"George Rand," Felter supplied. "They're calling it the 11th Air Assault Division."

"Right," Father said. "Anyway, Johnny told me that his general-Bellmon, you said his name is?"

"Bellmon," Felter said. "He's an old friend of mine."

". . . Bellmon told him that if he did a good job for this General Rand, he could expect to make major on the five percent list within a year." told him that if he did a good job for this General Rand, he could expect to make major on the five percent list within a year."

Up to five percent of the promotions on any promotion list may be awarded without regard to their seniority (time in grade) to officers who have demonstrated outstanding capabilities.

That makes sense, Felter thought. Felter thought. He's an usually bright officer; he worked hard for Bob Bellmon, and because he worked for Bellmon he knows a lot more than most captains do about aviation, and he'll work hard for George Rand, who'll write him another outstanding efficiency report, and he'll earn a place on the five percent list. He's an usually bright officer; he worked hard for Bob Bellmon, and because he worked for Bellmon he knows a lot more than most captains do about aviation, and he'll work hard for George Rand, who'll write him another outstanding efficiency report, and he'll earn a place on the five percent list.

"I'm sure he could," Felter said. "Father, quickly, before he comes back: I don't need an answer right now, although I'd like one, but would you be willing to continue working on Africa?"

"Jesus Christ, I haven't been home seventy-two fucking hours, and you're asking me to go back to the fucking African jungle?" Lunsford flared, then got control of himself. "Sorry, sir. I know you wouldn't ask if it wasn't necessary. What went wrong over there now?"

"I don't think you'll have to go back in the jungle, Father," Felter said. "The deal is this. I've managed to convince the President that Che Guevara has to be watched-"

"In Africa?" Africa?" Lunsford asked dubiously. Lunsford asked dubiously.

"Yeah, in Africa. Later, Central and South America. But right now in Africa."

"Why don't we just shoot the sonofabitch? I heard he shot, or had shot, a thousand people in cold blood in Havana. . . ."

"The figure was higher," Felter said. "And that's what the CIA wants to do-terminate him."

"It sounds like a good idea to me. But why me?"

"I'm not asking you anything like that, Father. And actually, we don't-the President and I don't-want him terminated. We don't want to turn him into a martyr."

"You don't want to turn who into a martyr?" Captain John S. Oliver asked, cheerfully, as he came back into the game room.

And then he saw the looks he got from Felter and Lunsford, and it cut through the alcohol.

"Sorry, sir," he said. "I'll wait outside."

"Come in, close the door behind you, and sit down, Captain," Felter ordered.

The tone of Felter's voice, too, cut through the alcohol. "Colonel, no excuse, sir, but I've had a couple of drinks," Oliver said. "Maybe it would be better if I . . ."

Felter pointed to a chair, and Oliver sat down.

"You are advised, Captain, that what we are discussing is classified Top Secret," Felter said.

"Yes, sir."

"When there is time, there will be another classification, Top Secret Slash Something. You understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"There's no reason not to label this right now," Felter said. "Okay. The material we will discuss is classified Top Secret Slash Ernesto . . . make that Top Secret Slash Earnest. Got that, the both of you?"

"Yes, sir," they said, nearly in unison.

"I understand you will be going to work for General Rand at the 11th Air Assault at Benning," Felter said.

"Yes, sir."

"General Rand will not be cleared for Top Secret/Earnest, and neither will anyone else at Benning," Felter said. "Which means that he cannot be made privy to Slash Earnest information. Clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"When are you going to Bragg, Father?"

"Actually, we were talking about driving down there tomorrow, " Lunsford said. "Not for duty. We know some people down there we haven't seen since Vietnam."

"The only person at Benning who will be, for the foreseeable future, cleared for Earnest will be General Hanrahan."

"I understand, sir," Lunsford said.

"I don't, sir," Oliver said.

"We're going to keep an eye on Che Guevara," Felter said. "Maybe cause him some trouble, but we are not, repeat not, going to terminate him, and we're going to do our damndest to make sure Langley doesn't terminate him, either."

