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Delchamps looked thoughtful a moment, then shook his head.
Susanna said: "He can't understand why someone like himself, who has kissed all the appropriate buttocks in Langley for years, gets assigned to Asuncion when troublemakers like Paul and Alex and me got to go to Buenos Aires."
"What about the military attache?" Castillo asked.
"He and the station chief are great pals," Santini said. "I don't think talking to them would work, Charley."
"And I don't want to go to the ambassador there, or involve Silvio any more than I already have," Castillo said, almost thoughtfully. "If this thing blows up in our faces, the less he knows the better."
Juan Manuel Silvio was the United States Ambassador to Argentina. He had put his career at risk to help Castillo to carry out the Presidential Finding.
"So?" Delchamps asked.
"So, I guess I have to go to the other ambassador."
The other ambassador was the Honorable Charles W. Montvale, the former deputy secretary of State, former secretary of the Treasury, and former ambassador to the European Union. And now the director of National Intelligence.
Castillo shook his head and said, "I now know how Lee felt at Appomattox Court House when he said, 'I would rather face a thousand deaths, but now I must go and treat with General Grant.'"
"Is he really that bad, Charley?" Susanna asked.
"Right now, Susie, I feel like a small white mouse about to be put into the cobra's cage," Castillo said.
He pushed himself away from the wall, walked to the bed, and gestured to Solez to give up his seat.
"You want some privacy, Ace?" Delchamps said.
"No. I want everybody to hear this," Castillo said, sat down on the bed, and punched the SPEAKER PHONE button on what looked like an ordinary telephone.
"Corporal Bradley speaking, sir," Lester's voice came over the speaker.
"Is the Local Secure LED lit, Lester?"
"Yes, sir."
"Get Major Miller on here, secure."
"Aye, aye, sir."
Ten seconds later, a male voice came very clearly over the speaker.
"And how are things down in Buenos Aires on this miserable, blistering, humid afternoon in our beloved nation's capital?"
"Verify secure," Bradley's voice piped.
"Ah, the pride of the Marine Corps! The little green light is glowing brightly, Lester."
"Colonel, the line is secure. I believe Major Miller is the party answering."
"Thank you, Bradley," Castillo said. "Hey, Dick!"
"A sus ordenes, mi coronel," Miller said.
"Get Agnes on an extension, and then patch me through secure to the White House."
"I don't like the tone of your voice," Miller said, seriously. "Hold one, Charley."
Twenty seconds later, a female voice announced, "White House."
