W. IV - Honor Bound 05 - The Honor of Spies

"Is that Peron?" Sawyer asked.

"That's Ol' Juan Domingo," Frade said. "The fat Irishman is the cardinal archbishop. Also present are my grandfather, whose uncontrollable joy is evident on his face. And my Uncle Jim and my Aunt Martha, who raised me." He turned to Enrico. "You were there, too, right?"

" Si, Don Cletus."

"How come you're not in the picture?"

Enrico's face showed he didn't like the question; he ignored it.

"Since they didn't expect us, Don Cletus," Enrico said, "there was no food, or not enough, but I have sent to Senor Alvarez's home for a cook and food for tonight and the morning."

Whose home?

Ah, the resident manager, the guy who was driving the Lincoln.

Where the hell does he fit in here?

"I hope that wasn't an imposition, Senor Alvarez," Dorotea said politely.

"How could it be an imposition, senora?" Alvarez asked. "The cook will stay here for as long as necessary. . . ."

He paused, making the statement a question.

"We'll be here--in and out of here--indefinitely," Clete said. "Chief Pilot Delgano and I will be in and out on a regular basis in connection with South American Airways business, and Mr. Stein and Mr. Sawyer with the wine business. And I brought six men from Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo with me, who will also be here indefinitely."

"There is plenty of room, Don Cletus," Alvarez said. "There are seventeen rooms in Casa Montagna, in addition to the . . . special suite. And, depending how you wish them set up, more than a dozen bedrooms in the outbuildings."

"The men I brought with me can stay in the outbuildings," Frade said. "And I will probably bring another half-dozen."

"Don Cletus," Enrico said. "There are already a half-dozen men here. All from the Husares. I have spoken to them. . . ."

Alvarez saw the questioning look on Frade's face, but he mistook it to mean Frade was wondering why there were a half-dozen old soldiers in a house rarely occupied.

Alvarez explained: "There are a number of works of art in Casa Montagna, Don Cletus, that el Coronel wanted to make sure were protected, as the house was so rarely used."

That, however, wasn't the question in Clete's mind. He asked, of Enrico, the one that was: "You knew all about this place, didn't you?"

Rodriguez nodded.

"But you never mentioned it to me. Why?"

"I knew you would come here eventually. That would be the time to tell you."

The telephone rang.

Enrico went to a small table. There were two telephones on it; one was an ordinary--if, to Clete, old-fashioned--device and the other apparently the Argentine version of the U.S. Army Signal Corps EE-8 field telephone. Enrico picked up the latter, listened, then pushed the butterfly switch and snarled, sergeantlike, something into it, then put the handset back in its leather case.

"Mother Superior and the nuns are at the lower gate," he announced.

Clete asked the question that had popped into his mind when he saw the military field telephone.

"What's that military telephone doing in here?"

"It is connected to the lower and upper gates right now, but there is a field switchboard."

"That's not what I asked."

Enrico looked uncomfortable.

"When el Coronel was leading Operation Blue," he said finally, making reference to the coup d'etat that would have, had he not been assassinated, made el Coronel Frade the president of Argentina, "we needed Casa Montagna."

"And is there anything else you'd like to tell me about that?"

"El Coronel knew this was the logical place for it, but as he did not wish to come here, he sent me to set it up."

"A logical place for what?"

"There is a cache of weapons in the basement, Don Cletus."

"What kind of weapons?"

"Enough to equip four troops of the Husares de Pueyrredon, Don Cletus. El Coronel was concerned that they would not be available if they were needed; that someone might seize the regimental and troop armories. So he cached enough here . . ."

"You're talking about rifles, pistols, that sort of thing?"

"And some machine guns, Don Cletus. Even some mortars and hand grenades. And, of course, the ammunition for the weapons. That is really why the old Husares are here. To keep an eye on the cache, so that it wouldn't fall into the wrong hands, until I could tell you about it and you could decide what you want to do about it."

"Enrico, if you weren't so ugly, I think I would kiss you," Frade said.

"You should not say things like that, Don Cletus."

Frade turned to Alvarez. "Did you know about this?"

"I am proud to say, Don Cletus, that your father took me into his confidence."

"It is so, Don Cletus," Enrico confirmed. "El Senor Alvarez may be trusted."

"I'm very glad to hear that," Clete said, meaning it, and then went on: "Senor Alvarez, it is very important that no one learns that la Senora Fischer is here. Her life would be in danger otherwise."

Alvarez nodded. "No one, Don Cletus, will know anything beyond that the sisters of Santa Maria del Pilar are caring for an ill woman."

"I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop," Cletus said. "As I'm sure it will. But what I think I'm going to do now is have another glass of this twenty-six-year-old nectar of the gods to give me the courage to face Mother Superior."

"Cletus, for God's sake!" Dorotea said. "What is el Senor Alvarez going to think of you?"

"I have already made up my mind, Dona Dorotea," Alvarez said. "He is his father's son."

The Mother Superior of the Mendoza chapter of the Little Sisters of Santa Maria del Pilar marched into the library four minutes later, trailed by the enormous nun who had been in her office and three others. Father Welner brought up the rear.

I know who the big nun is, Clete decided. She's the convent version of Enrico.

"Enrico," Reverend Mother ordered, "you will please make yourself available to me when we finish the business immediately at hand."

"Yes, Reverend Mother."

"I will introduce myself to these other gentlemen at that time. For now you have met Sister Carolina." She pointed to the huge nun. "These sisters are Sister Monica, Sister Theresa, and Sister Dolores. Sisters, this is Don Cletus Frade and la Senora Frade. Enrico, you know."

The nuns wordlessly bobbed their heads.

"You will get to meet the others later," she went on. "For now get yourselves settled. You know where to go. Sister Monica, you will decide who goes on duty now. When you have done so, and your selection is settled, send her to the apartment. If Father and I are inside, wait for us to come out." She turned to Father Welner. "Are you ready, Father?"

"Yes, Reverend Mother."

With that they all marched out of the library.

Clete smiled.

"I'm almost afraid to ask, darling," Dorotea said. "But what are you thinking?"

He grunted. "When I was in Los Angeles just now, I heard that since February there have been women in the Marine Corps. I was thinking that Mother Superior would make a fine gunnery sergeant."

"What the hell, Clete," Sawyer said. "Why not? They've had women in the Army and the Navy for a long time."

Frade began, very cheerfully, to sing to the melody of "Mademoiselle from Armentieres": "'The WACs and WAVEs will win the war, parlez-vous . The WACs and WAVEs will win the war, parlez-vous . The WACs and WAVEs will win the war, so what the hell are we fighting for? Inky dinky parlez-vous .' "

Sawyer laughed. Dorotea glared at him and asked, "How much of that wine have you had?"

"Not as much as I'm going to," he said, and reached for another bottle of Don Guillermo Cabernet Sauvignon 1917.

Mother Superior returned much sooner than Frade thought she would, this time trailed by Father Welner, Oberstleutnant Frogger, and Herr Wilhelm Frogger. But no nuns.