doing in Montevideo, it’s not reading bank statements.”
“What else could he be doing?”
“I have no idea, but I do know that the minute the FBI finds out I’ve fingered him, he’ll stop doing it, and then I’ll never know.”
Torine shrugged. “It’s your call, Charley. I can’t fault it. What do you want me to do with Newley?”
“See that he gets the airplane ready. Have him hang around here until we can get this doctor to look at the airplane and see what else he will need.”
“Done,” Torine said. “Charley, I’ve got a guy at Ezeiza who can fly that Gulfstream. Redundancy was one of the reasons I brought him along. Say the word and I’ll have him fly it.”
“No, I don’t want to do that. If you relieve Newley, there goes his career. He was doing what he thought was the right thing to do, and I think you made a Christian out of him.”
“Your call. What are you going to do now?”
“I’m going back to the hospital and wait for Betty to come out of the operating room.”
“Want some company? After I make sure I’ve made a true Christian out of Newley? One who won’t go back to his wicked ways the minute we get off the ground?”
“Thanks but no thanks, Jake.”
X
[ONE]
The German Hospital Avenida Pueyrredón Buenos Aires, Argentina 2135 24 July 2005
There were two men Castillo suspected were SIDE agents in the lobby of the hospital when he and Corporal Bradley walked in. Confirmation came when one of them walked up to them and told Castillo “your agent” was in room 677.
It was the room where Mrs. Masterson had been placed. Castillo wondered whether it was coincidence or whether the ever-resourceful Colonel Munz had an arrangement with the hospital for really secure rooms for patients in whom SIDE had an interest.
When he got to the sixth floor, Castillo found Jack Britton sitting in a folding metal chair outside the room, holding a Madsen on his lap.
“Betty’s still in the operating room, Charley,” Britton said. “Solez talked somebody into letting him wait outside the operating room. Apparently, they’re going to bring her here instead of to a recovery room. They’ve been taking all sorts of equipment in there. And there’s a couple of guys with Uzis down the hall.”
Castillo looked, and then said, “I just made arrangements for Betty to be flown—on the Gulfstream that brought you down here—to Philadelphia when she’s up to traveling. I want you to go with her.”
Britton nodded.
“I had Dick Miller call Chief Inspector Kramer to give him a heads-up. When we know something, I’ll call him and bring him up to speed. Unless I’m gone before that happens, then you’ll have to do it.”
Britton nodded again.
Castillo looked into the room and saw that it was prepared to treat someone just out of an operating room.
“I hope there’s a john in there,” Castillo said. “I really need to take a leak.”
He saw on Corporal Lester Bradley’s face that a visit to a toilet was high on his agenda, as well. Clearly uncomfortably, perhaps even painfully high.
“Corporal, there are two things that a warrior must always remember,” Castillo said sternly. “The first is to void one’s bladder at every opportunity, because one never knows when there will be another opportunity to do so.”
“Yes, sir.”
“The second is RHIP.”
“Rank Has Its Privileges, yes, sir.”
“Which in this case means I get to go in there before you do.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Just kidding. Go on, Bradley,” Castillo said. “I can wait.”
“You go ahead, sir.”
“You have your orders, Corporal! This is your opportunity,maybe your only opportunity. Take it!”
“Yes, sir.”
Britton chuckled. “Nice kid,” he said, when Bradley had gone into the room.
“Yeah. And so was Sergeant Roger Markham,” Castillo said, and then went on, bitterly, “ ‘The secretary of the Navy regrets to inform you that your son, Staff Sergeant Roger Markham, was killed in the line of duty. What he was doing was chauffeuring a Secret Service agent to a bar, where she was to meet her boyfriend.’ ”
“First I’ll tell you about Markham,” Britton said.
“Tell me about Markham?”
“The gunnery sergeant came looking for you—the guy in charge of the Marine guards?”
“I know who he is.”
“He brought a casket for Markham’s body, and a flag. They’ve got him in a cooler in the morgue here in the hospital, and they’re going to take him out to Ezeiza first thing in the morning. He said that if he didn’t get a chance to see you, to tell you thanks for making sure Markham