Finally, he said, “Well, Randy, your grandfather and General McNab, between you and me, are a little too fond of the bottle. When they’ve been at it, you just can’t believe anything they say.”
The boy smiled at him.
Castillo turned to Svetlana.
“Randy and I are about to have our breakfast. Following which, I will locate the ogre in his den and introduce Randy to him. Would you care to join us for either or both?”
“Ogre? Is that what you call General McNab?” Randy asked.
“Only behind his back,” Castillo said.
“Do they have those flat little round cakes with that sauce they bleed from the tree?” Svetlana asked.
Randy looked at her in confusion a moment, then understood. “If you’re talking about buckwheat pancakes with genuine Vermont maple syrup, yes, ma’am, they do.”
“Can you handle calling room service, Randy?” Castillo asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“And while he’s doing that, my Carlos, you can put on your pants.”
[THREE]
It was not necessary to locate the ogre in his den.
As they were finishing their breakfast, there came a knock at the door. Castillo opened it, and through it marched Lieutenant General Bruce J. McNab, now in camouflage BDUs, trailed by Lieutenant Colonel Peter Woods and Major Homer Foster, similarly attired.
“I see I’m wrong,” McNab greeted them. “That does happen from time to time, despite what you’ve probably heard.”
“Sir?”
“You’re out of bed. I gave Foster ten-to-one we’d have to throw you out of bed and then watch you eat.”
McNab walked into the living room.
“You look like you’re about to attack Baghdad,” Svetlana said.
“Good morning,” McNab said to her. “And I’ve already done that twice.” He turned to Woods. “Get the others up here.”
“Yes, sir,” Woods said, and headed for the telephone.
McNab spotted Randy.
“I thought it was the young females of the species who wore wet T-shirts,” he said.
“General,” Castillo said, “this is Randolph Richardson the Fourth.”
“Really?” McNab said. He looked at Castillo. “I know your father.”
Jesus H. Christ!
Did everybody know but me?
McNab redirected his attention to the boy. “And, of course, your grandfather. If you will give me your word to give General Wilson my best regards, I will give you my word that I will keep that cross-dresser’s wet T-shirt between us.”
Randy grinned as McNab shook his hand.
“Yes, sir. Will do.”
“And while we are waiting for the others, yes, I will, thank you, have a cup of coffee, if that meets with your approval, Colonel Castillo.”
“Yes, sir, it does. And I will even order up some fresh for you, sir.”
“Why don’t we let Woods do that?” He turned to his aide. “Coffee and pastry, Peter, please. Lots of sugar on the doughnuts.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Sugar does all sorts of terrible things to your body, Randolph—they don’t really call you Randolph, do they?”
“Randy, sir.”
“So, Randy, you should avoid it if at all possible. However, sugar does provide a sudden burst of energy. And a sudden burst of energy is just what the motley crew that’s soon to drift in here is going to need.”
He looked at Castillo.
“As Colonel Castillo knows, a morning jog feeds blood to the brain. Feeding it greater amounts of blood causes the brain to function with more efficiency. And while some people, Randy—nothing personal—have been sitting around a hotel room, stuffing their faces, some others of us have been out on the beach jogging.”
By 0850, everybody who had been at the last meeting had shown up, and all were drinking coffee and eating pastries.
At 0855, the door chimes sounded once again. Major Foster opened the door. Two officers wearing Class A uniforms—heavily starched shirt, trousers, tunic, and tie—marched in.
One of them was Lieutenant Colonel Randolph J. Richardson III. The other was a very slim, very tall, ascetic-looking officer who was even blacker than Uncle Remus. His stiffly pressed, immaculate, perfectly tailored uniform bore the silver eagles of a full colonel, the caduceus of the U.S. Army Medical Corps, a shoulder insignia Castillo could not remember ever having seen, two—but only two—rows of I Was There ribbons, and, somewhat incongruously, a set of parachutist wings. Basic wings, which meant he had jumped fewer than thirty times.
The colonel, who appeared to be in search of a suitably senior officer to whom to report, looked around at the coffee drinkers and doughnut munchers slumped in chairs—or sitting on the floor—and only then finally found the senior officer present. This luminary was on his hands and knees, holding one end of a web strap between his teeth, and exchanging growls with Max, who had the other end in his mouth.
“Sir!” the colonel barked as he raised his hand to his brow in a crisp salute, “Colonel J. Porter Hamilton reporting to the commanding general, Special Operations Command, as ordered, sir!”
McNab let loose the web strap, leapt rather nimbly to his feet, and returned the salute with something less than parade-ground precision. Max went to inspect the newcomer.
“At ease, Colonel,” McNab said, then turned to Charley. “Invocation time, Colonel.”
“Yes, sir.” Castillo looked at Hamilton. “You are hereby advised—”
“Pay attention, please, Colonel Richardson,” McNab interrupted. “This now applies to you.”
He signaled for Castillo to continue. Randy watched raptly.
Castillo noticed that Righteous Randolph seemed delighted that he was about to be included in whatever was going on around here.
Castillo recited: “You are hereby advised that anything and everything discussed in this meeting is classified Top Secret Presidential and is not to be disclosed in any manner to anyone without the express permission of myself or the President.”
“Got that, the both of you?” McNab asked.
“Yes, sir,” they chorused.
Colonel Hamilton looked askance at Castillo, who had added khaki trousers to his clothing but still was barefoot.
“Richardson,” General McNab ordered, “this is what you’re going to do. Go see the commanding general at Hurlburt. Him only. Tell him I sent you to get the maps.”
“Yes, sir.”
“See that they are securely packaged, then go to Base Ops and wait for us; we’ll be along shortly.”
“Yes, sir. Transportation, sir?”
McNab considered that for a full two seconds.
“Any reason they can’t take the Mustang, Charley? Randy would like a ride in a ragtop.”
“No, sir,” Castillo said, and tossed Richardson the keys to the convertible.
“See you at Hurlburt, Richardson,” McNab said. He turned to Randy. “It was a pleasure meeting you, son. Give my best to your grandfather.”
They shook hands.
“It was nice to see you, Colonel Castillo,” Randy said as he walked to Castillo with his hand extended.
I have never wanted to put my arms around anyone, Svetlana included, more than I want to put them around Randy.
But that’s obviously out of the question.
He swallowed hard and said, “Good to see you, too, Randy. Give my regards to your mother. And see if you can get your granddad to bring you out to the ranch. Between Fernando and me, we’ll get you some more PT-22 stick time.”
“I’d like that, sir,” Randy replied a little roughly as they shook hands.
Svetlana felt no restrictions on her conduct. “You get a kiss and a hug from me, Randy.” And she proceeded to give him a long one of each.