moment. “Sure. Best offer I’ve had all day.”
When we reached the room, he worked the key, saying, “If you don’t mind bringing my bag inside… There’s a bottle of bourbon wrapped in a shirt. Just set the combination lock to zeros and it will open.” While I put the suitcase on the luggage stand and dug out the whiskey, he got the door closed and rolled himself over to the dresser and peeled the Saran Wrap or whatever the local equivalent was called, off the plastic glasses, holding one out to me as I approached with the bottle. He looked me in the eye. “Pour your own poison, Mr. Helm.”
I grinned at him. “As you wish, Señor Jimenez, but I think we’d better stick to the cover names for the time being,” I said. “How long have you known?”
He shrugged. “Since Houston, I think. A tall man who is very good with a rifle—it is a story I have heard many times. A tall man who knows much about cameras and often uses them for disguise. A tall man who works for the United States Government. A tall man whose lady friend was recently murdered by my stupid young brother and my stupid young sister and their stupid friend on instructions, or perhaps not on instructions, from my still-so-ambitious father.” He looked up at me curiously. “I thought you would certainly betray me at the airport, amigo. I had thought of having you killed, as a preventive measure; but that would have destroyed our plans just as effectively as anything you could do against us. The murder or unexplained disappearance of a member of this tour would have brought everything to a halt; it would have caused an investigation that Mr. Dick Anderson would not have survived. So…” He shrugged and raised his glass to me. “So here we are.”
I said, “At least you’ve learned not to go off half-cocked, unlike the rest of your lousy family. Do they know you’re alive and out of prison? I got the impression from Dolores—”
“They do not know,” Ricardo said. “They really have very few reliable contacts with the land they still hope to liberate; and it was not considered safe for them to know, so the information was not allowed to reach them.” He frowned up at me. “Why didn’t you, amigo?”
“Finger you at the airport?” I shrugged. “Why the hell should I? You haven’t done anything to me, at least not yet. You weren’t even in Chicago when it happened.”
“So I am to believe that your presence on this tour is pure coincidence?”
I said, “Two people wanted to slip into a country without attracting attention, and there was only one inconspicuous way of going at the time, and they both went that way. If that’s a coincidence, you can have it.” I studied him for a moment. “Who’s running your revolution, anyway? Not you, not from the U.S., not from that chair. And not your daddy, apparently, since you haven’t even bothered to let him know you’re still alive.”
There was some guilt in Ricardo’s voice when he said, “I have much respect for my father; but he is very old-fashioned now with his military ways.”
“You’re going to need some old-fashioned military ways if you have any notion of taking over this country, considering all the firepower I saw on the streets today.”
“Actually, the army’s loyalty to Rael is very doubtful, now that a Jimenez is on the other side. That is the reason I am here.” He hesitated. “It would be very good if we could have my father to advise us in the fighting. He was a great fighter, but he was a terrible president, Sam. Like your General Grant. He could not believe that his old army friends would betray his trust and use for their own profit the positions to which he had raised them without any thought for the people of Costa Verde. It was all army, and all corrupt army, while he was president; otherwise Armando Rael with his reactionary friends could never have come to power. Yet the army has always loved my father; and there are many people who are
When we reached the room, he worked the key, saying, “If you don’t mind bringing my bag inside… There’s a bottle of bourbon wrapped in a shirt. Just set the combination lock to zeros and it will open.” While I put the suitcase on the luggage stand and dug out the whiskey, he got the door closed and rolled himself over to the dresser and peeled the Saran Wrap or whatever the local equivalent was called, off the plastic glasses, holding one out to me as I approached with the bottle. He looked me in the eye. “Pour your own poison, Mr. Helm.”
I grinned at him. “As you wish, Señor Jimenez, but I think we’d better stick to the cover names for the time being,” I said. “How long have you known?”
He shrugged. “Since Houston, I think. A tall man who is very good with a rifle—it is a story I have heard many times. A tall man who knows much about cameras and often uses them for disguise. A tall man who works for the United States Government. A tall man whose lady friend was recently murdered by my stupid young brother and my stupid young sister and their stupid friend on instructions, or perhaps not on instructions, from my still-so-ambitious father.” He looked up at me curiously. “I thought you would certainly betray me at the airport, amigo. I had thought of having you killed, as a preventive measure; but that would have destroyed our plans just as effectively as anything you could do against us. The murder or unexplained disappearance of a member of this tour would have brought everything to a halt; it would have caused an investigation that Mr. Dick Anderson would not have survived. So…” He shrugged and raised his glass to me. “So here we are.”
I said, “At least you’ve learned not to go off half-cocked, unlike the rest of your lousy family. Do they know you’re alive and out of prison? I got the impression from Dolores—”
“They do not know,” Ricardo said. “They really have very few reliable contacts with the land they still hope to liberate; and it was not considered safe for them to know, so the information was not allowed to reach them.” He frowned up at me. “Why didn’t you, amigo?”
“Finger you at the airport?” I shrugged. “Why the hell should I? You haven’t done anything to me, at least not yet. You weren’t even in Chicago when it happened.”
“So I am to believe that your presence on this tour is pure coincidence?”
I said, “Two people wanted to slip into a country without attracting attention, and there was only one inconspicuous way of going at the time, and they both went that way. If that’s a coincidence, you can have it.” I studied him for a moment. “Who’s running your revolution, anyway? Not you, not from the U.S., not from that chair. And not your daddy, apparently, since you haven’t even bothered to let him know you’re still alive.”
There was some guilt in Ricardo’s voice when he said, “I have much respect for my father; but he is very old-fashioned now with his military ways.”
“You’re going to need some old-fashioned military ways if you have any notion of taking over this country, considering all the firepower I saw on the streets today.”
“Actually, the army’s loyalty to Rael is very doubtful, now that a Jimenez is on the other side. That is the reason I am here.” He hesitated. “It would be very good if we could have my father to advise us in the fighting. He was a great fighter, but he was a terrible president, Sam. Like your General Grant. He could not believe that his old army friends would betray his trust and use for their own profit the positions to which he had raised them without any thought for the people of Costa Verde. It was all army, and all corrupt army, while he was president; otherwise Armando Rael with his reactionary friends could never have come to power. Yet the army has always loved my father; and there are many people who are
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