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"Yeah, sure it is."
"Are you Mr. Lopez?"
"Guilty."
"I have Mr. Lopez for you, Colonel."
"Fernando?"
"Damn it, Gringo. I just this moment fell asleep."
"Thank you for sharing that with me."
"What won't wait until the morning? Or is it already morning?"
"I need the runway lights turned on at the Double-Bar-C."
"Then what you should do is call the ranch and say, 'Turn on the runway lights.' "
"I don't have the number handy."
"You're on your way to the ranch?"
"No. But I thought it would be fun to wake you up and have you turn on the lights to scare hell out of the rattlesnakes keeping warm on it."
"You're not only a wiseass, Gringo, you're a pain in the ass, you know that?"
"I'm thirty minutes out, Fat Boy. Now call the fucking ranch and have the fucking lights lit. And don't let anybody know I'm there."
"Why am I not surprised?"
"If the lights aren't on when I get there, I will tell Maria you have been chasing blond cocktail waitresses again."
"And you would, you miserable prick. So hang up so I can call."
"It's never a pleasure to talk to you, Lard Ass. Break it down."
When the conversation had been concluded, Svetlana Alekseeva, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat of the Learjet, inquired, "Carlos! Who were you talking to?"
"My cousin, Fernando. He's actually more like my brother. He's a really good guy."
And then he had activated his microphone and politely requested permission from the air traffic controller to close out his flight plan to Midland and instead land at a private field in the vicinity.
Two GMC Yukons were waiting at the hangar for them.
Castillo was the last person off the airplane. When he had closed the stair door, put chocks under the wheels, and slid the heavy hangar doors shut, a short, massive, swarthy woman got out from behind the wheel of one of the Yukons and rushed up to him. She called him "Carlos," took his face in her hands, and kissed him affectionately.
"Svet," Castillo said, "this is Estella. She has been running this place since . . . forever. Estella, these are my friends Susan Barlow and her brother, Tom." He motioned at Davidson and Bradley. "You know Jack and Lester. They'll all be staying with us for a couple of weeks, and we don't want anyone to know."
She didn't seem surprised at the announcement. She wordlessly and formally shook everybody's hands.
"Well," she then said, "come on up to the house, and I'll get you something to eat. Ernesto will get your luggage."
"I'm sorry there wasn't more," Estella, hands on her hips and surveying the table, said after the group had gorged themselves on ham steaks, eggs, and Caesar salad. "But Fernando only called a little while ago."
"It was wonderful," Svetlana said.
"I put Lester and Sergeant Davidson in their usual rooms," Estella announced, "and the gentleman in the last room on the right, and the lady in the room next to him."
