"That might explain his turning it over to me, or General Rawson, or Juan Domingo Per¢n, but not to you. From all we've heard of him, he's a profes-sional intelligence officer."
"S¡, mi General, he is that."
"And professional intelligence officers, I have been told, don't trust anyone without reason. Good reason. Does Frade have some reason, some good reason, to trust you?"
"S¡, Se¤or."
"Would you like to tell me what that is?"
"I would prefer not to, mi General."
Ramirez considered that for a long moment.
"Very well, Coronel. But can you assure me Frade's cooperation was not based on your promise of cooperation in the future?"
"Mi General, it is not at all uncommon for intelligence officers to make arrangements with their counterparts," Mart¡n said. "But I have offered Frade nothing more than that. I would not tell him anything I don't think he should know, and he would not expect me to."
"He asked for nothing?"
"He asked about an import permit for an airplane to replace the Beechcraft which is missing."
Ramirez grunted. "This 'arrangement' between intelligence officers fasci-nates me. Could you give me an example?"
"It has come to my attention that the Germans have ordered the assassina-tion of one of Frade's men. I told him that."
"How did you come by that?" Querro asked.
Mart¡n did not reply to Querro but looked at Ramirez.
"I would say, Pedro," Ramirez said, "that you don't have the need to know that," he said, and turned to Mart¡n and asked, "You believe the Germans will kill this man?"
"S¡, Se¤or, I believe they will try."
"Certainly, you can do something to keep that from happening?"
"Not very much, Se¤or. Only by providing him with protection, overtly, or covertly, mi General. And there would be no guarantee at-"
"Do so."
"Excuse me?"
"Do so, Coronel. Do whatever you have to do to keep Frade's man from be-ing assassinated."
"Se¤or, I couldn't provide one-fourth the protection that would be the min-imum required without it coming to el Almirante Montoya's attention. It would require many people, and a good deal of money."
"The last Bureau of Internal Security budget I saw, Coronel, was anything but parsimonious."
"Se¤or, what I was suggesting is that I could not order such an operation on my own authority. And to report that I was doing so on your orders..."
"Would tell Montoya that we have been in touch? Is that what you're say-ing?"
"S¡, mi General."
Ramirez considered that for a moment.
"Pedro, get el Almirante on the telephone, please. I'll tell him, Martin, that I have learned of this threat and authorize him to authorize you to do whatever is necessary to reduce the threat to zero."
"Se¤or? Permission to speak, mi General?" Mart¡n said.