The Hostage (Presidential Agent 2)

"She's not my fucking agent." He handled the weapon through the bag with disbelief. "She's my… my… my love."

"I know, Karl," Munz said. "I saw your eyes."

There was the sound of rotor blades and Castillo looked in the direction in time to see an Alouette III, the SA 316A, the one with the weak main and tail rotors, struggling for altitude.

"I'll go with you to the hospital, Karl," El Coronel Munz said.

IX

[ONE] Autopista Del Sol Accesso Norte San Isidro Buenos Aires Province, Argentina 1850 24 July 2005 El Coronel Alfredo Munz leaned forward, tapped the driver of the Jeep Grand Cherokee on the shoulder, and told him to slow down, turn off the siren, and take the flashing blue light from the roof.

Castillo looked at him in surprise, then anger, then horror as it occurred to him the probable reason it was no longer necessary to speed.

Jesus Christ, did somebody call him to tell him she's dead, and I missed it?

Munz read his mind.

"If you and I wind up in hospital beds beside Fraulein Schneider because we ran into a gasoline truck, that won't do her any good, will it, Karl?"

Castillo didn't reply.

"What will happen at the hospital is that they will check her vital signs, type her blood-"

"Her blood type's on her credentials," Castillo interrupted.

"If they were in her purse, that's on the way to my laboratory. I don't think they'll find any prints of use on it, but I don't want to omit anything."

Munz waited until that had sunk in, then went on: "And even if the hospital had something alleging to give her blood type, they would make their own examination unless her condition was really critical. Giving transfusions of the wrong type of blood can be fatal."

"Not critical? Christ, Alfredo, there was blood all over the backseat!"

"Not all of it, I don't think, was hers," Munz said. "And you know how heavily any wound to the head bleeds."

Yeah, I do. I'm a soldier.

So start thinking like one, Charley, for Christ's sake!

This damn situation is my fault, no question about that, but it's done.

Evaluate the damage, and decide on a course of action!

Fighting to keep control of his voice, Castillo said, "You didn't tell me where she was hit."

Munz tapped his right cheek, just above his mouth.

"And in the body, the upper leg, and here in the side. That's all I saw." He pointed to both locations.

"Three wounds from… what was that Madsen firing?"

"I don't know; I saw some nine-millimeter casings."

"Well, maybe we got lucky and it wasn't one of the Madsen.45s."

"I don't think it was.45 ACP," Munz said, noting that Castillo knew of the Brazilian-made model. "And we may be even luckier."

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't see an exit wound on her face. That makes me think maybe it was bounced bullets."