W Griffin - Hunters

Having nothing else to do until his coffee arrived, he reached for the message in the in-box, slumped back in his chair, and began to read it.

CONFIRMING TELECON BETWEEN ASSTSECTLATAM AND THEODORE J. DETWEILLER, JR., C/M USEMB MONTEVIDEO 1705 4 AUGUST 2005 MR. DAVID W. YUNG, JR., A SPECIAL AGENT OF THE FBI ON THE PERSONAL STAFF OF SECSTATE, IS CURRENTLY EN ROUTE TO MONTEVIDEO AND SHOULD ARRIVE THERE AFTERNOON 5 AUGUST 2005. SECSTATE COHEN HAS DIRECTED AND AUTHORIZED Mr. YUNG TO ASSUME AND DISCHARGE ALL CONSULAR DUTIES RELATING TO THE LATE DR. JEAN-PAUL LORIMER INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO REPATRIATION OF THE REMAINS AND THE PROTECTION OF ASSETS. SECSTATE FURTHER DIRECTS USEMB MONTEVIDEO TO PROVIDE Mr. YUNG WITH WHATEVER ASSISTANCE HE REQUIRES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO TURNING OVER TO HIM ANY AND ALL USEMB RECORDS AND FILES CONCERNING Mr. LORIMER AND ANY AND ALL MATERIAL REGARDING JEAN-PAUL BERTRAND WHOSE IDENTITY Mr. LORIMER HAD APPARENTLY ASSUMED. THIS SPECIFICALLY INCLUDES ALL INFORMATION REGARDING THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF Mr. LORIMER'S DEATH KNOWN TO EMB AND/OR OBTAINED FROM URUGUAYAN GOVERNMENT SOURCES. SECSTATE AUTHORIZES AND DIRECTS Mr. YUNG TO, AT HIS DISCRETION, SHIP ALL SUCH MATERIALS VIA DIPLOMATIC POUCH TO STATE DEPT, PERSONAL ATTENTION SECSTATE, OR TO MAKE SUCH OTHER ARRANGEMENTS FOR THEIR SHIPMENT TO SECSTATE AS HE DESIRES.

The sonofabitch interrupts my breakfast to tell me the deputy foreign minister wants to talk to him unofficially and didn't mention this?

Goddamn him! He should have called me the moment he got off the phone from talking to the under secretary! Last night!

McGrory pushed himself out of his high-backed, blue-leather-upholstered chair and walked quickly to his office door, still holding the radio teletype printout.

"Susanna," he ordered, "I want to see, right now, in this order, and separately-in other words, one at a time-Mr. Detweiller, Mr. Monahan, and Mr. Howell."

"Yes, sir," Senora Obregon replied. Three minutes later Senora Obregon reported that neither Mr. Detweiller nor Mr. Howell had yet come in but that Mr. Monahan was on his way to the ambassador's office and asked if she should send him in or make him wait until he'd seen the others.

"Send him in, please," McGrory ordered.

Monahan appeared at the office door moments later.

"You wanted to see me, Mr. Ambassador?"

McGrory waved him into the office but not into one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"I'm a little curious, Monahan, why you did not elect to tell me Yung is on the personal staff of the secretary of state," McGrory said.

"Excuse me?"

"You are the special agent in charge, are you not? And you were aware, were you not, of Yung's status?"

"That's two questions, Mr. Ambassador."

"Answer them one at a time."

"I'm the senior FBI agent here, Mr. Ambassador, but not the SAC."

"What's the others?"

"A SAC is in charge of the special agents," Monahan replied and then clarified: "It stands for Special Agent in Charge."

"And you're not?"

"No, sir. I'm the senior agent. I've been with the bureau longest. But I was never appointed the SAC."

"You're telling me you're not in charge of the other FBI agents? Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes, sir. I'm sort of in charge, because, like I say, I'm the senior agent. But not really, if you take my meaning."

