W Griffin - Hunters

Miller shrugged. "Why not?"

Agnes pushed a button on one of the telephones on Castillo's desk and ordered coffee.

Then she said, "There's a man named Delchamps out there, Chief. He would like to see you at your earliest convenience but he wouldn't tell me why."

"Great!" Castillo said. "Ask him to come in, and order another cup of coffee for him."

Agnes did so.

Edgar Delchamps and the coffee came through the door at about the same time. The latter was borne by a very tall, very attractive African American woman in her early thirties.

Castillo said, "Good morning, Edgar. I'm really glad to see you!"

Delchamps nodded but said nothing.

"Juliet," Agnes said to the attractive woman, "this is the boss, Colonel Castillo. Colonel, Miss Knowles handles our classified files. She has a master's in political science from Georgetown. She's got several Top Secret clearances, but you're going to have to think about clearing her for…"

"Let me get to that later," Castillo said. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Knowles…"

"Please call me Juliet," she said.

"And I'll need to talk with you later, but right now I have to speak with Mr. Delchamps."

"I understand, sir. It's nice to meet you, too."

As soon as the door closed behind her, Castillo asked, "If she's in charge of classified files and has a master's degree from Georgetown, why is she running coffee?"

"Well, Chief, it's not in her job description," Agnes said, "and she has her own office and her own administrative assistant, but, for some reason, every time Gimpy here asks for coffee Juliet seems to have time to bring it."

"If it was anybody but Gimpy," Castillo said, "I'd say she was attracted to him. But what it probably is is morbid curiosity."

Miller gave him the finger.

"Edgar, say hello to Mr. Agnes Forbison, who's really the boss around here, and Gimpy, otherwise known as Major Dick Miller."

Delchamps nodded at both but said nothing to them.

"I'd really like to see you alone, Colonel," Delchamps said.

He's pissed about something, Castillo thought.

"There's a list of people here, Edgar-Agnes and Dick are on it-and you just went on it-who know everything that everybody else knows. What's on your mind?"

"I was at Langley yesterday, Colonel. One of the chairwarmers there had told me Ambassador Montvale had something for me to do and I was to report to him. So I went to see him. He was too busy to deal with someone unimportant like me, of course, but his flunky, Truman Ellsworth, who I've met before, told me to report to you for an extended period of temporary duty and that you would explain everything to me."

"And explain I will. Welcome aboard, Ed."

"Before you waste your breath on that, let me finish."

Castillo raised an eyebrow. "Okay, finish."

"I wanted you to be the first to know, Colonel, that later today I'm going over to Langley and sign my application for retirement, which is being typed up as we speak. They told me it takes about three weeks to complete the process and be officially retired. But I have a bucketful of accrued leave, so I'm going to be on leave until my retirement comes through."

Castillo took a moment to reply.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think that maybe you're a little annoyed about something."

Delchamps made a thin smile. "I told you in Paris, Ace, that I would let you know if I was interested in employment-I think you said 'reasonably honest employment'-in Washington. That was not a yes. I don't want to work here and I won't."

"I need you, Ed," Castillo said, simply. "I'm sorry if Montvale summarily ordered you to get on a plane…"

"It wasn't even Montvale," Delchamps interrupted, disgustedly. "It wasn't even his flunky, Ellsworth. It was some goddamned chairwarmer at Langley."

"…but yesterday-I was in Argentina-I realized how much I needed you and asked Montvale to bring you home."

Delchamps shook his head. "I realize that once you've been infected with Washington, Ace, the temptation to build an empire is nearly irresistible. But you know goddamned well I've given you-and would have continued to give you-everything I know or find out about these oil-for-food maggots…"

"I'm not trying to build an empire!"

"Look at this goddamned office. It's a bureaucrat's throne room!"

"Blame the office on Agnes. She said it was important. I don't know my way around Washington and she does."

Agnes said, unruffled, "Yes, I do, and I make no apologies for trying to teach Charley the rules of the game."

Delchamps looked at her, looked as if he was going to respond, then changed his mind and looked back at Castillo.

"Ace, what made you decide yesterday in Argentina that you needed me so badly that you were going to get me whether or not I liked it?"

Agnes answered for him. "It probably started in Budapest where these people-I like your term 'oil-for-food maggots'-tried to assassinate him."

Castillo looked at her.

How the hell did she hear about that?

I know. There's a list here and she's on it.

"They tried to whack you?" Delchamps said.

"They were trying to kidnap and/or whack my Budapest source. When their first attempt failed, they tried again. But I was in his apartment."

"And had to put down two of them," Miller added.

Delchamps looked at Castillo for confirmation.

Castillo nodded slowly.

"You're a regular James Bond, aren't you, Ace?" Delchamps said.

"Indeed he is," Miller said. "Ace even had the foresight to get a suppressed.22 from the agency guy in Budapest."

Castillo flashed Miller a dirty look.

"I'm surprised he gave you any kind of a weapon," Delchamps said. "He's a real agency asshole."

"I noticed," Castillo said. "It took Montvale personally to get him to open his weapons locker."

"How much does the asshole in Budapest know about this? Does he know about the two you took down?"

Castillo shook his head. "I didn't tell him anything."

"That was also smart of you, Ace," Delchamps said. He paused in thought, then added, "You must be getting close."

"And they tried to whack an FBI agent who was with me at Lorimer's estancia-that was in Uruguay-and they were following around, threateningly, the former head of SIDE in Argentina, who was also at the estancia. And his family."

"What happened to your Budapest source?" Delchamps asked.

"I moved him to Argentina, where two old pals of yours are sitting on him."

"What two old pals?"

"Make that three," Castillo said, and raised his eyebrows as he added: "Alex Darby and Mr. and Mr. Sieno."

Delchamps considered that a moment, then nodded and asked, "You're sitting on the SIDE guy?"

"I moved his family here. He's still in Argentina, at a safe house with everybody else, trying to put all the pieces together. That's what I need you here for, to help with that."

"How could I help with that?"

"What if I told you Montvale told the President he was personally going to call DCI Powell to tell him you were coming over there and were to be given everything you asked for?"

Delchamps considered that a moment, then said, "When I asked for the retirement forms yesterday, they seemed pretty happy about that. I guess the word is out."

"I don't think so, Ed, not so soon," Castillo said. "Montvale told the President that late yesterday afternoon."

"Well, I guess they were just happy to get rid of me, period," Delchamps said. "Truth to tell, I was a little pissed about their eager cooperation." He paused, and asked: "Can Montvale be trusted to do what he told the President he was going to do?"

"Yeah," Castillo said. "I trust him to do what he tells the President-in front of witnesses-he's going to do."

Castillo went to his desk and picked up a telephone handset.