"The L-23."

"I don't really know," he said.

"You don't really know, or it's classified, and you don't think you can tell me?"

"I'm sure it's classified," he said. "Everything around Colonel Felter seems to be classified Top Secret."

"First reminding you that your wife is not some airhead you picked up in a honky-tonk outside the gate, but a fifth-generation Army brat who knows all about security classifications, and is not going to say anything about anything to anybody, are you going to tell me or not?"

"I wondered about that," he said seriously. "Every time they tell you a secret, the usual line is 'This goes no further, and that includes your wife.' And I wondered how I would handle that with you."

"And?"

"And, I figured, fuck it, I'll tell her everything."

"I don't like the language, but I approve of the decision," she said.

"Sorry."

"So what's with the L-23?"

"I really don't know. It's a Felter operation. He told Pappy to pick up the airplane at Beech, take it to SCATSA-what the hell is SCATSA, anyway?"

"It stands for Signal Corps Aviation Test and Support Activity, " Marjorie said. "It's not under Fort Rucker. It's what they call a Class II activity; it takes its orders from the chief signal officer. Among other things, it provides avionic support to the Aviation Test Board and Combat Developments. And this won't be the first nobody-talks-about-it job they've done for Uncle Sandy. You don't know what they're going to do to it?"

"Equip it with navigation equipment, and maybe auxiliary fuel tanks so that it can be ferried to Argentina and used there."

"What's that got to do with you? Which raises the question: What are you going to be doing at Fort Bragg?"

"I can't imagine how it will have anything to do with me. I think all I'm going to do is fly it up there. Felter probably has some other iron in the fire. And what I'm going to be doing at Bragg has its own security clearance. Top Secret Slash Earnest. Felter found out somewhere that Che Guevara-Ernesto Guevara, hence Earnest-is going to try to cause trouble in the Congo. And we're going to stop him."

"I don't think I like the sound of that," Marjorie said. "You're going back over there? When?"

"Now you're going to be told stuff I was expressly ordered not to tell anyone," Jack said. "Father Lunsford-the guy who went to the Immoquateur in Stanleyville to try to help my stepmother-"

"I know who he is," Marjorie interrupted.

"-is putting together a team of black Green Berets to go to the Congo to screw up Guevara. I'm going to help him do that, teach them about the Congo, try to teach them how to pass themselves off as Congolese, that sort of thing."

"You're not going to the Congo?"

"I'll probably go over there with them when they're ready, to introduce them to people who can help them, but if the question is 'Are you going to be involved in their operation,' no, I don't think so. Too many questions would be asked. Felter is determined that our operation there be invisible."

"So we'll be at Bragg together for a while?"

"Yeah, I think so. Did I tell you that Father found us an apartment? "

"No. But why should you tell me? What could be less important than where we're going to live?"

"Father said the lieutenant's family quarters at Bragg are pretty crummy, so, if I can afford it, he can get me permission to live off post, in an apartment complex, where he lives-and where Johnny Oliver is going to live with him. So I told him, 'Yes, please, I can afford it.' "

"Write this down, husband," Marjorie said. "What you should have said was 'Thank you very much, Major. I'll ask Marjorie and get back to you.' "

"Honey, I didn't think. You don't like the idea?"

"I don't like the idea that you didn't ask me," she said.

"Hey, baby. This is all new to me."

"I'm trying to remember that."

"Look, unless you've got your heart set on Ocean Reef, we could go from here to Bragg, you could look the apartment over. . . ."

"No, that would hurt Craig's feelings," she said. "We have to go to Ocean Reef."

"Up to you," he said.

"Now you're learning," she said.

She got out of bed and walked naked to the bathroom.

"I'm for a shower," she said. "And then we'll get on the road."

"Leave the water running," he said.

"Better yet, how about you wash mine, and I'll wash yours?"

[ SIX ].

Office of the Army Attache United States Embassy Sarmiento 663 Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina 1445 24 December 1964 Colonel Richard J. Harris, Jr., Infantry, the tall, slim, forty-two-year old army attache of the United States Embassy, looked up from his desk and inquired of Master Sergeant Douglas Wilson, his thirty-six-year-old rather chubby chief clerk (who as a courtesy was referred to as the "sergeant major"): "What have you got, Doug?"