"If you're not really in charge, Monahan, who is?"

Monahan seemed puzzled by the question for a moment, then answered it: "You are, Mr. Ambassador."

McGrory thought: Sonofabitch! Is he stupid or just acting that way?

He went on: "And Special Agent Yung, who does he work for?"

"When he was here, he worked for you, sir."

"Not the secretary of state?"

"Up the chain of command, maybe," Monahan said. "I never thought about that. I mean, he worked for you and you work for the secretary of state, if you follow me. In that sense, you could say he worked for the secretary of state."

Senora Obregon put her head in the door.

"Mr. Howell is here, Mr. Ambassador."

McGrory thought, There's no sense going any further with this. he said, "Monahan, I have to see Mr. Howell right now. Please keep yourself available."

"Yes, sir."

"Ask Mr. Howell to come in, please, Senora Obregon," McGrory said. "Interesting," Cultural Attache Robert Howell said, handing the message back to McGrory. "I wonder what it means?"

"I was hoping you could tell me," McGrory said.

"Well, all I can do is guess. Mr. Masterson's father-in-law is a retired ambassador. We heard in Buenos Aires that the father-in-law has heart problems and perhaps Secretary Cohen-"

"I mean about Yung being on the personal staff of the secretary," McGrory interrupted.

"Mr. Ambassador, you never elected to tell me about that. I simply presumed Yung was one more FBI agent."

"I didn't know he was on the secretary's personal staff, Robert," McGrory said.

"You didn't? Even more interesting, I wonder what he was doing down here that even you didn't know about? Does Monahan know?"

McGrory didn't answer the question.

Instead, he said, "Deputy Foreign Minister Alvarez telephoned Ted Detweiller at eight this morning. He wanted to know if Detweiller would be in his office at nine and, if so, if Detweiller would be kind enough to offer him a cup of coffee."

"I wonder what that's all about?" Howell said.

"I intend to find out. As soon as Detweiller gets here, I'm going to tell him he has the flu and is going home. Since he is unfortunately not able to give Deputy Foreign Minister Alvarez his cup of coffee, I will. And I want you to be here when I do so."

"Yes, sir." "Mr. Ambassador," Senora Obregon announced from his door, "Deputy Foreign Minister Alvarez and another gentleman to see you."

McGrory rose quickly from his desk and walked quickly to the door, smiling, his hand extended.

"Senor Alvarez," he said. "What an unexpected pleasure!"

Alvarez, a small, trim man, returned the smile.

"Mr. Detweiller has developed a slight case of the flu," McGrory went on, "which is bad for him, but-perhaps I shouldn't say this-good for me, because it gives me the chance to offer you the cup of coffee in his stead."

"It's always a pleasure to see you, Mr. Ambassador," Alvarez said, enthusiastically pumping McGrory's hand. "I only hope I am not intruding on your busy schedule."

"There is always time in my schedule for you, Senor Alvarez," McGrory said.

"May I present my friend, Senor Ordonez of the Interior Ministry?" Alvarez said.

"A privilege to make your acquaintance, senor," McGrory said, offering Ordonez his hand. "And may I introduce my cultural attache, Senor Howell?"

Everybody shook hands.

"I understand from Senor Detweiller that this is a purely social visit?" McGrory asked.

"Absolutely," Alvarez said. "I knew Ordonez and I were going to be in the area, and since I hadn't seen my friend Detweiller for some time I thought he might be kind enough to offer me a cup of coffee."

"He was really sorry to miss you," McGrory said.

"Please pass on my best wishes for a speedy recovery," Alvarez said.

"Since this is, as you say, a purely social visit, may I suggest that Senor Howell share our coffee with us?"

"Delighted to have him," Alvarez said.

"Please take a seat," McGrory said, waving at the chairs and the couch around his coffee table. Then he raised his voice, "Senora Obregon, would you be good enough to bring us all some coffee and rolls?"