The Hostage Part 81

"From what I've seen, Charley, you handle the authority you've been given very well."

"I'm so drunk with my authority that it never even entered my mind to ask you what you thought about what I'm going to do. Which means I just about blew the investigation into the oil-for-food scandal out of the water, and embarra.s.sed the President personally. That doesn't strike me as handling my authority well."

Silvio studied Castillo for a long moment, then asked, "How much sleep have you had in the past few days?"

"It shows, huh?"

"It shows. If you really want my advice, get yourself some rest."

Castillo considered that, took a sip of his beer, then asked, "Can you recommend a quiet hotel near the airport in Montevideo?"

"As a matter of fact, I can. The airport's in Carrasco. There's a really nice hotel in Carrasco. The Belmont House. A little stiff on the pocketbook. But I was thinking you might get some rest today."

"So was I, sir. You think I could get a couple of rooms there for tonight? For two days? How would I get the number to call? I really don't want a record of me booking it through American Express."

Amba.s.sador Silvio reached into the pocket of his frayed blue jeans, took out his telephone, and punched the appropriate b.u.t.tons.

"Juan Manuel Silvio here," he said a moment later. "Please tell me that you'll be able to accommodate two friends of mine-separate rooms-for tonight and tomorrow night."

Thirty seconds later, he returned the cellular to his blue jeans.

"Done."

"Thank you very much."

"My pleasure. Anything else I can do?"

"Let me see if I can at least do this by myself," Castillo said, and took out his cellular and punched the appropriate b.u.t.tons.

"I'm glad I caught you, Yung," he began.

"I'd offer to drive you to the airport," Amba.s.sador Silvio said, "but I don't think that would be a very good idea inasmuch as I suspect there's a good many people in uniforms looking for a man in a Harvard sweatshirt and blue jeans."

Castillo smiled at him and chuckled.

"I meant what I said before about you keeping me from making a royal a.s.s of myself, and more important, making the President look like one. Muchas gracias, amigo. Muchas gracias, amigo."

Silvio made a deprecating gesture with his hand.

"What time's your plane?" he asked. "Or are you taking the Lear? Or shouldn't I ask?"

"You can ask me anything you want to," Castillo said. "And I'll tell you everything I think I can."

"Okay. I will. How are things going so far? Just generally, if details may be inappropriate."

"The first thing that can go wrong with this operation is that when I get to Jorge Newbery at five o'clock, a helicopter I borrowed won't be there. Or it will be there and the man in it will shoot me. Or if it's there and he doesn't shoot me, it will be equipped with a pressure-sensitive detonator and a couple of pounds of Semtex, which will go bang when I pa.s.s through one thousand feet. Or if that doesn't happen, the engine will quit when I am equidistant over the Rio Plate between Jorge Newbery and Corrasco. Aside from that, everything's going swimmingly."

Silvio shook his head.

"That's today. The list of what can go wrong tomorrow is a little longer," Castillo said.

"You will be in my prayers, Charley," Silvio said softly.

Castillo nodded at him.

"I'd love another beer, but I'm driving," Charley said. "But there's no reason you can't."

[FOUR].

Belmont House 6512 Avenue Rivera Carrasco Carrasco, Montevideo Republica Oriental del Uruguay 1925 29 July 2005 "Nice place," Castillo said as they stood at the reception desk of the small, luxurious hotel. "Looks more like a club than a hotel."

"Fidel Castro thinks so," El Coronel Alfredro Munz (Retired) said with a smile. "This is where he always stays when he's in Uruguay."

"If you would like a drink, gentlemen," the desk clerk said as he returned Castillo's pa.s.sport and American Express card and Munz's National Ident.i.ty Card and handed them keys to their rooms, "I'll have the bellman take your bags to your rooms."

He gestured toward the interior of the building. Castillo saw a small, wood-paneled bar with leather-upholstered chairs at small tables.

"I think that's a splendid idea," Castillo said. "I'm expecting a visitor at seven-thirty. A Mr. Yung. Would you point him toward us, please?"

"Certainly, sir."

Castillo walked into the bar and sat at one of the tables. Munz followed him but did not sit down.

"Will I be in the way, Karl?" Munz asked.

"Does 'in for a penny, in for a pound' mean the same thing in Spanish that it does in English?"

"Only to someone who speaks English," Munz said.

"And we both do," Castillo said. "Sit down, Alfredo."

A young waiter in a white jacket appeared.

"Do you have Famous Grouse?" Castillo asked.

"Yes, sir."

"A double, please. Water and ice on the side."

"That sounds good," Munz said.

"Aren't you taking a chance, Karl?" Munz asked when the waiter had gone to fill their order.

"That I'll really get Famous Grouse, you mean?" Castillo asked innocently. "Instead of some locally distilled copy thereof?"

"You know what I mean," Munz said.

