"If you asked me to divert to Campo de Mayo, I would have flown there," Clete said.
"Knowing that your 'passengers' would certainly be interned the moment we landed?"
"They weren't interned at Posadas."
"I needed you to fly the airplane out of Posadas," Delgano said. "If they appeared at Campo de Mayo, they would have been arrested."
"So now what?"
"The situation is now in your hands," Delgano said.
"In other words, you're asking if I will fly the airplane to Campo de Mayo?"
Delgano nodded.
"Aware of what I said before," Delgano said. "That doing so constitutes more than simply ferrying an airplane."
"Sure," Clete said. "I promised you the airplane. I'll deliver it. A deal's a deal, Delgano."
"Thank you. I really thought that would be your reaction. On my part, unless asked directly, I will not report that we made a passenger stop here."
"Thank you."
"I am, of course, honor bound to inform Coronel Martin. But I don't think that will be a problem for you. He already knows about your radio station, and I'm sure understands the mission of the second OSS team. If he wanted to shut you down, he could have done so before now."
Clete nodded.
"What about the people at Posadas?" Clete asked.
"I may be wrong, but I don't think they will have anything to say. They know nothing except that you and I took on fuel and some unidentified passengers at Posadas in connection withOutline Blue. They may have thought that Captain Ashton's accent was odd, but he spoke Spanishand you speak Spanish like an Argentineand they have no reason to suspect that any of you are norteamericanos."
"And Colonel Porterman?"
"If the airplane appears at Campo de Mayo, he will presume that any problems we faced were solved. He took my word that your passengers and their cargo do not pose any threat to Argentina. He was a friend of your father's. He wishes you no harm."
"OK, Capitan," Clete said, putting out his hand to Delgano. "We have a deal. Now let's get the aircraft unloaded, and then we'll take it to Campo de Mayo."
As Clete was walking Delgano through the preflight check of the Lockheed, Tony Pelosi arrived in the 1941 Studebaker Clete had seen at the radio station. Chief Schultz drove up fifteen minutes later at the wheel of a Model A truck.
Ettinger,Clete decided, is probably monitoring the radio.
Then he sensed that something was not as it should be. Neither the Chief nor Tony smiled when they came up. The reverse. They both looked uncomfortable.
"Where the hell is my brass band?" Clete asked.
"Ettinger took off," Tony blurted.
"He did what?"
"He took off."
"Took off to where?" Clete asked.
Tony looked uncomfortably at Delgano, visibly wondering if he should continue talking in the presence of an Argentine.
"I have two men here who were supposed to keep Sergeant Ettinger on the estancia," Delgano said.
"How much does this guy know?" Tony blurted.
"He knows the Germans are trying to kill Ettinger," Clete said.
"He probably went to Uruguay," Chief Schultz said.
"What the hell for?"
"The Chief thinks it's got something to do with the message where you told Graham the name of the German in Montevideo," Tony said.
"How did he see that?" Clete asked furiously.
"That's my fault, Cle . . . Major," Tony said. "Ettinger was awake when I started to encrypt it. The Chief was asleep. Ettinger's better with that than I am. So, instead of fucking it up, or waking the Chief, I asked Ettinger if he would do it."
"Jesus H. Christ, Tony! I can't believe you were that stupid!"
"Neither can I, now," Tony said. "Anyway, the next morning, he wasn't there. He left this for you."
Tony handed him a sheet of paper, on which Ettinger had typed:
Clete:
I think I can put Bagman's name together with a couple of names I already have. If I can, we'll have just about all the pieces of the chain identified.
I hope your flight went smoothly. See you soon.
Dave
Clete read it, and then looked at Pelosi.
"I was going to Uruguay to look for him," Pelosi said. "But the Chief said he thought I'd better wait until you got back."
You ever hear about looking for a needle in a haystack, Tony?
Delgano suddenly made an imperious waving "come here" motion in the direction of the tree line behind a hangar. A gaucho stepped out of the trees and walked quickly toward them.
"Who's that?" Chief Schultz asked.
"I told both of you I didn't want Ettinger to leave the estancia," Clete said coldly.
Looking about as uncomfortable as Tony and the Chief, the gaucho approached Delgano and almost came to attention.
S?, Se?or?"
"The norteamericano?"
"He left the estancia three nights ago, mi Capitan."
"We know that. Where is he?" Delgano demanded impatiently.
"He took the car ferry to Montevideo that same morning, mi Capitan."
"You had people on him all the way to the boat ferry?"
S?, Se?or."
"And presumably the borders are being watched? We would know if he has returned?"
S?, Se?or."
"Presumably, mi Mayor," Delgano said, "Sergeant Ettinger is in Montevideo. I did not have authority to send any of my men across the border."
"You tell me what you want me to do, Mr. Frade," the Chief said.
"I don't know what the hell to do," Clete said.
"I can be in Montevideo in the morning, if I leave now," the Chief said.
"We don't know where the hell he is in Montevideo," Clete said. "If he got that far before the Germans got to him."
"Clete, I'm sorry," Tony said.
"You goddamned well should be, Tony!"
Jumping on Tony's ass isn't going to do any good. The sonofabitch in this is Ettinger himself.
If he gets his throat cut, it's his own goddamn fault!
I don't mean that.
What the hell am I going to do ?
Oh, yeah!
"Captain Ashton and his team, and the radar, are in the hangar," Clete said. "Get them and their stuff out of here. Our priority is to get that radar in place and set up."
"What do we do about Dave?" Tony asked.
"I'll deal with Dave," Clete said. "You two make yourself useful to Captain Ashton."
"Aye, aye, Sir," the Chief said.
"I'm sorry, Clete," Tony said.
"You said that," Clete said somewhat unkindly, and then turned to Delgano. "I have to make a telephone call," he said. "It won't take long."
Delgano was obviously curious, but asked no questions.
Clete called the office number, the first of the three numbers Leibermann had given him.
The man who answered the telephone did so by reciting the number called in Spanish.
"This is Cowboy," Clete said. "I need to talk to him right now."