"Yes, Sir."
"Where can I stay tonight?"
"There's room in my apartment, Sir," Stevenson said.
"Where are you staying, Milton?"
"I've got a room in the Casino Hotel I told you about."
"Could I get a room there?"
"Probably. But there's two beds in my room, if there's a problem."
"That might be best of all," Graham said. "Once I have a shower and a shave, and change into clean clothes, I think that you and I ought to have a long talk, Milton."
"I was hoping that's what you had in mind, Alejandro," Leibermann said.
Chapter Twenty-Two
[ONE]
Visiting Officers' Quarters
First Cavalry Regiment
Campo de Mayo
Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
0125 19 April 1943
The lights in the room went on. Clete, startled, sat up in the bed.
Capitan Roberto Lauffer was standing just inside the door, by the light switch. He was fully dressed, and wore a blue-and-white-striped band of cloth around his right arm. The door was open, and through it Clete could see two soldiers armed with Thompson submachine guns. They both looked maybe seventeen years old-and terrified. They also had the blue-and-white-the Ar-gentine colors-armbands.
"Sorry to wake you, Cletus," Lauffer said politely. "But something has come up. The order to execute immediately has been given."
Nice choice of words, Roberto! It's really great to have someone waking you up in the middle of the night saying things like "the order to execute imme-diately has been given."
The door to the other bedroom opened, and Enrico, in baggy cotton under-shirt and drawers, came in. He had his right hand behind his back.
I don't think Enrico's scratching his ass; he's got his.45 back there.
"Buenos dias, mi Capitan."
"The order for immediate execution of Outline Blue has been issued, Suboficial Mayor," Lauffer said formally.
"I will get dressed, Se¤or," Enrico said.
Clete swung his feet out of bed.
"What are you talking about?" Clete asked. "What's this 'execute immedi-ately' order all about?"
"Castillo knows that Blue Sky was ordered-the command to execute Out-line Blue," Lauffer explained. "He sent messages to every command,
stating that General Ramirez has resigned as Minister of War, that any orders Ramirez might issue are to be ignored, and that General Savaronna has taken his place."
"Who's Savaronna?"