Now what has the Lord been up to?
"--I didn't have to look for our cousin Aleksandr. Carlos took Svetlana to him. And Aleksandr told her that he owed Carlos his life. Like you, Comandante, I am a man of both strength and experience. I would not have believed a word Carlos told me had not Aleksandr told Svetlana he thought of him as family, as a brother."
Oh, shit! I think our little morality play is over.
Duffy's not going to swallow that whole. Not even a little piece of it.
"As it says in Scripture," Duffy said, and interrupted himself. "I don't want to call you 'Colonel.' May I call you by your Christian name?"
"Of course. Dmitri."
"I know," Duffy said.
Of course you know, Liam.
It's on the fucking Interpol warrant--probably next to a picture of a cow having left a barn.
"But for your safety," Duffy said, and glanced at Svetlana, "and for your family's, I will honor you as 'Thomas.'"
Out of the barn and the door locked tight.
Duffy is no fool. . . .
"So, Thomas, in Scripture it says, 'Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for another,' " Duffy said.
Berezovsky nodded.
"My friend, my brother, Carlos," Duffy went on, his voice quivering with emotion, "has already shown that he is willing to do that for me. I could not deny him anything he asked of me."
I'll be damned!
"His name is Lavrenti Tarasov," Svetlana said matter-of-factly, if not coldly.
"What?" Duffy said.
"Lavrenti Tarasov," Svetlana repeated, then looked at her brother. "I trust this man. I can see in his eyes that he is a good, Christian man."
"Thank you," Duffy said.
"Tarasov is a lieutenant colonel of the SVR," Berezovsky furnished, "and rezident for Paraguay and Argentina. His cover is commercial attache in the Russian embassy in Asuncion."
"For Paraguay and Argentina?" Munz asked.
"Alfredo," Berezovsky said, smiling, "as I understand it, your SIDE spends a good deal of time and effort keeping an eye on the man you have been allowed to think is the rezident in Buenos Aires."
"Who never does anything out of line?" Munz said.
Berezovsky nodded.
Munz shook his head.
"Liam," Castillo said, "just so that we're still clear on this: I don't want a damn thing to happen to this Lavrenti Tarasov until I get back from Africa."
Duffy met his eyes.
"Clear?" Castillo pursued.
"I hope you're not going to be in Africa long, Carlos."
"Not ten seconds longer than absolutely necessary."
"I can wait that long," Duffy said.
[THREE]
Pilar Golf & Polo Country Club
Pilar, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
0725 3 January 2006
Very carefully--so as not to wake Svetlana--Castillo got out of bed, walked across the tile floor to the bathroom, and closed its door behind him. The door was substantial; he didn't think Svetlana would hear the sound of the shower through it.
He had seen the bathroom during Svetlana's quick tour of the house, and again just before they had gone to bed, but he hadn't paid much attention to it. Now, taking a good look, he decided that this bathroom made the all-marble bath in the Presidente de la Rua Suite of the Four Seasons Hotel, which at the time he had thought was pushing opulence to new heights, look like the plywood-holed-planking honey bucket sanitary facilities he had known so well in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other exotic locales.
The Club House--where everyone, including Max and Marina, had gone for dinner in a convoy of electric golf carts--had been similarly mind-boggling. It looked more like one of Saddam Hussein's palaces in Baghdad than, for example, the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa. And the furnishings and service made the Petroleum Club in Dallas look like a Motel 6.
He remembered Abuela telling him that before World War II, when people wanted to describe someone as stinking rich and needed a more elegant phrase, they said, "Rich as an Argentine." Abuela had also told him that Juan Domingo Peron had managed to squander, during his tenure as dictator, what in 1938 had been the largest gold reserves in the world.
But some of that enormous wealth, to judge by the miles of high-rise luxury apartments in Buenos Aires and those lining the beaches of Punta del Este, had somehow managed to elude Peron's grasp.
Then another part of his brain kicked in. He remembered documents he'd read--ones still classified sixty years after the war's end--about the movement to Argentina of vast sums of money by senior members of the about-to-crumple Nazi structure. That, in turn, triggered memories of Aleksandr Pevsner's Bariloche copy of Goring's hunting estate mansion, Karinhall. The odds that that had been built by a successful cattle breeder were pretty damn slim.
That was his final profound philosophical thought before he stepped away from a sanitary facility mounted on the marble wall of its own softly lit cubicle. A red light flickered in a gold-plated box and the urinal flushed.
"Oh, God, how did I ever get through life having to flush my own pissoir?" he asked aloud, then left the cubicle and headed for the shower.
