"But why?"
"I have an idea that Gamburdo has made some changes since he became Acting President," Hall answered. "If he has, he's got some Cross and Sword bastards listening in on all Communist phones."
"It is possible," Pepe said. "I will discuss your idea with Juan Antonio."
"Talk him into it, Pepe."
Pepe stopped the car in front of the Gobernacion building. He promised to meet Hall at the Bolivar in two hours.
Hall entered the polished marble corridors of the Gobernacion. There was a popular song about this building. Hall thought of the words, written by no known poet, and yet so well known in the nation that it had become the unofficial anthem of the Hermanitos in the guerrilla armies which had fought the Seguristas. Even today, after nearly three decades, San Hermano youngsters learned the words from slightly older playmates when they were barely old enough to play by themselves. Somehow, the kids of the city sang a slightly less ribald version of the ballad of the edificio magnífico which cost the nation over twenty million pesos and which, the song maintained, supported a village full of Don Augusto's whores and bastards.
"I want to see the Press Secretary," Hall told an attendant in the right department.
"So do I," the attendant laughed. "He resigned last week."
"Didn't anyone take his place?"
The attendant was a very old man. He leaned back in his chair and with an eloquent look gave Hall to understand that he had completely lost patience with the visitor. "Chico," he said, "no one could take Don Pascual's place."