The Hostage (Presidential Agent 2)

Miller saw Castillo's face, and when he spoke again, his tone of voice was that of a concerned friend. "I'm really sorry about that, Charley."

Castillo nodded.

"I told Tom McGuire," Miller went on, "and he's arranging for the aircraft to be met by a suitable Secret Service delegation."

Castillo nodded again, then asked, "How'd you hear about the Office of Organizational Analysis?"

"Secretary Hall showed it to me and Mrs. Forbison when we came in this morning," Miller said, then looked at Torine and added, "He said you'd been drafted, Colonel…"

"Given temporary duty, actually," Torine said.

"… but he didn't say anything about you, Fernando. How much about Charley's new exalted status do you know?"

"Consider him in. All the way," Castillo ordered.

"Can you do that?" Miller asked.

"There's a story that when General Donovan started the OSS-before he was General Donovan, when he was a civilian they called him 'colonel' because he'd been one in the First World War-he was paid a dollar a year. So hand Fernando a dollar and consider him on the payroll. I think I can do that."

"According to Hall, you can do just about anything you want to," Miller said. "So that makes"-he counted on his fingers-"three of us. You, the Texan, and me. Anybody else?"

Castillo turned to Torine and said, "We were talking about shooters in Argentina with General McNab. Jack Britton would make a good one."

Torine nodded his agreement.

"Where's Joel?"

"With Hall at the White House."

"Tom McGuire?"

"On his way here from Langley with your… modified… German passport. He also has your new American passport."

"When he gets here, I'll ask him if…" He stopped as Mrs. Agnes Forbison walked into the room.

The somewhat plump executive assistant to the secretary of Homeland Security walked up to Castillo and put her arms around him. "I'm so sorry about Betty Schneider," she said. "Did Dick tell you she's on the way to Philadelphia?"

"Just now."

"What were you going to ask the boss?" she asked, as she turned to

smile at Torine and Fernando.

"I'm going to ask Tom if I can have Jack Britton. I'd like to send him back to Buenos Aires as soon as possible."

"You mean for the Office of Organizational Analysis?"

Castillo nodded.

"If you ask Tom, he will ask Joel. Joel will probably say yes, but if he doesn't, you'll go to the boss, who I know will give him to you. So consider it done."

"Okay, that's four," Miller said.

"I can think of two more people you could really use," Mrs. Forbison said.

"Who?"

"Tom, for one."