He looked at his new wristwatch. He would have just about an hour until Delchamps and Davidson--who had gone to Nuestra Pequena Casa after dinner--would bring just about everybody--which, it was to be hoped, would include Uncle Remus and Dick Miller, who should have arrived sometime during the night and been taken to the safe house--for the first meeting on what would happen in Africa and--more important--how in hell they would make it happen.
"Oh, God," he again asked aloud, "how did I tell time all those years without a Rolex?"
He pulled open one of the two doors to the shower, stripped, and stepped inside. He picked up a bar of soap and started to bathe. Then he smelled himself, decided the bar of soap was the causative factor, and sniffed it.
"Oh, God," he once more asked aloud, "how did I ever get through life without soap like this?"
He soaped his body and then closed his eyes and soaped his hair and face.
"Jesus Christ!" he exclaimed as he suddenly felt hands on his body that weren't his.
"If you let me wash yours, I'll let you wash mine," Svetlana said, and stuck her tongue in his ear.
[FOUR]
0840 3 January 2006
The bar had been turned into a meeting room.
Everyone--including Dick Miller and Uncle Remus--was there when Castillo and Svetlana walked in.
"Overslept, did you, Ace?" Delchamps greeted them.
"Sorry," Castillo said. "Everybody met?"
There were nods and a chorus of "Uh-huhs."
"This is Svetlana, aka Susan," Castillo said. "Honey, these two are really old friends, Colin Leverette and Dick Miller."
Miller and Leverette stood up and took her extended hand. Both mumbled, "How are you?"
Then they sat down.
Svetlana took her hand back, looked at both of them, and shrugged. "Okay, to clear the air: Yes, I'm the diabolic Russian who has taken your innocent friend to my boudoir and done all sorts of wicked things with him. But since that has nothing to do with taking out the chemical factory in the Congo, may I suggest we turn our attention to that?"
"You tell 'em, Susie!" Delchamps said, laughing.
Leverette stood up. "Colonel, my friends call me Uncle Remus. And any friend of Charley's . . ."
"Thank you," Svetlana said. "It used to be Colonel, Uncle Remus. Now it is Susan."
"Susan it is," Leverette said, and sat down again. He shoved his elbow into Miller's midsection. "Gimpy, that's your cue to stand up and make nice to the lady. Otherwise, I'll break your good knee."
"And just off the top of my head," Delchamps said, "I'd say Uncle Remus is big enough to do that without a hell of a lot of effort."
Miller stood.
"If an apology is in order, herewith offered."
"Accepted," Svetlana said.
"When I met him," M
iller then blurted, nodding at Castillo, "we were both kids, about to become plebes at the Academy. I've been trying to keep him out of trouble ever since. He's done some wild things, and I didn't think he could surprise me anymore. But I didn't know about . . . about this situation until twenty minutes ago."
"You were surprised? Nobody is more surprised than Carlos . . . except perhaps me. Okay? Dramatic confrontation concluded?"
Miller nodded and sat down.
Delchamps slid a sheet of paper across the table to Castillo.
"I think it would save some time if you took a look at these before we get started," he said. "Everybody else has seen them."
"Okay," Castillo said, and started to read:
TRAVEL PERMITS: US NATIONALS REQUIRE A VALID PASSPORT AND A VISA TO ENTER THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO.
AIRPORTS: KINSHASA (N'DJILI) (FIH) IS 25KM (15 MILES) EAST OF THE CITY. BUSES RUN TO AND FROM THE CITY. TAXIS ARE AVAILABLE.
FACILITIES: 24-HOUR BANK/BUREAU DE CHANGE, POST OFFICE, RESTAURANT AND CAR HIRE, BUT ALL SERVICES ARE ERRATIC AND UNRELIABLE.
