The Hunters (Presidential Agent 3)

Obviously, Silvio hasn’t told him much, if anything.

How much am I going to tell him?

“Sorry!” Lowery said and held up both hands, palms out.

Ambassador Silvio appeared.

“I think we better use the service elevator,” he said without further preliminaries and signaled them into the kitchen.

The elevator was small and some what battered.

“In the grand old days, this was used to carry food to the apartment,” Silvio volunteered. “About the only use it gets now is when there’s a reception. But you can’t see who gets on it by peering in the front door.”

“Tony Santini’s on the way?” Castillo asked.

“He should be here any minute,” Silvio said as he pulled open the elevator door and gestured for the others to get off.

“Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, sir,” Castillo said. "I was really hoping you would come to see me…Colonel.”

“That news got around quick, didn’t it?”

“From a very high source,” Silvio said. “She also said that the President was very pleased with the way you’ve been handling things.” He paused, smiled wryly, and added: “In diplomacy, that’s known as imparting information circuitously.”

Castillo smiled at him.

“Congratulations, Colonel,” Silvio said. “In my judgment, it’s well deserved.”

“I can only hope, sir, that you will feel the same way when we’ve had our conversation,” Castillo said.

Silvio led them into the living room of his apartment and waved them into a couch and armchairs.

“Sir, I’d like a moment alone with you, please,” Castillo said.

“Why don’t we step into my kitchen?” the ambassador said, nodding toward a swinging door.

“Ken,” Castillo said, turning to look at Lowery, “years ago, when I was an aide-de-camp to a general officer known for his piquant speech, he told me that telling someone—a good guy—that he did not have the Need to Know of certain information was like telling him that his male member had been measured and judged not to be large enough for the task at hand.”

Lowery smiled, but his face showed that he anticipated what he was sure was coming next.

Silvio smiled and shook his head.

“In your case,” Castillo went on, “I’m going to tell you that I am operating under the authority of a Presidential Finding and anything you might learn here today is classified Top Secret Presidential. And I’m going to evade my responsibility in this matter by dumping it on the ambassador.”

He turned to look at Silvio.

“You, sir, are authorized to tell Mr. Lowery anything you think he should know.”

“I understand,” the ambassador said, simply.

“And I still need a moment alone with you, sir.”

Silvio waved toward the swinging door.

“Thank you for that, Charley,” Silvio said when they were in the far corner of the kitchen. “Lowery is a good man.” He smiled, and added: “He would be hurt to be told his male member had been measured and found wanting.”

“I’m not sure

it was the right thing to do,” Castillo said. “But I’m not thinking too clearly.”