His Own Man (14 page)

This had been the main reason the ambassador’s wife tried to veto Max’s assignment when, months earlier, she’d learned of the offer her husband had extended to the young diplomat. Informed of Marina’s aristocratic lineage by the wife of the minister-counselor, she had asked her husband one night, while removing her earrings in front of her vanity, “Just what is it that a Magalhães de Castro would hope to find in Montevideo?” To which the ambassador, who was taking off his shoes just then, freeing his feet from the prison in which they’d been confined since that morning, had responded succinctly, “Her husband.” Beneath his wife’s stern look, he had added, “And, with any luck, the happiness to which we all aspire, with varying degrees of success.”

In private, the ambassador was a man with a sharp sense of humor and a winning personality — a secret to which no one,
not even his wife (who had stopped listening to him years ago), had access. A secret, I might add, that he guarded closely and intended to reveal only in his memoirs. Meanwhile, he concentrated on going against the tide, convinced that there was no political solution for our region without sacrifices that wouldn’t be understood for two or three generations. He believed that each and every drop of blood shed in this process, which he deemed both warranted and legitimate, would be forgotten over time.

Esmeralda knocked on Max’s door and went right in as usual.

“The ambassador’s secretary asked that you come up.”

“Come up?”

Esmeralda laughed. “To heaven. To the third floor.”

The ambassador’s office …
Max set aside the newspaper he was reading, put out his cigarette, and pulled on his jacket. “Has my day of glory arrived?”

“After two weeks on the job?” joked Esmeralda, who had sat back down and was now filing her nails. “I’d be surprised.”

Max took the stairs, even though the small elevator was stopped on the ground floor. He went up unhurriedly, like a man who doesn’t pass up an opportunity to exercise his legs, combining the habit with a moment of introspection. In doing so, he showed the world, which was completely unaware of his existence at that particular moment, as well as himself, that he was in control.

In the ambassador’s reception area, the secretary was already waiting for him, barely containing her impatience. Without so much as a smile or a word of greeting, she opened the door and stepped aside so he could enter.

“Good morning, Marcílio,” said the ambassador without rising. He pointed to a chair in front of him and extended his arm once Max had taken a seat.

After a handshake, he opened one of the drawers to the right of the desk and pulled out a pipe and a small round tin of
tobacco. “My first pipe of the day. The doctor only allows me two. The second lends a certain charm to my lunch. But the best, of course, is
the third
, which I smoke alone at night, hidden, on the terrace. At my age, Marcílio, life’s pleasures are few and far between. I live a constant paradox: secrets increase around me but secret pleasures decrease. Beware.”

Max smiled at these words. And at the wistfulness behind them. He hoped that partaking in this morning ritual somehow represented an honor, being specially granted to him. The ambassador, however, didn’t seem that interested in his reactions. In fact, he was gazing out at the tree branches when he asked, “Are you still ticked off with me?”

“Ticked off, Ambassador?” Max was genuinely taken aback. “Why would I —”

The ambassador held up a hand and kept him from continuing. “The assignment I gave you, technical assistance. The small office … the tired furniture … Esmeralda reciting her old poems …”

“Please, Ambassador, technical assistance is no —”

“Nonsense. You and I know that. But it was necessary.”

“Necessary?”

The ambassador turned to face him. “To keep up appearances. It’s the perfect cover for you. Just as it was important to keep you at arm’s length for a few days. Everyone around here keeps an eye on who goes in and out of my office. And I needed to defuse the reputation that preceded you. Top assistant to the minister … top assistant to the secretary-general. You’re going to have to fade into the woodwork. And the sooner, the better.”

With another gesture, he again kept Max from opening his mouth. Far from being rude, it was an appeal. There was no time to lose. “At eleven thirty the colonel is coming to see me with an American friend of his. He’s been after me for a week to meet this guy.”

He checked his schedule and slowly murmured, as if to himself, the full name recorded there: “Daniel A. Matrone. And that
A
probably isn’t for angel. He’s an American from the FBI, or the CIA. The attaché knows him from his days in Brazil. According to him, they used to play golf together. Must be a lie. That attaché lies a lot. Have you ever heard of a Brazilian colonel playing golf? With grenades, maybe. Do you play golf?”

