"Let's have it."

"My men have heard gossip that the coyotes-there were seven or eight of them-were found shot to death near the American border."

"Dead men tell no tales," Castillo said. "You might want to write that down, Alek."

Pevsner's response was not what Castillo-or, for that matter, any of the others-expected.

"Have you any further questions for your Uncle Hector, friend Charley?" he asked matter-of-factly.

"I've got a couple, including one I expected you to ask," Castillo said.

"Which is?"

"How much does your friend Borzakovsky know about Nicolai and Alek's operations here?"

"Nothing," Garcia-Romero said immediately. "I swear your name didn't come up, Aleksandr."

I don't believe you, Uncle Hector, and I don't think Pevsner will either.

Did you commit suicide when you made this deal with the Russians?

"Anything else you want to know, Charley?" Pevsner asked.

"How long is it going to take you to put all those surveillance tapes in a box for me?"

"You're going to do what with them?" Pevsner asked.

"Slide them-or copies of them-under the door of that big building in Langley, Virginia."

Pevsner considered that for a long moment, but made no comment.

"And after you've done that, Hector," Pevsner said, "what you're going to do is shut this place down. I want all all the surveillance tapes that Charley doesn't take destroyed. I want the system removed. I want everybody who has worked here to find employment as far from here as possible. If this place should suddenly attract the attention of the Mexican government, I want them to find nothing that will tie me-or, for that matter, you-to it in any way." the surveillance tapes that Charley doesn't take destroyed. I want the system removed. I want everybody who has worked here to find employment as far from here as possible. If this place should suddenly attract the attention of the Mexican government, I want them to find nothing that will tie me-or, for that matter, you-to it in any way."

"You think that maybe we should burn the house down?" Garcia-Romero said sarcastically.

Pevsner considered that a moment, and then said, "You use bottled gas here, right? Bottled gas explodes. Can you handle that, or should I have Janos show you how that's done?"

"You're serious?"

"Yes, I'm serious. You have a problem with that?"

Careful, Tio Hector.

The wrong answer will get you in more trouble than you can imagine.

"How much time do I have?" Garcia-Romero asked. "I have several men I trust completely. I could leave them here to arrange the ... accident."

"While you go where?"

"I was about to say Mexico City, but I think San Antonio would be even better. Better yet, New York."

Pevsner considered that.

"New York would be better," he said. "Twenty-four hours from now, Nicolai will fly over this place. When he looks down, he will expect to see the burned-possibly still burning-ruins of this building."

"That's what he will see," Garcia-Romero said.

Congratulations, Uncle Hector. You have just said the magic words.

And your bullet-ridden corpse will not be found in the burned ruins of your house in the desert.

[TWO].

Penthouse B The Grand Cozumel Beach & Golf Resort Cozumel Quintana Roo, Mexico 1915 7 February 2007

The fishermen had apparently come home from the sea shortly before the hunters had come home from the hills around Drug Cartel International.

When Castillo and the others walked into the penthouse, the tiled area around the swimming pool was being converted by the resort staff-under the direction of Uncle Remus-into a high-in-the-sky grilled seafood outdoor restaurant. A long table had been set up, and flames were still rising from the just-ignited lava coals in two barbecue grills. An enormous insulated box seemed to be stuffed with king mackerel, and another cooler with bottles of Dos Equis beer.

Max immediately went to sniff at the fish.

Everybody but Colin Leverette and Lester Bradley, who stood at the grills, was sitting around the pool on chaise longues under umbrellas, most of them holding bottles of the Dos Equis.

"I knew Our n.o.ble Leader would return when he smelled food," Uncle Remus said. "And he'd tell us where he's been. Right, Charley?"

"I'll even show you movies of where I've been," Castillo replied, and looked at Lester. "Lester, can we send tapes from surveillance cameras to Casey? Or look at them on the TV? Both?"

Bradley thought about that a moment, nodded, and said, "Yes, sir. That shouldn't be a problem."

"Have at it," Castillo said.

"I'll take over the grill," Svetlana said. "Somehow I suspect cooking is not among Uncle Remus's many skills. And I don't want that fish ruined. I'm hungry."

"You are in the presence, madam, of one of New Orleans's most skilled piscatorial chefs," Uncle Remus said. "Be humble."

"They have parrillas parrillas in Mother Russia, do they, Sweaty?" Delchamps said as he pushed himself off his chaise lounge. in Mother Russia, do they, Sweaty?" Delchamps said as he pushed himself off his chaise lounge.

"We have everything in Mother Russia, Edgar," Svetlana said. "I'm surprised you don't know that."

"I think everybody should have a look at these tapes before we send them to Casey," Castillo said. "Logical conclusion: Let Sweaty get the grills going." He gave in to the temptation, and added innocently, "Aleksandr can help her."

Surprising him, Pevsner went immediately to the grills and politely asked for, and was given, Lester's chef hat. He put it on, then tested the heat coming from the no-longer-flaming lava briquettes by holding his hand, palm down, over them.

"Another seven minutes, I would estimate," he said. "While you're showing the tapes, I will ensure the fish have been properly filleted." And then he smiled at Castillo and added, "Never underestimate people, friend Charley. You might want to write that down."