"It's probably the alcohol, sir, but I still don't understand," Oliver said. "Che Guevara in Cuba?"

"He's leaving for Africa in a couple of days," Felter said. "To get to the point here, I want to make Father the project officer."

"He just got of there, barely," Oliver said.

"I don't want him to get involved with anything like that again," Felter said. "I want him to run this."

"Explain 'run this,' please, Colonel," Lunsford said. "And 'project officer.' "

"Set up a team, as small as possible, but as large as you need. You'll run it. The first priority will be to keep me up to date on what he's doing, and where."

"Won't the CIA be doing that?"

"Yeah, they will, and I will have-which means you will have- access to what they develop. But I want independent reports. And, where and when possible, I want to destroy his image."

"His image?"

"Right now, he's sort of like a movie star, David the guerrilla taking on the nasty North American Goliath, and so far, winning. If Goliath terminated him, that would make Guevara a martyr, and that would cause us a lot of trouble. Goliath would look like a real sonofabitch, for one thing, and Castro and/or the Soviets would quickly replace him, and we would be no better off. What I think Guevara has in mind is taking a small force, no more than two hundred men-which is how many people Castro took into the Sierra Maestra mountains-to Africa, to the Congo, and repeating what Castro did in Cuba. I'd like him to fail."

"The Russians are going to help him, of course," Lunsford said. "And Mobutu and Kasavubu aren't going to stand by and let Guevara take over the Congo. And 'termination' is about the first thing that's going to occur to Mobutu."

"If we had absolutely nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, to do with it-and I don't mean credible deniability, Father, I mean we have absolutely nothing to do with it-that wouldn't be too big a problem. But what I'd like to see is Senor Guevara leaving Africa with his tail between his legs."

"Humiliated, is what you're saying?" Lunsford asked thoughtfully.

"Right."

"Money talks," Lunsford said. "I learned that over there. Keeping track of him wouldn't be much trouble."

"Money will not be a problem," Felter said.

"Do I get to pick my people?"

"Yes."

Lunsford looked at Johnny Oliver.

"Doubting Thomas," he said. "There's a certain exquisite irony, wouldn't you say?"

Oliver chuckled.

"Who's he?" Felter asked.

"Master Sergeant William Thomas," Lunsford said. "He was with us when we walked out of Laos."

"Actually, sir," Oliver said. "He carried Major-Designate Lunsford out of Laos, bitterly complaining every step of the way."

"And when he returned to Bragg, when offered his choice of language training at the Presidio, chose Swahili in the smug, if naive, belief that it would see him sent not only as far from Vietnam as possible, but would see him sent to the land of his ancestors, teaching the savages close-order drill, and where his position would offer him a never-ending procession of willing, nubile, sixteen-year-old maidens."

"Where is he?" Felter asked.

"At Bragg," Oliver said. "Teaching escape and evasion. I called him to tell him Father had made it out of the Congo."

"And will he volunteer?"

"Sure," Lunsford said, as if the question surprised him. He looked at Felter. "And I want Jack Portet, too."

"That may pose a problem," Felter said.

"Colonel, he knows the country, he speaks Swahili and French, he knows people, white, black, colored, and savage all over-"

"Define 'savage' for me, Father," Felter said.

"There are four kinds of people in Africa," Lunsford said. "The whites, the blacks, the colored-the mixed-bloods and, for some reason I haven't entirely figured out, the Portuguese-and the savages, who are the Africans who came out of the trees last week."

He looked between them.

"Okay. So it's not a very nice word. Do you know a better word for somebody who beheads somebody else with a machete, then broils his or her liver for lunch? I saw them do that in Stanleyville. "

Neither Felter nor Oliver responded.

"And just for the record, my liberal friends, that great humanitarian Albert Schweitzer who spent his life trying to help them, called them 'les sauvages'," 'les sauvages'," Lunsford said. Lunsford said.

"Sergeant Portet is about to get married to Marjorie Bellmon," Felter said. "And is therefore unlikely to be willing to volunteer for anything."

"They're going to get married?" Oliver asked. "I thought I saw that coming."

