She knew that I was talking to Lammelle on the phone, even from the one side of the conversation I let her hear.
So, just as fast as she came up with the address for Juan Carlos, when she saw that I was already challenging Pevsner’s authority, she decided the way to deal with the situation was in bed. She could control me there.
And why shouldn’t she think so?
Less than twenty-four hours after we first met, she was in my bed—and has been leading me around by the wang ever since.
So she grabbed hold of it under the table here.
And I can’t even get really pissed off at her. She is what she is, and what she is is a fourth—hell, maybe sixth—generation Soviet spook.
Can I be pissed at me—James Bond Junior?
Sure.
Because James Bond Junior is acting not like even a junior spook—one six months out of Fort Huachuca or the Farm—but like some seventeen-year-old with raging hormones who just got laid for the first time and is convinced there has never been love like this since Adam screwed Eve in the Garden of Eden.
And because it’s humiliating having to face proof of my gross stupidity.
Sweaty came out of the bathroom, holding a towel by its edges.
“Showtime!” she said, and dropped the towel.
That has to be the most beautiful woman in the world.
She walked on her toes to the bed quickly and with exquisite grace and got in beside him.
She laid her body half across Castillo, making him think that she had the most wonderful breasts he had ever encountered by any standard he could think of.
“You play the fool so well,” she said, “that sometimes I forget that you’re not a fool at all.”
He could feel her breath against his ear.
“Flattery will get you everywhere,” he said. “But what specifically do you have in mind?”
“Aleksandr’s face, when you told him you never discuss business when you’re drinking, especially with this family, was priceless.”
Well, here it is. The schmooze starts.
“Beware of Russians bearing booze is my motto, baby.”
“And why didn’t you tell me you’re a legend?”
“Who said I was?”
“Kiril. When I said, ‘Thank you for letting Carlos fly as your co-pilot,’ he said, ‘I was glad to have him. I don’t think anyone knows more about flying in the mountains than he does. He even wrote a book about it. He’s a legend in the American army.’ Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Modesty.”
She pinched his nipple.
Well, she’s a good schmoozer. I almost believe her.
“Can I ask you a personal question?” he said.
“No.”
“What kind of don’t-get-pregnant medicine do you take?” he pursued, then thought: Where the hell did that come from? Did Alek put a little sodium pentothal in that vodka?