Both were in civilian clothing, Harris in a well-cut poplin suit, and Wilson in a seersucker jacket and khaki-civilian khaki- trousers. Peron was gone, but there was still a good deal of leftover anti-American feeling in the Argentine capital, and uniforms were worn only when they were necessary. And poplin and seersucker because December in Argentina is the beginning of summer.

"This just came in," Wilson said, "and if I'm reading this right, boss, Santa Claus is being very good to us this year."

He handed a sheet of teletype paper to Colonel Harris.

HQ DEPT OF THE ARMY WASH DC 1305 22 DEC 1964.

ROUTINE.

CONFIDENTIALTO: ASSISTANT CHIEF OF STAFF FOR PERSONNEL, HQ DEPT OF THE ARMYASSISTANT CHIEF OF STAFF FOR LOGISTICS, HQ DEPT OF THE ARMYINFO: US ARMY ATTACHe US EMBASSY BUENOS AIRES ARGENTINAREFERENCE IS MADE TO "SPECIAL TABLE OF ORGANIZATION AND EQUIPMENT, OFFICE OF ARMY ATTACHe US EMBASSY, BUENOS AIRES ARGENTINA" AS APPROVED 15 SEPTEMBER 1964.1. REFERENCED TO&E IS AMENDED AS FOLLOWS:SECTION 13A COMMISSIONED AND WARRANT OFFICERS IS AMENDED TO ADD 1 (ONE) CAPT OR LT BRANCH IMMATERIAL MULTI-ENGINE FIXED-WING INSTRUMENT QUALIFIED ARMY AVIATOR AND 1 (ONE) WARRANT OFFICER GRADE IMMATERIAL MULTI-ENGINE FIXED WING INSTRUMENT QUALIFIED ARMY AVIATOR.SECTION 13B ENLISTED PERSONNEL IS AMENDED TO ADD ONE MASTER SERGEANT OR SERGEANT FIRST CLASS QUALIFIED AS CREW CHIEF L-23 SERIES AIRCRAFT; ONE SERGEANT FIRST CLASS OR STAFF SERGEANT QUALIFIED AS AIRCRAFT AND ENGINE MECHANIC L-23 SERIES AIRCRAFT AND ONE SERGEANT FIRST CLASS OR STAFF SERGEANT QUALIFIED AS DEPOT LEVEL AVIONICS TECHNICIAN.SECTION 19 SPECIAL EQUIPMENT IS AMENDED TO ADD 1 (ONE) L-23 SERIES AIRCRAFT.1. DCSLOG AND DCSPERS WILL EXPEDITE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AMENDED TO&E. PRIORITY AAAA-1 IS ASSIGNED. DIRECT COMMUNICATION WITH US ARMY ATTACHe BUENOS AIRES IS AUTHORIZED TO DETERMINE AND PROVIDE NECESSARY SUPPORT. DCSLOG WILL MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ENSURE THAT OFFICER AND ENLISTED PERSONNEL ASSIGNED WILL POSSESS KNOWLEDGE OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE. A WEEKLY REPORT OF PROGRESS WILL BE FURNISHED TO THE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF STAFF.FOR THE CHIEF OF STAFF, US ARMY CHARLES M. SCOTT, JR.

LT GEN US ARMY.

DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF.

"I will be damned," Colonel Harris said. "When I asked for a Beaver, they as much as laughed at me."

"I remember," Master Sergeant Wilson said.

"If something is too good to be true, it usually is," Harris said.

"You want me to get on the horn and see if I can find out anything? "

"No. It's Christmas Eve, and nobody who knows anything will be working in the Pentagon anyhow. We'll wait a couple of days, at least until 2 January, and then if we don't hear anything more, we can give them a call."

"Yes, sir."

"At the risk of repeating myself, it's Christmas Eve. Why don't you take off?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you, Colonel. Merry Christmas, sir."

"Same to you," Colonel Harris said, getting out of his chair to shake Wilson's hand.

When the sergeant had gone, Harris started to sit down again, but changed his mind, picked up the teletype message, and walked down the third-floor corridor to the office of Colonel H. Robert McGrory, USAF, the defense attache of the U.S. Embassy.

He already had a difficult relationship with Colonel McGrory, and he suspected the L-23 was going to make it worse.

Buenos Aires was an "air force post." That is to say, the defense attache was always an air force officer, and the army and navy officers, called the "army attache' and the "naval attache," were subordinate to him. Other embassies were "army posts," or "naval posts," and the defense attache was an army officer or a navy officer.

