The Adventurers (91 page)

"I could make no such guarantee and you know it. My contacts with other groups are loose and tenuous at best. But I will say this. There would be no further opposition from my group, and I would use my influence on the others, too."

"Thank you. That was what I wanted to hear."

"I have no desire, either, to see further bloodshed."

I rose. "For the sake of our country let us hope there will be none."

Guayanos came around the table and walked to the door. Before he opened it he looked back at me. "I did not thank you for what you did for my brother. He has a quick temper; sometimes he does foolish things."

"Beatriz already explained that to me," I said, "but I did only what I thought was right."

For a moment it seemed as if Guayanos wanted to say something more but instead he opened the door. "Come in," he called "Senor Xenos and I have finished."

He turned and said almost regretfully, "I hope you will not mind if we ask you to submit again to the blindfold?"

I shook my head.

Beatriz came toward me, the black cloth in her hand. I leaned forward to make it easier for her. As I did I caught a glimpse of Mendoza's face over her shoulder, and suddenly I knew why he had acted toward me as he had. The reasons weren't solely political. He was also in love with Beatriz.

When the blindfold came off we were back in front of Reuben's. I blinked my eyes as I looked at Beatriz. "Would you like to come in for a cup of coffee?"

She stared into my eyes for a moment, then shook her head. 'I think I had better go back."

I reached for her hand. She let me hold it but did not return the pressure. "I must see you," I said. "Alone. Not like this."

She didn't answer.

"Beatriz, I meant what I said that night. I wasn't playing games."

She looked at me, the tears seeming to blur the green of her eyes. "I—I don't understand you at all." She took back her hand and turned away. "You'd better go."

Silently I started to get out of the car.

"Dax, my father will be safe?" she asked. "You meant what you said?"

"Yes, Beatriz, I meant what I said."

"If—if something were to happen to him," she said huskily, "I would never stop blaming myself." "Nothing will happen to him."

A moment later I watched as the car turned south on

Madison Avenue. For the first time I felt depressed and discouraged. A vague sense of impending doom seemed to settle around my shoulders. I shook my head angrily. Why should I feel like this?

I went into the restaurant and ordered a drink. The whiskey burned its way down and I could feel myself lift. But it was a false kind of lift. It would not be too far in the future that I would remember my words and wonder how I could ever have been such a fool as to make the one promise I could not keep.

CHAPTER
18

El Presidente listened silently while I told him over the phone about my meeting with Dr. Guayanos. I listed the conditions he had asked for, and as I read the last, about impartial observers, there was a moment's silence. Then el Presidente's voice came roaring over the wire. "The son of a bitch! He's asking for everything except my vote."

I had to laugh. "I have a feeling he'd ask for that, too, if he thought he'd get it."

"What do you think? If I agree will he come back?"

"I think so."

"I don't like it. If we agree to impartial observers it will be the same as admitting we were wrong."

"What difference does that make?" I asked. "You do not expect him to win, do you? Your victory should make it sufficiently clear that you are wanted by the majority of the people."

"That's true. All right, I'll agree to his conditions with one of my own added. And this one has nothing to do with him, only with you."

"What is it?"

"That you join with me as my nominee for vice president. It has been on my mind for a long time now. I will not live forever. I want to be sure that the government continues in good hands."

This was something I had not counted on. Grudgingly I realized that the old man had me boxed in. If I really believed in what I said, I would have to go along with him. And if I did, it would effectively eliminate me as a future opposition candidate by placing me squarely in his corner.

"Why do you hesitate?" he asked sharply.

"I was surprised, and I am overwhelmed by the honor. But do you think you're doing the right thing? I could be a handicap to you. There are many at home who do not approve of me."

I did not go into the reasons. He knew them as well as I. The church, for one. There was not a Sunday that passed but from one pulpit or another I was castigated as a profligate and playboy.

"If I am not concerned," el Presidente asked, "why should you be?"

"Your excellency, I am both delighted and honored to accept your generous offer."

"Good." His voice lightened. "Then you may inform the traitor that his terms are accepted. And that the date set for election is Easter Sunday."

"Thank you, your excellency. I will so inform him."

"Do that. I will await word that you have spoken with him and then give the announcement to the press." He chuckled in a pleased tone. "You have done well, but then I never doubted for a moment that the girl would be putty in your hands."

There was a bitter taste in my mouth as I put down the telephone. Everyone had it figured out. Latin Lover Number One. I pushed the annoyance from my mind and reached for the telephone to call Guayanos. And then I realized that I had no way of reaching him until he was ready to contact me. I looked down at my desk calendar.

It was the eighth of January. He had better get in touch soon or the election would be over before he even was aware that he was a candidate.

It was four o'clock when I returned to my desk in the consulate from one of those interminable meetings at the United Nations. Finally I had been able to stand it no longer and had slipped out in the middle. There was a message on my desk to call the senator. I picked up the telephone.

His secretary put me right through. "I think I have some good news for you," he said. "How soon can you get down here?"

I glanced at the clock. "I could make a six-o'clock plane. Is that too late for you?"

"No," he answered, "that will be fine. You should be able to make it by eight. Come right out to my house for dinner."

There were three others there besides the senator and myself. His wife did not join us, except for a drink, and then went up to lie down. I looked around the table as we sat down. Whatever the senator had to tell me had to be important, otherwise these men would not have been there. On my right was the Undersecretary of State for Latin American Affairs, and opposite us, side by side, sat the respective heads of the foreign-affairs committees of both the House and the Senate.

"We can wait until after dinner or begin with the soup," the senator said. "I don't mind talking shop at mealtimes."

"I defer to you, gentlemen," I said.

