The Hunters (Presidential Agent 3)

“Jesus Christ, Charley!” Santini said, shaking his head. “Alfredo, he’s pulling your leg. Max is a dog. An enormous dog.”

Munz looked at Castillo.

“True,” Castillo said. “Which just made me think of something. I was planning to move Kocian to the master bedroom in the suite in the Four Seasons. He’s in his eighties, has two 9mm holes in him, and just flew from Budapest. But I can’t do that, obviously, with Max. He’s going to have to stay in that apartment. And won’t like it.”

“Leave the dog in the apartment,” Solez said.

“Not an option. Where Kocian goes, so does Max. He even had him in his hospital room in Budapest.”

“Which just made me think of something,” Santini said. “What do we do with Familia Munz in Montevideo until you can pick them up with the Gulfstream?”

“Alfredo took me to a first-rate hotel in Carrasco…” Castillo began.

“I sent you there,” Ambassador Silvio said. “The Belmont House. I’ll call over, and get them a suite.”

“No,” Castillo said. “That would involve you personally. I don’t want that. I’ll call. We’ll have to get them to hold the room anyway if that boat doesn’t get over there until one o’clock in the morning.”

“And where is Familia Munz going in the States?” Santini asked. “Washington?”

Jesus, I didn’t even think about that! Castillo thought.

He then said, “Not at first. At first, we need something in the boonies.”

“Carlos,” Solez said. “The ranch?”

“My first thought just now was to take them to the plantation—there’s people already there sitting on the Masterson family—but obviously that wasn’t one of my brighter ideas.”

“When Doña Alicia sent me the e-mail about you getting promoted, she said she had just been up to the ranch and it was so hot she wasn’t going back until November.”

Castillo chuckled. “It does get a bit warm in Midland in August, doesn’t it? Okay, I’ll give Abuela a call and ask her to stay away until further notice. Tony, can we get some Secret Service people to go to Midland until I can make better arrangements for Alfredo’s family?”

“You can, Charley,” Santini said and pointed in the general direction of the secure telephone.

Artigas thought: The Ranch? The Plantation? Doña Alicia? Abuela?

For Christ’s sake, abuela is Spanish for “grandmother.”

Does everything these people do come with a code name?

And how I am supposed to figure out what they mean?

“Okay,” Castillo said, “I’ll do that. I’ll call Doña Alicia and Miller right now. And while I’m doing that, make sure everybody has everybody else’s number on their cellulars. And when you use them, remember to use the code names. Which reminds me, we’ll need one for Familia Munz. How about ‘Mother’?”

“That’s easy to remember,” Santini said, drily. “Give me your cellular, Charley, and I’ll make sure you have all the numbers.”

Castillo handed it to him, then looked at Ambassador Silvio, wordlessly asking permission to use the secure telephone.

Silvio nodded and said, “Of course.”

“That was a hell of a lot easier than I thought it would be,” Castillo announced when he came back into the room several minutes later.

He looked at Santini and went on: “Joel was there. He said no problem, and gave me a number to call when we know when we’ll be at the ranch and they’ll be waiting for us. He said to tell you hello.”

Santini nodded.

Castillo turned to Solez. “Doña Alicia sends you a kiss. She made me promise to get a little rest while I’m having ‘our meeting’ at the ranch.”

Solez nodded.