Casey suddenly said, "Before we get to the house, I think I should tell you the wife passed…"
"I hadn't heard that, Frank," Castillo said. "I'm very sorry."
"Yeah, well, we all have to go sometime, and, thank God, Mary Alice went good. She took a little nap by the pool and never woke up."
"I'm sorry, Frank," Castillo repeated.
"Me, too, Frank," Jake Torine said.
"Anyway, I got a couple taking care of me at the house. Good people, but you probably want to be careful what you say when they're around."
"Thanks," Castillo said, and then, as much to change the subject as anything else, asked, "What's this stuff?"
Casey looked and saw where Castillo was pointing.
"Oh, that stuff," he said, as if he welcomed the chance to change the subject. "The left handset is an encrypted tie to my communications. The right one, and the display, is pretty much what they're putting in your airplane."
"Is it working?" Castillo said.
"It damned well better be."
"I could get my office on that? The White House switchboard?"
"You can get anybody on your net but the White House," Casey said. "I didn't think I'd better put a link in there. When the new stuff is in the airplane, you'd be linked to the White House, just like your truck. But your office can patch you through to the White House."
I don't want to talk to the White House.
I want to talk to Nuestra Pequena Casa. I really have to start things moving down there.
But is the radio still up? Or did Sergeant Kensington shut down when we left?
There's only one way to find out.
"Can I try it?"
"Help yourself."
"How does it work?"
"Pick it up, say your name, give it a couple of seconds for the voice identification to work, and then say who you want to talk to."
"There's an operator?"
"There's a little black box."
"And it's encrypted?"
"Not even NSA will know what you're saying."
Castillo picked up the handset. The AFC logo on the display screen disappeared, and then STANDBY went away. ACTIVATING appeared, and then ENCRYPTION ACTIVE, and then VOICE IDENTIFICATION ACTIVE and finally ALL FUNCTIONS OPERATIONAL.
"No more little green and red LEDs," Casey said.
"Clever," Castillo said.
"No recognition," a metallic voice came over the handset speaker.
"Jesus!"
"No recognition," the metallic voice repeated.
"Castillo."
"Go ahead, Colonel Castillo."
"Nuestra Pequena Casa."
"No recognition."
"Argentina."
"No recognition."
"Safe House."
There was a moment's delay, then Sergeant Robert Kensington's voice came cheerfully over the speaker in the handset: "How's things in Vegas, Dr. Casey?"
"Colonel Castillo, Bob. How's things where you are? And where are you?"
"In the quincho, sir."
"I was afraid that all might be shut down."
"Mr. Darby decided it would make more waves if everybody suddenly vanished, so we're still here."
"Who's we?"
"The Sienos, Ricardo Solez, and me."
"Darby's at the embassy?"
"No, sir. He went to Asuncion. He said if you called to tell you he and Tony Santini were going to make sure the cork was back in the bottle."
"We don't have a secure link to Asuncion, do we?"
"No, sir. And Mr. Santini said not to send any messages unless we had to."
"What about Ricardo. Is he there?"
"He went grocery shopping in Pilar. I can get him on his cellular, if you want."
"No. Here's what I want you to do. Get through to Darby or Santini, and tell them the situation has changed. They are to stay there until Solez can get there to explain, and then to act accordingly. And then get Solez back from the supermarket, tell him we have been tasked to get back that DEA agent who got himself kidnapped, and to get on the next plane to Asuncion to tell Darby and Santini. Nobody in the embassy there-nobody-is to be told about this."
"Yes, sir. Well, that's good news, Colonel. That DEA guy is a pretty good guy, according to Solez."
"It is the opposite of good news, Bob. I haven't a clue about how to get him back."
"You'll think of something, Colonel," Kensington said. "You always do."
Well, there's a vote of confidence.
The trouble is it's completely unjustified.
"And tell Solez to ask Darby and Santini, both, to get on a secure line to me as soon as they can."
"You're with Dr. Casey?"
"Right."
"Can I ask what you're doing, sir?"
"Drinking, gambling, and chasing naked women," Castillo said. "What else does one do in Las Vegas? Get right on this, please, Bob."
"I already have Solez on his cellular."
"Okay. Breaking down," Castillo said. He covered the mouthpiece with his hand and turned to Casey. "How do I do that?"
"Say 'Finished' or 'Break it down.'"
"Break it down," Castillo said.
"Disconnecting," the metallic voice said in his ear.
V
[ONE]
Valley View Ranch
North Las Vegas, Nevada 2345 2 September 2005 "Yeah, I know it's almost two in the morning back there," Sergeant Charley Mullroney said into his cellular phone. "I got a watch. This is the first chance I had to call."
He was standing on a small patio carved out of the mountain about fifty feet below and fifty yards from his room in the house. Small dim lights lined the path leading to the house and were mounted on a low stone wall at the edge of the patio.
He had peered over the edge of the wall. The lights didn't illuminate much, but there was enough light to see it was almost a sheer drop from the patio wall for at least fifty feet, and probably more.
"Not in Vegas, Byron. Maybe twenty-five miles outside of Vegas. On the side of a mountain- "You want to keep interrupting me, or do you want me to tell you what happened?
"Okay. First we landed in the middle of nowhere where that German or Argentine or whateverthefuck he is colonel got off.
"No. There was no sign anywhere. This was a private field. I think Castillo's got something to do with it. He got off the airplane and kissed some old lady.
"Then we come to Vegas. They parked the airplane in a hangar and some little guy named Casey drove us out here in a Cadillac Suburban or whateverthefuck they call them.
"Did I learn anything on the airplane? No. McGuire, the Secret Service guy, did a pretty good job of pumping me to find out what I do on the job. But when I asked him, like, 'Where are we going?', or when we landed in the middle of nowhere, 'Where was that? What was that?', he turned into a clam. And when I asked him what he did for Castillo, he said, 'This and that.' "Okay, so we got here and this Casey character brings us out here in his white Escalade-that's what they call those Cadillac Suburbans, Escalades- "Great big fucking house on the side of a mountain. Great big fucking swimming pool. The room they gave me is about as big as my whole downstairs. Jacuzzi and a shower that's so big it don't even need a door. But the cellular says 'no signal,' so I couldn't call, so I figured I'd wait until later.
"So this guy Casey's got a barbecue set up. With a cook, and great big steaks. And enough booze to take a bath in. So Castillo cooks the steaks and they start in on the booze and I figure maybe now I'll learn something.
"Didn't happen. All they did was talk about the Army. The Special Forces. I don't know how much is bullshit, but this Casey guy, to hear him tell it, practically won the Vietnam War by himself.
"I don't know if they believed it or not, Byron. I think so, but nobody's going to call a guy a bullshitter in his own house. Especially since he's putting free radios in your airplane.
"Because Castillo told him he's got a bunch of money in something called the Lorimer Charitable amp; Benevolent Fund and can pay for them. Casey said, 'You know your money's no good here, Charley.' "I don't know what Casey's angle is, and if there's any connection with this Lorimer Charitable Whatever and Junior's buddy Lorimer, I don't know what it is.