The Hunters (Presidential Agent 3)

“Why don’t we go see Mr. Monahan right now, Yung?” Howell asked.

“Good idea,” McGrory said.

“Thank you,” Yung said.

As he walked out of the ambassador’s office, Yung had several thoughts, one after the other:

Unbelievable! Surreal!

Wait till Castillo hears that nonsense about Lorimer being a drug dealer!

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Thank God that pompous moron—no wonder they call him Señor Pompous!—wasn’t told what we were up to! He would have ordered all of us out of the country and told the Uruguayans why.

But he’s not as stupid as he appears. He’s going to have Artigas watch me and Howell watch both of us. I have to keep that in mind.

Just as soon as I can, I’m going to have to go to Buenos Aires and get on a secure line to Castillo.

“I’m going to have to stop in here,” Yung said to Howell as they approached the door to a men’s room.

Howell followed him inside and stood at the adjacent urinal.

“Well,” Howell said. “That was interesting, wasn’t it?”

“Does he actually believe that drug dealer business or is he being clever?”

“He believes it. He also believes he’s smelling rotten eggs.”

“Artigas is smart and he doesn’t like me,” Yung said.

“And he and Chief Inspector Ordóñez are pals.”

“So what do I do?”

“Make sure Artigas doesn’t learn anything Ordóñez would like to know.”

“And how do I do that?”

“Be very careful, Yung. Very careful.”

[THREE]

Office of the Legal Attaché

The Embassy of the United States of America

Lauro Miller 1776

Montevideo, República Oriental del Uruguay

1035 6 August 2005

Generally speaking, there is little love lost between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency, and in the United States embassy in Montevideo there was little lost between James D. Monahan, the senior FBI agent, and Robert Howell, the cultural attaché rumored to be the CIA station chief.

Monahan privately thought of Howell as a typical CIA asshole who couldn’t find his ass with both hands and Howell privately thought of Monahan as someone far better suited to be walking a beat in Chicago eating a stolen apple while preserving law and order with his billy club than holding his present position.

They were, of course, civil to each other.