thinking of asking one of you to put the sergeant up. That would keep him from having to move in and out of the Marine Guards’ house. Would that pose any problem for you, Señor Zammoro?”
“No,” Zammoro said.
“You don’t talk much, do you?” Stephens said, and then, without waiting for a reply, walked to the door and pushed a doorbell button.
An elderly Argentine in a suit opened the door to them.
Stephens introduced Zammoro, de la Santiago, and Otmanio as “embassy officers” who would be living in the two apartments, and told them that Señor Cavias was the porter, and the man to see if anything went wrong.
Then he led them to an open elevator, which appeared to have been added to the building before World War I, and finally switched to English.
“These are not reliable with more than three people aboard,” he said. “And, since Rank Has Its Privileges, you and the Lieutenant and I will ride up to the sixth floor, where I shall send the elevator back down for these three. Okay?”
“Fine,” Oliver said, a tone of impatience, or annoyance, in his voice.
When the elevator had risen far enough to be out of sight of Zammoro, Otmanio, and de la Santiago, Stephens reached in his pocket and handed Jack a sheet of paper.
“I am also a part-time mailman,” Stephens said. “That came in just before I left the embassy to come here.”
Oliver took it, read it, and handed it to Jack Portet.
SECRET
Central Intelligence Agency Langley, Virginia
FROM : Assistant Director For Administration
FROM: 4 February 1965 2115 GMT
SUBJECT : Guevara, Ernesto (Memorandum #44.)
TO: Mr. Sanford T. Felter
Counselor To The President
Room 637, The Executive Office Building
Washington, D.C.
By Courier
In compliance with Presidential Memorandum to The Director, Subject: “Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara,” dated 14 December 1964, the following information is furnished:
1. (Reliability Scale Five) (From CIA, Havana Cuba) The Cuban Army is recruiting approximately five hundred (500) Negro soldiers from its ranks, telling them they will be part of an “international contingent of freedom fighters.”
2. (Reliability Scale Two) (From CIA, Havana Cuba) It is rumored:a. The recruited troops are intended for use in Africa.
b. They will be trained in secret camps somewhere in Cuba.
3. Further information is being sought, and if developed, will be furnished to you.
Howard W. O’Connor
HOWARD W. O’CONNOR
SECRET
“I’ll bet that ruined the whole day of the analyst who said it ‘was highly unlikely’ that the Cubans will take any military action on the African continent,” Stephens said.
“Five hundred is a lot of soldiers for a covert operation,” Oliver said.
“The minute things start going his way, he’ll drop the covert and it’ll become a liberation army,” Stephens said.
“Michael Hoare didn’t have anything like five hundred mercenaries—”
“Who?” Oliver interrupted.
“The South African Kasavubu hired to put down the Simba rebellion when his army couldn’t do it,” Jack said. “I don’t think he had two hundred people, and very few of those could be called ‘well-trained troops.’ He recruited most of them in waterfront bars in Belgium and France.”
“But they did take the Congo back, didn’t they?” Stephens said. “Lesson to be learned: You guys better stop Guevara before he gets very far.”
The elevator stopped with a lurch. Stephens slid the folding door open and waved them out. He punched a button on the control panel, then closed the door. The elevator began to descend.
Stephens led them across a tiled floor to a door and opened it.
The rooms were large and high-ceilinged, European. The obviously American furniture didn’t seem appropriate, and Jack idly wondered why the embassy hadn’t bought furniture locally.
They were still wandering around the apartment when de la Santiago and the others came in.
“The other apartment,” Stephens said, now in English, “give or take, is identical to this one.” He looked at Zammoro. “You’re going to use one of them as a safe house, I take it?”
“Thank you for speaking English,” Jack said.
“I was checking their Spanish,” Stephens said.
“And?” Oliver asked.
“If they work on the accent, the different words, Zammoro and de la Santiago could maybe pass for Argentines, Chileans, or Uruguayans. Otmanio, no way. He’s got a really strange accent.”
“Spanish Harlem Spanish, mixed with Puerto Rican,” Otmanio said.
“He’s also going to attract attention because of his black skin,” Stephens said. “There aren’t many really black people in Argentina. My advice is keep your mouth shut.”
Otmanio nodded.
“You’re going back when?” Stephens asked.
“Tomorrow morning, we’re going to fly to Córdoba. We should be back here by dark, and then Jack and I are on the 2315 Aerolineas flight to Miami,” Oliver said.