By Order of the President (Presidential Agent 1)

“I don’t know,” Castillo said. “But I guess the CIA, the FBI, the FAA, and everybody else who is trying to get an answer will eventually come up with one.”

“You’re not investigating it?”

“Oh, no,” Castillo said. “Were you ever in the service, Mr. Witherington?”

“Weren’t we all? Air Force. Seven years.”

“Okay. I was Army. So you know what an aide-de-camp is, right?”

“Sure.”

“The only difference in being the secretary’s special assistant and being some general’s aide is that I don’t get a gold rope to dangle from my shoulder.”

Witherington smiled at him and chuckled.

“Among other things, like carrying his briefcase, what I try to do is get answers for the secretary before some reporter asks the question. And some reporter is going to ask him, ‘What about the missing 727?’ And since I know he knows as much about 727s as I do—almost nothing—I figured I’d better find someone who’s an expert and get some facts.”

“And you flew here in that Lear to do that?”

“Lopez and I were in Texas,” Castillo said. “So I asked myself who would have the expert, and maybe even an airplane that I could look at and where. The answer was: UPS, and here.”

“You’re a pilot, right?”

“I drove mostly Hueys when I was in the Army,” Castillo said. “I know nothing about big jets.”

“But you were flying the Lear, right?”

“The secretary is a devout believer that idle hands are the tools of the devil,” Castillo said. “So he told Lopez here, ‘Instead of you watching the fuel-remaining needle drop while Castillo snores in the back, why don’t you teach him how to fly the Lear? It might come in handy someday.’ ”

Witherington chuckled.

“He must be a good IP,” he said. “I happened to be watching when you came in. You greased it in.”

“They call that beginner’s luck,” Fernando said.

“The reason I asked the question, Mr. Castillo . . .”

“I don’t suppose you could call me Charley, could you?”

“Okay, Charley,” Witherington said. “I’m Jerry.” He looked at Fernando.

“Most people just call me Lopez,” Fernando said. “It’s hard to make up a nickname if your first name is Fernando.”

“Okay, Lopez it is,” Witherington said as he shook his hand. “The reason I asked was to give me an idea where to start the lecture,” Witherington said. “And I’ve been trying to guess what questions your boss will get asked.”

“Well, the obvious one is, ‘Do you think it was stolen by terrorists who plan to fly it into another building?’ ”

“That’s the first thing I thought of when I heard somebody stole the 727,” Witherington said.

“And what do you think?”

“I don’t think so,” Witherington said.

“Why not?”

“Hey, I don’t want to get quoted and then have some rag-head fly this missing 727 into the White House,” Witherington said.

“None of this gets written down,” Castillo said. “Nobody in the office even knows I’m here. So why not?”