"That's simply out of the question," Dorotea announced with feminine imperialism. "I don't care where you are or what you're doing, you have to call Father Matthew, right now, apologize, and set up an appointment."
"I can't, Princess," Clete said.
Her entire tone of voice changed.
"My God, you're in some sort of trouble."
"No."
That's not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but. But at the moment, 1 'm not actually in trouble.
"Yes, you are. I can tell by your voice."
"Honey, I'm not," Clete said. "Really, I'm not. But I'm . . . tied up . . ."
"Tied up how?"
". . . for the next couple of days."
"Tied up how?"
"With rope. To the bed."
"You don't really think you're funny?"
"Princess, you're just going to have to trust me."
"Why should I?"
Clete replied with the truth without thinking much about the possible ramifications of that.
"You don't have any choice, honey," he said.
Dorotea hung up on him.
He was standing with the handset in his hand, his finger holding down the switch, wondering whether it would be better to call her back or not, when he heard the door creak open.
Teniente Colonel Bernardo Mart?n and Capitan Roberto Lauffer came into the room. Mart?n was in mufti and carrying a well-worn leather briefcase, while Lauffer was not only in uniform but wearing a Sam Browne belt with a saber hanging from one side of it, an Argentine .45 automatic in a glistening molded leather holster riding high on the other side.
Enrico, who had been sitting on the windowsill, stood up and came to attention.
Lauffer waved his hand at him to stand at ease.
"If I'd known there was a telephone in here, I would have had it removed," Mart?n said, turning his back to Clete as he closed the door. He turned and asked: "Who were you talking to?"
Cletejust in timebit off the "none of your goddamned business" reply that came to his lips.
For one thing, who I talk to is his business, and for another, he has enough to worry about without getting into a verbal duel with me.
"My . . . fianc?e," Clete said.
"Oh. You didn't happen to tell her where you were, did you?"
"No. Nor where I've been. She was curious about that, too."
Lauffer smiled.
"What was the subject of your conversation?" Mart?n asked, and Clete saw a faint smile on his face too, before he added, "or is that too intimate a question for a gentleman such as myself to ask?"
"The Very Reverend Matthew Cashley-Price, of the Anglican Cathedral," Clete said, and had to smile, "is apparently greatly annoyed that I have been unable to fit him and his premarital counseling into my busy schedule. And consequently, so is the lady."
"Shame on you," Mart?n said, now smiling wickedly. "Before taking a serious step, like marriage, one should have all sorts of counseling. How did the conversation end?"
"She hung up on me when I said she had no choice but to trust me," Clete said.
Lauffer chuckled.
"It would appear that your charming fianc?e and I have the same problem," Mart?n said. "We both have no choice but to trust you. As we both do, I'm sure. The question is not if we trust you, really, but how far, isn't it?"
Clete felt his temper start to simmer.
I'm here, aren't I? With the airplane?
"You have no reason not to trust me, Coronel," Clete said.
No longer smiling, Mart?n looked at him for a long moment.
"I inform you now, Mayor Frade," he announced formally, "that you are a prisoner of the armed forces of the Provisional Government of Argentina, and ask you now, Mayor Frade, if, as an officer and a gentleman, you will offer your parole to me?"
Clete's temper began to boil over.
"A prisoner? What the hell is that all about?"
"A record will be made of your arrest," Mart?n said. "And of the seizure by the Provisional Government of your aircraft. In the event events do not go as planned, those records will come into the possession of the Castillo government. Possibly, they may"
"Oh, come on, Mart?n!" Clete interrupted. "If you can't pullOutline Blue off, and we all get arrested, Castillo's people will look at my, quote, arrest, unquote, and the, quote, seizure, unquote, of the Lockheed and see it for what it is, a transparent attempt to get me off the hook. Christ, they know damned well my father started the whole goddamned thing!"
What are you saying?"
I'm saying that when I landed that airplane here, I knew what I was getting myself into."
"That's what General Rawson thought you would say," Lauffer said emotionally, "as your father's son, as the great-grandson of General Pueyrred?n. That you would join us!"
"Don't get carried away, Roberto," Clete said. "I'll fly the airplane, if it comes down to that, but I'm not enlisting in your army."
"Actually, the subject of a temporary commission did come up," Mart?n said. "Would you be willing"
"I already have a Marine Corps commission," Clete said.
"This would be a temporary commission," Mart?n said. "It would solve a lot of problems. . . ."
"Would I have to swear an oath? Of allegiance?"
"Yes, naturally. Of course."
"The moment I did that," Clete said, "I would lose my American citizenship."
"That would be difficult for you?"
"Yeah, it would," Clete said without thinking about it. "I don't want to do that."
He happened to glance at Martin's eyes.
And saw in them that he had just closed a door that would never again be opened.
If I had accepted that temporary commission under these circumstances, where accepting it might mean that I would find myself standing in front of a wall with Rawson, Martin, and Lauffer, even if it lasted only three days, they would thereafter have accepted me as a bona fide Argentine. Now that will never happen.
Well, so be it. I'm an American. I don't want to give that up.
"That leaves you, of course," Mart?n said, cordially enough, "as the English would put it, as neither fish nor good red meat."
"I guess it does," Clete said.
"I'm turning you over to Capitan Lauffer," Mart?n said. "Until this is over, I want you to be with him. If using the airplane becomes necessary, you will receive that word from him."
"Fine with me," Clete said.
"As an officer and a gentleman, I would like you to give me your parole," Mart?n said.
"What kind of a parole?"
"That you will not leave Campo de Mayo, nor communicate with anyone outside Campo de Mayo, without the express permission of Capitan Lauffer or myself."
"I've already told you that I'll fly the airplane. But I will need to use the telephone. What if I give you my word I will not mention, in any way,Outline Blue?"
"I don't think you're talking about telephoning your fianc?e," Mart?n said. "You're concerned about Sergeant Ettinger? Is that what you mean?"
Clete nodded.
"Delgano told you he took the car ferry to Montevideo?"
Clete nodded again.
"I'm sorry, Mayor," Mart?n said. "You will not be in any position to help Ettinger untilOutline Blue has run its course. If I hear anything, I will let you know. I will require your parole."
"Or what?"