Clete watched the Rolls Royce until it was out of sight, then turned to reenter the house.
"Excuse me, Se¤or Frade," a short, muscular man of about forty asked. "Do you remember me? Capitan Delgano?"
Oh, yeah, I remember you, you sonofabitch! You were my father's pilot, and he trusted you, and you were all the time working for Mart¡n and the god-damned BIS!
"I remember you," Clete said.
"I wonder if I might have a moment of your time, Se¤or Frade?"
"I can't think of a thing we might have to say to one another, Capitan," Clete said coldly.
There was hurt in Delgano's large dark eyes.
"I would prefer to talk with you somewhere we would be less likely to be overheard," he said, and gestured toward the English garden.
"I have nothing to say to you," Clete repeated, and started up the steps. En-rico was standing by the door.
"I am here at the direction of Coronel Martin," Delgano said softly.
Clete turned and looked at him, then gestured toward the garden.
Delgano walked down the red-gravel path until almost at the center of the garden, then stopped.
"Mart¡n sent you? You're still working for him?"
Delgano did not reply directly, but the question was answered.
"I would ask you to consider that people in our profession are sometimes required to do things that are personally repugnant, Mayor Frade. Your father, for whom I had the greatest respect, came to understand that I was, and am, a serving officer, carrying out my orders."
"I thought you were supposed to be retired," Clete challenged.
Why am I talking to this sonofabitch?
"And you are supposed to have been discharged from the Corps of Marines, mi Mayor."
"What did Mart¡n send you out here to say, Delgano?"
"I have been here all along, mi Mayor."
Clete's surprise, or disbelief, showed on his face.
"Your father reemployed me a week after you went to the United States," Delgano said. "At the request of Coronel Martin, after your father understood that Coronel Mart¡n had allied himself with the Grupo de Oficiales Unidos."
That's what Enrico meant when he said "Mart¡n is now one of us."
"What's on your mind, Capitan?"
"I have two missions," Delgano said, "which should make you believe me. The first is to provide any protection I can for your man Ettinger against the German problem."
"How will you do that?"
"If you will let me know when he leaves the estancia, I will see that he is not alone," Delgano said. "The more notice you can give me, of course, the bet-ter. The second is to deal with the problem of the aircraft you wish to import. We have to reach an understanding about the airplane."
He could have heard about the assassination order someplace else, but the only place he could have heard about the airplane is from Martin.
"What's the understanding? That every time I get in it, you're my copilot?"
Delgano smiled.