“My God, Clete!” Almond exclaimed.
The can came to rest. Clete fired again and the can jumped into the air again. It landed again, and Clete fired a third time, sending the can another ten yards across the field.
“That’s all,” Clete said. “My uncle Jim was always saying, ‘Quit while you’re ahead, Clete, quit while you’re ahead!’”
Holding the pistol to his side, he looked at Almond and went on: “That’s sound advice for you, you sonofabitch,” he said. “I hope you’re smart enough to take it.”
“Excuse me? What the hell is going on here? If this is some sort of joke, I don’t like it.”
“When you get back to the States, Almond, you will tell Colonel Graham, won’t you, that you checked me out in this aircraft?”
“Who the hell is Colonel Graham?”
“This would be a very bad time for you to try to be clever with me, Almond,” Clete said.
“Would you please move that pistol away from me?” Almond said.
“I’m not pointing it at you,” Clete said. “My uncle Jim taught me never to point a pistol at anyone I didn’t intend to shoot. And I haven’t really made up my mind whether I’m going to shoot you or not, or let you go to the States and have a little chat with Colonel Graham.”
“I have no goddamn idea what you’re talking about!” Almond said, aware that his voice sounded a little hysterical. “I never heard of a Colonel Graham!”
“Bullshit!” Lieutenant Pelosi said.
“He may be telling the truth,” Clete said. “What the hell, it doesn’t matter if he does or not. You, Captain Ashton, in your next communication with Colonel Graham, will report that both you and Lieutenant Pelosi were present when Colonel Almond informed me that I was now qualified to fly the Lodestar.”
“Yes, Sir,” Ashton said.
“But I think you should tell him that conversation took place at El Palomar, not here. That’s not the truth, but we’re in the intelligence business, and we can be cut a little slack.”
“Yes, Sir,” Ashton repeated.
“Who do you work for, Almond?” Clete asked. “And remember that you’re an officer and a gentleman, and officers and gentlemen don’t lie.”
“I’m assigned to the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence, G-2, in the War Department.”
“And they sent you down here to ask questions about Galahad?”
Almond didn’t reply.
“Yes or no, Colonel,” Clete said. “And I think you should understand that if I think you’re lying to me, I probably will decide to shoot you.”
“Yes,” Almond said faintly, and added: “Yes, that is one of my missions.”
“Thank you,” Clete said. “I really don’t like to kill people unless I have to.”
“You were pretty dumb, Colonel, to ask Ashton and me about Galahad, and really stupid to ask Coronel Martín,” Tony Pelosi said.
“The thing is, Almond, Galahad is critical to an operation I’m running here,” Clete said. “I don’t want his identity known to G-2, or the Bureau of Internal Security, or anyone else.”
“Those were my orders, Major Frade,” Almond said. “You can hardly fault me for trying to carry them out.”
“When they interfere with my operation, I can,” Clete said. “Nothing personal.”
“I’m glad you understand,” Almond said. “Frade, we could have talked about this. You didn’t have to go through that melodramatic business with the pistol.”
Clete raised the pistol slightly and fired again. The bullet struck a rock two feet to Almond’s side and went into a screaming ricochet.
“Mother of God!” Almond almost shrieked. “You’re crazy!”