The Hunters (Presidential Agent 3)

“Meaning?”

“Well, he was a friend of my grandfather and my mother.”

“Oh, yes. The Gossinger connection,” Pevsner said. “I forgot that.”

“And Uncle Billy bounced me on his knee, so to speak, when I was a little boy.” He paused. “So you will understand how upset I was when some unpleasant people tried to kidnap him on the Szabadság híd and, when that failed, tried to kill him.”

“Charley, sometimes people who put their noses in places they shouldn’t be…”

“And how upset I was just the other day when the same people—I admit they were probably looking for my uncle Billy—came into my room in the Gellért and pointed Madsens at me. That so upset me that I actually lost control of myself.”

“I’m really surprised to hear that,” Pevsner said.

“I didn’t think,” Castillo said. “I just took them down. Which, of course, means I couldn’t ask who sent them.”

“You don’t know who sent them?”

“No. But I strongly suspect the people who made me lose my temper were either Stasi or Allamvedelmi Hatosag.”

“But there is no Stasi anymore. Or Allamvedelmi Hatosag.”

“In the United States, the Marines say, ‘Once a Marine, always a Marine.’ And who else do you know who uses the garrote to take people out?”

“I don’t know anyone who uses the garrote,” Pevsner said. “And I can’t imagine why you’re telling me this.”

“I’m about to tell you, Alek. You’re right. My uncle Billy does have the unfortunate habit of putting his nose in places other people don’t think he should. Like under rocks to see what slime the rock conceals. So I have this theory that whoever tried to kidnap my uncle Billy did so to see how many names he could assign to the maggots and other slimy creatures he’s found under the rocks. Sound reasonable to you?”

“It could well be something like that, I suppose.”

“The sad thing about all this is, these people were trying to close the barn door long after the cow got away.”

“I’m not sure I know what you mean,” Pevsner said.

“I mean that I know everything that Kocian learned and by now his files are in Washington. These people can’t put the cow back in the barn, in a manner of speaking. The only thing that any further kidnappings or murders are going to accomplish is to draw even more attention to them and I don’t think they want that. And if any further attempt is made to kill Kocian, or kidnap him, I will take that personally.”

“As I said, I can’t imagine why you’re telling me this.”

“Because I want you to get to these people and tell them what I just told you.”

“What makes you think I even know who they are? Or if I did that I would go to them?”

“Oh, you know who they are, Alek. They’re the people who told you about the sixteen million and…”

“Has it occurred to you that Munz may have told me?”

“He couldn’t have, Alek. He didn’t know about it,” Castillo said. “And on the way down here, I read Kocian’s files. Long lists of names. Some of them had data after their names. Some names, like Respin, Vasily, for example, and Pevsner, Aleksandr, had question marks after their names. Which meant they had come to Kocian’s attention and, when he got around to it, he was going to see what he could come up with.”

Pevsner, his eyes again icy, met Castillo’s eyes but he said nothing.

“Your name—names—were also on a list that I got from the CIA station chief in Paris,” Castillo said. “I didn’t have a chance to ask the CIA in Budapest what they have on you. But I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they have a file on you, would you?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they did, but they don’t have anything tying me to the oil-for-food business because I wasn’t involved in that.”

“So you keep telling me,” Castillo said. “Right now, Alek, you don’t have to worry about what the CIA has or doesn’t have on you. Right now, we’re friends, and the President has called off the CIA and FBI investigations of you. What you have to worry about is your other friends going after Ko

cian again. If that happens, the deal is off. Not only will I give Kocian’s files to every American intelligence agency, I’ll spread them around to anyone and everyone who might be the slightest bit interested.”

“I thought you said Kocian’s files were already in Washington.”