“You gave me what I wanted when you gave me your word of honor,” Peter said.
We went through this whole absurd routine just so you could tell me to tell your girlfriend to forget you?
And it isn’t only absurd, it’s dangerous.
And you’re no fool, you knew that it was dangerous when you called me.
Which means (a) you’re really in love with Alicia; (b) you think there’s a very good chance you’re not coming back; and (c) you really think I’m your friend and can be trusted.
Which means I am a prick for mocking you.
Particularly since you are about to go In Harm’s Way and, as of about 1300 hours this date, Major Cletus H. Frade of the Marine Corps has been under a direct order to get and stay out of the fucking line of fire.
“I will take care of Alicia for you, my friend,” Clete said, and meant it.
Peter grasped Clete’s arms at the shoulders.
“Watch it,” Clete said. “You don’t want the ladies to see us like that!”
“Fuck you, Cletus!” Peter said, and smiled.
“Now what?” Clete asked.
“Now I go back to the dinner,” Peter said. “And in the morning, to Germany.”
“Without seeing Alicia again?”
“How can I see her again?”
“Would she come here if you called her?” Clete said.
“You mean here?”
Clete nodded. “You could get another telephone call, and this time when you came here, she’d be here.”
“Von Deitzberg would be suspicious,” Peter said.
“So he follows you up here, and what does he find? A fighter pilot doing what fighter pilots do.”
“It is not like that between us,” Peter said indignantly. “Alicia is pure.”
“Is or was? This is me you’re talking to, Fritz.”
“Oh, God, I want to see her before I go.”
“You got her number? There’s the phone.”
After Peter had given the hotel operator the number, Clete took the phone from his hand. “This is Cletus Frade. Put Señorita Alicia on the line,” he said. “And don’t go through that ‘I’ll see if she’s at home’ routine.” There was a minute’s wait. “Alicia, Clete. A friend of yours wants to see you. Be standing on the curb in front of your house in fifteen minutes. I’ll pick you up in the Buick. Just do it.” He hung up.
“She’ll do it? Just like that?”
“Actually no, she told me to go fuck myself. Of course she’ll do it. She trusts me. Now say good-bye to the girls and go back to your dinner. I’ll have Alicia here in thirty minutes.”
“And now I owe you, my friend,” Peter said.
“Pay me when you get back.”
Peter touched Clete’s shoulder and then left the bedroom. He nodded at the blonde and the redhead, said it had been a pleasure to meet them, and quickly left the apartment.