“You don’t actually have to talk to him, Tom. Just locate him. Put him under really tight surveillance. Then call my office and tell them to get word to me that you’ve found Colonel Castillo. I’ll take it from there.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get right on it.”
“Good man! I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you were on duty, Tom. I know I can rely on you.”
“Thank you, sir. I’ll do my best.”
There may be just about a dime’s worth of silver in this black cloud. Darby might be at the house in Alexandria. He might know where Castillo is. And he might tell McGuire.
Montvale found I. Ronald Spears waiting for him outside the communications room.
“Get in touch with that Air Force colonel, Spears. Tell him to keep the pilots off the booze. Something has come up that might require my immediate return to Washington.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do that immediately after you drop me off at the hotel.”
“Yes, sir.”
[FOUR]
7200 West Boulevard Drive
Alexandria, Virginia
1525 6 February 2007
Dianne Sanders, a grandmotherly type in her early fifties, was wearing an apron over her dress when she answered the chimes.
“Well, hello, Mr. McGuire. What brings you to our door?”
“I’m hoping Mrs. Darby is here,” Tom McGuire said.
“Can I wonder why you might hope that? Or would that be impolite?”
“Come on, Dianne,” McGuire said.
“I’ll see if Mrs. Darby is at home. If you’ll please wait?”
“Lock up the liquor,” Mrs. Julia Darby said thirty seconds later. “The Secret Service is here.”
She walked up to McGuire, and said, “I’m not sure if I’m glad to see you or not. But I’ll give you a kiss anyway.”
She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek.
“Are you here socially or otherwise, Tom?” she asked.
“Otherwise, I’m afraid.”
“Uh-oh.”
“Why did I suspect that?” Dianne Sanders asked.
“I have been ordered here by Ambassador Montvale to see if Alex is here, and if not, to ask you to tell me where he is.”
“Did he say why he was curious?”
“He hopes Alex will point him to Charley Castillo. He says he has a message for him.”