Death and Honor

“What actually happened, Señor Frade, is that the radiogram was delivered to me when it arrived at Seguro Comercial last night.”

“That sounds a little odd,” Frade said. “Why would they do that?”

“I also represent Seguro Comercial, Señor Frade. I thought you knew that.”

“No, I didn’t,” Frade snapped. “How can you represent the both of us? It seems to me you have to be either our lawyer or theirs.”

“Is there some reason I cannot be both?”

“Yeah, there is. Whose side are you going to be on if we take them to court?”

“ ‘Take them to court’?”

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” Frade said, “but we went to them for insurance. And they sold us insurance. We wrote them a very large check. Deal done. Right?”

“That was before they heard from Lloyd’s of London, of course,” Dowling said. “That obviously changes things.”

“Not for me. Not for SAA. Seguro Comercial sold us insurance; therefore, we’re insured. If Seguro Comercial can’t reinsure, that’s their problem, not ours. If they try to get out of our deal, so far as I’m concerned, it’s breach of contract, and we’ll take them to court.”

“Let me try to explain this to you, Señor Frade,” Dowling said, tight-lipped. “We purchased ninety days’ coverage, with the understanding that the price would be renegotiated before the ninety days were up and the contract extended—”

“I wondered about that,” Frade interrupted.

“Excuse me?”

“I saw the contract. It was for fourteen aircraft. We have four, and when the ninety-day period is up, we may have eight or ten. But not fourteen. So why are we paying to insure either four or six airplanes we don’t have? I sent Señor Duarte a note asking that question.”

Dowling did not reply.

Frade turned to Duarte. “Humberto, did you raise the question with Señor Dowling?”

Duarte nodded, and looked at Dowling. “I sent you a memorandum asking about that, Ernesto.”

Frade said, “So what did Seguro Comercial say when you asked them, Señor Dowling?”

“I was planning to bring up the matter at renegotiation time,” Dowling said, more than a little lamely.

“Señor Dowling,” Frade went on, “did you not recognize that there was a flaw in the contract you negotiated between your two employers?”

“I take offense at that, Señor Frade.”

“About ninety seconds ago, Señor Dowling, I was going to offer you the choice between working for SAA or Seguro Comercial. But not now.”

“Cletus!” Claudia said warningly.

“What exactly does that mean?” Dowling asked.

“It means that thirty seconds ago, I decided that I don’t want you working for SAA. Your employment is terminated as of now.”

“You can’t do that, Cletus!” Claudia said furiously.

“Yes, I can. And I just did.” Frade looked at Dowling. “Good evening, señor.”

Dowling stuffed the Mackay Radiogram back in his briefcase and looked at Duarte.

“Cletus . . .” Duarte said.

“Good evening, Señor Dowling,” Frade repeated.

Dowling, white-lipped and with his dignity visibly injured, walked out of the conference room.

When there was the sound of the outer door closing, Duarte said, “Cletus, that was a serious mistake. Ernesto and I have been friends for years. We were at school togeth—”

“The matter is closed,” Frade interrupted icily.

“You’re out of control, Cletus!” Claudia said. “You simply can’t do things like that.”

“Will you take my word, Claudia, that I can, or are we going to have to go to the stockholders?”

“You went too far, much too far,” Duarte said. “Things just aren’t done that way in Argentina.”

“And that’s what’s wrong with Argentina,” El Coronel Juan Domingo Perón said.

Frade looked at him.

What the hell is this?

“Excuse me?” Claudia asked.

“I said that’s wrong with Argentina,” Perón said. “We do business with people we knew at school, and wink-wink when the rules are bent or broken. What we need here is what Cletus just demonstrated: an ability to see things as they are, even when that’s uncomfortable, and then to make the necessary corrections without regard to personal feelings.”

“I don’t know what to say, frankly, Juan Domingo,” Duarte said.

“Then say nothing, Humberto,” Perón said, coldly angry. “Or perhaps, ‘Thank you, Cletus.’ ”

“Thank him for insulting a man who not only is a close personal friend but one of the most respected members of the bar?”

Perón looked at Duarte a long moment with an expression that Frade thought could have bordered on contempt, then said: “If he’s one of the most respected members of the bar, I shudder for the legal system of Argentina. Good God, Humberto. Didn’t you hear what was said? Ostensibly as our attorney he said nothing when Seguro Comercial, whose attorney he also is, took our money to insure aircraft that we don’t even have. Did you hear that or not?”

“I heard it, Juan Domingo, and obviously that was wrong. But there are other ways to deal with it than the way—”

“And didn’t you just hear me say that the way to deal with such problems is to see them clearly—admit to them—then deal with them as brutally as necessary, paying no attention to our personal feelings?”