The Shooters (Presidential Agent 4)

Ordonez looked at Munz a moment, nodded, then said, "I have to ask you something, Alfredo."

Munz made a Go on gesture.

"When you worked for him," Ordonez said, "who were you working for?"

"Argentina," Munz said. "But, since we're telling the truth, I never turned the money Pevsner paid me over to SIDE."

"One more indelicate question, old friend, I have to ask. Who are you working for now?"

"I am working for Carlos," Munz said, met Castillo's eyes, then looked back at Ordonez. "But we have the unspoken agreement between us that I am not working-and will not work-against Argentina. In this case, it should go without saying that these hijos de puta-or whoever else, the Direccion General de Inteligencia and/or the FSB-are working against the best interests of my country. My conscience is clear, Jose. Before God, I have not, will not, sell out my country."

"Thank you," Ordonez said. "The problem we have here-I'm sure you will agree-is that Duffy also believes he's working for his country. And can't-or doesn't want to-understand that his duty to Argentina is to turn over what he has to SIDE, and not embark on this mission to murder whoever killed and kidnapped his men." He let that sink in for a moment, then added, "I don't want you-by you, I mean you and Colonel Castillo-working with Duffy."

"And you think I want to?" Castillo said. "What if I have to?"

"Then I can't permit you to bring your helicopters into Uruguay."

"All I want to do is refuel helicopters at Estancia Shangri-La. They would be on the ground less than an hour, and they would not be coming back."

"An hour or two, plus whatever time it took them to reach the estancia, and then to leave Uruguayan air space," Ordonez corrected him.

&n

bsp; "That's right," Castillo said.

"If I had your word, and Alfredo's, I could arrange it so that you will not be working with Duffy."

"I can't give you my word," Castillo said. "It's going to be hard-impossible-for me not to work with Duffy. Duffy's told me that unless I can get my superiors to order me to work under his orders and share my assets with him, I will have to leave Argentina within twenty-four hours. And I have to say this: If you hadn't run at the mouth, I wouldn't have that problem."

Ordonez considered that a moment, then almost visibly decided not to take offense.

"I 'ran at the mouth'-an interesting phrase-before I understood what Duffy was planning to do. And before I discovered that he had lied to me."

"But the cow's out of the barn. It doesn't matter who opened the barn door or when or why. The damage has been done."

"And have your superiors ordered you to work with Duffy?"

Castillo hesitated before replying.

"Okay. Truth time. I have not asked my superior. But I'm going to call Duffy, very soon, and tell him that I have been ordered to do whatever he wants me to do."

"You're taking that responsibility on yourself?"

"I have been ordered to get an American Drug Enforcement Administration agent back from his kidnappers. The order carried with it the authority to do whatever I have to do to get him-his name is Timmons-back. There is no point in me calling my superior when I know his answer will be to do whatever I have to do."

Ordonez nodded.

"Colonel," he said, "let me tell you about my superior, superiors. Nominally, I am under the authority of the minister of the interior. But when a situation has international implications, I get my directions from the foreign minister as well. Actually-for purposes of credible deniability-I get them from Deputy Foreign Minister Alvarez.

"It was Alvarez who decided with me that it was in the best interests of Uruguay to ascribe the murder of Lorimer at his estancia, the murders of Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Zhdankov of the FSB and Howard Kennedy in Punta del Este, and of course the deaths of Major Vincenzo and his five friends at Shangri-La to internecine warfare in the drug business.

"I don't know-and don't want to know-what, if anything, Alvarez told the foreign minister about what we had done, but there was no pressure from either the Foreign Ministry or the Interior Ministry on me to zealously pursue the people responsible for all those deaths." He paused, then added, "Which, of course, would have included you and your men.

"It seemed to be the best solution to the problem. While murder is a terrible crime, no Uruguayans had been murdered. Kennedy and Zhdankov were buried beside Vincenzo and the others in graves marked 'Unknown' in the Sacred Heart of Jesus church cemetery in Tacuarembo.

"David Yung-through the American embassy-was repatriating the remains of Lorimer, and it seemed unlikely that the Russians or the Cubans would ask questions about Zhdankov or Vincenzo. And you and I had the little chat in which I suggested you should leave Uruguay and not come back soon. When you agreed to do so, I thought the matter was closed.

"I was wrong about that, of course. The day before Duffy called me-two days before he came here-Alvarez told me our ambassador in Washington had called him to report that Senator Homer Johns…"-he paused and looked at Castillo to see if he knew who he was talking about, and when Castillo nodded, went on-"…to ask him what he could tell him-officially or otherwise-about the death of Lorimer, or if he had heard anything about your Special Forces having conducted an operation in Uruguay."