“I wondered about that,” Frade interrupted.
“Excuse me?”
“I saw the contract. It was for fourteen aircraft. We have four, and when the ninety-day period is up, we may have eight or ten. But not fourteen. So why are we paying to insure either four or six airplanes we don’t have? I sent Señor Duarte a note asking that question.”
Dowling did not reply.
Frade turned to Duarte. “Humberto, did you raise the question with Señor Dowling?”
Duarte nodded, and looked at Dowling. “I sent you a memorandum asking about that, Ernesto.”
Frade said, “So what did Seguro Comercial say when you asked them, Señor Dowling?”
“I was planning to bring up the matter at renegotiation time,” Dowling said, more than a little lamely.
“Señor Dowling,” Frade went on, “did you not recognize that there was a flaw in the contract you negotiated between your two employers?”
“I take offense at that, Señor Frade.”
“About ninety seconds ago, Señor Dowling, I was going to offer you the choice between working for SAA or Seguro Comercial. But not now.”
“Cletus!” Claudia said warningly.
“What exactly does that mean?” Dowling asked.
“It means that thirty seconds ago, I decided that I don’t want you working for SAA. Your employment is terminated as of now.”
“You can’t do that, Cletus!” Claudia said furiously.
“Yes, I can. And I just did.” Frade looked at Dowling. “Good evening, señor.”
Dowling stuffed the Mackay Radiogram back in his briefcase and looked at Duarte.
“Cletus . . .” Duarte said.
“Good evening, Señor Dowling,” Frade repeated.
Dowling, white-lipped and with his dignity visibly injured, walked out of the conference room.
When there was the sound of the outer door closing, Duarte said, “Cletus, that was a serious mistake. Ernesto and I have been friends for years. We were at school togeth—”
“The matter is closed,” Frade interrupted icily.
“You’re out of control, Cletus!” Claudia said. “You simply can’t do things like that.”
“Will you take my word, Claudia, that I can, or are we going to have to go to the stockholders?”
“You went too far, much too far,” Duarte said. “Things just aren’t done that way in Argentina.”
“And that’s what’s wrong with Argentina,” El Coronel Juan Domingo Perón said.
Frade looked at him.
What the hell is this?
“Excuse me?” Claudia asked.
“I said that’s wrong with Argentina,” Perón said. “We do business with people we knew at school, and wink-wink when the rules are bent or broken. What we need here is what Cletus just demonstrated: an ability to see things as they are, even when that’s uncomfortable, and then to make the necessary corrections without regard to personal feelings.”