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"Yes, sir, I am."
"It was one of the few places in the old days where a black man had a reasonable chance to get a regular Army commission. So I went there with that intention. Just before graduation, however, I was offered a chance to join the foreign service, and took it primarily, I think, because I thought someone of my stature looked absurd in a uniform."
"I have a number of friends who are Norwich, sir."
"I remember a pithy saying I learned as a Rook at Norwich: 'Never try to bullshit a bullshitter.' Keeping that and the fact that I spent thirty-six years as a diplomat in mind, why don't you tell me why Secretary Cohen is trying to put me in her pocket?"
"I'm not sure I know what you mean, Mr. Ambassador."
"I think you do, Colonel. Let's start with why she doesn't want me to go to my late son's… estancia… in Uruguay."
"The secretary believes that would be ill-advised, sir," Castillo said. "She asked me to tell you that."
He nodded. "She sent the same message to me through others. What I want to know is: why? I'm old, but not brain-dead. I don't think it has a thing to do with my physical condition, or for that matter do I swallow whole the idea that the secretary, as gracious a lady as I know she is, is deeply concerned for Poor Old Lorimer. Why doesn't she want me to go down there?"
Castillo didn't reply immediately as he tried to gather his thoughts.
Lorimer went on:
"I have my own sources of information, Colonel. Let me tell you what I've learned. It is the belief of our ambassador there, a man named McGrory, who is not known for his dazzling ambassadorial ability, and that of the Uruguayan government, that my son died as the result of a drug deal gone wrong. I'm having trouble accepting that."
"I don't know what to say, Mr. Ambassador," Castillo said.
"Let me clarify that somewhat," Lorimer said. "Sadly, I did not have the same relationship with my son that Winslow Masterson enjoyed with his son Jack. I didn't particularly like Jean-Paul and he didn't like me. I doubt that Jean-Paul was involved in the illicit drug trade, not because he was my son and thus incapable of something like that, but because it's out of character for him."
He paused, then finished: "So, if he wasn't in the drug trade, Colonel, what was he doing that caused his murder?"
Castillo didn't reply.
"Please do me the courtesy, Colonel, of telling me 'I can't tell you' rather than 'I don't have any idea what you're talking about.'"
"I can't tell you, Mr. Ambassador."
"We are now at what is colloquially known as 'the deal breaker,'" Lorimer said. "You have your choice of telling me, which means I will listen to whatever else you have to say, or not telling me, which means our little chat is over, and Mrs. Lorimer and I will be on the first airplane we can catch to Uruguay. We've been imposing on the Mastersons' hospitality too long as it is."
"Mr. Ambassador, this information is classified Top Secret Presidential."
Lorimer didn't seem surprised.
"To me," Lorimer said simply, "that strongly suggests there has been a Presidential Finding."
Castillo didn't reply.
"I will take your silence to mean that there is a Presidential Finding and you don't have the authority to confirm that. Your choice, Colonel. Get on that satellite telephone and tell the secretary-or whoever has put you in your present predicament-that unless you are authorized to tell me about the Finding, the Lorimers are off to Estancia Shangri-La."
Well, what the hell!
If he goes down there-and there's no way I can stop him-the chances are that he'll do something-not on purpose-to compromise that operation, and thus the Presidential Finding.
And for some reason-which is probably foolish-I trust him.
He's a tough old bastard.
"I have that authority, Mr. Ambassador."
"And you're not going to tell me?"
"The President was at the air base in Biloxi when we returned from Argentina with Mr. Masterson's remains and his family. He informed me there that he had made a Finding. A covert and clandestine organization had been formed and charged with finding and rendering harmless those responsible for…"
