The Hunters (Presidential Agent 3)

“Charley, you know as well as I do that once those NSA people latch on to something, they’re like dogs with a meaty bone,” Miller said.

“Agnes,” Castillo said, “I want Yung on the next plane to Buenos Aires.”

“You mean today?” Yung asked.

“I mean in an hour, if that’s when the next plane leaves.”

“What am I going to do in Buenos Aires?”

“In Montevideo, you are going to make sure that whatever information the embassy has turned up there about recent wire transfers out of the accounts of Señor Jean-Paul Bertrand is not reported to the State Department and that they don’t turn up anything more that will be reported.”

“Good God, you go to prison for destroying evidence!” Yung said.

“You’re not going to destroy evidence,” Castillo said. “You’re going to collect that evidence and get it to Mr. Forbison, who will establish and maintain a classified file on that money from step one.”

He leaned forward in the high-backed judge’s chair and pulled the red telephone to him.

“Which of these buttons is Natalie Cohen’s?” he asked, looking at Mr. Forbison.

“Five,” she said.

He pushed the fifth button.

“Castillo, Madam Secretary,” he said. “Can you give me a moment?”

Castillo explained the situation, then listened to her thoughts.

“Thank you very much, Madam Secretary. I think this will handle the problem. I’ll keep you advised,” Castillo said.

He put the handset back in the cradle and looked at Special Agent Yung.

“You should have picked up on that, Yung,” Castillo said. “But, in case you didn’t, the secretary of state will message the ambassador in Montevideo that she is dispatching an FBI agent with special knowledge of the situation—you—down there to investigate the financial affairs of Mr. Lorimer/Bertrand, that they are to turn over to you whatever they have developed so far, and that you will make your report directly to her.”

“Okay,” Yung said.

“You will make two reports,” Castillo said.

“Two?”

Castillo nodded.

“One will be a complete report of everything you know, what the other FBI guys know, and the details of the wire transfers of the money from his account to yours. You will take that one, by hand, to the embassy in Buenos Aires, and give it to Alex Darby, who will be expecting it and who will send it to Mr. Forbison in a diplomatic pouch. That will take a day longer, but we won’t get involved with encryption.”

“I don’t understand that, Charley,” Mr. Forbison said. “Why not encrypt it?”

“Whenever you encrypt anything, two more people, the encrypt or and the decrypt or, are in on the secret.”

“I never thought about that,” she said. “You don’t trust cryptographers?”

“I trust them more than most people I know. I’m just being careful.”

When she nodded her understanding, he turned back to Yung.

“The second report will include what the other FBI guys down there have found out and a sanitized version of what you know. No details of how much money was in those accounts before we made the transfers, just how much we left in them. And, of course, no mention of the wire transfers. This one you will give to the ambassador in Montevideo, requesting that he have it encrypted and transmitted to the secretary of state. Got it?”

“You’re asking me to officially submit a report I know to be dishonest. I’m not sure I can do that.”

“What I am ordering you to do is submit a report less certain details that are classified Top Secret Presidential. There’s a difference. There was no reason for the ambassador to be told about the Finding and he has not been told. He does not have the Need to Know about that money or what we have done with it.”