The Shooters (Presidential Agent 4)

"And may I suggest the sitting room, gentlemen?" Colin said, gesturing grandly in that direction.

Everyone filed into the sitting room and watched as Colin prepared the drinks. When he was finished, he gave the first one to the ambassador and then passed the others.

"What is this?" Ordonez asked, suspiciously.

"If we tell you, you probably won't drink it," Castillo said.

"This is a Sazerac, el Senor Ordonez," Ambassador Lorimer said, holding up his glass. "A near-sacred New Orleans tradition, and certainly the appropriate libation with which to wet down my new home, but, frankly, I'm reluctant to have Colin offer you one."

"Why is that, Mr. Ambassador?" Ordonez asked, politely and more than a little uncomfortably.

"Now that I am a retired diplomat, I don't have to drink with people I know are lying to me."

Ordonez flushed.

"Who are you, really?" Lorimer asked.

Ordonez was silent a long moment.

"I'll make a deal with you, Mr. Ambassador," Ordonez then said. "You tell me who he really is"-he pointed at Colin-"and I will…clarify…my identity."

The butler looked at Castillo, who was smiling and shaking his head.

Castillo nodded.

The butler said, "Chief Warrant Officer Five Colin Leverette, el Senor Ordonez."

"You're a soldier?" Ordonez asked.

Leverette nodded.

"And you are?" Ambassador Lorimer pursued.

"I'm Chief Inspector Ordonez of the Interior Police Division of the Uruguayan Policia Nacional, Mr. Ambassador."

"Thank you," Lorimer said. "You may give him the Sazerac, please, Colin…or should I address you as 'Chief'?"

"'Colin' is fine, sir," Castillo answered for him.

Leverette delivered the drink to Ordonez, then said, "To clarify my identity, Chief Inspector: I am what is known in the profession as a shooter from the stockade. And now that I've told you that, I'll have to kill you."

Ordonez shook his head in disbelief.

"To the ambassador's new home," Castillo said, raising his glass.

There was a chorus of "Hear, hear" and the drinks were sipped.

After a moment, the ambassador held out his empty glass to Colin Leverette.

"If you'll be so kind as to freshen that up, Colin, before my wife returns from her inspection of the culinary facilities, we can turn to the discussion of the few little problems Colonel Castillo mentioned."

Ten minutes later, Castillo looked around the room.

"Did I leave anything out?"

"That pretty well covered it, Ace," Edgar Delchamps said. "And actually, now that I've had a chance to think it over, it's not all gloom and despair, despite what the secretary of State has done to us with her decision to become Mother Teresa in addition to her other duties." He looked at the ambassador. "No offense, sir."

"None taken."