“Then I shall have to remember to choose my words carefully when dealing with you,” Graham said, smiling.
“May I offer you a drink, Colonel?”
“Yes, thank you. Bourbon?”
“Yes, Sir.”
Clete made the drink and handed it to Colonel Graham.
“For the record, Sir, this is my first,” Clete said.
“Good,” Graham said.
“I have no intention of disgracing the Corps on this War Bond Tour, Colonel.”
“I’m sure you don’t,” Graham said.
“Why are we speaking Spanish, Sir? May I ask?”
“I wanted to confirm that you spoke Spanish, and that it wasn’t pure Mex-Tex Spanish.”
“I can speak pretty good Mex-Tex, Colonel.”
Is that what he wants? This War Bond tour is going to Texas, the Southwest, and the Corps’s looking for somebody who speaks Spanish to give patriotic speeches to the Mexican-Americans? Good God!
“Sir,” Clete said in English, “my Spanish isn’t all that good and I am a lousy public speaker.”
Graham looked at him for a moment in confusion, and then, understanding, he smiled.
“Very nice. Jack Daniel’s?” he said, now in Eng
lish.
“Yes, Sir.”
“Actually your linguistic ability has nothing to do with the War Bond Tour,” Graham said, and took a sip of his drink. “And for that matter, neither do I.”
“Sir, I don’t understand…”
“Adding you to the War Bond Tour roster seemed a convenient way of bringing you back from Guadalcanal without raising any awkward questions. Conveniently for me, you turned out to be a bona fide hero.”
What the hell is he talking about?
“I don’t consider myself any kind of a hero, Sir.”
“In my experience, few bona fide heroes do,” Graham said matter-of-factly, meeting his eyes. “What it is, Frade—why I asked you to hold off on the whiskey—is that I wanted to have a talk with you, to ask you a couple of important questions. And I wanted you to be sober when I did.”
“A talk about what, Sir?”
“Let me ask the important question first, to save your time and mine,” Graham said. “Would you be willing to undertake a mission involving great personal risk?”
“Excuse me?”
“The nature of which I am not at liberty to discuss right now,” Graham went on, “beyond saying that it’s outside the continental limits of the United States and is considered of great importance to the war effort.”
This man is absolutely serious. What the hell is this all about?
“Colonel, Sir, with respect, I have no idea what you’re asking of me.”