The Outlaws (Presidential Agent 6)

D’Allessando chuckled.

Don’t let either of these bastards make you lose your temper!

“And did you?”

“I managed to have a chat with him.”

“And? Where is he?”

“He didn’t say. But he’s agreeable to talk with you, if you like, as an old friend.”

“Right now, General, we’re not old friends, but a general officer and a lieutenant colonel.”

“Oh, I guess I misspoke. Or at least should have made this clear. I spoke with a German national by the name of Karl Wilhelm von und zu Gossinger. During the course of our conversation, he said he was surprised that I didn’t know that Lieutenant Colonel Castillo, Retired, having been ordered by the President of the United States to disappear and never be heard from again, was in compliance with his orders.”

“General, the President of the United States has ordered me to order Colonel Castillo—”

“General, how can you order someone to do anything who has disappeared and will never be heard from again?”

D’Allessando chuckled again and smiled at Naylor.

“Something amuses you, D’Allessando?” Naylor snapped.

“Looks like you have a problem, General,” D’Allessando said.

“Get the hell out of my office!”

“Yes, sir,” D’Allessando said, and put out his hand. “May I have my CaseyBerry, please?”

You sonofabitch, that’s going to cost you!

“What Herr von und zu Gossinger said he is willing to do, General,” McNab went on, “is meet you in Cancún tomorrow morning.”

“Cancún, Mexico?” Naylor asked incredulously.

“That’s the one. And he wants you to fly there commercially. There’s an Aeromexico flight out of Lauderdale tonight at seventeen-thirty; it’ll put you in there a little after oh-one-thirty. They call it the Drug Dealer’s Red-Eye. He says it probably would attract less attention if you didn’t wear your uniform ...”

Sonofabitch!!!

“. . . and he hopes you and your party will be his guests at El Dorado Royale in Cancún. People from El Dorado Royale—it’s a five-star hotel—will meet your flight. How many will there be in your party, General?”

“That would presume I’m going along with this, wouldn’t it?”

“Excuse me, General?”

“Myself, Mr. Lammelle, Major Brewer, and, I presume, Mr. D’Allessando. And my son.”

“Oh, Allan’s coming? Good. I’m sure Herr von und zu Gossinger will be glad to see him. And it’ll be educational for him, won’t it?”

“Is that about it?”

“General, I think I should tell you that I don’t think Char . . . Herr von und zu Gossinger is going to be in Cancún. I don’t think he entirely trusts Frank Lammelle. But it’s the first step. And we are playing by his rules, aren’t we?”

“For the moment,” Naylor said.

“Your tickets will be waiting for you at the airport. First class, of course. There’s nothing cheap about our ... Herr von und zu Gossinger, is there? Nice to talk to you, General.”

There was a muted click and General Naylor realized that General McNab was no longer on the line.