When they all rose from the table and moved toward the parlor for coffee and brandy, Griego found von Rossbach walking beside him.
"Well?" Dieter asked quietly.
"I'm not sure," Victor said, or rather slurred. He'd drunk most of his dinner. "But I had a thought. Why don't you get her to stay behind for some reason. Then, while you're showing your other guests out, I'll talk to her one-on-one. Y'see?"
"I don't want to cause her embarrassment," Dieter said. "I'm satisfied already that she's not Sarah Connor. If you can't tell whether she is or isn't, then I'm going to assume it's because she isn't."
Daringly, Victor put his hand on the big man's arm, whisking it off again instantly at Dieter's look. "But you want to be sure?" he whispered. "After putting up with me for most of a week, you should be sure."
"I am sure," Dieter said, the firmness of his voice leaving no doubt.
"Tut tut tut tut tut!" Victor shook his finger. "But the good Senor Ferarri,"
Griego said with an airy gesture, "he is not so sure. Yes?"
Dieter looked at him with an icy stillness that almost sobered Griego. "I'll think of something," he said at last.
After an hour or so of small talk Senora Salcido observed that it was growing late, and Zita Kaiser, still feeling uncertain about the evening's underlying tension, agreed with her. Their husbands began to shift and stir and Sarah said something about it having been a long day.
"Don't go yet, Suzanne," von Rossbach pleaded. "I want to introduce you to that watchdog I was talking about."
Sarah's mouth dropped open and her heart gave a lurch. Shit! she thought. In spite of how excruciating this evening had been, nothing had actually gone wrong. Now she wanted to get out of here before anything could.
"I'm sorry, Dieter, but you know how John feels about that subject," she said.
"I just want you to meet him," von Rossbach insisted. "Just wait a minute, okay?"
There wasn't much she could do but acquiesce as gracefully as she could. She could feel the others looking at her, wondering what was up. Maybe I've been in Paraguay too long, she thought. What they're thinking actually matters to me.
Dieter rose and thanked the others for coming, ignoring their speculative looks, and wished them a safe drive home as he politely, but in every conceivable way, urged them to leave.
In varying degrees of confusion and amusement, they shook hands, said thanks, and allowed him to herd them to the door. Dieter accompanied them to their cars, being charming, being friendly, the perfect host. Leaving Sarah and Victor alone together.
Sarah rose and went out onto the patio without a word. She'd been discreetly checking the room for cameras or bugs all evening and had seen nothing suspicious. That didn't mean they weren't there. She wasn't about to blow her cover with an ill advised tete-a-tete with the gunrunner.
"Nothing to say to an old friend?" Victor said, following her outside. He paused in the doorway to light a cigar.
"Do you mind?" Sarah asked. "I can't stand those things."
Victor shook out the match and flicked it away into the night.
"Sarah," he said, "I have spent the better part of the week being ignored by the people in this house and pretending to ignore them. I'm not in the mood to have someone no better than I am turn her shoulder to me and tell me not to smoke."
He stepped closer to her and touched her on the shoulder with one finger.
He pushed her shoulder hard, his face ugly with bitterness and drink.
"Hey!" Sarah said. She glared at him. "Don't touch me."
Victor melted into a false solicitude. "Awww, have I offended you, senora?" he asked. "Oh, I am so sorry. You send your son to threaten me with torture and death. He cut me with a knife!" Victor lifted his chin and pointed to the scab on his neck. "But I touched you with my finger, so I am an eeeevil man! Oh! I am soooo sorry." He bowed from the waist and fell into her.
"Stop it!" Sarah snapped, fending him off. "You stupid drunk!"
Griego, drunk and overbalanced, grabbed her hips to keep himself upright. He began to giggle helplessly, while Sarah struggled to push him away.
"I'm sorry," he said, "Really, I am. I'm sorry."
Unfortunately he was laughing so hard that he couldn't let go. He rested his head on her bosom giggling breathlessly and Sarah began to slap the top of his head.
It was irtto this scene that Dieter walked.
"Epifanio!" he roared.
Then he stepped forward and grabbed Victor, who, despite his genuine horror at the way things were turning out, still couldn't keep himself from laughing.
Dieter, one hand on Victor's collar, the other grasping the waistband of his pants, force-marched him into the living room and tossed him headfirst onto the couch.
Epifanio came running in, an apron around his narrow waist.
"Senor?"
Sarah stood in the doorway, one hand over her mouth, her eyes wide.
"It's her," Victor said between giggles. "She's Sarah Connor."
Dieter turned to Sarah and she met his eyes with a look of complete confusion.
Victor lay on his back and kicked his feet in the air laughing until he began to choke.
"Senor?" Epifanio said again, his voice uncertain. "What is happening?"
Dieter pointed to Griego, who was now purple in the face from coughing. "Get that into the Jeep and drive him to Asuncian!"
Epifanio blinked. "Now, senor?" It was almost ten o'clock, incredibly late to him.
Dieter gave him a quick look. "Have your nephew Ubaldo do it," he said. "He can stay with his cousin tonight and come back tomorrow morning."
"Sf, senor," Epifanio said. Who was he to question the behavior of a man as big and angry as Senor von Rossbach? "I'll go get him."
Dieter glared at Griego, squeezing and loosening his big hands.
"You had better go and get your things together," he said.
Victor drew himself up with a deep breath, never taking his eyes off of Dieter, and made his unsteady way from the room.
Dieter turned to Sarah and spread his hands in apology. "I'm so sorry," he said.
Sarah waved her hand. "No, I am," she said, moving toward the door. "I feel very bad about this."
Inside she was jubilant. This couldn't have worked out better if she'd planned it!
But her cover required her to play a decent woman appalled at this turn of events and she played it to the hilt.
"Please don't go," he said. "I'll be right back. I have to get… those papers for Griego. You'll wait?"
She bit her lip, her eyes lowered. It would probably be better if she left right now, leaving him to stew. But she'd found out nothing. It was a shame she hadn't dared to speak to Griego; he might well know something useful about ol' Dieter.
I think a little business trip to Asuncion will be in order next week, she thought.
"Yes," she said, looking up at him. "Yes, I'll wait.
After he left, Sarah rubbed her stomach, which was a hard, nervous knot, and let out her breath slowly. By his apparent assault on her, Griego had rendered anything he chose to say quite literally unbelievable.
The downside of being a swine, I guess, is that when you do tell the truth nobody can bring themselves to believe you.
Would this bring them peace? Von Rossbach's reaction to the farcical scene he'd walked in on inclined her to hope so. Only time would tell. Although the vehemence of his reaction made her uneasy.
He couldn't be falling for me, could he? She shuddered. She did not need a Terminator look-alike with romantic designs in her life. Although, if he looked like anyone else… there was something appealing about him.