“Wither Castillo goeth, so goeth Roscoe,” the President said. “I made a deal—the nature of which is none of your business—with Danton.” He paused. “You can show these nice people out now, Mulligan.”
[SIX]
Estancia Shangri-La
Tacuarembó Provincia
Republic Orientale de Uruguay
1015 9 June 2007
A Chrysler van, bearing diplomatic license plates, pulled up before the veranda of the big house, and C. Gregory Damon, who was the chief security officer of the United States embassy in Montevideo, got out. Mr. Damon, who was forty-four years old and a very black-skinned man of African heritage, stood six feet three inches tall and weighed 225 pounds.
He bounded agilely up the steps to the veranda and said, “Good morning, Mr. Ambassador.”
“Damon,” Ambassador Philippe Lorimer, Retired—a seventy-four-year-old very black-skinned man of African heritage who stood five feet four inches tall and weighed 135 pounds—replied. “It’s always a pleasure to welcome you to Shangri-La.”
Mr. Damon walked to Lieutenant Colonel Allan B. Naylor, Junior, said, “You must be Naylor. I know these other three clowns,” and handed him a manila envelope.
The three clowns to whom he referred were Chief Warrant Officer Five Colin Leverette, USA, Retired, a forty-five-year-old, very black-skinned man of African heritage who stood six feet two inches tall and weighed 210 pounds; Major H. Richard Miller, Junior, USA, Retired, a thirty-six-year-old, six-foot-two, 220-pound, very dark-skinned man of African heritage; and Lieutenant Colonel Carlos G. Castillo, USA, Retired, who was not only not of African heritage but whose fair skin didn’t even suggest he might be of Spanish heritage.
Colonel Naylor took the envelope, extracted a single sheet of paper from it, read it, and handed it to Colonel Castillo.
TOP SECRET
WASH DC 0010 9 JUN 2007
FROM SEC STATE
LT COL A.B. NAYLOR, JR
US EMBASSY MONTEVIDEO
REFERENCE YOUR SITREP #2
INFORM CGC POTUS AGREEABLE TO TERMS WITH FOLLOWING CAVEATS:
-1- REPORTS TO POTUS WILL BE ON A TWO-DAY REPEAT TWO-DAY BASIS NOT REPEAT NOT TWO-WEEK SCHEDULE
-2- DO NOT BEGIN ANY TRAVEL UNTIL MR. ROSCOE J. DANTON JOINS YOUR PARTY; HE WILL GO WHEREVER YOU GO
COHEN, SEC STATE
TOP SECRET
Castillo read the message and handed it to Mr. Leverette.
“Well, Uncle Remus, now we know what she told us on the CaseyBerry last night,” he said. “But not what this business about Roscoe is all about.”
“I’m sure he will tell us when he gets here,” Leverette said.
“And I’m sure someone is going to tell me what this Southern Cone meeting of the NAACP is all about,” C. Gregory Damon said.
“We really don’t want that word to get out in the State Department, Greg,” Castillo said. “And since you’ve put on those striped pants and thus abandoned your friends in the special ops community…”
“With all possible respect, Colonel, sir,” Mr. Damon said, and gave Castillo the finger.
“We have returned to where it all began to start again,” Castillo said, “for a period not to exceed ninety days. I’m on a recruiting mission. Are you interested?”