“No, Ambassador.”

“Poker?”

“Poker, yes.”

“Excellent. Vaz …” A pause. He had transferred the tobacco to the pipe. Now all he had to do was light the match. “Major João Vaz is that big stocky guy. He’s number two to the golfer colonel. Vaz came from the SNI. But he does the PR thing — nice, friendly, and all. He’s going to invite you to his poker circle. And you’re going to accept. To his surprise.”

“Surprise? Why?”

“Because I gave explicit orders to all the diplomats to turn down the same invitation up till now. I was waiting for your arrival.”

“And I …”

“You’re going to accept. And lose. Lose a lot more than win. You can win once in a while, here and there. Discreetly. They like suckers, but they’re no fools.”

“Forgive me, Ambassador. But I don’t see —”

“I need information. From the second echelon of attachés. And sooner or later they’re going to open up with you. They won’t actually reveal secrets. They’re trained not to.”

“But then …?”

“Generally, I learn about what they know
before they do
. But I’m unaware of what they
don’t
know.”

“What they
don’t
know …”

“Right. And that’s what interests me — what they don’t know. And
why
they don’t know. In other words, what their
bosses are keeping from them, and for what reasons. Pay close attention to the doubts, the speculations. The uncertainties.”

Max preferred not to press. The subject seemed rather bizarre to him.

The ambassador struck his match. Holding it lit between his fingers, he made a further suggestion. “Bluff as little as possible at the table. And avoid falling for someone else’s bluff. Break up any three of a kind you’re dealt. That ought to be enough. But keep your eyes open. They’re crafty at this kind of game.”

The ambassador turned his back to Max again and offered his first puffs to the tree branches that almost covered the windows. “Agreed?”

“Agreed, Ambassador.”

“Great. Consider this an investment. Take whatever you lose out of your expense account. In exchange, you’re exempt from having to host dinners at your house. Other than for your personal friends, of course. Financially, it’ll be a trade-off, with one extra advantage: your wife will kiss your feet in gratitude. Because these low-level Uruguayans who have to be entertained now and again can bore you to tears.”

He turned back toward Max. “How is your wife, by the way? Marina …”

“Fine, Ambassador. She —”

“Is she surviving our den of lionesses? They’re quite a bunch … as is the case at almost any big embassy. The men generally get along well. But the women form cliques separated by barbed wire and pricker bushes. Here, they’re all organized by my wife. And the ladies don’t suspect a thing! My wife gets quite a kick out of it. We have three rival cliques at the moment, all at each other’s throats.”

Max laughed and disagreed good-naturedly. “Far from it, Ambassador; they’ve all been very kind and helped us a lot. We’ve even found a good apartment already thanks to them.”

“An apartment? In Pocitos?”

“No, we ended up deciding on a nice duplex near downtown. It’ll be better for Marina. And since we don’t have kids yet, we won’t miss having a yard.”

The ambassador considered the matter for a few seconds. Then he gave his opinion: “Until last year, I would have disagreed with that choice. The houses in Pocitos and Carrasco are indeed much nicer. But things have been changing in this country. Matters will soon come to a head with the Tupamaros. So far, they’ve been playing cat and mouse with the police. They hold up a bank here, a jewelry store there.… But now both sides are taking off their gloves. And the military is going to step up for real. The closer you are to our office, the better. You’re arriving at what may well turn out to be this city’s last peaceful period. In just a few months, we’re going to go through a guerrilla war. Until the government falls. To one side or the other.
To our side
, as far as I’m concerned.”

Silence followed, during which the ambassador devoted most of his attention to his pipe and tree branches. Soon enough, however, he changed the subject. “Has Carlos Alberto introduced you to everyone?” Carlos Alberto Pereira Campos was the minister-counselor.

“Yes, Ambassador. A few colleagues I already knew from the reception at your home last year or from meetings in Rio de Janei —”

“And the attachés and their assistants? We have an entire troop camped out here. Nine or ten of them. Almost all with wives who make you want to cry.”

