Which proves of course that I am not nearly as good an officer as I like to pretend I am.
"Go on, please, Major," Naylor said.
"General, Gossinger is on Argentine immigration records-"
"Gossinger?" Montvale interrupted. "Who's Gossinger?"
This time the secretary of state came to Castillo's aid.
"Charles," she said, "perhaps we could let Major Castillo finish at least one sentence before we start asking questions?"
Montvale, for a second, glared at her. But then he apparently considered that Natalie Cohen, as secretary of state, was not only the most senior officer of the Presidential Cabinet-and thus the presiding officer of this ad hoc meeting of members of the cabinet-but a close personal friend of the President, and therefore was not to be crossed.
"Pardon me, Major," Montvale said. "Please continue."
"The Argentines have a record of Gossinger entering the country, Dr. Cohen," Castillo said. "There was no immigration check as we left. Which was lucky for me, since I didn't have to produce an American passport, which didn't have an entry stamp, or the German passport, which would have blown that cover. So, according to the books, Gossinger is still in Argentina, and I'd like to get him out."
"I get the picture," she said. "I suggest we issue you a new American passport, which will obviously have no immigration stamps in it at all, and then have the CIA put an exit stamp on your German passport. Their documents section is very good at that sort of thing." She looked at Montvale. "Wouldn't you agree, Charles?"
"That would seem to be the solution," Montvale said.
"We'll need a passport photo," Dr. Cohen said.
"There's some in my desk in the Nebraska complex," Castillo said.
"Charley, if you'll give me both passports before we leave here," Secretary Hall said, "I'll have Joel Isaacson pick up the passport photo, and then run everything through Foggy Bottom and Langley. He knows all the right people in both places." He turned to Montvale. "That sound all right to you, Charles?"
"Whatever is the most efficient means of accomplishing what has to be done, of course."
"Would you like me to call DCI Powell, Charles, and tell him what we need, or would you prefer to do that yourself?" Natalie Cohen asked.
"I'll call him," Montvale said.
"Anything else, Charley?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am, one more thing. There's an FBI agent attached to the embassy in Montevideo. David William Yung, Jr. He was sent to Buenos Aires when Mrs. Masterson was abducted as someone with kidnapping experience."
"What about him?" Montvale asked.
"He seemed to be unusually interested in me, for one thing," Castillo said.
"I would be, too, if I were an FBI agent and a young Army major was placed in overall charge of a situation like that," Montvale said.
Castillo looked at both Cohen and Hall and saw in their eyes that they had taken his meaning.
"And second," Castillo went on, "a usually reliable source, a former senior FBI official, who knows Special Agent Yung, told me he doesn't believe Yung is really doing what he says he's doing, looki
ng into money laundering."
"In my experience, the FBI does not confide in outsiders," Montvale said. "Just who told you-"
The door opened.
Joel Isaacson put his head in.
"Excuse me," he said. "The President would like Mr. Castillo to join him."
"And I would like to know what Yung is really doing," Charley said, very quickly.