"Learn it? Or make a guess?"
"I made a guess and then sought confirmation. Have you by any chance been in touch with Ambassador Silvio? Or Mr. Darby?"
"I'm calling from the residence, sir. Ambassador Silvio is with me. Mr. Darby is just outside."
"And how is Mr. Yung? Was he able to accomplish what you sent him down there to do before that horrifying carjacking incident?"
"You heard about that, did you?"
"Secretary Cohen was good enough to call and tell me what Ambassador McGrory had called to tell her. Crime seems almost out of control down there, doesn't it?"
"Yung's here with me, too. He wasn't badly hurt. I presume he did what I sent him to do or otherwise he would have said something. I'm probably going to bring him to the States with me."
"To do what?"
"To see what sense he can make of all the files we now have to work with."
"Are you also going to bring your source?"
"What I'm going to do is put my source in a safe house here that the Lorimer Charitable Fund has rented and he will work with his files, Yung's files, and whatever else I can get him."
"The Lorimer Charitable Fund? I rather like that," Montvale said. "I don't want to appear to be looking for praise, Charley, but you do remember my contribution to setting up the fund, don't you?"
"And I shall be forever grateful to you, sir."
"Is there anything else I can do for you, Charley?"
"Now that you mention it, there's an FBI agent, a 'legal attache,' in the Montevideo embassy, one Julio Artigas, who I think would be of far more use to Ambassador Silvio than he is to Ambassador McGrory. Could you arrange his transfer?"
"What's that all about?"
"He's come up-on his own-with answers to questions Ambassador McGrory may ask him."
"Is anyone else liable to do that?"
"I hope not. I don't think so."
"I'll have a word with Director Schmidt the first chance I have."
"Today would be nice, sir. As soon as we get off the phone would be even better."
"That important, eh? Consider it done. Will you spell that name for me, please?"
Castillo did so.
"Got it," Montvale said.
"That's all I have, sir, until I can get to Washington and brief you fully."
"The sooner you can do that, the better."
"Yes, sir. I understand."
"We still have the matter of exploding briefcases to deal with, you know. I find that quite worrisome."
"Yes, sir. So do I. And I'll get on that as soon as I can."
"Good to hear from you, Charley."
"Always a pleasure to talk to you, sir," Castillo said and clicked the phone. When the operator came on, he told her, "Break it down," then hung up.
He looked at Ambassador Silvio.
"Ambassador Montvale gave me everything I asked for," Castillo said. "And no static. Why does that make me very nervous?"
Ambassador Silvio smiled but didn't reply directly.
"They're waiting for us in the living room," he said. [FOUR] Artigas, Solez, Munz, Santini, and Yung, talking quietly among themselves while cooling their heels on two of the couches, got to their feet as Castillo and Ambassador Silva came into the room. The look on Artigas's face reminded Castillo of what he'd said about him being "an unexpected problem" just before getting on the secure line to Montvale.
He knows I was talking to someone about him. But the look on his face is concern, not fear. He is concerned about what the great and all-powerful Colonel Castillo has had to say about him-but not afraid.
He knows he's done nothing wrong, so why should he be afraid?
I think I like this guy. Let's see how smart he is.
"Okay, Artigas," Castillo said, "why don't you tell me what you think you have figured out about what may have happened down here?"
Artigas was visibly unhappy about being ordered to do that.
"It's all right, Mr. Artigas," Ambassador Silvio said. "What you say will get no further than this room, and it's important to Colonel Castillo and myself to know how much highly classified information may have been deduced or intuited by you."
"Yes, sir," Artigas said and proceeded to clearly outline his suspicions and the conclusions he had drawn from them and why.
Castillo was very impressed with how much Artigas had "deduced or intuited."
This guy is very smart. He's figured out just about everything that went down-except, of course, who the Ninjas were or where they came from. And nobody knows that.
The downside of that, of course, is that if he's figured this out, some of the other FBI agents have probably done the same thing.
"How much of this have you discussed with anyone else?" Castillo asked. "With other FBI agents? Or anyone else?"
"No one, sir."
"You're sure?" Castillo pursued.
"Yes, sir."
"Artigas, you're being transferred from the Montevideo embassy to the embassy here," Castillo said.
What? Jesus Christ! Artigas thought, then asked: "When's that going to happen?"
Castillo thought: Not "I am?" Or "Why?" Or "Don't I have anything to say about that?" Or even "Says who?"
Just "When?"
"It's happening now," Castillo said. "Ambassador McGrory will be told only that you're being transferred. If anyone asks you, you will say you have no idea why that's happening."
"That's easy," Artigas said, "because I don't have any idea why that's happening."
"Did Yung or Howell mention anything about a Presidential Finding?" Castillo asked.
"Yeah," Artigas said and smiled and shook his head. "But only 'hypothetically,' Colonel. And then they said they would deny ever discussing even a hypothetical Presidential Finding with me."
Castillo chuckled. Ambassador Silviosmiled.
"Everyone take your seat," Castillo said. "Get comfortable."
When they had, Castillo went on: "Okay, this is not hypothetical, Artigas. From now on, anything I-or anybody connected in any way with this operation-tells you is classified Top Secret Presidential."
"Yes, sir."
"There has been a Presidential Finding. It established the Office of Organizational Analysis, a covert and clandestine unit within the Department of Homeland Security. I am the chief. The mission is to…"
Ten minutes later, Castillo ended his uninterrupted lecture: "…until you hear otherwise from me-me, not from anyone else-you are on detached duty with OOA." He smiled, and added, "This is the point where the lecturer invariably says, 'Are there any questions?' I'm not going to do that."
I've got several hundred questions, Artigas thought, then said: "Not even one question?"
"One," Castillo said.
"What am I going to do?"
"Good question. The answer is, until I figure that out, you are going to contribute whatever you can from your vast fund of professional knowledge to the solving of a number of little problems OOA faces."
"Like what?" Artigas said, smiling.
"You got one question. You spent it," Castillo said, meeting Artigas's eyes.
Castillo then looked at the others and went on, "The priority problem is how to get Colonel Munz's family out of here as safely, as quickly, and as secretly as possible." He paused. "Mr. Ambassador, may I respectfully suggest that this would be a splendid time for you to find something else to do?"
"I think not, Colonel," Silvio said. "I really decided a while back that this is one of those 'in for a penny, in for a pound' situations. Maybe I can be helpful."
"You're sure, sir?"
Silvio nodded.
Castillo shrugged.
"Tony, did Alfredo tell you about the people surveilling him?" Castillo asked.
"Uh-huh."
"Okay, then let's do this the military way, by seniority. I think you're senior, Tony, so tell us how we're going to do that."
"I need all the facts, Charley, and I don't think I have them," Santini said.
"What are you missing?"
"That friend of yours who speaks Russian," Santini said. "What's his role in this?"