Black Ops (Presidential Agent 5)

"I don't know," Castillo said. He paused. "Abuela, don't let him know I told you, but Billy's friend didn't die of natural causes."

"I'm not surprised. It was in his eyes."

"What I'm saying is that Billy is now pretty angry, and that may help us with Otto."

"I don't think I understand," Dona Alicia said.

"He doesn't like us using the Tages Zeitung as a source of information."

"But you're the boss," Agnes said.

"I don't want to have to confront him more than I already have," Castillo said. "I don't want him to quit."

"He wouldn't do that," Dona Alicia said. "Not only is the Tages Zeitung his life, but he loves you."

"He also has the journalistic ethical standards he got from my grandfather, and he doesn't think my grandfather would give the CIA the time of day."

"But you're not CIA," Agnes said.

"I don't think Otto believes that," Castillo said. "Anyway, Billy was closer to my grandfather than Otto was--closer than anyone else ever was--and what I'm hoping is that he will go through the Tages Zeitung database like a vacuum cleaner on overdrive and Otto will get the message. We'll see."

The rear door of the hangar rose with a metallic screech.

"For what we're paying for this place, you'd think they could afford a little grease," Castillo said.

Three cars drove into the hangar. A total of five uniformed officers got out.

"Here comes the bureaucracy," Castillo said. "I guess we can leave now."

"Not until you arrange the dogs," Agnes said. "How long is that going to go on?"

"Otto's kids get one of the puppies, whether or not Otto likes it--"

"Carlos!"

"One pup I'm keeping for a friend of mine in Argentina," Castillo went on. "That leaves two. One of which Delchamps says he wants."

"Of course he does! Didn't you see him on his knees with the puppies yesterday?"

"And Billy says he wants one to keep Madchen company. So that's it. Once we get Billy back to Budapest, no more airborne Noah's ark."

"And you keep Max?" Dona Alicia asked.

"It will be Max and me alone against the cold cruel world."

"Billy doesn't want him? Or he's just saying that to be nice to you?"

"I don't know, Abuela," Castillo said. "I asked him. He said he doesn't think Madchen will betray him the way Max has."

"He doesn't mean that," Dona Alicia said.

"Yeah, I know. But he's already named the pup Max, making that his Max the Tenth or Twelfth." Castillo looked at Agnes and changed the subject. "Are you going to put my grandma on her plane?"

"After we have a nice lunch in the Old Ebbitt Grill, I will," Agnes said. "What do I do about the apartment in the Mayflower?"

"When does the lease run out?"

"The end of next month; you have to give them ten days' notice."