Black Ops (Presidential Agent 5)

Montvale glowered at him but said nothing. He started to stand.

"You want to hear me out?" Castillo asked.

Montvale looked at him, then took his seat. "If you insist."

Castillo puffed his cigar as he gathered his thoughts.

He exhaled, then said: "First of all, the Russians are not going to get on your airplane to be flown to a CIA safe house in Maryland. I don't think I could talk them into that if I wanted to, and I don't. Second, I have no intention of signing anything Colonel Remley may have in his briefcase. That's the 'what's not going to happen' part of my scenario.

"The second part, 'what is going to happen,' is that--with or without your help--I'm going to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to verify what I've been told is going on there."

"You're out of your mind!"

"And when I have proof of that, I'm going to take that factory out myself, and if I can't do that, lay the proof on the President's desk and tell him I did what I did because the CIA refused--again--to believe what I told them."

"You know I can't permit you to do anything like that," Montvale said.

"And you know you can't stop me," Castillo said. "So here is a possible compromise that should cover most of the bases:

"First, we get Dick Miller on the first plane down here. I need somebody to help me fly the Gulfstream, as Colonel Torine and Captain Sparkman are going to return to Washington with you. Another proof for you to show your pal the journalist that I was not running OOA--Torine is a full-bird colonel; I'm a lowly lieutenant colonel.

"Jack Doherty of the FBI is now in Vienna with Dave Yung. They are no longer needed there, as I have turned up another very reliable source of information vis-a-vis who assassinated the Kuhls and Friedler . . ."

"Your new Russian friends, obviously," Montvale said sarcastically.

". . . and tried to kill Duffy and the Brittons. When all the t's are crossed and all the i's dotted, I will turn that information over to you.

"I spoke with Doherty and Yung last night. Yung's resignation from the FBI will be in the mail this morning. So he will not be available to anyone, like Whelan, to be questioned.

"Doherty, on the other hand, wants to return to the J. Edgar Hoover Building. So he's on his way to Washington, where, if Whelan finds him, he can tell Whelan that he was on temporary duty with the OOA, analyzing the operations of Homeland Security, had always worked for Torine, and knows almost nothing about me except that he heard I wasn't playing with a full deck.

"Alex Darby and Edgar Delchamps are going to retire from the agency and won't be available. Jack Britton will resign from the Secret Service, as will Tony Santini; Whelan won't be able to find them, I don't think, and even if he does, will learn nothing from them."

"Ambassador Silvio," Montvale said, "I put it to you that you've heard enough of this to fairly conclude that Lieutenant Colonel Castillo is not only as unstable as the doctors in Walter Reed have concluded but that he is threatening to do a number of things--which he is entirely capable of undertaking in his delusional state--that are not only illegal but which will almost certainly cause great embarrassment not only to the President personally but to the country, and that under these circumstances, it is your clear duty to help me get him on my airplane and to the United States, despite any promises you made to him not knowing the seriousness of his mental condition."

"You sonofabitch!" Castillo said. "If I am held here against my will, much less forced to--"

Ambassador Silvio made a gentle gesture with his hand, silencing Castillo. "Ambassador Montvale," Silvio began in a measured tone, "first let me say that I don't need you to point out my 'clear duty' to me. As ambassador, by law I am the senior American officer in Argentina. And let me be frank: As I've listened to the exchange between you and Colonel Castillo, and between Colonel Castillo and Mr. Powell, I wondered about my responsibilities in that regard in this matter.

"When Colonel Castillo first came to Argentina, the President told me personally that Colonel Castillo was acting on his behalf and with his authority, and directed me to provide him with any assistance he required. Given that--"

"You've heard this insanity!"

"Pray let me continue,"

Silvio said. "Given that, Mr. Ambassador, I don't think you have the authority to force Colonel Castillo to go anywhere or do anything he doesn't want to do, absent a specific order from the President placing him under your authority. Quite the opposite, actually, I see it as my 'clear duty' to do whatever I can to assist him in carrying out his orders from the President and to prevent anyone from interfering with him."

"His orders say nothing about abducting Russian defectors from the CIA," Montvale argued, "and certainly nothing about conducting any kind of an operation in the Congo."

"Since what exactly his orders actually entail seems to be in question, it seems obvious that the only person who can clarify them is the President himself. Absent that clarification, I am not going to challenge Colonel Castillo."

Montvale met his eyes for a long moment.

He then said: "May I use your secure telephone again, Mr. Ambassador?"

"To call the President?"

"To call the President."