EL JEFE AND I HOLDING THE FORT AND CARING FOR TOURISTS
COWGIRL
Donovan looked up from the sheet. “ ‘Cowgirl’?”
“The feminine of ‘cowboy.’ Taking a wild guess, Señora Dorotea Mallín de Frade.”
“She knows too much, period.”
“They’re newlyweds; he tells her everything. And beneath her really extraordinary beauty there is a highly intelligent and very, very tough young woman.”
Donovan looked past Graham a long moment as he considered that. “Okay. I’ll take your word for it. Now, tell me why you think this is good news. The maps?”
“I have no idea what they are.”
“Then what, Alex?”
“You think Juan Trippe is capable of going to Lloyd’s?”
Donovan thought about that for perhaps two seconds, then nodded. “Yeah, Juan’s capable of that. Especially if he heard, and I’m sure he has, that the airline in Argentina is Roosevelt’s idea.”
“You think he’s heard?”
Donovan nodded again. “He’s heard that an Argentine airline is starting up. Hell, that was in the newspapers down there. And then he wondered where they were getting their airplanes. And then he wondered how neutral Argentina was getting Lodestars that allies—for example, Canada and Mexico—would love to have. Who would have the authority to order that besides FDR? Sure, he knows.”
“What about Varig going to Lloyd’s?”
“Same story. They wanted the Lodestars. Argentina got them. ‘Let’s knock off the competition before it gets off the ground.’ ” He paused. “I heard the pun. Unintentional. It just came out that way.”
“And the Brits? Do you think somebody there, wanting to make sure nobody else starts an airline in Argentina before they get around to it, went to Lloyd’s?”
“Why not? All of the above.”
“What about Allen Dulles? Do you think he might have gone to Lloyd’s?”
“Why would Allen want to do . . . ? Alex!”
Graham nodded, then explained: “As part of the Air Transport Rating examination, there is a cross-country flight. Frade will be one of the first pilots to take the check-ride. His flight will take him to Jackson, Mississippi, which is a half-hour’s car ride from Camp Clinton.”
“You’ve got the whole damn thing set up.”
“I did the setup. But it was Allen’s idea. He really wants to turn Colonel Frogger—”
“All this to track the Operation Phoenix money in Argentina?” Donovan interrupted.
“I suspect there probably is more, but Allen didn’t say anything.”
“And you didn’t ask him?”
“Allen does things one step at a time. If Frade can turn Frogger, and there is more, I suspect Allen will tell me.”
“Why not now?”
Graham shrugged. “Of the three of us, who would you say really knows what he’s doing?”
Donovan could have taken offense, but he didn’t. Instead, he said, “Point taken.” After a moment’s silence, he asked, “When does this happen?”
“Sometime in the next thirty-six to forty-eight hours they’ll have to land in Mexico to get permission to enter the United States. Probably Nogales, maybe Sonora.”