Black Ops (Presidential Agent 5)

Svetlana asked, "Where?"

"All any of us really know about the Congo is to keep your hand on your wallet and don't drink the water," Delchamps said. "But Ambassador Lorimer was stationed there. He was running through the bush around Stanleyville with a couple of ASA guys when the cannibals were eating missionaries in the town square."

"They didn't eat all of them, Edgar," Leverette said. "I mean, they ate only their livers. That kept them from being hurt by bullets."

"I stand corrected," Delchamps said.

"When we jumped the Belgian paratroops on Stanleyville to save the missionaries," Castillo said, "it was called Operation Rouge; I read the after-actions. They jumped them onto the airfield. So there's an airport there."

"Maybe was," Jack Davidson said. "According to GoogleMaps and the CIA, there's no airport now."

"Supplies to the laboratory would have to be flown in," Svetlana offered. "So there has to be an airport. What is this 'Shangri-La'?"

"Charley, McNab wasn't kidding about wanting to know everything," Dick Miller said. "If you don't have your oral Ph.D. thesis in African studies ready to recite when we go to see him, he'll pull the plug on you. And we're going to need that 727."

"Carlos, my darling," Svetlana said. "What about Rule One?"

He looked at her until he took her meaning.

"Shangri-La is a mythical city of splendor somewhere in Asia," he said solemnly, then added: "It's also the name of the estancia Lorimer bought in Uruguay. His father--a retired ambassador--and mother inherited it and moved there when they lost their home in New Orleans to Hurricane Katrina."

"And," Davidson added, "where they have a half-dozen guys from China Post keeping them company. Odds are one or more of them will know more about the Congo than any of us do."

" 'China Post'?" Berezovsky asked, smiling.

"Shanghai China Post Number One of the American Legion in Exile, Tom," Leverette said. "Surely you've heard of it?"

"Of course," Berezovsky said.

"Okay," Castillo said, chuckling. "Shangri-La it is. Chief of Staff, let's hear your plan."

Miller looked at him in disbelief.

"Charley, I wouldn't know where to begin . . ." he protested before he realized his chain was being pulled.

"He got you, Gimpy, didn't he?" Delchamps said.

Miller shook his head in mock disgust. "My experience with him, over long years, is that he's most dangerous when he thinks he's being funny."

"And that evens the score, doesn't it, Ace?"

Castillo said: "Okay, let me have a shot at it, then, since our crippled friend here has owned up to his inadequacy. First question: Are you all right to fly, Dick?"

Miller nodded.

"I don't think Paul or Susanna needs to go to Shangri-La, because they're not going to Africa. We can bring them up to speed after we find out what we can find out at the estancia. That will leave Paul free to deal with Duffy."

He looked at the others. With the exception of Berezovsky and Svetlana, who showed no reaction, everyone either nodded or gave a thumbs-up.

"You all right, Tom, with sending your wife and Sof'ya to Bariloche?" Castillo asked.

Berezovsky nodded.

"Two ways to do that," Castillo went on, "three, if they fly there commercial, and commercial means that Sof'ya would have to leave Marina here with Susanna. The other two options are to drive them there--which would attract the least attention, but it's a hell of a long ride--or for Dick and me to fly them there in the Gulfstream. Comments?"

"No-brainer, Charley," Leverette said. "The Gulfstream."

The others showed their agreement, except Berezovsky, whose face was inscrutable.