Black Ops (Presidential Agent 5)

Castillo went on. "All right, then. Alfredo, get on the horn to Aleksandr and let's hear what he thinks. When we know that, Paul, you call Duffy and see what he has to say about how to get the women to Jorge Newbery without attracting any attention."

"I'm sure you are considering that the comandante will then know where my wife and daughter will be," Berezovsky said.

"He's a smart cop, Tom," Castillo said. "He already knows where they are now, and I think he'll suspect they're going to Aleksandr's place; he knows that I took Susan there. And with that in mind, Paul, tell Duffy we're moving the women to Bariloche."

Munz stood, walked to a corner of the room, and took out his cell phone.

"And while he's doing that," Castillo said, "we can begin to contemplate the interesting problem of getting everybody else from here to Shangri-La. Alex, you're confident about Tom's and Susan's new documents?"

"They're good," Darby said.

"Which should they use? Uruguayan or Argentine?"

"Argentines can travel back and forth to Uruguay on their national identity cards. I say use the Argentine."

&

nbsp; "Done," Castillo said.

"Charley, it might be a good idea to get them U.S. visas," Darby said.

"I see a couple of problems with that," Castillo said after a moment.

"Such as? All I have to do is hand them to a consular officer I know and tell him to stamp them." He paused, then explained himself: "He's a spook-in-training, and knows what I really do for a living."

"I think I met him yesterday," Castillo said. "My problem is Ambassador Silvio. I don't like going around him, and he was there when I had my little chat with Montvale."

"Your call," Darby said. "But visas may come in handy somewhere down the pike."

Castillo considered that a moment.

"Alex, when this can be worked in, go see the ambassador. When all else fails, tell the truth. Hand him the passports. Say, 'Mr. Ambassador, Castillo would like to see these fine Argentines get multiple entry visas, but only if it doesn't put your ass in a crack.' Or diplomatic words to that effect. If he seems to be thinking hard about it, tell him I said, 'It's okay. Thanks anyway.' "

"Done," Darby said. "Another thing, Charley. Maybe me driving to Uruguay--I mean, taking a vehicle on the Buquebus to Montevideo--would be a good idea. I'm accredited in both places, so no luggage searches. In case you want to take weapons. . . ."

"There're weapons in the Gulfstream," Castillo said.

"Getting them out of the airplane in Uruguay might be a problem, and I have all we'll need at the embassy." He stopped and smiled. "Last week, I permitted the consular officer I mentioned to come in at night and clean and inspect them for me. He was thrilled."

There were chuckles.

"And one more thought, Charley: I take either Tom or Susan with me. There would be less chance that some zealous immigration guy who may have seen the Interpol warrants would have his attention heightened by seeing just one or the other. They'll be presumed to be traveling together."

"And if you drove, we'd have at least one set of wheels in Uruguay, wouldn't we? Okay, you drive. Next question: Where do you drive? Where do Dick and I take the plane?"

Alfredo Munz walked back to the table. "Aleksandr suggests flying into San Martin de los Andes . . ." he began.

Castillo's face and shrug showed he didn't understand.

". . . a small town several hours' drive from Bariloche."

"Can we get the Gulfstream in there?"

"Aerolineas Argentinas flies a 737 in there once a day, weather permitting. When they're not expecting that flight, the control tower shuts down. What Aleksandr suggests--this is what he often does in the Lear--is file a flight plan to Bariloche, then land at San Martin, unload most of the passengers there, then go on to Bariloche. If any questions are asked, the pilot made a precautionary landing. Aleksandr will have people waiting in both places. Then they will drive to the house, instead of going to Llao-Llao and taking a boat from the hotel dock."

"Okay, done. Still-open question: How do we get from where we're going--where are we going?"

"Alek suggests Punta del Este," Munz said.