"You know what I mean, Karl," Munz pursued.
"Straight answer?"
Munz nodded.
"There are some people I intuitively know I can trust. You're one of them. That may not be professional or even smart, but-the proof being I'm not pushing up daisies-so far it's worked."
"Thank you," Munz said softly, on the edge of emotion. "I had the same feeling about you."
Their eyes met for a moment.
"Hurriedly changing the subject," Castillo said, "pay close attention. Your leader has just had one of his brilliant-if somewhat off at a tangent-thoughts."
"Can you hold it a minute, Ace?" Delchamps asked.
"Sure."
"When I talked about Mullroney being useful in Paraguay, I meant it. Not only for the reasons I gave."
"Okay?"
"Did you pick up on what Duffy said about him being worried about your health?"
Castillo nodded.
Delchamps said, "Somebody-Weiss, probably-has sent the CIA guy in Asuncion a heads-up. 'Watch out for Castillo.'"
"I sort of thought he would," Castillo said.
"And did you sort of think his reaction would be 'whack Castillo'? and/or 'whack him and everybody with him'?"
"Who's Weiss?" Darby asked.
Delchamps held up his hand, palm outward, as a sign to Darby to wait a minute.
Castillo shook his head.
"No. I didn't," Castillo said, simply.
"What's your take on the threat, Alfredo?" Delchamps asked. "A little theater on Duffy's part?"
"No. I think he believes there was a threat."
"Which would mean he has somebody in the embassy, or at least somebody in Asuncion, who he trusts and who fed him that," Delchamps said.
Munz nodded his agreement.
Delchamps turned to Darby.
"Maybe you know him, Alex," he said. "Company old-timer. Milton Weiss?"
"I don't know him. I've seen him around."
"Weiss first came to me, then to Castillo, and told us (a) that the station chief in Asuncion is a lot smarter than he wants people to think he is, and (b) that they've got an operation going where they're going to grab a cruise ship, maybe ships-"
"Cruise ships?" Darby said, incredulously.
Delchamps nodded, and continued, "Under maritime law, they're subject to seizure if the owners collude in their use to transport drugs."
"How are they going to prove the owners knew?" Darby asked.
"According to Weiss, they have that figured out," Castillo said.
"And they don't want our operation to free Timmons to fuck up that operation," Delchamps said.
"At first it made sort of sense, but then I found out that the agency doesn't know anything about this operation-for that matter, anything-going on down there that we could screw up getting Timmons back."
"You think the bastards in Langley would tell you?" Darby asked.
Delchamps answered with a question: "Alex, do you think an operation like that would or could escape the notice of either John Powell or A. Franklin Lammelle?"
Darby considered that for a moment.
"No. One or the other, probably both, would know about it. The potential for it blowing up…"
"The DCI told me he knew of no such operation."
"Told you personally?"
"Yeah. And I believed him. Then he sent for Lammelle, and asked him, and Lammelle said he didn't know anything about it, either. And I believed him, too."
"So what do you think's going on?"
"I don't know. But when I thought about it, putting myself in the Asuncion station chief's shoes, if I had come up with an operation anything like what Weiss told us he's got going-and I'm not known for either modesty or my love for the Langley bastards-I'd want all the help I could get. Even if that meant taking it to Langley myself and waiting in the lobby or the guard shack to catch Lammelle or the DCI wherever I could find them."
"Again, Edgar, what do you think's going on?" Castillo asked.
"No goddamn idea, Ace, except that I know it's not what Weiss has been feeding us. But now that we have it on good authority that my fellow officers of the clandestine service want to whack me and the President's agent, I'm beginning to wonder if maybe they've changed sides."
"Jesus Christ," Jake Torine said softly.
"So what do we do?" Castillo said.
"I don't know that either. But I think-what I was saying before about Mullroney being useful-that you and he should go to the embassy in Asuncion and let him stumble around."
"Use him as a beard?" Castillo asked.
Delchamps nodded, then asked: "Can I use your 007 radio to make a couple of calls? Like maybe two hundred? There are some questions I can ask some people I know."
"You don't have to ask, for Christ's sake," Castillo said.
"That's the best I can do right now, Ace. I suggest you go to Asuncion with Mullroney, acting as if you don't think there's anything wrong, but it's your call. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to whack people."
"I want to talk to Pevsner before I go to Asuncion."
"They'll expect you two in Asuncion as soon as you can get there," Delchamps said simply.
"Let's make that choice after we hear what Duffy has to say," Castillo said.
"Okay. You need me in that meeting, or can I get on the horn?"
Before Castillo could open his mouth, Delchamps went on: "Sorry. We haven't heard your brilliant thought."
"It was brilliant just a few minutes ago," Castillo said. "Now it doesn't seem either very brilliant or especially important."
"Let's hear it," Delchamps said.
"I was worried about the Hueys and the guys from the 160th on the Ronald Reagan."
"Why?" Torine asked.
"There's a two-star admiral on board. Two-star admirals tend to cover their ass. We can't afford not to get those choppers repainted and off the ship, but the senior 160th guy is a major. Majors tend to do what flag and general officers tell them to do."
"I knew a major one time, an Army Aviator, who didn't seem all that impressed by two-stars," Darby said. "He even stole one of their Black Hawks."
"Borrowed, Alex. Borrowed. I gave it back," Castillo said.
"What are you thinking, Charley?" Torine asked.
"That we need a more senior officer aboard the Reagan," Castillo said. "Like maybe an Air Force colonel bearing a letter from Truman Ellsworth or maybe even Montvale, saying in essence, 'Don't fuck with the Hueys.'"
"God, you are devious!" Torine said. He thought that over a moment, and then said, "What if I got on-what did Edgar call it?-'the 007 radio' and called Ellsworth and said I was a little worried…"
"Talk about devious!" Delchamps said.
"…he would think it was his idea," Torine finished. "When are the Hueys going to leave Rucker?"
"I don't know," Castillo said.
"So you call-you, Jake," Delchamps said, "and find out, and then you call Ellsworth and say, 'I just found out the choppers are about to go on board the Reagan, and I'm a little worried about something going wrong.'"
"Why do I feel I have just been had?" Torine asked. "Okay, Charley, you're right. Some admiral is liable to feel he can't get in trouble launching black helicopters if something happens-like being too far at sea-that keeps him from launching them."
"Thanks, Jake."
"Don't be too grateful, Ace," Delchamps said with a grin. "Nobody's going to shoot at him on the Reagan, which I think explains his sudden enthusiasm."
Torine gave him the finger.
"We can call from right here, right?" Torine asked.
Castillo nodded.
"That will be all, Colonel," Torine said. "You may now go brief the troops."
X
[ONE]
Nuestra Pequena Casa
Mayerling Country Club
Pilar, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina 1220 9 September 2005 Castillo rapped a spoon against his coffee mug and waited silently until everybody who had gathered in the quincho was looking at him.
Then Castillo began: "An initial review of our current situation, gentlemen-and lady-suggested the possibility of some minor problems. A more detailed analysis indicates that we are really in the deep do-do."