night. We would have gotten zero help with him running things.”
“My memory is a little fuzzy, but we did come out of the place smelling like a rose, didn’t we?”
“Yeah, I think we did,” Lowell said. “I don’t think that was the booze talking. And Rangio has contacts in Chile, Bolivia, the other places, that we can’t come close to.”
“And you think he’s on board?”
“I think (a) he’s on board, and (b) will do what Pistarini tells him to do.”
“Which hat, boss?” Father asked, holding up the green beret and the service cap.
“The brimmed one,” Lowell said.
“Did you forget yours?”
“No. It’s in my briefcase, and when we accept Pistarini’s kind offer—let’s hope he remembers it—to join him for the cocktail hour at the Edificio Libertador, I’m going to wear it. But brimmed caps for the embassy, I think.”
Lunsford opened his briefcase and stuffed the green beret in it.
“You don’t wear yours much, do you?” he asked.
“It makes me a little uncomfortable,” Lowell said. “I got fathered into Special Forces. I’ve made only seven parachute jumps, I never went through Mackall, and I really don’t know how to bite the head off a chicken.”
Father smiled. “One of them was a HALO,2I understand?”
“My first was a HALO,” Lowell said. “Red Hanrahan did that to me. I thought I was going to watch a HALO, and the next thing I know, two of his thugs grabbed my arms and dragged me off the open ramp of a C-130 at 30,000 feet.”
Father laughed.
“That was Hanrahan’s way of announcing that the army had decided that since Special Forces had really gotten started in Greece, and people who had served there—you knew Hanrahan was our colonel there, Felter’s and mine?—”
Lunsford nodded.
“—so anybody who was there could consider himself a Green Beret.”
“I thought it got started in Korea?”
“Not by that name,” Lowell said. “Bull Simon came back from Korea and started it at Bragg.”
“Just for the record, mi coronel, I think you’re as entitled to the beret as anybody I ever met,” Lunsford said.
Lowell looked at him for a moment.
“Thank you,” he said simply.
“My name is Lowell, Corporal,” Lowell said to the Marine guard in the lobby of the American Embassy. “This is Major Lunsford. We’d like to see Colonel Harris, the army attaché, please.”
“Sir, Colonel McGrory left word that if you showed up here, I was to send you to his office.”
“You’ve relayed Colonel McGrory’s message, Corporal. Now please call Colonel Harris and tell him that I’d like to see him,” Lowell snapped, and was immediately sorry. “Corporal, the truth is I’m just a little hungover. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
The Marine corporal didn’t reply, but he picked up his telephone, dialed a number, and told whoever answered, "U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Lowell and one other officer to see Colonel Harris.”
Master Sergeant Douglas Wilson came into the foyer less than two minutes later. He saluted.
“Good morning, sir. We’ve been expecting you. Sir, the defense attaché, Colonel McGrory, wants to see you right away.”
“Sergeant, I’ll see Colonel McGrory when I’ve completed my business with Colonel Harris.”
“Yes, sir. Right this way, please, gentlemen?”
The moment they were out of sight, the Marine Corporal called the office of the defense attaché.
“Office of the defense attaché, Master Sergeant Ulrich speaking, sir.”
“Corporal Young at Post One, Sergeant. That Army colonel your colonel was looking for just came in the building. With a major.”
“I’ll come get him.”
“Sergeant, he told me to call Colonel Harris’s office, and Colonel Harris sent his sergeant to fetch him.”
“Okay. Colonel McGrory’s on the can. The minute he comes out, I’ll tell him. Thank you.”
The Marine corporal broke the connection and dialed another number.
“Mr. Stephens, this is Corporal Young at Post One. That Army officer you were asking about just came into the building. He’s on his way to Colonel Harris’s office.”
Lowell, with Lunsford on his heels, marched into Colonel Harris’s office, came to attention, and saluted.
“Sir, Lieutenant Colonel Lowell and Major Lunsford. Thank you for seeing us.”
Harris returned the salute.
“Colonel, did my sergeant major tell you that Colonel McGrory has expressed a strong desire that you report to him immediately, whenever you came into the embassy?”
“Yes, sir, he did,” Lowell replied, still at attention. “I have no business with Colonel McGrory, but I’ll see him when I’m finished here.”
“Colonel, Colonel McGrory’s request is really in the nature of an order.”
“Sir, may I show you my orders?” Lowell said. “They specifically state that both Major Lunsford and myself remain—”
Colonel H. Robert McGrory, USAF, visibly agitated, stormed into