The Honor Of Spies - The Honor of Spies Part 10
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The Honor of Spies Part 10

Buenos Aires Province, Argentina

1230 13 August 1943

Don Cletus Frade, wearing khaki trousers and a yellow polo shirt, came out onto the shaded verandah of the big house carrying a bottle of Bodega Don Guillermo Cabernet Sauvignon '39, two long-stemmed wineglasses, a long black cigar, and a corkscrew bottle opener.

Two people hurried after him. One was a plump female in her late forties wearing a severe black dress, Elisa Gomez. The other was Enrico Rodriguez, wearing a business suit and cradling his twelve-gauge Remington Model 11 riot gun in his arms. Around his neck was a leather bandolier of brass-cased double-aught buckshot shells.

"All you had to do was ring, Don Cletus," Elisa Gomez chided him as she took the bottle from him. Her tone suggested that the chief housekeeper of Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo was not in awe of its patron.

"I humbly beg your pardon," Frade said, deeply insincere.

She shook her head, quickly uncorked the wine, poured a taste in one of his glasses, and waited for his reaction. He swirled the wine, sniffed at the glass, and finally took a sip. And grimaced.

"I think I've been poisoned," he announced.

She shook her head, filled the glass, and marched into the house.

"Enrico, why do I think she doesn't like me?" Frade asked.

"Don Cletus, she loves you," Enrico said, and then added, "And you know it."

Frade lowered himself onto a leather-cushioned wicker armchair, crossed his battered Western boots on the matching footstool, bit the end from the cigar, and then lit it carefully with a wooden match. Then he picked up the wineglass and took a healthy sip.

Five minutes later, a glistening black 1940 Packard 160 convertible coupe drove through the windbreak of trees that surrounded the heart of Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo. Frade had been waiting for the Packard to appear. As soon as the car had left Estancia Santa Catalina on a road that led only to Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo, its presence had been reported to the big house by one of Frade's peones.

Clete thought the Packard was gorgeous. It had been the top of the Packard line, except for limousines, and only a few--no more than two hundred--had been manufactured. Beneath its massive hood was the largest Packard Straight-Eight engine, which provided enough power for it to cruise effortlessly and endlessly at well over eighty miles an hour. It was upholstered in red leather and had white sidewall tires.

Each front fender carried a spare tire and wheel, and sitting on the front edge of the fenders was the latest thing in driving convenience: turn signals. With the flipping of a little lever on the steering wheel, one of the front lights flashed simultaneously with one on the rear, telling others you wished to change direction, and in which direction.

The Reverend Kurt Welner, S.J., stepped out of the Packard, put on his suit jacket--shooting his cuffs, which revealed gold cuff links adorned with some sort of gemstone--then walked up the shallow flight of stairs to the verandah.

Enrico, who was sitting in a folding wooden chair, got respectfully to his feet. Frade didn't move.

"Welcome home," Welner said.

"Thank you," Clete said. "But you could have told me that at Claudia's 'Welcome Home, Cletus' party tonight. What are you up to?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"You could have done that tonight, too, or on the phone."

"In person."

"About what? Be warned: If I don't like the answer, no wine flows into your glass."

"Is this one of those days when you're determined to be difficult?"

"Probably."

"Well, one of the things on my mind is that you have to go to the Recoleta cemetery within the next couple of days."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Because the brothers want to see if you approve of their cleaning of the Frade tomb."

"Since I don't think you're trying to be funny, you can have a little wine."

"You are so kind," Welner said as he sat down in the other wicker chair.

Frade poured wine into the priest's glass.

"Being kind gets me in all kinds of trouble," Frade said. "By 'the brothers,' you mean the monks who run the cemetery?"

"No. I meant the brothers. Are you interested in the difference between monks and brothers?"

"Spare me. Why did they clean the tomb?"

"Because the marble was dirty, and I understand there was a little corrosion here and there."

"I think I'm beginning to understand. In addition to my saying 'thank you,' they would not be offended if I slipped them an envelope stuffed with money?"

"That would be very nice of you, if you should feel so inclined."

