Delgano looked at him dubiously. "In any event, even if it has a range of only six hundred miles it's no problem. Six hundred miles is nearly a thousand kilometers. We should have no trouble making it."
"I'm going alone, Capitan Delgano," Clete interrupted. "There's no way I'm taking you to Brazil with me."
Delgano considered that for a moment.
"In that case, actually," he said finally, "things may be less complicated than I thought at first. Let's talk about Santo Tome."
"Why Santo Tome?" Clete asked. "Why couldn't I just fly directly here?"
"Across Uruguay?"
Clete nodded.
"It would be better to avoid crossing Uruguay at all," Delgano said. "The Uruguayans patrol their border with Brazil, and we patrol our border with Uruguay, at least in the Rio de la Plata estuary. Your chances of being detected would be far less if you crossed directly from Brazil into Argentina, and into Corrientes Province, not into Entre Rios or Buenos Aires Province."
That's the reason Graham ordered the team to be infiltrated through Cor-rientes Province. They'll probably have to paddle across the river, but the idea is the same, less chance of being caught crossing the border.
"OK," Clete said. "Tell me about Santo Tome."
"The Second Cavalry Regiment is stationed at Santo Tome," Delgano said. "The commanding officer is a member of Grupo de Oficiales Unidos. More im-portant, there is an airfield, of sorts, there."
"Of sorts?"
"When your father was a teniente coronel, Mayor Frade, he was the Deputy Commander of the Second Cavalry. It is a tradition that an officer serves as the Deputy Commander of the First or Second Cavalry Regiments before being promoted coronel."
"Is that so?"
"'Santo Tome,' your father used to say, 'is two hundred kilometers from nowhere.' It was during his assignment at Santo Tome that he became very in-terested in the potential value to the army of liaison and observation aircraft. It was by then generally understood that he would be promoted, as in fact he was-when he assumed command of the Husares de Pueyrred¢n. Thus, when he requested that an airstrip be built at Santo Tome, and that an Army aircraft be assigned to the Second Cavalry for experimental purposes, the request was granted. An Army aircraft, a Piper Cub, incidentally, was assigned to the Sec-ond Cavalry, together with a pilot-me-and a small detachment of mechanics. "Under my supervision, a dirt field was laid out adjacent to the Second Cavalry barracks. At your father's 'suggestion,' the runway was made some-what longer than it had to be to accommodate a Piper Cub. He wanted it long enough for a Beech stagger-wing to use it safely. He had just purchased such an aircraft, and it was en route from the United States. When he was summoned to the Edificio Libertador, it would permit him to travel to Buenos Aires in a matter of hours, instead of the twelve or fourteen hours the trip took by automobile, or the overnight trip by train."
"The Army went along with this?" Clete asked. Delgano nodded.
"And you were the pilot of the stagger-wing?"
"The delivery pilot from Beech taught me how to fly the stagger-wing," Delgano said. "And I also found myself flying one of the Piper Cubs your father kept on his estancia-San Miguel-near Posadas."
"What was that all about?"
"Your father found the quarters provided at Santo Tome for the Deputy Commander of the Second Cavalry inadequate. He spent his weekends-the weekends he did not spend in Buenos Aires or here-at Estancia San Miguel."
"Was this before or after you went to work for Coronel Martin?"
"El Coronel Mart¡n assumed his duties after your father was promoted and had assumed command of the Husares de Pueyrred¢n," Delgano said. "I had worked for the man he replaced."
"In other words, you were spying on my father all the time?"
"I prefer to think of it as performing my duties as an officer of the Bureau of Internal Security," Delgano said. "Your father came to understand that, Mayor Frade."
"OK," Clete said after a moment. "So this airfield you built so my father could spend his weekends in Buenos Aires is still there?"
"It was not used much after your father was promoted and transferred, but it is still there. Recently, the commanding officer was told to make sure it is still capable of accommodating an aircraft such as the stagger-wing."
"When was he told this?"
"Immediately after we came to our understanding of the terms under which you are importing the aircraft from Brazil."
I get it. If the coup d'‚tat fails, Delgano will fly Ramirez, Rawson, and the others in my airplane to this airstrip-which will be in the hands of the Second Cavalry. It will then be refueled and flown either into Brazil or, more likely, into Paraguay.
"In other words-"