"Actually, it's full of assholes," Yung said. "Inspector Doherty and myself being the exceptions that prove the rule. There may be one or two more."
There were chuckles.
"Sir, me too," Bradley said.
"You too, what, Lester?" Castillo asked.
"I heard what Mr. Weiss told you and Mr. Delchamps about the seize-the-ships op."
"How did you manage that, Corporal Bradley? You were not supposed to be listening."
"I was listening to hear what you were going to say about me going back to the Corps."
"Well, the DCI and Lammelle might have trouble believing you and me, Ace, but all they would have to do is look at the pride of the Marine Corps' honest face and know he is incapable of not telling the truth," Delchamps said.
"I can probably lie as well as any of you," Bradley said, indignantly.
"And probably a lot better than me, Lester," Castillo said. "I say that in all modesty."
"So what do we do now?" Yung asked.
"May I suggest we think that over carefully before charging off in all directions?" Delchamps said. "Wind up the rubber bands, Ace, and get this show on the road."
[TWO] Forty-five minutes later, as the altimeter slowly unwound past 5,000 feet, what had been the dull glow of the lights of Montevideo suddenly became the defined lights of the apartment houses along the Rambla and the headlights of cars driving along it.
"There it is, Lester!" Castillo cried in mock excitement. "Montevideo! Just where it's supposed to be. Will miracles never cease?"
"So the data on the GPS indicates, sir," Bradley said, very seriously, pointing to the screen of the laptop.
Castillo looked. The representation of an automobile was now moving over the River Plate parallel to the Rambla.
What the hell am I going to do with you, Lester?
I can't send you back to the Marine Corps.
Not only do you know too much, but after everything you've been through, you're not going to be happy as a corporal pushing keys on a computer.
"And now if you will excuse me, Lester, I will talk to the nice man in the tower, after which I will see if I can get this aged bird on the ground in one piece."
"Yes, sir."
Castillo reached for the microphone.
"Carrasco approach control, Aero Commander Four Three…"
Five minutes later, as they turned off the Carrasco runway, Bradley said, "There's Chief Inspector Ordonez, sir," and pointed.
Castillo looked.
Ordonez was leaning against the nose of a helicopter sitting on the tarmac before the civil aviation terminal.
I wonder what he wants?
That's one of the old and battered police Hueys I am about to replace for him.
But that's an Aerospatiale Dauphin parked next to it.
I thought he said there was only one of those, and that it belonged to the president.
What the hell is going on?
And how the hell did he know we were going to be here?
Ordonez was standing outside the Aero Commander when Castillo opened the cabin door.
"There has been a development, Colonel," he said without any preliminaries.
"And how are you, Chief Inspector Ordonez?" Castillo said.
Ordonez ignored the greeting.
"Would you be surprised to hear that your secretary of State has evinced an interest in the welfare of Ambassador Lorimer and his wife?"
"No. I wouldn't."
"I thought so."
"'I thought so' what?"
"That you were behind what has happened. What's it all about? I don't like being pressured."
"Would you be surprised to hear I have no idea what you're talking about?"
Max exited the airplane and made for the nose gear. Delchamps, Yung, and Bradley got out and looked at Ordonez.
"I'd heard you'd left the estancia," Ordonez said to Yung. "By car, in the middle of the night, and had gone to Argentina."
Which means he has people watching Shangri-La.
Why not?
Is that what's got him pissed off?
"I wasn't aware he needed your permission to do anything," Castillo said.
"It was not in connection with your secretary of State? Is that what you're saying?"
"No, it was not."
"Then what?"
"In my experience, Ordonez," Castillo said, "when someone in your frame of mind-to use the Norteamericano phrase, 'highly pissed off'-asks a question, he usually thinks he has the answer and is not interested in yours, even if yours happens to be the truth. Would I be wasting my breath, in other words?"
"I suggest you try answering and we'll find out," Ordonez said.
Okay, bluff called.
When in doubt, tell the truth.
"Okay," Castillo said. "We have reason to believe-Yung found out-that the CIA station chief in Asuncion is dirty. Ninety percent certainty. He went to Argentina to tell Delchamps and me, if he could find me."
Ordonez looked at him very closely.
Somehow, I don't think that's what you expected to hear, is it, Jose?
"Wrong answer, Jose?" Castillo said, smiling at him.
"Not what I expected," Ordonez said. "Is that true, David?"
Yung nodded.
"Then I apologize," Ordonez said. "I had decided that you were entirely capable of doing something like that, and probably had. But I couldn't figure out why."
"Done something like what?"
"At eleven o'clock this morning, I was summoned-together with the minister of the interior-to the Foreign Ministry. The President was there. They had just been on a conference call with our ambassador to Washington. He reported that your secretary of State had requested a, quote, personal service, unquote, from him, and requested that he receive her at his earliest convenience. Half an hour later, she was at our embassy. She told him that she was very deeply concerned about the welfare of Ambassador Lorimer and his wife, who-against her advice and wishes-were already on their way to Estancia Shangri-La. She said the ambassador has a serious heart condition, which had been almost certainly exacerbated by the loss first of his son and then of his home in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
"She asked, as a personal request, not as the secretary of State, that we do whatever we could for Ambassador Lorimer and his wife." He paused. "The President thought that was amusing."
"Amusing?"
"He said the lady may have gone to see the ambassador as a private citizen, but that inasmuch as she is the secretary of State, your American eagle was sitting on her shoulder."
"I'll tell you what I know, Jose," Castillo said. "She likes Ambassador Lorimer. I don't even know how she knows him, but she likes him. She doesn't want him down here, she told him that personally, and she sent me to Mississippi-where he and his wife were staying with Masterson's widow and her father-to talk him out of coming. I couldn't. My only connection with this was to send my airplane, the Gulfstream, to bring them here. That would at least spare them the hassle of going through airports.
"So, what I'm saying is that your ambassador got what he saw, a very nice lady worried about a nice old man. She had no other agenda."
"And what are you going to tell this nice old man about your plans for Estancia Shangri-La? Have you considered that?"
"He knows," Castillo said.
"He knows?" Ordonez asked, incredulously.
"That was my hole card in trying to talk him out of coming. I played it. And it didn't work."
"Well, let me tell you how this very nice lady's concern for a nice old man is going to complicate things for you, Castillo. The President-not my chief, the interior minister, and not the foreign minister, but my president-pointed a finger at me and told me I was now responsible for the comfort and safety of Ambassador Lorimer and his wife as long as they are in Uruguay. If I don't believe I can adequately protect them with any of our police agencies, it can be arranged for a company of our infantry to conduct routine maneuvers near Estancia Shangri-La for as long as necessary.
"To spare the ambassador and his wife the long ride by car from here to the estancia-and to preclude any chance of a mishap on the road-I am to suggest to them that they accept the President's offer of his personal helicopter"-he pointed at the Aerospatiale Dauphin-"to transport them to the estancia.