"How did you manage that, Corporal Bradley? You were not supposed to be listening."
"I was listening to hear what you were going to say about me going back to the Corps."
"Well, the DCI and Lammelle might have trouble believing you and me, Ace, but all they would have to do is look at the pride of the Marine Corps' honest face and know he is incapable of not telling the truth," Delchamps said.
"I can probably lie as well as any of you," Bradley said, indignantly.
"And probably a lot better than me, Lester," Castillo said. "I say that in all modesty."
"So what do we do now?" Yung asked.
"May I suggest we think that over carefully before charging off in all directions?" Delchamps said. "Wind up the rubber bands, Ace, and get this show on the road."
[TWO] Forty-five minutes later, as the altimeter slowly unwound past 5,000 feet, what had been the dull glow of the lights of Montevideo suddenly became the defined lights of the apartment houses along the Rambla and the headlights of cars driving along it.
"There it is, Lester!" Castillo cried in mock excitement. "Montevideo! Just where it's supposed to be. Will miracles never cease?"
"So the data on the GPS indicates, sir," Bradley said, very seriously, pointing to the screen of the laptop.
Castillo looked. The representation of an automobile was now moving over the River Plate parallel to the Rambla.
What the hell am I going to do with you, Lester?
I can't send you back to the Marine Corps.
Not only do you know too much, but after everything you've been through, you're not going to be happy as a corporal pushing keys on a computer.
"And now if you will excuse me, Lester, I will talk to the nice man in the tower, after which I will see if I can get this aged bird on the ground in one piece."
"Yes, sir."
Castillo reached for the microphone.
"Carrasco approach control, Aero Commander Four Three…"
Five minutes later, as they turned off the Carrasco runway, Bradley said, "There's Chief Inspector Ordonez, sir," and pointed.
Castillo looked.
Ordonez was leaning against the nose of a helicopter sitting on the tarmac before the civil aviation terminal.
I wonder what he wants?
That's one of the old and battered police Hueys I am about to replace for him.
But that's an Aerospatiale Dauphin parked next to it.
I thought he said there was only one of those, and that it belonged to the president.
What the hell is going on?
And how the hell did he know we were going to be here?
Ordonez was standing outside the Aero Commander when Castillo opened the cabin door.
"There has been a development, Colonel," he said without any preliminaries.
"And how are you, Chief Inspector Ordonez?" Castillo said.