"I've learned that every once in a while, you have to take a chance," Castillo said. "I'm taking one on you not to interfere with this operation by either telling Alex about it until it's over or choking the canary before he can sing."

"When I went to work for Alex-"

"You mean full-time? After you were retired, in other words?"

Munz's face tightened. "When I was with SIDE I never gave Alex any information that in any way betrayed my duties or my country."

"Okay."

"I told Alex, before I went to work for him, that there were certain things I would not do," Munz said. "'Choking canaries,' as you put it, was among the things he understood I would not do."

"I'm sure Howard Kennedy made a deal very similar to yours," Castillo said. "But what I was wondering about, before I decided on 'in for a penny, in for a pound,' was whether or not the things you would not do included giving him information that might see my canary choked by somebody else."

"If you feel that way, why did you agree to my coming with you?" Munz asked icily.

"I agreed to your coming along after after I decided that you're not the sort of man who could look at himself in the mirror after deciding that it would be morally justifiable to arrange for a canary to be choked, providing someone else did the choking." I decided that you're not the sort of man who could look at himself in the mirror after deciding that it would be morally justifiable to arrange for a canary to be choked, providing someone else did the choking."

Munz looked at him coldly but didn't reply.

"And because Alex was right," Castillo went on. "I think you're going to be useful. We're back to having to take a chance every once in a while."

"Like flying a single-engine helicopter across the River Plate? That was taking a chance, wasn't it? What if the engine had failed?"

"We would have drowned," Castillo said. "Unless you're a much better swimmer than I am."

Munz shook his head.

"The seats-like those on airliners-are flotation devices," Castillo said. "We might have had to float around in the river for a while, but I filed a flight plan, and if we hadn't showed up on time, they would have started looking for us. I don't like to take foolish foolish chances, Alfredo, and don't." chances, Alfredo, and don't."

The waiter appeared with a tray holding a bottle of Famous Grouse, gla.s.ses, a silver ice bucket, a silver water pitcher, and a pair of tongs. He was pouring whiskey into the gla.s.ses when Special Agent David William Yung, Jr., came into the bar. He was visibly surprised to see Alfredo Munz.

"Right on time," Castillo said, half-standing to offer Yung his hand. "You two know each other, right?"

"How are you, Colonel?"

"Mr. Yung," Munz said.

"I'm sure you're both wondering what happens next," Castillo said.

Their eyes reflected their interest.

"I'm going to have at least one more of these," Castillo said, raising his gla.s.s and taking a healthy swallow, "have some dinner, and go to bed." He paused and added, "A very wise friend pointed out to me that people who haven't had much sleep tend to make bad decisions. I haven't had much sleep, and I can't afford to make any more sloppy, much less bad, decisions. So just a question or two, Yung. What do you hear about visiting friends from Montevideo?"

"They'll be on the first Busquebus from BA. It gets here at about ten-thirty."

"And you found accommodations for them?"

"Yes, sir."

"You have those maps I asked you for?"

"Yes, sir."

"Are you going to have any trouble waking up in time to pick up Munz and me here at the hotel at, say, seven o'clock in the morning?"

"I'll be here, sir."

"Where are we going?" Munz said. "Can I ask?"

"Generally speaking, we are going to reconnoiter the target. I'll be more specific in the morning." He paused. "I wonder where the restaurant is?"

"Right next to us," Munz said. "But it doesn't open until eight. In half an hour."

"Well, that'll give me time to finish this drink and have another," Castillo said.

He saw how they were both looking at him.

"What I'm doing now is running on my reserves. When I'm doing that, I can't get to sleep unless I dilute the adrenaline, or whatever the h.e.l.l it is, with substantial quant.i.ties of alcohol."

"I understand," Munz said.

"Mr. Castillo, can I speak to you privately for a moment?" Yung asked.

"It won't wait until the morning? I wasn't kidding. I'm in no shape to make decisions."

"It won't take a moment, sir."

"Alfredo, order me another one, please. I will be back directly," Castillo said and stood up.

He followed Yung out of the bar and through the lobby to the street.

"Okay, what?" Castillo asked.

"I know we got off on the wrong foot, Mr. Castillo- my fault . . ."

"Water over the dam," Castillo said.

"And I just wanted to say I'm grateful you're not cutting me out of this. I thought, when you went back to Buenos Aires this morning, that's what was going to happen. So thank you. I'll do my d.a.m.nedest."

Castillo thought, unkindly: Jesus H. Christ! He's acting like a high school kid, blubberinghis grat.i.tude to the coach for letting him back on the team after he got caught smoking in the boys' room. He thinks what's going to happen is some kind of a game.

So how do I handle this?

Castillo smiled at Special Agent Yung, then punched him on the shoulder.

"I'm glad you're going to be on the team, Yung," he said, hoping he sounded far more sincere than was the case.