By Order of the President (Presidential Agent 1)

“Then you should, too, Tony,” General Towson said. “Close the door.”

Towson waited until the door was closed, then looked at Lustrous.

“One sentence, Fred,” he said. “For the good of the service? ”

“Sir, I think it’s very probable that just before he went to Vietnam, where he earned a posthumous Medal of Honor, a young warrant officer impregnated a German girl to whom he was not married.”

Towson looked at him for a long moment.

“That’s one hell of a one-sentence summary, Fred,” he said. “I was expecting to hear something like ‘hanky-panky in dependent housing.’ ”

Lustrous didn’t reply.

“You’re sure of your facts?” Towson asked.

“No, sir, but I’d bet ten-to-one on what we think.”

“Why did this come up now? The mother just found out the guy was a hero?”

“No, sir. The mother just found out she’s dying—pancreatic cancer—and there is no other family here to take care of the boy, who is now twelve.”

“Why do you think she’s telling the truth?”

“I was a friend of her father’s, sir. And she is not after money.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because she has more than she needs. She’s Frau Erika von und zu Gossinger, General. There’s a brewery, three newspapers, and other properties.”

“Related to the guy who wiped himself out on the autobahn? ”

“That was her father, sir, and her brother.”

“And how did this come to your attention?”

“She told Netty, General. Yesterday at lunch. I think she’s telling

the truth, sir.”

“She probably is, but we can’t take any chances,” General Towson said. “Tony, get on the horn to Saint Louis, tell them to send us . . . what’s this fellow’s name?”

“Warrant Officer Junior Grade Jorge Alejandro Castillo, sir,” Sergeant Major Dieter furnished.

“. . . Mr. Castillo’s service record, and any other information they have about him right now, and to follow that up with Xeroxes of everything else they can find sent by the most expeditious means. If they say they can’t do it today, you tell them I said if they said they can’t I’m going to route my request through the chief of staff. If they ask why, you don’t know. Got it?”

"Yes, sir.”

“Do that right now,” Towson said. “Rupert can bring you up to speed about what we talk about now.”

“Yes, sir,” Sergeant Major Sanguenetti said and looked at Sergeant Major Dieter, who was writing Mr. Castillo’s full name on a sheet of paper. When Dieter handed it to him, Sanguenetti left the office.

Towson looked at Lustrous.

“Getting records out of Saint Louis is like pulling teeth,” he said. “I actually had to go to the chief of staff a couple of weeks ago. I hope they remember that.” He paused thoughtfully and then went on. “Okay. Let’s say you’re right, Fred . . . and if Netty believes this woman, you probably are. Where do we go from here?”

Colonel Lustrous had served under General Towson twice and correctly suspected here that sentence was rhetorical and Towson did not expect an answer.

“If Mr. Castillo was married,” Towson went on, “that’s one situation. Death benefits and possibly a pension would have gone to his widow, benefits to which this German boy may be entitled. I’ll have a talk with the judge advocate and get the details. If he wasn’t married, that’s another situation. Okay. We don’t know enough now to make any kind of a decision. The only thing I can think of right now is to get a blood sample. A little coldheartedly, if there’s a match it won’t prove anything. If there’s not, it would prove there was no parental relationship. So the only thing I can tell you to do, Fred, is to get a sample, a large sample, of the boy’s blood, and make sure we can testify we were there when the sample was taken and that the blood never left our custody.”