It was apparent to Castillo that Lieutenant Colonel Martin had picked up on Seymour's use of his rank.
"I don't think this is a secure line, is it, Colonel?" Castillo said. "I need a secure line."
"Yes, of course," Lieutenant Colonel Martin said, and thought that over. "If you'll give the sergeant your identity documents, gentlemen, he'll give you a visitor's badge and I'll escort you to a room with a secure telephone."
They were in the process of handing over their documents when a tall, rather distinguished-looking man walked through the door, smiled, and said, "Good morning."
"Good morning, Mr. Ambassador," Lieutenant Colonel Martin said.
"You're the ambassador?" Castillo asked.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am," the ambassador said. "And you are?"
"He's from the Secret Service, Mr. Ambassador," Lieutenant Colonel Martin offered helpfully.
"Really?"
"And he wants to talk to the secretary of state, sir, personally."
"Indeed?" the ambassador said, and went to the counter and examined the identification documents.
"You did tell Mr. Castillo that the secretary of state isn't here, didn't you, Colonel?" the ambassador asked.
"Actually, she's in Singapore," Castillo said.
"Is she indeed?" the ambassador said. "Would you mind telling me what this is about, Mr. Castillo?"
"I will tell you, sir. But I suggest this isn't the place to do that, sir."
"Well, then, why don't we go to my office and we'll see if we can get to the bottom of this."
"Thank you very much, sir," Castillo said. "I knew Jack Masterson," the ambassador said. "He was a good man."
"Yes, sir, he was."
"You're in Budapest, so there's obviously a Hungarian connection. Are you going to tell me what that is?"
"I was running down a source of information, sir. There is no Hungarian connection I know of to Mr. Masterson's murder."
The ambassador considered that a moment, then pointed at a telephone on his desk. "Help yourself, Mr. Castillo."
"Thank you, sir." He picked it up and punched the "O" key.
"My name is Castillo. Would you get me the state department switchboard on a secure line, please?"
"Sir, I'll have to have someone authorize that."
Castillo pushed the SPEAKERPHONE button. "Mr. Ambassador, I'm going to need your authorization."
"It's okay," the ambassador said, raising his voice.
Castillo started to push the SPEAKERPHONE button again to shut it off but changed his mind.
"One moment, please," the embassy operator said.
"State Department."
"This line is secure?"