"Am I supposed to believe that you drove all the way over here from Claudia's just to tell me that?"

"I had a few other things on my mind."

"For example?"

"How did you find the United States?"

"Well, I set the compass on north-northwest, and eventually, there it was, right out in front of the airplane."

The priest shook his head tolerantly.

"Things went well?"

"All the pilots of South American Airways now have their air transport rating, if that's what you're asking."

"The problem of insurance has been resolved?"

"It's a done deal," Frade said.

"That's good to hear."

"Why do I have this feeling that, having beat around the bush long enough, you are about to get to your real reason for coming over here?"

"I happened to be driving past your house on Avenida Libertador--"

"Ah-ha! And was that before or after your spies on the premises--"

"Getting right to the point, Cletus: Why did Juan Domingo Peron suddenly stop accepting your kind hospitality?"

"Now that you mention it, it probably had something to do with what I said to him."

"And what was that?"

"If I remember correctly, and I usually do, what I said was, 'One more thing, Tio Juan, you degenerate sonofabitch. You're going to have to find someplace else for your little girls. I want you out of here by tomorrow.' Or words to that effect."

"You didn't!" Welner blurted.

"Tell him, Enrico."

The priest looked at Enrico, who nodded.

"Are you out of your mind, Cletus?" Welner asked.

"Not so far as I know. I confess to being a little annoyed with my godfather at the time."

"About what?"

"Well, just before I said that, he pointed a pistol at me. I get very annoyed when people point pistols at me. And so does Enrico. For a couple of seconds there, I thought Enrico's shotgun might go off and cause a tragic accident."

Welner again looked at Enrico, who again nodded.

"What set this off?" Welner asked.

"Well--are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Saved by the belle," Frade then said.

"Excuse me?"

"Belle with an 'e' at the end. As in: 'Belle on horseback.' Drink your wine, Father, before the posse gets here and the sheriff tries to shut us off before dinner."

When Frade had awakened that morning, he'd been alone in bed. It was long after first light, and Dorotea was nowhere around. He found a note stuck with a blob of Vaseline onto the bathroom mirror: Darling, I didn't have the heart to wake you. Madison and I have taken Mr. Fischer to see his family. Be back for lunch or earlier. Dorotea.

Frade now pointed at the break in the trees, and Welner looked where he pointed.

A line of people on horseback, led by Dona Dorotea and trailed by Wilhelm Fischer, Captain Madison R. Sawyer III, and half a dozen peones, was coming toward them at a walk.

This was lost on Father Welner, but there was more than a passing similarity to a scene in a Western movie where the posse returns from cutting off the bandits at the pass. Everyone but Fischer was holding a long arm either cradled in the arm or upright, with the butt resting on the saddle. Dorotea had a double-barreled shotgun, and Sawyer a Thompson submachine gun with a fifty-round drum magazine. Everything else was there except dead bandits tied across saddles.

Dorotea, Sawyer, and Fischer walked their horses to the verandah, dismounted, tied the horses to a hitching rail, and went onto the verandah.

"Howdy," Frade said. "How about a little something to cut the dust of the trail?"

Dorotea looked at her husband and shook her head. Then she kissed her husband affectionately and the priest formally.

"Father, this is Mr. Wilhelm Fischer," Dorotea said. "He's come all the way from South Africa to see how we grow grapes and make wine. Willi, this is Father Welner, an old and dear friend."

Frade saw the look on Welner's face.

"Hey, Padre," Frade said as Welner and Fischer shook hands, "you ever hear that curiosity killed the cat?"

The priest did not reply directly.

"Welcome to Argentina, Mr. Fischer," he said.

III.

[ONE].

Estancia Santa Catalina

Near Pila

Buenos Aires Province, Argentina

2115 13 August 1943

Cletus Frade was well turned out in a tweed suit from London's Savile Row for the "supper" la Senora Claudia de Carzino-Cormano was giving to mark the return of Frade from the United States. "Supper" was a code word. "Dinner" would have meant black-tie. Frade had one of those, too, also from Savile Row. He also had a silk dressing gown and two dozen shirts from Sulka's in Paris.