"I'll need him, Colonel," Lunsford said.

"I gather you're going to take the job?" Oliver asked.

"What the hell, Johnny, I've already seen Vietnam, and I don't want to spend the next three years of my life at Bragg teaching clowns to make fire by rubbing two sticks together."

[ TWO ].

SECRET SECRETCentral Intelligence Agency Langley, VirginiaFROM: Assistant Director For Administration Assistant Director For AdministrationFROM: 18 December 1964 0405 GMT 18 December 1964 0405 GMTSUBJECT: Guevara, Ernesto (Memorandum #1.) Guevara, Ernesto (Memorandum #1.)TO: Mr. Sanford T. Felter Counselor To The President Room 637, The Executive Office Building Washington, D.C. Mr. Sanford T. Felter Counselor To The President Room 637, The Executive Office Building Washington, D.C.By CourierIn compliance with Presidential Memorandum to The Director, Subject: "Ernesto 'Che' Guevara," dated 14 December 1964, the following information, provided by the FBI, is furnished: (Reliability Scale Five).SUBJECT departed John F. Kennedy airfield, New York City, aboard Air France Flight 305 at 2105 GMT 17 December 1964. He was accompanied by Hector GARCiA and Jose R. MANRESA. All are traveling on Cuban Diplomatic passports, and are ticketed to Paris, France, with an intermediate stop scheduled at Gander, Newfoundland.CIA surveillance of SUBJECTS will begin at Gander, and dossiers of SUBJECTS GARCiA and MANRESA will be furnished for your possible interest within 24 hours.

Howard W. O'Connor HOWARD W. O'CONNORSECRET [ THREE ].

Office of the Commanding General The Army Aviation Center and Fort Rucker, Alabama 18 December 1964 Major General Robert F. Bellmon was, as he privately thought of it, up to his ass in paper, and it took some time before he noticed Captain Richard J. Hornsby was standing in the office door.

"Have you got something for me, Dick?"

"Yes, sir," Captain Hornsby said. "This TWX just came in, and I thought you would like to see it."

Bellmon took it and glanced at very quickly. It was a routine message, signed by some colonel for the adjutant general. It was probably, he decided, one more admonition to him to limit drinking by the troops over the holidays, or failing that, to keep them from killing themselves on the highway full of holiday cheer. Whatever it was, it probably could have waited until he wasn't quite so up to his ass in paper. Hornsby, who was new, didn't have the experience to make judgments about what messages were worthy of his immediate attention.

"Thank you, Dick," Bellmon said, and picked up the TWX, which was printed on a roll of yellowish teletype paper, and read it. His lips tightened. He clenched his teeth and was aware that his temples were throbbing.

"Sonofabitch!" he said, and reached for his telephone.

Then he reminded himself of his solemn vow to count to twenty slowly twice before picking up a telephone when he was angry. He slumped back in his chair and read the TWX again.

ROUTINE.

HQ DEPT OF THE ARMY WASH DC 1005 18DEC64.

COMMANDING GENERAL.

FORT RUCKER AND THE ARMY AVIATION CENTER.

ALA.

ATTN: AVNC-AG.

INFO: PERSONAL ATTN MAJ GEN BELLMON1. SO MUCH OF PARAGRAPH 23, GENERAL ORDER 297, HQ DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY 29 NOVEMBER 1964 PERTAINING TO CAPT JOHN S. OLIVER ARMOR AS READS "IS RELIEVED OF PRESENT ASSIGNMENT AND TRANSFERRED TO HEADQUARTERS COMPANY 11TH AIR ASSAULT DIVISION FORT BENNING GA EFFECTIVE 1 JAN 1965" IS AMENDED TO READ "IS RELIEVED OF PRESENT ASSIGNMENT AND TRANSFERRED TO HEADQUARTERS JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR SPECIAL WARFARE FORT BRAGG NC EFFECTIVE 1 JAN 1965."2. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT SUBJECT OFFICER BE NOTIFIED OF THIS CHANGE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

FOR THE ADJUTANT GENERAL.