The Hunters (Presidential Agent 3)

“Sí, señor. A little.”

Torine smiled. “I’m the pilot. If the flight attendant here doesn’t give you everything you want, you just let me know. I have to tell you, he’s one of our worst.”

She smiled at him and then at Castillo.

There came the whine of an engine starting.

Sixty seconds later, the Gulfstream started to move.

Castillo had unfolded the sheet of typewriter paper and was reading it before they reached the threshold of the active runway.

* * *

Colonel––

I wasn’t sure if we would have time to talk.

This is written before we go to the airport, of course, where we all may be led off in handcuffs.

Ordóñez is one smart cop. Luckily for us, he’s a good friend of Munz.

He knows a lot––too much, but not everything––about the estancia.

He knows the Russian mafiosa’s helicopter was there. He suspects his involvement.

He knows what happened has nothing to do with Lorimer being a drug dealer.

He knows it has to do with the oil-for-food business. I’m afraid I may have confirmed this for him.

He knows that we grabbed the money. No proof, but he knows, and I know he’s good at finding proof of what he suspects.

He has positively identified (by fingerprints) one of the Ninjas as Major Alejandro Vincenzo of the Cuban Dirección General de Inteligencia, who he met when Castro was in Montevideo and Vincenzo was in charge of his security.

I think as soon as we can get on a secure line we should talk.

If I have screwed things up, I’m really sorry.

Yung

* * *

Castillo read the note twice, then folded it and put it in his shirt pocket.

When the Gulfstream was at altitude, he went to the cockpit and showed it to Torine and Lopez.

[FOUR]

San Antonio International Airport

San Antonio, Texas

0350 10 August 2005

Castillo woke up when Lopez shook his shoulder. He had been sleeping uncomfortably most of the way from Quito in one of the chairs next to the forward bulkhead of the passenger compartment, his feet on the facing chair.

The younger Munz girl was in the chair across the aisle. Señora Munz and the older girl had taken the two couches. When he opened his eyes, Castillo saw that they were now sitting up, and that the eyes of the younger girl, now sitting tensely in her chair, showed concern, maybe even fear.

And then he saw why.