“I guess that’s right,” Castillo said.
He thought: My ol’ pal Juan Carlos didn’t come here for auld lang syne.
He came here to find out what’s going on here at Hacienda Santa Maria.
He may have even heard about the ex-Spetsnaz “citrus experts.”
Heard about but not seen.
Fernando flew them here onto our strip, and Stefan told them to keep out of sight, which means they did.
Which means I’m being interrogated.
Does Juan Carlos think I don’t know that?
Or doesn’t care if I do?
“And now you’re a retired colonel.”
“Retired lieutenant colonel,” Castillo said. “I got passed over for promotion to colonel twice. That was when they sent me to Uruguay.”
“So what brings you to Hacienda Santa Maria?”
“I think you know, Juan Carlos.”
“I don’t have a fucking clue, Carlos.”
“The Army officer who was kidnapped, Jim Ferris, is a West Point classmate of mine, an old friend. I thought—Fernando told me you’re the commandant of the Policía Federal in Oaxaca Province—you’d be the guy who would know. Maybe even tell me how I could help to get him back.”
“You want some good advice, Carlos?”
“That’s what I came here for.”
“Get in your airplane and go home. Better yet, go back to Uruguay. Before you and your friends get hurt. You don’t want to fuck with these people, Carlos. They’re really bad news.”
“So I’ve heard. Fernando told me. But I figured my old friend, now a heavy-duty Federale, could protect me.”
“Your old friend has a tough time protecting himself,” Juan Carlos said. “You saw Lieutenant Gomez, the guy with the CAR-15?”
Castillo nodded.
“There’s two more guys with CAR-15s in my Suburban, and four more of them in the other Suburban. I call them the American Express,’cause I never go anywhere without them. Don’t you read the papers?”
“You’re talking about the drug cartel people?”
“You bet your fucking ass I am.”
“I’ve been in Uruguay. There’s drugs in Uruguay. The cops down there don’t run around with CAR-15s.”
Pena looked at him as if he couldn’t believe Castillo’s naïveté.
Or stupidity. Or both.
“Well, Carlos, let me tell you about the drugs here,” Juan Carlos said. “As opposed to in Uruguay. Where the fuck is Uruguay, anyway?”
“On the other side of the river from Buenos Aires.”
Got you now, Juan Carlos, ol’ buddy!