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Castillo nodded, then said, "He's the communicator, and he's young, Alek, but don't think of him as a boy."
Again, Pevsner didn't respond directly. After a moment, he said, "All right, everybody goes. That'll take a little longer to arrange." He smiled. "That's probably better anyway. A gun battle would disturb the guests."
"There's a possibility of that?"
Pevsner nodded.
"What's going on, Alek?"
"About an hour and a half ago," Pevsner said, "Gellini called and said you were back in Argentina-"
"Gellini?" Castillo wondered aloud, then made the connection: "The SIDE guy?"
Pevsner nodded.
"The man who replaced Alfredo when he was relieved," he confirmed.
"And who now works for you?" Castillo asked.
Pevsner seemed unable to answer that directly, too.
"He admires you, friend Charley. The way you stood up for Alfredo when he was relieved."
Alfredo Munz had been chief of SIDE when J. Winslow Masterson was murdered. He had been retired-in fact, fired-in order to be the Argentine government's scapegoat. Castillo, who had found Munz not only unusually competent and dedicated, thought that the Argentine government's action was inexcusable and had told his replacement, Coronel Alejandro Gellini, so much in less than tactful terms.
"Alfredo was screwed, Alek, and you know it. I told Gellini what I thought of it. And him."
"Gellini could not protect Alfredo from the foreign minister, and neither could I. But there was a silver lining to that cloud: Alfredo now works for you, and Gellini admires you."
"And what did my admirer have to say besides telling you that I was back down here?"
"That people are trying to kill you."
"A lot of people have been telling me that lately. He didn't happen to say who?"
"This is serious business, friend Charley," Pevsner said, smiling and shaking his head in exasperation.
"Gellini didn't happen to say who?" Castillo asked again.
"What is that word you use? 'Bounty'? Gellini said there is a bounty on you."
"I think he probably meant 'contract,'" Castillo said. "Meaning: whoever would whack me would get paid."
Pevsner nodded. "What is a 'bounty'?"
"A price the good guys put on the head of a bad guy," Castillo explained. "Or on some bad guy who jumps bail. Who put out the contract on me?"
"Gellini knows only that the gangsters know about the contract; he didn't know who issued it. It could be something the FSB has done in addition to their own plans for you, but I don't know. They usually like to do that sort of thing themselves."
"What're the FSB's plans for me?"
"What do you think, friend Charley? First you took out the Cuban, Vincenzo-"
"Major Vincenzo was shooting at me at the time."
"-and then Komogorov of the FSB."
"Colonel Komogorov was shooting at you at the time. And I didn't take him out, Lester did."