“I was introduced to the attachés and a few of their assistants, but there hasn’t been time to —”

“The best and brightest by far is the air force general. The navy admiral, who’s leaving, also became a friend of mine. He’s a capable man. But this guy from the army, this colonel coming to see me now with the American, is something else. Quite a shady character. He earned his stripes with the secret police in
São Paulo, where they say he pulled off some atrocious things. Here, in less than six months, he almost managed to burn all the bridges I’ve taken great pains to build with the Uruguayan military. His predecessor helped with that. Now,
that fellow
was first rate.”

Max shifted slightly in his chair, as though seeking a more comfortable position. He knew that such bluntness, besides being unexpected and unusual, would elevate their discussion to sensitive levels. Everything that had been said up till then, even the more mundane remarks, had far surpassed the limits of a more conventional conversation. The ambassador didn’t delay in confirming this.

“Marcílio, we’re going to have to be frank, you and I. Your transfer to Montevideo was decided before your visit at the end of last year,
well before
. On that occasion you were included in the delegation at my request, for one reason: I wanted to personally meet you. Files say very little about people. Your transfer was already a foregone conclusion. It only went through the ministry at the final stage, for the required paperwork. The decisions, as I’m sure you’ll understand, were made
on another level
. Right?”

“Yes, Ambassador. That is …”

The ambassador directed a stare at Max, followed by a puff of smoke. “
That is …?
”

“That is, yes and no, Ambassador.”

“Excellent, Max, excellent.
Yes and no
. Keep those key words in mind. They summarize your mission in Montevideo to a T. Unlike in more traditional diplomacy, there will rarely be occasion for the more comfortable and pleasing
maybe
.”

They laughed for a moment, the ambassador content, Max concerned. To such an extent that, sensing the heavy atmosphere, he took a gamble and skipped a stage of the conversation to get straight to the point. “Forgive me, Ambassador, but what’s the urgency?”

With the question, they drew near the heart of the matter — so near, in fact, that the silence was now filled with several puffs on the pipe, all of them directed toward the ceiling.

“The urgency, Marcílio, is that I’m leaving,” answered the ambassador. “And so is Carlos Alberto. I’m going to work in the president’s office, before I retire two years from now. And after that, when I leave public service, I’ll give myself over to the pleasures of the private sector. I’m going to make some money. The Germans are after me with a few interesting proposals.”

“Do you speak German?”

“I studied in Germany!” His response took on an inflated tone. “Before the war! You didn’t bother to read my résumé? I’m one of the few at the ministry who know anything about Germany. And, before coming here, I served in Germany. I was transferred from Bonn to Montevideo!”

He soon calmed down. And in order to avoid Max’s feeling unnerved by the digression, he kindly confided, “Last week, I turned down the embassy they had set aside for me. I would have died of boredom in Rome. So I made the president’s office a more promising offer.” He added, almost as an afterthought, “And Carlos Alberto will be headed to a new post, which is still being worked out. In other words, the two of us will be leaving at the same time.”

After coming full circle, the ambassador looked straight at Max and finished by saying, “That’s the urgency. We have four months to form a partnership.”

“A partnership?” asked Max, smiling amiably.

The ambassador set his pipe on the ashtray and reclined his chair, which tipped back beneath his weight. “I’ve been in Montevideo six years, son. I arrived just before the Revolution of sixty-four.”

Max was disconcerted by the use of
son
. Without exactly sounding false, there was something insincere about it. And then there was the question of this
partnership
still hanging in the air between them.

“Marcílio, in four months, I’ll be replaced by a big shot from the old guard, whose name I can’t reveal just yet. But it’s irrelevant. What matters is that you’re going to get along very well. He’s polite and pleasant enough. But my replacement is coming here solely to push papers. The one running things at the embassy will be his number two. A man in whom I have complete confidence, my protégé, so to speak. We’ve served together twice, the last time in Germany, before I was transferred here. And he’s the one you’ll be dealing with. The partnership I want to form is with the two of you. Our three-way collaboration is going to work with me at the president’s office and you two here. His name is Carlos Câmara. He’s coming from the War College. Ever heard of him?”