When he got to the sixth floor, Castillo found Jack Britton sitting in a folding metal chair outside the room, holding a Madsen on his lap.
"Betty's still in the operating room, Charley," Britton said. "Solez talked somebody into letting him wait outside the operating room. Apparently, they're going to bring her here instead of to a recovery room. They've been taking all sorts of equipment in there. And there's a couple of guys with Uzis down the hall."
Castillo looked, and then said, "I just made arrangements for Betty to be flown-on the Gulfstream that brought you down here-to Philadelphia when she's up to traveling. I want you to go with her."
Britton nodded.
"I had Dick Miller call Chief Inspector Kramer to give him a heads-up. When we know something, I'll call him and bring him up to speed. Unless I'm gone before that happens, then you'll have to do it."
Britton nodded again.
Castillo looked into the room and saw that it was prepared to treat someone just out of an operating room.
"I hope there's a john in there," Castillo said. "I really need to take a leak."
He saw on Corporal Lester Bradley's face that a visit to a toilet was high on his agenda, as well. Clearly uncomfortably, perhaps even painfully high.
"Corporal, there are two things that a warrior must always remember," Castillo said sternly. "The first is to void one's bladder at every opportunity, because one never knows when there will be another opportunity to do so."
"Yes, sir."
"The second is RHIP."
"Rank Has Its Privileges, yes, sir."
"Which in this case means I get to go in there before you do."
"Yes, sir."
"Just kidding. Go on, Bradley," Castillo said. "I can wait."
"You go ahead, sir."
"You have your orders, Corporal! This is your opportunity,maybe your only opportunity. Take it!"
"Yes, sir."
Britton chuckled. "Nice kid," he said, when Bradley had gone into the room.
"Yeah. And so was Sergeant Roger Markham," Castillo said, and then went on, bitterly, " 'The secretary of the Navy regrets to inform you that your son, Staff Sergeant Roger Markham, was killed in the line of duty. What he was doing was chauffeuring a Secret Service agent to a bar, where she was to meet her boyfriend.' "
"First I'll tell you about Markham," Britton said.
"Tell me about Markham?"
"The gunnery sergeant came looking for you-the guy in charge of the Marine guards?"
"I know who he is."
"He brought a casket for Markham's body, and a flag. They've got him in a cooler in the morgue here in the hospital, and they're going to take him out to Ezeiza first thing in the morning. He said that if he didn't get a chance to see you, to tell you thanks for making sure Markham had a Marine escort-there's two Marines in the morgue with the body-and for sending him home in a military aircraft, instead of like one more piece of luggage on Delta or American."
"Well, you know me, Jack. 'Charley Castillo, always looking out for his men. He's not very good at it, and some of them get blown away, but what the hell, Castillo means well.' "
"Oh, bullshit, Charley. That's the second thing I'm going to tell you: What happened to Markham and Betty is not your fault."
"I should have been in that car, Jack, and you know it."
"No. That's bullshit. If you had been in that car, one of two things would have happened. You'd either be in the cooler with Markham, or you'd be in a hospital bed like Betty."
"Maybe I could have gotten one of the bastards."
"More bullshit and you should know it. Face the facts, Charley."
"What are the facts?"
"I don't know how it is with the Secret Service, but I suspect it's just like on the cops."
"I don't follow you, Jack."
"On the cops, when something like this happens- your partner gets shot, or whacked-they won't let you near the investigation. You're too emotionally involved. I'm afraid if you keep up this 'it's all my fault' bullshit somebody important's going to hear you and they'll keep you off the investigation. And I wouldn't like that."
"Why not?"
"Because the only way a brand-new Secret Service agent like me is going to be allowed to try to find the bastards who whacked Masterson, Markham, and almost whacked Betty is if you can fix it. And I really want those bastards, Charley."
For a moment, Castillo couldn't find his voice. Then he said, "For however long I'm on this, Jack, if I have anything to say about it, you will be, too."
"You'll be on it a lot longer if you get your act together. Starting with nobody has to know about you and Betty. Can you get that Air Force colonel to keep his mouth shut?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. It was just the four of us in the hotel room, and Markham's dead, you say the Air Force guy will keep his mouth shut, and if you and I play it cool, no one has to know about you and Betty."
"That'll be tough for me to fake, Jack."
"You're supposed to be a hard-ass. Fake it."
Corporal Bradley returned to the corridor.
Castillo touched Britton's shoulder and went into room 677.
When he came out of the toilet, there was a large, well-dressed man with a full, neatly trimmed mustache standing with his hands folded in front of him, by the door, which was closed.
Castillo was startled, but quickly recovered.
If this guy wasn't supposed to be in here, Britton wouldn't have let him in. Maybe he's a doctor, or something.
No, he's not, unless the doctors around here wear shoulder holsters.
Conclusion: One more guy from SIDE. A senior guy from SIDE.
"Senor?" Castillo asked.
"Senor Castillo?"
"Si."
"I am el Coronel Alejandro Gellini of SIDE, Senor Castillo."
Castillo crossed the room to him and put out his hand.
"Mucho gusto, mi coronel," Castillo said.
"I have just seen Ambassador Silvio, senor. I conveyed to him, on behalf of the President of the Nation, our profound regret for what has happened to the female Secret Service agent and the Corps of Marines sergeant."
"That was very good of you, of the President, mi coronel," Castillo said.
"Ambassador Silvio told me that you are in charge of security for Senora Masterson and her children, in fact of everybody."
"That's true," Castillo said.
"And I have come to personally assure you that all the resources of SIDE will be used for the protection of Senora Masterson and her children and of course the female agent and yourself while you are in Argentina. I give you my personal guarantee that nothing like this will happen again."
"Mi coronel, that's very kind, but I have to say that el Coronel Munz is already doing everything possible."
"I have replaced el Coronel Munz as director of SIDE, senor."
"Excuse me?"
"El Coronel Munz has been relieved of his duties, senor. A board will be convened to look into allegations of his dereliction of his duties."
Oh, shit!
And Munz knew this was coming.
That's why I got the little pep talk and the "Goodbye, Charley" when he left.
These bastards needed a scapegoat-this had to be someone's fault; anybody's but some bureaucrat's-and they're hanging Alfredo out to flap around in the wind.
Sonofabitch, that's rotten!
"Mi coronel, if there will be witnesses before the board you speak of, I would like to appear, to testify for the defense."
"Senor Castillo, forgive me, but this is an internal Argentine matter."
I better shut up right now. Whatever I say next will be the wrong thing.
Fuck it!
"Forgive me, mi coronel, but any dereliction of el Coronel Munz would obviously have to do with what has happened to Americans, and I, as the American officer charged with the security of those Americans, am probably better qualified than anyone else to judge how well el Coronel Munz discharged his responsibilities."
"I repeat, Senor Castillo, that this is an internal Argentine matter."
"It stinks, mi coronel, and you may quote me."