"Two-Gun, get your laptop," Castillo ordered as Lester hooked up cables from Casey's radio to the television. "I'm going to offer a running commentary as the tapes run, identifying the players, et cetera. We'll then edit the tape and the commentary to make sure the CIA can't identify or locate the airfield or all the players."

"Two questions," Yung replied. "This is going to the CIA? And why shouldn't they locate the airport?"

"Pevsner has a connection with the airport. I don't want them to start linking things."

"Make that three questions," Yung said. "How are you getting it to the CIA? Through Casey?"

"I'd rather slip it under the door, but I haven't figured out how to do that."

"Lester," Edgar Delchamps said, "can you send these tapes to the house in Alexandria?"

"Yes, sir. No problem."

"And can you get me a number in Arlington, Virginia, without it coming to the attention of those nosy people at Fort Meade?"

"According to Dr. Casey, all they will hear at Fort Meade is what sounds like static on the line. And I can make it sound as if the call was made from anywhere."

"Who do you want to receive the tapes, Ace?" Delchamps asked.

"Either the DCI or Frank Lammelle."

"If I have one of the dinosaurs call on Madam Darby and pick up the tape and commentary, and then he slips that under the door addressed to Lammelle, and you also send it to Casey, he will probably send it to the DCI. He's close to those people, right? Then we'd be sure both the DCI and Lammelle got it."

"Then that's what we'll do," Castillo agreed.

"Let's see the tapes, Lester," Delchamps said.

"So our scenario wasn't far off the mark," Edgar Delchamps said, when the tapes had been played. "They did use the Tupolev Tu-934A to move that stuff. The question then is, from where did they move it? From a warehouse full of the stuff in Mother Russia or ...?"

"Sweaty says they wouldn't have Congo-X in Russia," Castillo said. "Too dangerous."

"That would tie in with what Tarasov heard happened at that airport-El Obeid-in Sudan," Delchamps said. "Okay, they picked it up in Africa and flew it here.... Nonstop?"

"They probably stopped in Cuba," Castillo said. "Probably at Ciego de avila. They wouldn't want the Tu-934A to be seen at Jose Marti."

"And from Ciego de avila to this dry-lake airfield?" Alex Darby asked.

Castillo nodded.

"And then where? Back to Cuba?" Darby asked.

"Venezuela," Castillo said. "Tom says the price for getting the Cubans to do more than fuel the Tu-934A would be too high. Chavez, on the other hand, is not half so smart as the Brothers Castro. Sweaty thinks it's probably at La Orchila ... that island air base."

"What is that, another proof you can't judge a book by its cover?" Delchamps asked.

"What the h.e.l.l does that mean?" Castillo asked.

"You never heard, Ace, that 'the true test of another's intelligence is how much he-in this case she-agrees with you'? I think your girlfriend's right on the money. Hidden inside that gorgeous body is an unquestionable genius."

"You may get to eat after all," Svetlana called from the grill. "And speaking of that, can we start to cook?"

"Absolutely."

[THREE].

The Lobby Bar The Alvear Palace Hotel Avenida Alvear 1891 Buenos Aires, Argentina 1955 7 February 2007

Amba.s.sador Charles M. Montvale had liked the Alvear Plaza Hotel from the moment he walked in the door. He had liked it even better when, following a bellman to a very nice suite, he had walked past the Lobby Bar, an oasis of polished wood and bra.s.s, a vast array of liquor bottles, white-jacketed barmen, and a remarkable number of attractive women-at least three of whom were astonishingly beautiful.

"Tell you what, Truman," he said to Ellsworth as their elevator rose silently. "Why don't we have a quick shower and then go down to that bar for a little taste? G.o.d knows, it's been a tough day. Say, thirty minutes?"

"Splendid idea," Truman Ellsworth had replied. "I'll see you there in thirty minutes."

Ellsworth's eye had also fallen upon the astonishingly beautiful women in the bar.

Neither had intentions of enticing one of the beautiful women to their suites, there to break the vow both had taken to keep only to the women who had marched down the aisle with them so many years ago.

But it never hurt just to look. Both of them would have agreed if G.o.d hadn't wanted men to look at women, He would have made the female of the species flat-chested and given them green teeth and lizardlike skin.

But unexpected things did happen from time to time.

And they were, after all, human.

Amba.s.sador Charles M. Montvale had just finished saying, "It's been an awful day, and I think I'm ent.i.tled to another little taste," when I. Ronald Spears appeared at the entrance to the Lobby Bar.

Montvale was not pleased to see him. He had really been looking forward to his second drink. The ceremony that went with the delivering of a Johnnie Walker Black on the rocks in the Lobby Bar of the Alvear was something, he had immediately decided, that the watering holes of the nation's capital and his various clubs would do well to emulate.

First, the bartender laid a tray before his customer. It held a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label Scotch whisky; a larger-than-to-be-expected squat gla.s.s; a bowl of ice; a silver pitcher of water; silver tongs; and what at first Montvale had thought was a tea strainer, but then he had seen that it had no holes. It was sort of a shot gla.s.s with wings.