HEALTH: YELLOW FEVER VACCINATION IS A REQUIREMENT. VACCINATIONS AGAINST CHOLERA, TYPHOID, AND POLIO ARE HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT MALARIA RISK THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY, AND ADVICE SHOULD BE SOUGHT IN ADVANCE ABOUT PREVENTIVE MEASURES. HIV/AIDS IS PREVALENT. RABIES IS ENDEMIC TO THE DRC. REGULAR OUTBREAKS OF PNEUMONIC PLAGUE ALSO OCCUR, PARTICULARLY IN THE DISTRICT OF ITURI, AND IS FATAL IF UNTREATED. AN OUTBREAK OF THE DEADLY EBOLA VIRUS OCCURRED IN SEPTEMBER 2007. THE CENTER PRIVE D'URGENCE (CPU) CLINIC IN KINSHASA IS ABLE TO COPE WITH BASIC HEALTH PROBLEMS AND TO STABILIZE A PATIENT AFTER MOST SERIOUS ACCIDENTS. HOWEVER, MEDICAL EVACUATION TO SOUTH AFRICA (OR ELSEWHERE) WOULD BE ADVISED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. OUTSIDE KINSHASA, WESTERN STANDARD MEDICAL FACILITIES ARE PRACTICALLY NON-EXISTENT. VISITORS ARE ADVISED TO TAKE THEIR OWN BASIC MEDICAL SUPPLIES WITH THEM, AS MEDICINES ARE IN SHORT SUPPLY. MEDICAL INSURANCE WITH PROVISION FOR EMERGENCY AIR EVACUATION IS ESSENTIAL FOR VISITORS. ALL WATER SHOULD BE REGARDED AS CONTAMINATED, AND MILK IS UNPASTEURIZED; THEREFORE CONSUME ONLY IMPORTED BOTTLED WATER AND AVOID DAIRY PRODUCTS.
SECURITY: THE EAST AND NORTHEAST OF THE COUNTRY ARE INSECURE AND TRAVELERS SHOULD BE CAUTIOUS IF TRAVEL TO THE REGION IS NECESSARY, PARTICULARLY NEAR THE BORDERS WITH UGANDA AND RWANDA. THERE ARE FREQUENT ARMED CLASHES IN THE DISTRICT OF ITURI NEAR THE UGANDAN BORDER, AS WELL AS KIVU PROVINCE AND NORTHERN KATANGA. THERE IS A HIGH LEVEL OF STREET CRIME AND ARMED ROBBERY, PARTICULARLY IN KINSHASA, WHERE ARMED GANGS OR CRIMINALS POSING AS PLAIN-CLOTHES POLICEMEN REGULARLY ATTACK FOREIGNERS. SECURITY OFFICIALS HAVE ALSO BEEN KNOWN TO ARREST FOREIGNERS AND DEMAND PAYMENT FOR THEIR RELEASE. DO NOT DISPLAY VALUABLES ON YOUR PERSON, WALK THE STREETS ALONE, OR CARRY LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY. KEEP CAR DOORS AND WINDOWS LOCKED. DEMONSTRATIONS AND POLITICAL GATHERINGS SHOULD BE AVOIDED. BOATS AND FERRIES ARE POORLY MAINTAINED AND HAVE LOW SAFETY STANDARDS; ON 16 JANUARY 2004 AN OVERCROWDED FERRY ON THE KASAI RIVER SANK, KILLING 35 PEOPLE. DUE TO VIOLENT ATTACKS, THE BORDER BETWEEN ANGOLA AND THE DRC IS NOW CLOSED.
When he had finished, he slid the printout to Svetlana.
"Where'd you get that?" he asked.
"Courtesy of our friends in the CIA," Delchamps said.
"Jesus, you asked them?"
" 'Hi, there! We're about to blow up a chemical factory in the Congo that you say doesn't exist, and need a little help.' "
"Then what the hell are you talking about?"
"Gotcha, Ace." Delchamps smirked. "I did a quick Internet search. The CIA has data like that on the Web for anyplace you can think of. So does your State Department page boy pal's Web site--maps, data, even the address of your favorite home away from home, the U.S. embassy."
"And the odd thing, Charley," Uncle Remus said, "is that what Edgar got off the Web is just about the same thing as this."
Leverette slid a manila envelope to Castillo. He opened it. The document, on official CIA stationery, was classified SECRET and its heading read: "CONGO, DR of, Basic Conditions as of 1 Jan 2005."
"See? Says just about the same thing," Leverette said. "D'Allessando gave me that. I don't know where he got it, but there's no tie to you."
Castillo took a quick look, then slid it to Svetlana.
"Only one airport? That's hard to believe," Castillo said.
"The whole Democratic Republic of the Congo is hard to believe," Leverette said.
Castillo's cellular vibrated in his shirt pocket.
"Hola?" he said, and then listened.
"Jesus. Thanks, Liam. I'll get back to you."
He put the cellular back in his shirt pocket and looked at Svetlana.
"That was interesting," he said. "Comandante Duffy just told me that the Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt this morning had aboard a Russian diplomat by the name of Evgeny Alekseeva, who was met by a Russian diplomat from Paraguay by the name of Lavrenti Tarasov."
"He will have to be terminated, Carlos," Berezovsky said evenly.
