Black Ops (Presidential Agent 5)

"My woman says I now have a zipper," Janos said, and drew a line from his waist up his side to his armpit." He was quiet a moment, then added, "I never say, 'Thank you, Colonel'--so, thank you."

"You're welcome, Janos."

A Jeep Wrangler, so new it looked right off a showroom floor, was at the end of the pier. It had a driver waiting behind the wheel.

Max jumped in the front seat and sat there.

"In the back, Max," Castillo ordered.

Max reluctantly complied after the order had been repeated three times.

"He bite me if I get in back?" Janos asked.

"Probably," Castillo said, and somewhat awkwardly got in the back.

[FIVE]

Aleksandr Pevsner, a tall, dark-haired man, wearing linen trousers and jacket and a yellow polo shirt, was waiting for them under a huge chandelier in the foyer of the enormous house.

"You've lost a lot of weight, Hermann," Castillo greeted him in German. "And some hair, too. Been on a diet here in 'Karinhall,' have you? Nothing but knockwurst und sauerkraut?"

Pevsner smiled as if he really didn't want to.

"Frankly, there are times when one wishes never to see dear friends again," Pevsner replied in Russian. "This is one of them."

"I love you too, Aleksandr," Castillo said. "But I hope you aren't going to kiss me."

"Never fear. Where's the redhead?"

"What redhead?"

"The one you flew here in that little airplane."

"A gentleman never discusses his love life. Didn't your mother teach you that?" He held up the puppy and gestured at Max. "Besides, I've come to trust only canines."

Pevsner ignored that. "How is your . . . wound?"

"My leg is coming along just fine. My ass, not so good. Thank you for asking."

"You are absolutely impossible!"

"Does that mean you're not going to offer me a drink?"

"Now that I see you don't have some floozy with you, I would be honored if you would have a glass of champagne with Anna and me." Pevsner gestured toward the open door of the library.

"Where's the statue?" Castillo said, looking around the foyer. "I would have thought it would be at the foot of the stairs."

"What statue?" Pevsner asked automatically, and then his face showed that he understood he was about to have his chain pulled.

"Of Lenin," Castillo said. "To prove you didn't buy this place because of your admiration for the late Reichsforst-und-Jagermeister."

He threw Pevsner a stiff-armed Nazi salute.

"Charley, you're not teasing him already?" a tall, svelte blonde asked in Russian as they walked into the library.

"Teasing him?" Castillo replied as he walked to her and kissed her cheek. "If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and has a house made from the same plans as Hermann Goering's hunting lodge . . ."

"We didn't realize that until we bought the place, and you know it," she said, laughing. Her attention went to Castillo's arms. "What are you doing with that puppy?"