Black Ops (Presidential Agent 5)

"I love it," she said. "And so will you when you see it. I'm going to buy it. And this is Mr. Lee-Watson, who's going to sell it to me."

Three people were standing in the high-ceilinged foyer: El Coronel Alfredo Munz, Corporal Lester Bradley, USMC, and a very tall, elegantly tailored man in his forties.

"Delighted to make your acquaintance, sir. Cedric Lee-Watson."

His accent suggested he was the duke who owned this Scottish Highlands castle.

Castillo took the proffered hand and looked at Munz, asking with his eyes, Who the hell is this guy, and what's he doing in Pevsner's safe house?

"Mr. Lee-Watson handles real estate for our mutual friend in Bariloche," Munz explained.

"Indeed, for he whose name is only rarely, and then very carefully, spoken," Lee-Watson said.

"Cedric built this place--the club--for our friend," Munz said.

Lester Bradley caught Castillo's attention. "Colonel, can I see you for a minute, please?"

"What's up, Lester?"

"Privately, sir?"

"Won't that wait until after I show him the house?" Svetlana protested.

Castillo took Bradley's arm and led him farther into the house, to one side of a wide stairway at the end of a foyer.

"Okay, what, Lester?"

"As soon as I got the AFC set up, there was a call for you from Mr. D'Allessando."

"What did he want?" Castillo asked, surprised.

On his retirement from twenty-four years of service--twenty-two of it in Special Forces--Chief Warrant Officer Five Victor D'Allessando had gone to work for the Special Operations Command as a Department of the Army civilian. Theoretically, he was a technical advisor to the commanding general of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg. What he actually did for the Special Operations Command was not talked about.

"He said a friend wants to talk to you, sir."

"Well, get on the horn and get him back, Les."

"Yes, sir."

Bradley walked to the foot of the stairs, then ran up them, taking them two at a time.

Svetlana, trailed by Delchamps, Davidson, and Lee-Watson, crossed the foyer to Castillo.

"Vic D'Allessando was on the horn," Castillo reported. "He said a friend wants to talk to me."

Delchamps and Davidson both shrugged, indicating they had no idea what D'Allessando might have on his mind.

Everybody started up the stairs to the second floor.

[THREE]

Ten minutes later, as Svetlana and Lee-Watson had just about finished showing all the comforts the master suite offered, Bradley walked in and announced, "I've got Mr. D'Allessando for you, sir. The AFC is just down the hall."

Delchamps read Castillo's mind.

"You want us to wait here, Ace?"

Castillo exhaled audibly.