“That’s very kind of you, and I accept. But the reason I’m here is because Major Lunsford asked me to meet him.”
“He’ll be here soon,” Marjorie said. “He’s at the airport with my Jack, deciding which of the redundant-shipments goes where,” Marjorie said.
“Excuse me?”
“The Air Force, to everyone’s surprise, finally delivered a planeload of redundants early this morning,” Marjorie said.
“Redundants?”
“The way I understand it, the Air Force insisted they could support Operation Earnest. Felter didn’t believe them, of course, but gave them the shopping list, meanwhile making sure my father-in-law actually delivered what we needed with the Intercontinental Air Cargo 707. . . .”
She paused and, smiling naughtily, asked, “I thought they called Father last night about it? Didn’t he tell you?”
“Major Lunsford was at my apartment, on some business, when he had a call,” Cecilia said. “I suppose that’s what it was.”
“When the plane landed, the pilot wouldn’t turn the stuff over to anyone but Father, Cecilia,” Marjorie said. “So when the attaché called here, I gave him your number.”
“I feel like I’m explaining to my mother why I was out all night,” Cecilia said.
“Apropos of nothing whatever,” Marjorie said, “I think I can say without fear of contradiction that Special Forces Detachment 17 is very happy to see their beloved commander happy, and grateful to whoever, or whatever, is making him happy.”
“My God, you mean everyone knows?” Cecilia asked.
“All of us know,” Marjorie said, “and not one of us would say a word outside the clan.”
“How did you know George was at my apartment?” Cecilia asked.
“I’m the unofficial adjutant, I guess,” Marjorie said. “I’m the one people come to find Father, so he tells me where he’s going to be. So I knew where to find him when the attaché called.”
“At half past three in the morning,” Cecilia said.
“Oh, was it that late? I never looked at the clock,” Marjorie said.
“The hell you didn’t,” Cecilia said, and added: “I never thought I would behave like this—was capable of behaving like this.”
“None of us did,” Marjorie said. “I think they call it ‘lust,’ as in ‘unbridled lust.’ It sneaks up from behind, and quite literally sets you on your behind.”
“Marjorie!” Ursula said reprovingly, but with a smile.
“Actually,” Marjorie said. “Just before you came, Ursula and I decided we were going to have a word with you, just between us girls, but first things first.”
She took a sheet of paper from her purse and handed it to Cecilia.
“This is what Father wanted you to see,” she said.
SECRET
EARN0087 WASH DC 1035 ZULU 20 MAY 1965
VIA WHITE HOUSE SIGNAL AGENCY
FROM: EARNEST SIX
TO : HELPER SIX
FOLLOWING RECEIVED FROM ZAMMORO IN BUENOS AIRES
SEÑORA CELIA DE LA SERNA DE GUEVARA DIED OF LUNG CANCER AT 1230 BUENOS AIRES TIME 19 MAY 1965.
FINTON FOR EARNEST SIX
SECRET
Cecilia handed it back.
“I suppose you saw the other one,” she said, “where they threw the poor woman out of the hospital?”
Both Ursula and Marjorie nodded.
“I can’t understand that,” Cecilia said.
“I’m not saying it’s right,” Ursula said. “But I can understand it.”
“Ursula used to live in East Germany,” Marjorie said. “But, quickly changing the subject, how are your quarters here in Léopoldville?”
“They’re what you’d expect for the secretary to the Cultural Affairs Officer,” Cecilia said. “A fifth-floor walk-up overlooking the Stanley Basin.”
“We’re all living here, and there’s still three unused bedrooms, ” Ursula said.
“You’re not suggesting I move in here?”
“We’re suggesting you’d attract less attention often spending the night with your American girlfriends here . . .”
“Than with my American boyfriend at my flat?”
“Actually, I was thinking your Congolese light colonel boyfriend,” Marjorie said.
“God, I forgot about that. . . .”
“Then you cave in to our irrefutable logic and will?”
“I suppose I should feel like a shameless slut, but I don’t,” Cecilia said.
“If it’s with the right guy,” Marjorie said, “I have learned that feeling like a slut is not necessarily all that bad.”
[ SIX ]
404 Avenue Leopold
Léopoldville, Republic of the Congo
1735 21 May 1965
Father Lunsford, Marjorie Portet, and Ursula Craig were sitting at one of the umbrellaed tables by the pool, watching Mary Magdalene splashing around the shallow end of the pool chasing Jeffy. Father and Ursula were drinking beer, Marjorie what looked like a gin and tonic.
“Where’s Jack?” Cecilia Taylor asked as she slipped into the chair beside Lunsford, managing to run her fingers across his shoulders as she did so.
“He took a C-46 load of redundants to Kamina,” Father said. “He’ll be back tomorrow, probably, or the day after.”