Black Ops

Castillo caught himself smiling. “I honestly never gave it much thought, sir. I will look into it—”

“It comes perilously close to conduct unbefitting an officer and a gentleman, Castillo, and you know it.”

“I must respectfully disagree, sir. Mr. Leverette is one of the finest officers with whom I have ever served.”

“Well, let me tell you what he’s done.”

Castillo glanced at Davidson, who was grimacing.

“Yes, sir.”

“I asked the shooter with the Uzi,” Hamilton went on, “ ‘If Mr. Leverette isn’t in his room, where is he?’

“To which he replied, ‘He and Phineas went over the fence, Colonel.’ Then he handed me a letter and said, ‘Uncle Remus instructed me to give you this in the morning, Colonel. But I guess it’s okay to give it to you now.’ ”

“A letter, sir? What did it say?”

“I will read it to you,” Colonel Hamilton said. “Quote. Dear Colonel Hamilton. Phineas and I decided it would be a good idea if we conducted a preliminary reconnaissance of the border area prior to the planning of the incursion. Since you were so tired, and we felt sure you would agree this was a wise step, we didn’t wake you. We will return in forty-eight hours. Respectfully, Colin Leverette CWO5 USA. End quote. Well, what about that, Castillo?”

“What about what, sir?”

“If that isn’t direct and willful disobedience of orders, what is it?”

“Sir, did you order Mr. Leverette and Mr. DeWitt not to conduct a reconnaissance of the border area?”

“I thought it was understood. I told you that.”

“Well, to judge from Mr. Leverette’s letter, sir, I’d have to say the understanding wasn’t unequivocally clear. He would never disobey an order, sir”—Unless, at the time, Colin thought it was the right thing to do—“Sir, why don’t you have a word with Mr. Leverette when he and Mr. DeWitt return?”

“You can take that to the bank, Castillo,” Colonel Hamilton said. “I’ll give the both of them a dressing-down they’ll remember the rest of their lives.”

Probably more like two seconds.

Uncle Remus and Phineas DeWitt have been dressed down by Bruce J. McNab, and with all possible respect, Colonel Hamilton, sir, you just ain’t in the same ball club.

“Sir, I realize I shouldn’t say this, but I respectfully suggest you not be too hard on either of them. They mean well.”

“I will contact you on their return, Castillo.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

“Colonel J. Porter Hamilton. Please terminate the communication link.”

“Anything else I can do for you, Colonel?” the sultry voice asked suggestively.

“Uh, no,” Hamilton replied somewhat uneasily, then in a stuffy tone added, “That will be all, thank you.”

Castillo looked at Davidson, who said: “Well, Colonel Castillo, sir, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, but I would not be surprised if Colonel Hamilton ignores you vis-a-vis not being too hard on Uncle Remus and Phineas. He will lecture them both severely and probably reduce them both to tears. But nice try.”

[FIVE]

0200 12 January 2006

“Otto Gorner for Colonel Castillo, Data Transmission Not Encrypted,” the sultry voice of the AFC announced.

Davidson pushed the VOICE TRANSMIT button.

“John Davidson. Colonel Castillo available in five minutes.”

“Hold one, Sergeant Davidson,” the voice said, then twenty seconds later added: “Not Encrypted Data Transmission begins. Pass to Colonel Castillo when available.”

Davidson hadn’t even reached the printer when it started to whir and the voice—which, or who, Davidson very privately had begun to think of as “Sexy Susan”—announced: “Not Encrypted Data Transmission complete.”

Three seconds later a hard copy of the data came out of the printer.

Davidson read it, then began to push keys on the printer keyboard.

The printer monitor showed what he’d typed: TRANSLATE GERMAN TO ENGLISH DRAFT.

The translation began to appear on the printer monitor.

Davidson studied it, made a few minor corrections—the AFC translator was good but not perfect—then typed, FILE AS GORNER 0203 12 JAN PRINT 3 COPIES.”

The printer began to spit out the three copies.

Davidson stapled the German original and the translation together, then said, “Sorry, Casanova, duty calls,” and walked out of the library.

Svetlana answered his knock in a few seconds.

“He’s asleep,” she said.

Davidson held out the papers.

“Sweaty, I think he’d want to see this.”

She took them from him, stepped into the corridor where there was enough light to read, then scanned both versions, and sighed. “Dmitri was afraid of something like this would happen. I will wake Carlos.”

Davidson went back to the library.

Castillo, wearing his West Point bathrobe, came in almost immediately behind him.

“Goddamn that Edgar Delchamps!”

“You’re not really surprised, are you, Charley?”

“Pissed is the word that comes to mind. At Delchamps, and at me for not seeing this coming.”

Dmitri and Svetlana came into the library. Berezovsky was wrapped in a terry-cloth bathrobe.

“Have a look at social notes from all over,” Castillo said, gesturing to the papers.

“Svetlana told me,” Berezovsky said.

“Read it,” Castillo said, “then give me the benefit of your thinking, please.”

Berezovsky took one of the copies of the translation, and his eyes fell to it.

TAGES ZEITUNG VIENNA

0900 12 Jan

Immediate

For All Tages Zeitung Newspapers

TAG: RUSSIAN DIPLOMAT FOUND

MURDERED OUTSIDE U.S. EMBASSY

By Wilhelm Dusse

Staff Writer/Tages Zeitung Vienna

The body of Kirill Demidov, cultural attache of the Russian embassy, was found early this morning in the passenger seat of a taxicab near the United States of America embassy at Boltzmanngasse 16. He apparently had been strangled to death.

Mr. Demidov’s body was found by a U.S. Marine guard as he walked to the embassy to begin his duty day.

“I thought it was funny for somebody to be sitting in the back of a cab with no driver, so I took a look, and when I’d seen what it was I went inside the embassy and called the cops,” Staff Sergeant James L. Hanrahan told this reporter before the interview was interrupted by an officer of the embassy, who took Sergeant Hanrahan away