Hazardous Duty (Presidential Agent 8)

“In other words, you don’t know.”

“Don’t be cruel, Admiral. You know that in time I’ll think of something.”

“The Czarina of the Gulf,” the Widow Alekseeva said.

“Isn’t it amazing how great minds march down similar paths?” Castillo asked. “I was just thinking of her.”

“Our marriage will be much happier, my darling,” the Widow Alekseeva said, “if you remember I always know when you’re lying to me.”

“Female intuition?”

“Actually, I think it’s more a course I took—Advanced Interrogation Techniques 204/2—at the SVR Staff College.”

“Who the hell is the Czarina of the Gulf?” Annapolis inquired.

“Not a ‘who,’ Admiral. A ‘she.’ The Czarina of the Gulf is the flagship of the Imperial Cruise Lines, Incorporated.”

“My darling,” the Widow Alekseeva interrupted, “get it right. That’s the Imperial Cruise Lines and Floating Casinos, Incorporated.”

“And a great operation that is,” Hotelier said admiringly. “They pack more people per square foot onto their vessels than any other cruise ship line and their food cost per passenger is the lowest in the industry. And from what I hear, their take from their casinos is just as good as mine, maybe a little better.”

“My cousin Aleksandr tells me the way he does that is to give his passengers all the free vodka they can drink,” the Widow Alekseeva explained. “Starting with a shot in their breakfast orange juice. That way they’re not as hungry or as particular when the food is served, and they tend to take greater chances at the crap tables.”

“Whatever he’s doing, Sweaty, he’s doing it right,” Hotelier said.

“Which vessel has been taken temporarily out of service so she may be used to accommodate the guests at our wedding,” Castillo went on. “Which frees her for use in the ‘C. G. Castillo Pirated Ship Recovery Training Program.’”

“How does that involve the SEALs?” Annapolis asked.

“What we’re going to do is have a couple of Delta Force A Teams simulate seizing the Czarina of the Gulf, and then the SEALs will try to take it back. All of this, of course, will be captured on motion cameras, so that we can send the video to President Clendennen to show him how hard we’re working.”

“How are you going to keep the SEALs and the Delta Force people from killing each other?” Radio & TV Stations asked.

“I’m still working on that,” Castillo replied. “The first thing that pops into my mind is taking their knives and other lethal weapons away from them and giving them paintball guns.”

[FOUR]

The Oval Office

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C.

1645 18 June 2007

“I thought I made it perfectly clear, Madam Secretary,” the President said, not at all pleasantly, “that I wanted to see Colonel Castillo and Roscoe J. Danton so they can explain to me what they were doing with the porn queen in Las Vegas.”

“You certainly made that perfectly clear, Mr. President,” Robin Hoboken said. “Didn’t you think he made that perfectly clear, Supervisory Special Agent Mulligan?”

“It was perfectly clear to me,” Mulligan said.

“And this fat Irishman doesn’t look like either of them,” the President said.

“Mr. President,” Secretary Cohen said, “this is Dr. Aloysius Casey.”

“If he’s a doctor, where’s his white coat and that thing that goes in his ears that every doctor I’ve ever seen has hanging around his neck?”