Covert Warriors (Presidential Agent 7)

“Before, I thought it might be nice to have in case I needed it; now I know I have to have it, preferably late tomorrow afternoon, when I get back to the States.”

“Why do you have to have it?” Lammelle said, and immediately regretted it.

What I should have said is: “Sorry, Charley, forget that helicopter.”

“Frank, I don’t think you really want to know. Do you?”

“Yes, I do, Charley.”

“Why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind? Who told Roscoe what?”

“Roscoe called the attorney general about an hour ago and gave him until five minutes before Andy McClarren goes on Wolf News tonight to explain why Félix Abrego is being transferred from Florence ADMAX to a minimum-security prison near El Paso.”

“Okay, I’ll ask again: How the hell did Roscoe hear about that?”

“Until just now, I thought maybe you told him.”

“Not me. Natalie Cohen?”

“No. The suspect right now is Montvale, but why would he do that?”

“If that story gets out, Clendennen can’t send Abrego to Mexico,” Castillo said thoughtfully.

“Because it would be irrational, right? Think that through, Charley.”

“Jesus!” Castillo said, and a moment later asked, “Frank, that letter Clendennen wants President Whatsisname of Mexico . . .”

“Martinez,” Lammelle furnished. “Notice what? Natalie and I aren’t quite sure what to think about it.”

“Didn’t either of you think there was something strange in Clendennen wanting Martinez to tell him he wanted Abrego sent to the Oaxaca State Prison?”

“That went right over my head,” Lammelle said after a moment. “And Natalie’s, too, or else she would have said something. What’s that all about? What’s so special about the Oaxaca State Prison? For that matter, where is it?”

“In the middle of nowhere in Oaxaca State. Not anywhere near the U.S.-Mexican border. But not far from the Guatemalan border.”

“Where there is a new cultural affairs officer of the Russian Federation . . .”

“Valentin Komarovski, aka Sergei Murov,” Castillo furnished.

“Which means what?”

“Somebody’s planning for something to happen at that prison.”

“Who? What?”

“There are three—at least three—things going on here, Frank. One is that the drug people want their guy Abrego back, and kidnapped Ferris so they can swap him. We don’t know if they’re doing that by themselves or whether it’s being orchestrated by the Russians. It’s possible that there is some sort of coup d’état going on. Natalie said that McCarthy, the President’s new press secretary, wrote that letter, and we don’t know if the President was responsible for the ‘send Abrego to Oaxaca’ clause, or whether that was put in by McCarthy. Clendennen either didn’t see it or did see it and didn’t smell the Limburger. But who told McCarthy to put that in, and why? It could’ve been Sergei Murov, but that’s a stretch. Or maybe Montvale, which also is a stretch.

“But one scenario there has that whatever is going to happen at that prison will go wrong, that the letter will be leaked to the press, and Clendennen will be in trouble.

“And that raises the question of who told Roscoe and why. That seems to point at Montvale.”

“Natalie said he’d do that after something goes wrong, not before.”

“And since she is smarter than you and me combined, she’s probably right.”

Lammelle grunted his agreement, then said: “And while all this is going on, Schmidt and the FBI are dealing—or are about to deal—with the drug cartels, if they are the drug cartels—and not the Russians.”

“Curiouser and curiouser.”