappy. See, I'm looking for a mechanic named. What the devil are you doing here? I'm looking for you, Beaker. Rager here yet? No, not yet. How'd you know I was here? I heard you on Rager's phone. We're tapping it. Oh, that's it. I would have checked in sooner, but I couldn't shake Webster. I thought so. That's why I came here. Figured I better not wait any longer. If something was cooking in the red pot, Rager had to be told. That red pot is about to boil over. They have a commie operating right next to Rager at the Albatross plant. I know. You know? The Bureau's been watching him for two months. Then what? We can't pin anything on him, though. And we've got to have some legitimate evidence before we can pick him up. Pick him up for double parking or anything. His job is to bait Dr. Rager on the phone, then duck as soon as Rager spills information about a formula for. Good. Keep the tap open. What? Keep the tap on the line. I'll tell Rager to hand out a phony formula. Then when the commie agent tries to duck with it, we. Can use it as evidence to grab him, like Mark Money. But, Beaker, we can't. Just tap it. Somebody's coming down the ramp. Look, we can't use the tap. I don't want anybody to see us together, Matt. Now, go on. Beaker, listen to me. Matt, you're supposed to be a commie. Commies don't talk with FBI agents. That's one of your aspiring comrades. For Pete's sake, will you listen to me? Go on, Matt. Take off. Now. Please, beat it. Nice. Just great. I'd risked my neck to mess up the tap on Reggie's phone. And now I had to risk it again to put the tap back into action. The basement again. At least it was quiet and gloomy enough to offer a little comfort in the shadows. I'd passed the storeroom. Up there was the furnace room with the terminal box just a few feet. Who's that? Somebody here? Who? Uh, yes, Mrs. Janik. Who is it? I can't see in this... Oh, you, Mrs. Savetti. You looking for something? Uh, yes, I. What could you want in this messy basement? Well, a storeroom. I was just wondering about some storage space. You got much to store? No. Well, yes. Yes, there is quite a bit. Trunks. Two trunks. Big ones. Oh, we got room for trunks. I tell you. My husband's home. I'll tell him he should go up and get your trunk. Oh, no. No, don't bother now. You see, they aren't here yet. Not here? No, they're being shipped in. Oh. Oh, not here yet No, not for another week or so You know, afraid and everything Oh, sure. Well, let me know when they get here. Are you coming upstairs, Mrs. Savetti? Well, I thought I'd look around and see where. The wash tubs are. Behind the storeroom. Turn out the lights when you get done. Okay? Yes, I will, Mrs. Chanik. I sure will. I waited till she'd gone up the stairs and out. Then I headed for the terminal box again. I'd used too much time already. Rager might even be back in his apartment by now. The commie spy might even have called him. Rager might have given him the phony information, and without the tap working, there'd. Be no record of it. That tap had to be replaced right now. I opened the lid, reached inside for the wire I'd left dangling, lit a match to see better. No wire. It. Wait a minute. It was attached to the terminal post of Rager's phone again. Someone had deliberately replaced the tap on Rager's line. There was only one person in the building qualified to do that. Webster. What.... Just what do you think you're... Webster, you're an inefficient, bumbling moron. One moment, Comrade Svedek. I have a few choice words for you, too. You're a. Save them. You'll need every gasp of breath to explain your negligence to the Control Commission. I... I'm preparing a full report of this, Webster, when stupidity and incompetence reaches these proportions. Well, I... I don't know what you mean. You know full well what I mean. Mrs. Chanik stopped me on my way up here just now. Who? Mrs. Chanik, the landlady or manager, whatever she called herself. She wanted to. Know why you were in the basement a while ago, tampering with the telephone box. She saw me? Of course she saw you. But I was sure no one. She saw you. She saw you open the box, tamper with the wires. She was just going to call the phone company when I showed up. Well, I could swear no one was there. It was all I could do, Webster, to nullify her suspicions. I didn't do it for you. I did it for the party. I have no use for bumblers. I'm sure our leaders will... Comrade, please, let me explain. How can you explain an act that violates every... Please, listen to me. All right, go on. The phone seemed awfully quiet after you left. Too quiet. As if the tap had been tampered with. I went down to the basement to check and found that the wires had slipped off the terminal posts. Slipped off? Yes. But you put those wires on yourself. Well, at first I thought they'd been tampered with, disconnected by something. You, you expert. Virtuoso of the telephone wire. Crumbly, I tell you. Not only do you threaten party security with your carelessness, but you sabotage this whole project with your incompetent handling of. Yeah, that's Rager's phone. Listen in. Let's see how you can mess this up. Rager's answered it. The tape, the tape. It's our comrade, our agent, Adelbert Rosser. Well, it's about time. What's he saying? Schh. Rager's reciting a formula. Here, give me a pencil, quick. Here you are. He's repeating it. Is it the one we want? Quiet. I'm listening. Got it. I've got all of it. All the formula. It might be a phony. Not the way our comrade is reacting. He's a scientist, too, you know. They're still talking? That's all. All right. That's all we need on the tape. Now. Now we're doubly protected. Our agent will duck out immediately to deliver the information. And if he's caught? He's expendable. We have the formula here on tape and on this piece of paper. Let me have that paper. What? Let me have it. After your last fiasco. You think you can be trusted with that? Give it to me. What are you going to do? I'm going to phone it in to party headquarters. From the pay phone across the street. Just in case our agent's luck changes. But I told you we have it all on this tape. Our luck may change, too. Don't forget, Mrs. Chanik. If she reports you, Webster, we are. She wouldn't. Wouldn't she? How do we know? You stay here. Monitor the telephone calls in case Rager talks again. I'll be back. Comrade Fittick. What is it? Nothing. I left Webster in the apartment and walked into the street. There was a car parked at the curb just outside 224 West Globe Street. Three men were seated in the car. One of the men was Beaker. When he saw me, he stepped out of the car and headed toward the building and me. Oh, uh, pardon me, sir. Uh, me? Yes, I, um, I wonder if you can tell me if a Mr. Webster lives in that building? Webster? Oh, I'm sorry, I wouldn't know. I'm just passing through. I kept right on walking as the other two FBI men followed Beaker into the building. Webster, with all that illegal equipment, was about to become very inactive. The red agent at the Albatross Corporation had probably already been picked up for espionage, and I... I kept on walking, back to the commies again. I'd escaped this FBI trap, so I'd probably be complimented by my red comrades. A dubious glory, but I had no choice. If I had any choice at all, I'd choose to walk the other way. I'd choose to walk alone. Dana Andrews will return in just a moment. This is Dana Andrews, friends. Because of the nature of freedom, the democracies have inherited the destinies of many afflicted peoples. Let's pray that we never violate that trust, for humanity's greatest affliction is tyranny, and freedom is its antidote. In the story you've just heard, names, dates, and places are fictitious to protect innocent persons. Many of these stories are based on incidents in the life of Matt Svetik, who worked undercover for the FBI. Next week, another fantastic adventure. Join us then, won't you? THE END Thank you.