"Well, let's see what happens toward the end of next month," Castillo said. Then he saw Jake Torine and Dick Sparkman walking across the hangar floor toward them. "Well, here come the airplane drivers. I guess it's time to go."
[THREE]
Above Antwerp, Belgium
2045 26 December 2005
Jake Torine said, "You've got it, Dick," then removed his headset, unstrapped himself, and went into the passenger compartment.
It was crowded. The travel kennel was in the aisle at the rear. Madchen was lying in the aisle in front of it, keeping an eye on Max, who was lying in the aisle just inside the passenger compartment--and attached to Jack Davidson by a strong leash. Max was having trouble understanding not only that the honeymoon was over, but that the mother of their offspring had decided that he was a bad influence on their progeny and didn't want him anywhere near them.
There were two couches, one on each side of the aisle. Billy Kocian--in a red silk dressing gown--was sprawled regally on one of them, reading, and Jack Doherty was on the other, snoring softly with his mouth open. David W. Yung was in the right forward-facing seat and typing on the computer in his lap. Edgar Delchamps was sitting, asleep, in the forward-facing seat nearest the stair door. Sandor Tor, also asleep, sat in the rear-facing chair across from Delchamps.
Across the aisle, Davidson, with Max attached to him, was sitting in the rear-facing seat across from Castillo, who was on the telephone. When Castillo saw Torine, he held up a finger to signal Jake to wait.
"I don't think there'll be a problem with our ambassador," Castillo said. "But this will make sure there's no problem with the other one." He paused to listen, then said, "Thank you very much, ma'am."
This strongly suggested to Torine that Castillo was talking to Secretary of State Natalie Cohen.
"Yes, ma'am, I will," Castillo said. "Thank you again, Madam Secretary." And then he said: "Break it down, please, White House," and put the handset in its cradle on the bulkhead.
"What was that all about?"
"The secretary of State is about to telephone our evil leprechaun in Montevideo--"
"I thought Duffy was our evil leprechaun."
"Comandante Liam Duffy is our evil leprechaun in Argentina. I was referring to our evil leprechaun in Uruguay, one Ambassador Michael A. McGrory."
"Oh. Thank you for the clarification. And what is the secretary going to say to the ambassador?"
"That she is dispatching a Secret Service agent by the name of Britton--recently a member of the Vice President's Protection Detail--to ensure the safety of Ambassador Lorimer, and that he is to be given what support he asks for and not to be assigned other duties."
"Did you happen to mention the circumstances under which Britton left the protection detail?"
"Yeah. I don't try to con her. She's (a) too nice and (b) too smart. I told her just about everything except his rudeness to the SACs. And then I asked her what she thought about sending him to check on the ambassador's security arrangements, and she thought that was a splendid idea."
"You knew she would. She really likes the old guy. You don't consider that conning her?"
"No, I don't."
Torine shook his head.
"You noticed that thanks to a lovely tailwind we didn't have to land for fuel?" Torine asked.
Castillo nodded.
"We're about two hundred miles--half an hour--from Flughafen Frankfurt am Main," Torine went on."There was an in-flight advisory just now; we are to be met by unidentified government authorities."
Castillo raised his eyebrows, then looked at Davidson. "Jack, make sure to remind me to remind everybody my name is Gossinger."
"Jawohl, Herr Oberst."
"Just 'herr,' Jack. My grandfather was the oberst. I'm the ne'er-do-well heir to the fruit of his hard labor."
"I knew that," Davidson said.
Ground Control directed the Gulfstream to a tarmac and collection of buildings away from the main terminal. Castillo thought--but wasn't sure--that it was probably what was left of what had been Rhine-Main USAF Base.