“All forty of them?”
“If it comes down to that, all forty of them, meanwhile making sure that Egorov and Company don’t take you out.”
“Jesus!” Frade blurted. “You’re just a fountain of good news, aren’t you, Bob??
??
“I do have a little of that, but let’s finish this part first. Have you room on this Argentine estancia I hear so much about to place—more precisely place and hide—an antenna farm?”
“What kind of an antenna farm?”
“Whatever kind the ASA needs to listen to the Russians.”
“And who would operate this antenna farm?”
“A nine-man team from Vint Hill.”
“Black, I presume?”
“The antenna farm would be black. But the operators could be technicians from Collins and Aircraft Radio Corporation sent down there to maintain SAA’s radios.”
Frade considered the request a moment.
“Just as long as they understand they’ll be working for me, not the ASA.”
“Agreed.”
“And now the good news?” Frade said.
Mattingly looked at von Wachtstein.
“The MPs picked up your sister-in-law, Peter.”
“What?” von Wachtstein said, his tone incredulous.
“I spoke with her on the telephone,” Mattingly went on. “She said she was the widow of Major Karl von Wachtstein. I think it’s her, but we’ve had experiences with people taking other people’s identification. Would you be willing to go have a look at her?”
“What a stupid fucking question!” Frade flared.
“Where is she?” von Wachtstein asked softly.
“In Marburg an der Lahn,” Mattingly said. “It’s here in Hesse.”
“I went to university there,” von Wachtstein said.
“And I was there with el Coronel,” Rodríguez said. “We went there to hunt wild boar.”
“Clete,” von Wachtstein said, “I know it’ll screw up our flight plan but—”
“Another stupid fucking question,” Frade interrupted. “Of course we go! Screw the flight plan.”
“And presuming it is her, then what?” Mattingly said. “What would you like me to do with her?”
“Three stupid fucking questions in a row,” Frade said. “We take her with us, that’s what we’ll do with her.”
“I thought that might be the case,” Mattingly said. “That’s what the buses are for. To take your passengers for a long, long breakfast while we go to Marburg an der Lahn.”
[FOUR]