"Then let's begin now," the senator opposite me said.

"I have had a number of discussions with the gentlemen present about the situation in Corteguay," the senator began. "I told them in great detail about our discussion. They were as impressed as I. But we are agreed that there are certain questions we feel we must ask to clarify our thinking."

"Please feel free to ask whatever you wish."

For the next twenty minutes I went through a barrage of questions. Much to my surprise I found that these men were far better informed than I had thought. Very little of what had happened in Corteguay during the past twenty-five years had escaped their attention.

At the end we all sat back in a rare sort of mutual respect that doesn't happen very often in meetings of this kind. They had been brutally frank in their questions, and I had been painfully direct in my replies. The senator looked at me for a moment, then glanced around the table. He seemed to be seeking their permission to continue. One by one they nodded and he turned back to me.

"As you know," he said, "your application for a loan of twenty million dollars has been kicking around for some time."

I nodded.

"In a way this was because we did not know exactly what to do about it. We realized the Communist threat to your country and we would have liked to help combat it. On the other hand we were aware that the present government in the past has not been above corruption and political terrorism. In many quarters of the government, speaking frankly, your government is regarded as a classic example of fascism, and your president as no better than another dictator."

I didn't speak.

"With such conflict in our minds, you can realize the difficulties of our choice. But with the full agreement of the others at this table I venture to make this proposal."

I looked at him. His eyes were clear and serious.

"We are willing to sponsor a loan to Corteguay if the following condition could be met. If your president were willing to step aside in the interests of your country, in favor of you, there would be no difficulty in counting on the support of the United States."

I was silent. Slowly I let my eyes move around the table. They all watched me curiously. Finally I found the words I wanted.

"Speaking for myself, gentlemen, I thank you for your trust and confidence. But speaking for my country I deeply resent that you feel your money gives you the right to interfere in our internal affairs. And lastly, speaking for my president, I cannot answer for what he would do, but I can tell you what he has done just this morning."

They were interested now. Their instincts, sharpened by experience, warned them that they had almost walked into a trap.

"This morning I acceded to a request by my president that I join him as his candidate for vice president in an election to be held on Easter Sunday. Opposing el Presidente will be Dr. Guayanos. Dr. Guayanos and our president have agreed on certain aspects of the election, the principal one being that it will be conducted under the impartial auspices of the United Nations or the Organization of American States."

The senator looked at me ruefully. "You didn't tell me that over the phone."

"You didn't give me a chance."

His face went serious. "Do you think Guayanos has a chance?"

I shook my head. "You have a saying 'About as much chance as a snowball in hell.' "

"Nothing is ever certain in politics," the congressman across the table said.

"If Guayanos won I'm not sure I'd like it," the undersecretary said in his precise voice. "He plays it a little too close to the Communists to suit me. Mendoza, for instance, seems to have a personal passkey to the Kremlin."

I hid my surprise. That was something I had not known. But at least now I could establish the link between Guayanos and el Condor. Until now I had been unable to connect them.

"The entire thing is academic," I said. "El Presidente will win."

"And you will be vice president?"

"That's right."

The senator looked around the table again. "What do you think, gentlemen?"

I got to my feet. "I'll leave the room if you gentlemen would prefer to talk privately."

The senator waved me back to my seat. "We've been talking openly," he said, "and I don't see that we have anything to hide at this point."

The undersecretary said, "I for one would be willing to go along on the basis Senor Xenos has outlined."

The others raised their voices in assent.

"All right then, we are agreed," the senator said. He turned to me. "You can count on our support in favor of the loan as soon as the announcement of the election is officially confirmed."

I took a deep breath. For the first time in days I felt that I was making progress. But it all blew to hell the next morning. The dream exploded when I picked up the telephone on my desk and heard Beatriz' soft voice.

I could hardly keep the excitement out of my voice. "I'm glad you called," I said, the words tumbling from my lips.

"Tell your father that I have spoken with el Presidente and that he has agreed to all your father's conditions."

She didn't answer.

"Beatriz, didn't you understand?"

Again the strange silence.

"Beatriz."

But this time her voice cut me off. It was curiously strained. "Didn't you read the newspapers or listen to the radio this morning?"

"No, I was in Washington until late last night, and I slept all the way back on the train. I just got to my desk this minute. I haven't even had time to change my shirt."

For a moment her voice trembled, then it grew calm and cold. "You mean to say you know nothing even now?"

"About what?" I asked angrily. "Stop talking in riddles like a child."

There was still that icy calm in her voice. "At about two o'clock this morning my father went down for a breath of fresh air. As usual Mendoza was with him. A car drove by, a black car. Shots came from it. Mendoza got a bullet in his arm. My father died less than an hour later in an ambulance on the way to the hospital."

Suddenly her voice broke and the icy calm vanished. "Dax, you promised! You swore that nothing would happen to him, that he would be safe!"

"Beatriz, I didn't know. Please believe me! I didn't know!" More than anything I had ever wanted in this world I wanted her to believe me. "Where are you? I must see you."

"What for, Dax?" she asked in a suddenly exhausted voice. "To tell me more lies? To make other promises that you do not intend to keep? I can't go through that again."

"Beatriz." But the telephone had gone dead in my hand. I stared at it for a moment, then slammed it down. I got out of my chair and walked to the door.

"Tell Prieto to come in here!" I called angrily, and slammed the door shut. I had just about got back to my desk when my phone buzzed. I picked it up. "Yes?"

My secretary's voice sounded frightened. "I thought you knew, sir. Senor Prieto left for Corteguay this morning on the nine-o'clock plane."

Slowly I sank back into the chair. I felt my temples begin to throb. My head felt as if it were being squeezed in a vise.