W. Griffin: The shooters

"One, Philippe," Mrs. Lorimer said. "One small one." She looked at Colin-the-butler. "You understand, Colin?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Mrs. Lorimer then said, "If you will excuse me, gentlemen, I'm going to have another look around the kitchen."

"And may I suggest the sitting room, gentlemen?" Colin said, gesturing grandly in that direction.

Everyone filed into the sitting room and watched as Colin prepared the drinks. When he was finished, he gave the first one to the ambassador and then passed the others.

"What is this?" Ordonez asked, suspiciously.

"If we tell you, you probably won't drink it," Castillo said.

"This is a Sazerac, el Senor Ordonez," Ambassador Lorimer said, holding up his glass. "A near-sacred New Orleans tradition, and certainly the appropriate libation with which to wet down my new home, but, frankly, I'm reluctant to have Colin offer you one."

"Why is that, Mr. Ambassador?" Ordonez asked, politely and more than a little uncomfortably.

"Now that I am a retired diplomat, I don't have to drink with people I know are lying to me."

Ordonez flushed.

"Who are you, really?" Lorimer asked.

Ordonez was silent a long moment.

"I'll make a deal with you, Mr. Ambassador," Ordonez then said. "You tell me who he really is"-he pointed at Colin-"and I will…clarify…my identity."

The butler looked at Castillo, who was smiling and shaking his head.

Castillo nodded.

The butler said, "Chief Warrant Officer Five Colin Leverette, el Senor Ordonez."

"You're a soldier?" Ordonez asked.

Leverette nodded.

"And you are?" Ambassador Lorimer pursued.

"I'm Chief Inspector Ordonez of the Interior Police Division of the Uruguayan Policia Nacional, Mr. Ambassador."

"Thank you," Lorimer said. "You may give him the Sazerac, please, Colin…or should I address you as 'Chief'?"

"'Colin' is fine, sir," Castillo answered for him.

Leverette delivered the drink to Ordonez, then said, "To clarify my identity, Chief Inspector: I am what is known in the profession as a shooter from the stockade. And now that I've told you that, I'll have to kill you."

Ordonez shook his head in disbelief.

"To the ambassador's new home," Castillo said, raising his glass.

There was a chorus of "Hear, hear" and the drinks were sipped.

After a moment, the ambassador held out his empty glass to Colin Leverette.

"If you'll be so kind as to freshen that up, Colin, before my wife returns from her inspection of the culinary facilities, we can turn to the discussion of the few little problems Colonel Castillo mentioned."

Ten minutes later, Castillo looked around the room.

"Did I leave anything out?"

"That pretty well covered it, Ace," Edgar Delchamps said. "And actually, now that I've had a chance to think it over, it's not all gloom and despair, despite what the secretary of State has done to us with her decision to become Mother Teresa in addition to her other duties." He looked at the ambassador. "No offense, sir."

"None taken."

"Please tell me how that's not all gloom and despair, Ed," Castillo said. "My definition of total gloom and despair is when I have to admit I don't have a fucking clue how the hell I can stage a helicopter assault without helicopters. And the floodlight Secretary Cohen's shined on the estancia is so brilliant that there's no way that I can bring them in here black…"

"Doing it without them comes to mind," Delchamps said.

Is he saying that because he's stupid?

Or trying to bring me back from the depths of despair and gloom?

There's absolutely no fucking way I can do this without the choppers!

Without the choppers I won't even have any weapons!

"May I offer an observation?" Ambassador Lorimer said. "I hesitate to…"

That's all I fucking need. A diplomatic solution.

"Certainly, Mr. Ambassador," Castillo said.

"Perhaps I don't understand," Lorimer said. "The problem, as you see it, is that because of the secretary of State's concern for my welfare, and the kind response of the government of Uruguay, is that there will be so much activity here at the estancia that it would be impossible to bring the helicopters secretly here from the Ronald Reagan. Is that it?"

I thought I just said that…

"Yes, sir, Mr. Ambassador. That sums it up succinctly," Castillo said.

"Well, as I am speaking from a position of total ignorance, and you are the recognized experts in this sort of thing, I rather suppose you will think this question reflects my ignorance."

"Mr. Ambassador, I would love to hear whatever you have to say," Castillo said.

"What I was thinking when you first outlined the plan, Colonel Castillo, was that Mother Teresa had-certainly unintentionally, but I would submit, inarguably…"

He called the secretary of State "Mother Teresa"?

I really like the old guy.

I don't give a damn what he suggests, I'm going to let him down as gently as I can.

"…provided you an opportunity to hide your helicopter-refueling operation in plain sight."

"Excuse me?"

"Listening to your original plan, I thought the one weakness was your belief that flying four helicopters in here at night would go unnoticed."

"Is that so?"

"They are not silent, and the noise they make is alien to the rural areas. Am I right so far? Please stop me…"

"Please go on," Ordonez said. "That was one of my concerns, sir. But it was a risk I decided had to be taken."

"But now the first helicopters to come here…"

The first helicopter to come here was the one I flew during my failed attempt to repatriate his worthless son.

Doesn't he know that?

Of course he does.

What he's doing is being diplomatic and not bringing it up.

"…attracting, I am sure, a great deal of curiosity, are government helicopters. Questions will be asked, I submit, and these will be answered by announcing that the government is doing something on the estancia. Thus, setting the precedent that helicopters here are legitimate."

"And what you want to do, Mr. Ambassador," Delchamps said, softly, "is pass Charley's choppers off as just more government helicopters."

"Taking care of that nice, sick old man and his wife," Ambassador Lorimer said, smiling, then finishing his Sazarac. "Nothing to be concerned about by the indigenous personnel or the local police. The more activity here, I would suggest, Chief Inspector Ordonez, the better. All Colonel Castillo would have to do is make sure that none of his helicopters are here when yours are. A matter of scheduling, it would seem…"

"And we could move all the fuel we're going to need onto the estancia in the open," Castillo thought aloud.

"The fuel to service the police helicopters will be brought to Shangri-La on Policia Nacional trucks," Ordonez offered.

"May I infer that this suggestion has been helpful?" Ambassador Lorimer asked.

"You have just saved our ass, Mr. Ambassador," Castillo said, and then, suddenly serious, added: "And very possibly the lives of Special Agent Timmons and the two Argentine gendarmes those bastards are holding."

Ambassador Lorimer locked eyes with Castillo a moment.

"If that's true, Colonel…"

"It's true, Mr. Ambassador."

"I was about to say that would please me very much. I'm familiar with the philosophy that vengeance is the Lord's. But I am a sinner, and I would very much like to think I did some harm to the people who took my son's life."

Castillo didn't reply.

"And that being the case," Lorimer went on, "don't you think a small celebratory taste would be in order?"

"Yes, sir, I would indeed."

[FOUR]

Estancia Shangri-La

Tacuarembo Province

Republica Oriental del Uruguay 0355 19 September 2005 When the radio went off-"Little Bo-Peep, Red Riding Hood One"-Lieutenant Colonel C. G. Castillo, USA, wearing a dyed-black flight suit and puffing on a long, thin, nearly black cigar, was sitting at a somewhat unstable table. It was set up in a field about five hundred meters from the big house of Estancia Shangri-La and held a glowing Coleman lantern, two large thermos bottles of coffee, two insulated food containers, and the control console of an AFC communications system. Sipping coffee at the table were Chief Inspector Jose Ordonez of the Uruguayan Policia Nacional, U.S. Ambassador (Ret.) Philippe Lorimer, U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Five Colin Leverette, and Corporal Lester Bradley, USMC.