was mirrored in the faces of all the military men. Figueroa himself looked quickly to Irena as if realizing that he had gone too far in criticizing the Army.

Irena raised a beautifully manicured hand, hand, the bright, pink flash of colored nails sparkl- ing against her brown silk blouse. Aguilar stifled his angry retort as he waited for her to speak. She shifted uneasily on the high-backed chair. Her arms had brushed her padded breasts and so it was only with difficulty that she whispered slowly, “Er- nesto is right.

""

Both Salluca and Fuentes regarded her with distress, only one thinking what a mistake it was to have trusted a boy to behave like a woman. He must have been blind not to see that a boy who could be a girl, as such, would be unstable. Figueroa's eyes glinted with pleasure while Ramon Aguilar looked down stonily at his own carefully groomed nails and thought dourly of the contingency plans for the presidential succession that he'd reviewed only that morning.

"More men are needed in El Chaco, "croaked Irena. "Men imbued with true revolutionary ardor." She touched long hair to her smooth cheek. Fuentes frowned as he looked at Irena for possibly the first time that day. He was thinking how young she had begun to look. She must surely have undergone cosmetic in her long absences from surgery the capital of late. There must be something to the rumors he had heard....

The Interior Minister in- terrupted the beautiful woman's hoarse whisper. It was with regret that they all took their eyes from her face and beautiful figure to look at the dark, tri- umphant visage of Ernesto Fig- ueroa. "I heartily agree, Senora Presidente," he asserted, unable to keep the gloating from his voice as he looked at Juan Augusto Gonzales.

"Hear me out," she

breathed. Even to Aguilar, who knew her least of all, Irena hardly sounded like herself. Since her telecast, she had changed, too, in her manner. She seemed less firm, more nervous, but Aguilar knew her of old. Soon the feminine traits, the inconsistencies, would surface again. She would pick up with a new lover and the Army would stand alone once more, the true and only heir of the revolutionary spirit of Coronado and Romo. Des- pite her position at the head of the moderate wing of the Revolution, it might be time, thought the Chief of Staff grim- ly, to cut the Party of the Revolution loose from the beautiful, charismatic Irena

Varga.

"You, Ernesto, have the equivalent of a full division engaged in the capital, do you not?" Irena mumbled. "Prison and guard duty is the lot of your fine, revolutionary police- men, Ernesto."

The thin figure of the Interior Minister froze, statue- like, at her words. Already, Figueroa could see the blow coming. "Reactionary fever is growing. ." he began, but he could get no further as Irena dazzled him with one of her famous smiles.

·

"We also have two full divisions of well-trained, heav- ily-armed Interior Policemen scattered about the country on anti-reactionary work,' she grated on while Salluca at last relaxed, admiring the way she'd taken advantage of the situa- tion to introduce the very proposal he'd outlined to her earlier. She had sprung a trap on Ernesto just like the Irena of old. It must be in the blood, he thought, admiring the fem- inine gestures, like tossing her hair back, that she employed to such good effect. “I believe,” she whispered, her reluctance clear in every word, "that the reposting of these men to the front, Ernesto, would be the

36

saving of the Revolution."

Figueroa's face was livid. "What is this?!" His voice had risen to an unbelievable, high- pitched whine. "You-you in- tend to s-strip the Revolution of its defenses just as you strip- ped the cities of their defense? I cannot permit it!" His voice soared to a scream.

The woman's heavily madeup eyes went down very nervously as Figueroa leaned towards her. Her hands fell from the report to her lap where they twisted nervously, gently caressing the spots where the tops of her stockings would be, but which only Salluca saw. Her lipsticked mouth quivered as the Interior Minister wagged his finger at her.

But, before she could change her mind and agree with Figueroa again, Aguilar shifted in his chair, leaned forward and interrupted. "Senora Presidente," he said crisply. He waited until all eyes were turned his way. He knew well how much the Army men at the table hated the Police. They would expect him to re- ject Irena's proposal out of hand, as Figueroa did, the expectant look on his face showing it. Irena would once more have the Army and the militants at each other's throats and her faction would still be in control.

"I am sure the Minister of the Interior would support any motion approved in this Junta, would he not?" he asked coolly, directing a thin smile at Figueroa, who hesitated before giving a bird- like dip of his head. "Good," smiled Aguilar grimly. "As Chief of Staff, I can see only good in the President's suggestion. The Army would welcome the addi- tion of three divisions of Interior Police in El Chaco. I am sure that units of the Vanguard, Ramirez and Marine divisions could also be spared to augment security in the capital as well as to join the new corps which we will form to fight the next battle of El Chaco.

For a moment, there was a stunned silence at the table.