"I suppose I am, but if you are asking, 'Are you having second thoughts?' the answer is no," Ramirez said, and met Rawson's eyes. "I regret the necessity of having to do what we have no choice but to do; but el Presidente has made it quite clear he has no intention of leaving office, no matter how the election turns out."
"No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's con-sent," Rawson said.
"Are you quoting someone?" Ramirez asked.
"Abraham Lincoln."
"Ah, Lincoln! Honest Abe. What did they call him, 'The Great Emancipa-tor'?"
"I asked myself if that isn't what we-with the best intentions-are about to do ourselves? Govern without consent?" Rawson said.
"And what did you answer yourself?"
"Depending on how you look at it, we intend to either preserve or restore democracy," Rawson said. "If we do that, we are right. If we don't, if we seize power and then retain it-for whatever noble reason-we will be no better than Castillo."
"Anything else?"
"More North Americans were killed in Lincoln's Civil War than were killed in the First World War, more than they will probably lose in this one. I don't even like to think what would happen here if what we plan turned into a civil war. Look at Spain... brother against brother, God only knows how many thousands, hundreds of thousands, died over there."
"Argentina is not Spain," Ramirez said sharply, and then, more softly, "So you are having second thoughts?"
"I had second thoughts. The conclusions I drew you just expressed with some eloquence: 'I regret the necessity of having to do what we have no choice but to do.' And I deeply regret that Jorge is no longer here to lead us."
"I asked myself what would happen if we did nothing," Ramirez said. "Just do nothing. Castillo might get reelected. That's unlikely, but possible. Or even if he seizes power rather than step down. What real harm would that do? Aside from the obvious answer that he and his cronies are robbing the treasury dry-"
"We are in agreement," Rawson interrupted him. "We regret the neces-sity..."
"Yes, we have had this conversation before, haven't we, Arturo?" Ramirez said. "Let's put philosophy away for a moment and hear what Lauffer has to tell us."
Lauffer, who had been waiting near the wine coolers for a summons, walked to them.
"Our friend," he said quietly, "believes what we are looking for is very likely in the country."
Ramirez grunted. He had suspected that all along.
"In any event, what we seek is not in Buenos Aires in either house," Lauf-fer said.
"I didn't think it would be," Rawson said. "What about the money?"
"We are proceeding in the belief that the money will be with Outline Blue, mi General."
"Either house?" Ramirez asked.
"The one on Avenida Coronel Diaz, or el Coronel's guest house across from the Hipodromo on Libertador," Lauffer clarified.
"If there is someone listening to this conversation," Rawson said, "and he has half the brains he was born with, he already has figured out who, and what, we're talking about. Can we stop acting like characters in a bad movie?"
Ramirez looked at him, and after a moment shrugged.
"What does Mart¡n have to say about finding what we're looking for at Es-tancia San Pedro y San Pablo?" he asked.
"He said, Sir, that seems impossible. Getting in the house at Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo by itself would be difficult. And there is a good safe..."
"A Himpell, in the shrine," Rawson said.
"What?" Ramirez asked. "What shrine?"
"You never saw the shrine to the blessed norteamericano?" Rawson asked.