Enrico looked at Clete for guidance.
"Tell him, Enrico."
"S¡, mi coronel," Enrico said, patting the small of his back to indicate that he had a pistol concealed there.
Mart¡n picked his briefcase up from where he had set it on the floor, opened it, and produced a.45 automatic.
"I really hope you won't have occasion to need this," he said, handing it to Clete.
Then he nodded at Lauffer and left the room.
[FIVE]
The Embassy of the United States of America
Montevideo, Uruguay
2205 18 April 1943
"I will take you there, Se¤or, of course," the taxi driver at the bus terminal said to the somewhat rumpled-looking middle-aged man, "but it is a long way, an expensive trip, and the norteamericano Embassy is not open at this hour."
"You are very kind, Se¤or," Colonel A. F. Graham, USMCR-and have just earned yourself a very nice tip-"but please take me there anyway. Some-one is waiting for me."
That's the absolute opposite of the truth. If I can find Stevenson, he will be the most surprised sonofabitch in Uruguay.
The Embassy of the United States was in a stone villa, inside a tall stone-and-steel-spear fence. A brass sign was on the fence gate pillar, and a painted wooden sign announced the hours the Embassy was open for business. The gate was firmly closed with a heavy chain and a large padlock.
There was also an intercom device with a button.
Graham pushed the button. Thirty seconds later, a voice barely compre-hensible through static-but obviously American-announced "Cerrado"- Closed.
Deciding that communication over that device would be impossible, Gra-ham put his finger back on the button and held it there.
There were several more "closed" announcements over the next two min-utes, and then there was a flash of light as the door of the Embassy villa opened and an indignant young man in Marine khakis appeared and shouted, "Cerrado! Cerrado!"
Graham kept his finger on the button until the Marine-a corporal-came down to the gate.
"Cerrado, Se¤or," he said with finality.
"Good evening, Corporal. My name is Graham. I would like to see Mr. Ralph Stevenson, who is the Cultural Attach‚."
The Corporal was visibly surprised that the middle-aged man wearing rum-pled clothes and badly needing a shave spoke English so well.
"Sorry. We're closed. You'll have to come back in the morning."
"I would like to see either Mr. Stevenson, please, or the duty officer."
"You American?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am."
"Is this some sort of bona fide emergency?"
"Yes, I would say so, Corporal."
"What kind of an emergency?"
"Corporal, listen to me carefully. I may not look like one, but I happen to be a colonel of the United States Marine Corps."