Harris had no idea where the stupid idea had started, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it, so he tried to live with it as best he could. Which was difficult for a number of reasons, starting with the fact that Colonel Bob McGrory, who had spent most of his career driving airplanes, knew very little about anything else.

He spent most of his lunches, and the afternoons following, in the Argentine air force officers' club, where he regaled his Argentine peers with flying stories, which he could afford to do because he delegated just about all of his duties to Colonel Richard J. Harris, Jr., the army attache, and Captain Sam Duckworth, USN, the naval attache.

The problem was further compounded by seniority. Harris outranked McGrory by more than a year. Harris had been asked, when offered the Argentine assignment, if he could deal with that, and almost without thinking about it, had said it would pose no problem.

Certainly, there would be little problem between two officers with nearly thirty years of service simply because one of them outranked the other. And Harris had wanted to come to Buenos Aires because he thought he could do some good in the assignment, build a relationship between the Argentine officer corps and the American, among other things.

But McGrory, who was led around by the nose by his wife, had made it very clear from the beginning that he regarded Dick Harris and Sam Duckworth as not only subordinate officers on his staff, but junior officers. And Mrs. Constance McGrory held the belief that she was in command of the military and naval ladies.

Joanne Harris had put up with that for a while, but had finally told Constance McGrory where to head in, about which Constance had complained to Bob. Bob McGrory had called Harris in for a little chat, during which-to his lasting chagrin-Harris had lost his temper.

McGrory had referred to Constance as the "senior military lady, deserving of more respect than your wife is apparently paying her," and that had pushed Harris over the edge.

"I don't think wives wear their husbands' rank, Bob, but if we're going to play that game, Joanne is the 'senior military lady,' as I'm the senior military officer attached to the embassy. I outrank you by a year, which means I can order you around, and I'm ordering you to keep your wife away from my wife."

From that moment on, it had been "Colonel Harris" and "Colonel McGrory" when they spoke, and Harris spoke to McGrory as little as possible.

But the assignment of an airplane to the embassy was clearly of legitimate interest to the defense attache, and Dick Harris knew he had to tell the stupid sonofabitch about it.

The door to McGrory's office was open, and the defense attache, who was in uniform, complete with attache aiguillette, and of course wearing his wreath-starred command pilot's wings, was at his desk, reading the Buenos Aires Herald. Buenos Aires Herald.

Harris debated, and decided against, knocking at his door.

I'm not a goddamn PFC.

"Have you got a minute for me, Colonel?" he called.

McGrory raised his eyes from the Herald. Herald.

"Come in, Colonel. What's on your mind?"

Harris walked in and laid the teletype on his desk.

McGrory read it.

"Why wasn't I advised of this previously?" McGrory asked when he had finished reading it.

"It was delivered to me ten minutes ago, Colonel."

"If there is to be an aircraft at this embassy, it should be an air force aircraft," McGrory said.

When Harris didn't reply, McGrory added: "Wouldn't you agree, Colonel? An air force aircraft for an air force post?"

"Colonel, I get my orders from the chief of staff of the U.S. Army. And I have never questioned one of his orders before, and I am not going to start now."

"I would hate to think, Colonel, that you have gone over my head with this," McGrory said.

"I don't know how it is in the air force, Colonel, but in the army we can't go over another officer's head unless he's senior."

"Be advised, Colonel," McGrory said, his face flushed, "that I intend to get to the bottom of this."

"I stand so advised," Harris said.

"Is there anything else, Colonel?" McGrory asked.

"I don't think so, Colonel," Harris said, and leaned over and took the teletype from McGrory's desk.

"I'd like a copy of that, Colonel," McGrory said. "If you don't mind."

"I'll get you one, Colonel," Harris said.

He walked to the door and turned around.

"There is one more thing, Colonel, now that I think of it."

"Which is?"

"Merry Christmas, Colonel McGrory," Colonel Harris said, and walked out of the office before McGrory could reply.

He was almost back at his own office when he had the thought, That dumb sonofabitch is right. This is an air force post. So how come I'm getting an army airplane, and army pilots and mechanics? That dumb sonofabitch is right. This is an air force post. So how come I'm getting an army airplane, and army pilots and mechanics?

What the hell hell is this all about? is this all about?