“A SAC is in charge of the special agents,” Monahan replied and then clarified: “It stands for Special Agent in Charge.”
“And you’re not?”
“No, sir. I’m the senior agent. I’ve been with the bureau longest. But I was never appointed the SAC.”
“You’re telling me you’re not in charge of the other FBI agents? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes, sir. I’m sort of in charge, because, like I say, I’m the senior agent. But not really, if you take my meaning.”
“If you’re not really in charge, Monahan, who is?”
Monahan seemed puzzled by the question for a moment, then answered it: “You are, Mr. Ambassador.”
McGrory thought: Sonofabitch! Is he stupid or just acting that way?
He went on: “And Special Agent Yung, who does he work for?”
“When he was here, he worked for you, sir.”
“Not the secretary of state?”
“Up the chain of command, maybe,” Monahan said. “I never thought about that. I mean, he worked for you and you work for the secretary of state, if you follow me. In that sense, you could say he worked for the secretary of state.”
Señora Obregon put her head in the door.
“Mr. Howell is here, Mr. Ambassador.”
McGrory thought, There’s no sense going any further with this.
he said, “Monahan, I have to see Mr. Howell right now. Please keep yourself available.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ask Mr. Howell to come in, please, Señora Obregon,” McGrory said.
“Interesting,” Cultural Attaché Robert Howell said, handing the message back to McGrory. “I wonder what it means?”
“I was hoping you could tell me,” McGrory said.
“Well, all I can do is guess. Mr. Masterson’s father-in-law is a retired ambassador. We heard in Buenos Aires that the father-in-law has heart problems and perhaps Secretary Cohen—”
“I mean about Yung being on the personal staff of the secretary,” McGrory interrupted.
“Mr. Ambassador, you never elected to tell me about that. I simply presumed Yung was one more FBI agent.”
“I didn’t know he was on the secretary’s personal staff, Robert,” McGrory said.
“You didn’t? Even more interesting, I wonder what he was doing down here that even you didn’t know about? Does Monahan know?”
McGrory didn’t answer the question.
Instead, he said, “Deputy Foreign Minister Alvarez telephoned Ted Detweiller at eight this morning. He wanted to know if Detweiller would be in his office at nine and, if so, if Detweiller would be kind enough to offer him a cup of coffee.”
“I wonder what that’s all about?” Howell said.
“I intend to find out. As soon as Detweiller gets here, I’m going to tell him he has the flu and is going home. Since he is unfortunately not able to give Deputy Foreign Minister Alvarez his cup of coffee, I will. And I want you to be here when I do so.”
“Yes, sir.”