“Yeah, I heard.”
The chime bonged again.
Castillo gestured for McGuire to open the door, and he did so.
The Vice President of the United States walked into the room and looked around. He saw Roscoe J. Danton, John David Parker, Lester Bradley, Colonel Jake Torine, Major Richard Miller, and CWO5 Colin Leverette, all of whom he knew, and in the sitting room and dining room maybe ten more men he didn’t know. No one was wearing a uniform, but Montvale correctly intuited they were all soldiers.
“Now that I think of it, Mr. Vice President,” Castillo said, “I do seem to recall telling you that if you were in the neighborhood anytime, you should feel free to drop in. So welcome, welcome!”
“What the hell is going on here, Castillo?”
“Actually, we’re getting ready to go to the interment of a friend. You may have heard. .”
“What I would like to know is how you heard. Did that goddamn McNab tell you?”
“I have not had any contact with General McNab-to whom I presume you refer-for some time, now. You can ask him yourself; I presume he’ll be at Arlington.”
“Then how the hell-”
The chime bonged again.
“I wonder who else might be calling?” Castillo said. “Mr. McGuire, if you’d be so kind?”
McGuire opened the door. The secretary of State stood there.
“May I come in?” Natalie Cohen asked.
“Yes, ma’am. It’s always a pleasure to see you,” Castillo said.
She took a quick look around the room and smiled at the few people she knew.
“Let me get right to the point, Charley,” she said. “You’re not thinking of going out to Arlington, are you?”
“I’m going,” Castillo said, and gestured around the suite. “We’re all going.”
“That wouldn’t be a wise thing to do, Charley,” she said. “Have you considered that?”
“Are you and Vice President Montvale here to try to talk me out of going to my friend Mr. Salazar’s interment?”
“Is there somewhere we can speak privately, Charley?” she asked.
He indicated the door to what turned out to be, when she and Montvale and Castillo walked through it, the master bedroom.
She closed the door, then turned to the men and said, “What is said in here goes no further. Agreed?”
Both men nodded.
“I understand you’re aware, Charley, of the meeting in which it became apparent that the President thinks we have been engaged in a coup d’etat that would see Charles in the Oval Office?”
Castillo nodded.
“The fact that that’s absolutely untrue is really irrelevant; that’s what the President believes, and it’s what we have to deal with. Understood?”
Castillo nodded again.
“There was another meeting, yesterday, in the Situation Room that”-she glanced at Montvale-“with the Vice President’s permission, I’d like to tell you about. All right, Charles?”
Montvale hesitated a moment and then nodded.
The secretary picked up on the hesitation, and said, “Would you prefer to tell him about it?”
“You tell him,” Montvale said. “I don’t think he trusts me.”
“True,” Castillo said.
“Well, you’d better learn to trust him, Charley,” Cohen said. “If we don’t stick together, the President is going to take us down one by one. He’s already gotten rid of John David Parker. And what is Parker doing here?”
“As of a few minutes ago, he’s director of public relations of the LCBF Corporation,” Castillo said.
“What the hell is that all about?” Montvale asked.
“Keeping our names out of the newspapers and our faces off Wolf News. You were about to tell me about the meeting, Madam Secretary.”
“Tell me if I leave anything out, would you, please, Charles?”
She then began to deliver a report of who had said what to whom, which ultimately lasted ten minutes.
About a minute into it, Castillo realized it was almost a verbatim report of the meeting, and moments after that,
Finally, she finished and looked at Montvale.
“Did I leave anything out?” she asked.
“What kind of a tie was the President wearing?” Castillo asked.
Secretary Cohen hesitated just a moment, looked confused, and then replied, “Dark blue, with what looked like crests on it. What’s that got to do with anything?”
“I’m awed, ma’am, with your powers of total recall,” Castillo said.
“Don’t be, Charley. I was born this way.” She paused. “It’s the same sort of thing you have with languages. An aberration. You speak what-fourteen? — languages. And I can recall things in great detail. It’s a gift, so it’s nothing to be proud of. But it does give us a leg up in our professions, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, ma’am, I’ve found that.”
“Do you understand now why I think it would be unwise for you to go to Arlington? He’d see you. He hates you-he thinks you’re involved in this coup d’etat fantasy of his, among other things, such as you wanting my job-and seeing you there would likely set him off. The one thing none of us should do now is do anything to make him lose control.”
“I want to be secretary of State?” Castillo said.
Secretary of State Cohen made a face, then nodded gently.
“Unbelievable. But what’s not unbelievable is that I’m going to Mr. Salazar’s interment. Everybody out there is going to it. I’m sorry if that causes any problems, ma’am.”
“For Christ’s sake, Castillo, didn’t you hear what she said?” Vice President Montvale snapped.
“I’m sure you have your reasons,” Secretary Cohen said.
“To hell with his reasons,” Montvale exploded. “He’s not going out there! I’ll have the Secret Service confine him and the rest of them in the suite until the interment’s over.”
“If you do that, Mr. Vice President,” Castillo said calmly, “it will be on Wolf News and on the front page of the
“Don’t you threaten me, you arrogant sonofabitch! I’m the Vice President of the United States.”
“Get your temper under control, Charles,” Natalie Cohen said calmly. “Charley, why is this so important to you?”
“Yesterday, Mrs. Salazar telephoned me-”
“How the hell did she know where to find you?” Montvale demanded.
Castillo ignored Montvale.
“If I may continue, Madam Secretary?” he asked.
“Please.”
“I’ll answer Mr. Montvale’s question for your background, ma’am. Special Operations, Special Forces generally, and especially Delta Force and Gray Fox-and just about everybody outside who is or has been one or the other or both-is like a family. We take care of each other; we know how to find each other when there is a problem.”
“And Mrs. Salazar had a problem?” Secretary Cohen asked. “She didn’t want her husband interred in Arlington?”
Castillo nodded.
