“Right. And Stevenson said he could get him to Pôrto Alegre with no trouble. From there, he should be able to travel to Rio de Janeiro in a matter of hours.”
“Stevenson is a good man,” Schultz said.
“We need to get a message out right away—” Clete said, and then interrupted himself. “If there had been anything for me, I guess you would have told me?”
“Nothing, skipper.”
“OK. Message Graham that I took Ashton to Montevideo in the Lodestar and turned him over, without incident, to Stevenson, et cetera, et cetera.”
“Aye, aye, Sir,” the chief said. “You mean right now, or will it wait until the next scheduled call? That’s in about an hour.”
“It’ll wait until then,” Clete said.
“I’ll do you a draft,” the Chief said, and walked into the house.
“May I offer something to eat, Miss Mallín?” Sawyer asked politely.
“First of all, call me Dorotéa. And, no, thank you, we’re going to eat just as soon as we get to the main house,” Dorotéa said. “But do you suppose I could try that?”
“Try what?”
“One of those,” she said, pointing to the .45 pistols on the table. “I’ve never fired a gun.”
Sawyer looked at Clete, who nodded his permission.
“Baby, they make a lot of noise and they kick like a mule,” Clete said.
“Forewarned is forearmed, right?” she said.
Sawyer picked up one of the pistols and began a lecture on the Pistol, Caliber .45 Model 1911A1, worthy of the Infantry School.
Her first shots went as wild as Clete thought they would, but within five minutes, she hit her first tin can, and turned to smile proudly and happily at Clete.
A moment later the Chief touched Clete’s arm and handed him a sheet of typewriter paper.
“I included our routine crap, OK, skipper?”
* * *
PRIORITY
TOP SECRET LINDBERGH
DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN
FROM TEX
MSG NO 106 TIME TIME GREENWICH 2 MAY 1943
TO AGGIE
BACARDI SUCCESSFULLY EXFILTRATED BY TEX IN PARROT TO CARE OF COUTH 1 MAY
BACARDI ETA CARIOCA VIA BIRDCAGE 4 MAY
URGENTLY REQUIRE SIX EACH REPEAT SIX EACH PART NUMBER 23-34567
FOUR EACH REPEAT FOUR EACH PART NUMBER 23 8707