The Outlaws (Presidential Agent 6)

“I don’t want any more barrels of Congo-X popping up anywhere. You understand?”

“Yes, sir. Of course.”

“Now, with that in mind, tell me about the interesting developments.”

“Sir, General Naylor has been heard from.”

“Where is he?”

“Sir, according to Bruce Festerman—”

“Who the hell is he?”

“Festerman is the CIA liaison officer with Central Command at MacDill, Mr. President. We’ve been on the phone a half-dozen times since yesterday afternoon.”

“And?”

“General Naylor called General McFadden, his deputy, from Mexico City and ordered that a ship, the USS Bataan, which is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, be moved to a location in the Caribbean and be prepared to receive and refuel four Black Hawk helicopters. He also ordered the Navy base at Key West to do the same thing; in other words, be prepared to receive and refuel four UH-60s. It seems clear, sir, that the helicopters will be flown from Key West to the Bataan.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, sir. What I suspect is that General Naylor has learned where Castillo and/or the Russians are, somewhere in Mexico, and is going to go get them.”

“And what does Lammelle think?”

“Sir, that’s a development I don’t quite understand.”

“What development don’t you understand?”

“Sir, the GPS transmitter in Lammelle’s shoe places him aboard the Queen of the Caribbean, a cruise ship, which is now in the Caribbean bound for Málaga. There has been nothing from him.”

“And the GPS transmitter in Castillo’s laptop places him aboard a river steamer on the Danube between Budapest and Vienna, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And now you’re telling me General Naylor thinks he’s found Castillo in Mexico?”

“I am making that inference, sir. I can’t imagine why else General Naylor has—”

“Well,” the President interrupted, “one possibility is that Lammelle has suddenly decided he needs a vacation, and taking a cruise is the way to do that. But, sitting around here, Jack, with nothing to occupy my mind, I have been thinking of all the bad spy movies I’ve seen over the years to see if anything in them might be useful.”

“Sir?”

“For example, do you think it’s possible that somebody shot Lammelle with that whiz-bang dart gun of his and then loaded him onto the cruise ship?”

“Why would anyone want to do that, sir? You’re suggesting that Castillo—”

“I’m suggesting General Naylor might have done it. Or more likely, now that I think about it, General McNab.”

“Why would they want to do that, sir?”

“To keep him from fucking up what they’re doing to put Castillo and the traitors in the bag.”

“I don’t think that’s likely, Mr. President.”

“Tell me about Castillo on the river steamer. You sent people over there, right?”

“Yes, sir.”