"No," Castillo said firmly. "What we're going to have to do is get out of here, out of Argentina."
XIII
[ONE]
Pilar Golf & Polo Country Club
Pilar, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
0850 3 January 2006
"Colonel," Dick Miller said, "may I have a word with you in private?"
Castillo looked around the room.
They're a motley bunch, but they're my motley crew--my team.
"No, Dick. Unless you want to confide in me that you contracted a social disease on the way down here."
Delchamps and Davidson chuckled.
"I think it's important," Miller pursued.
"No. You know Rule One: Everybody on the team knows everything."
"Go ahead, Carlos," Svetlana said. "Talk with him. I don't mind."
"Whether or not you mind is beside the point, Susan. And Rule Two is that when I speak ex cathedra it's not open for debate."
"You are now the Pope?" she snapped.
Castillo raised an eyebrow toward her. "Actually, that means 'from the chair,' not 'from the cathedral,' if that's what you were thinking. And Rule Three is never be sarcastic unless you're sure you know what you're talking about."
Berezovsky laughed and applauded. Delchamps joined in.
Svetlana with obvious effort kept her mouth shut.
Castillo looked at Miller. "Okay, Dick, let's have it."
Miller hesitated.
"The colonel just used the term 'terminated,' " Leverette then said. "Presuming it means what I think it does, who and why?"
"Is that what you were going to ask, Dick?" Castillo said.
"Among other things," Miller said.
"Okay," Castillo said. "What Tom Barlow--not Colonel Berezovsky; no one ever heard of him--wants to do is take out two SVR people. One of them, Lieutenant Colonel Lavrenti Tarasov, is the rezident for Paraguay and Argentina. The other, Colonel Evgeny Alekseeva, works for Directorate S and came here looking for Tom and Susan."
"What's the connection?" Leverette asked, and when Castillo didn't immediately answer, said, "Alekseev, Alekseeva, whoever you said?"
Castillo looked at Svetlana.
"What did you say Rule One was, Carlos?" she said, giving him her okay.
Castillo looked back at Leverette. "Alekseeva was once married to Susan."
"Davidson, you didn't happen to mention that," Leverette said.
Miller rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Because of that connection . . ." Berezovsky began and stopped. "I don't know what to call you. 'Mister Leverette'?"
Leverette looked at Castillo, then back to Berezovsky. "Tell you what, Tom. Against my better judgment, and until I decide you really are the nice guy Charley seems to think you are, you can call me 'Uncle Remus' . . ."
"Thank you."
"Everybody else seems to be crazy, so why not me?" Leverette finished.
Berezovsky said: "As I was saying, Uncle Remus, because of that connection, Colonel Alekseeva has, in a
ddition to a coldly professional interest, a personal interest in our defection. Unless he either can return us to Russia--which is just about an impossible ambition--or terminate us, his career will be finished. An officer who could not prevent the defection of his wife and her brother obviously is unreliable." He met Castillo's eyes. "I am suggesting, Carlos, that because Evgeny Alekseeva is highly skilled in this sort of thing, and we know highly motivated, eliminating him is the thing to do."
"No," Castillo said.
"Was that also ex cathedra, Carlos?" Berezovsky asked softly, but with a tone that was challenging.
Castillo nodded. "Yes, it was, Tom."
"Dmitri!" Svetlana said warningly.
"I think I should tell you, Carlos," Berezovsky said, "that I have several options. One is to smile at you and agree, then pretend to be surprised when we learn that Evgeny is no longer with us. Stepan--the larger of the two men Aleksandr assigned to watch over our Susan--he used to work for me. He would eliminate Evgeny Alekseeva with at least as much enthusiasm as Comandante Duffy would take out Lavrenti Tarasov."
"Please don't try that, Tom," Castillo said.
Berezovsky ignored the comment.
"My second option," he went on, "is to try to reason with you, one professional to another, to try to show you why eliminating Evgeny now makes more sense than anything else. And if that failed, to go to you as Svetlana's brother and point out that this very dangerous man is determined to kill the woman we both love and my wife and child."
"Don't you think I've thought of that?" Castillo said.
"Dmitri," Svetlana said evenly, "the woman you both love is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. And stop treating Carlos as if he started in this business last week. If he has his reasons--"
"May I continue?" Berezovsky said.
She made a face but motioned for him to go on.
"But, I am sure that Carlos would agree with me that there can be only one man in charge, so I will consider myself at his orders and defer to his judgment."
Castillo looked him in the eyes a long moment as he considered that, then nodded once. "Thank you."
Black Ops (Presidential Agent) Page 38
