Ramon Aguilar smiled down the length of the table to table to Irena Varga, who had the grace to blush and bite at her lipsticked lower lip. Now, Irena, thought Aguilar, now what would you have done without me? Did you really expect me to support you like this? You know how much I've wanted and ached to get these damned 'policemen' under control. He stared at the beauti- ful woman, admiring the mind and the figure of the woman who could conceive such gamble at such a time of crisis for the country.

a

She avoided looking again into his eyes, but it made no difference. The bargain was seal- ed, thought Aguilar with a sigh. She had played the politics game even when the nation was at war. Irena would be Irena to the end, it seemed. Gonzales had followed his chief's lead, Echevarria made the motion official, and, by votes of eight to three, the Figueroa motion was defeated, and the Interior Police were reassigned, under Army control, to El Chaco.

Gaetano Franco was not able to withstand the reversal of the militants' fortunes. His face flushed, he jumped to his feet. "You have sold us out!" he snarled at Irena, who batted her false eyelashes most ner- vously as the short, black- mustached Franco berated her. "The Revolution is betrayed!" the Minister of Justice screaming at Irena. "I can no longer serve in the Junta with a. .a profligate like you!" Irena turned anxiously to the Vice-President, whose hand went out immediately to touch hers. Salluca nodded, his face determined yet angry. "Th-then, Senor Franco,"she whispered hoarsely, her dark, attractive eyes downcast. "You are ex- cused from this meeting to write y-your letter of r-resig- nation. I will appoint a new Justice Minister shortly."

•

There was a stunned silence as Franco cursed and stamped

noisily out of the room. When he

was gone, Irena's vividly painted eyes rose and swept about the table, but there was a nervous flutter there, obvious to them all. "Are-are there others who-who c-cannot support the policy decreed h-here today?" she asked in such a low, soft voice, that Aguilar only heard the last few words and had to deduct the import of the message.

Ernesto Figueroa twitched and gyrated in frustration as the Army men regarded him smugly. Irena did not give him a glance, however, even when he shook his head and blurted out, "I expect to retain the garrison at San Martino!!"

Again, nervous, flushed glances were made to the Vice- President before Irena shook her long, dangling earrings. "I-I intend a new policy of a-amnesty f-f-for p-political prisoners." Salluca looked at her hard and intently as if trying to figure out what she was saying. Didn't Irena con- sult anyone about her plans, thought an aghast Ramon Aguilar.

Salluca glanced down at her soft, slim hand that lay in his. She'd gone too far this time, he thought, his body stiff. This wasn't part of his plan. Even the sleepy Valdes of the Air Force was awake now.

Irena, however, was becom- ing less nervous the more she spoke and the more she was accepted for what she appeared to be. More than one man at the table had given her a re- assuring look that told her that she was a 'she' in their eyes. But still no one spoke about her oddly harsh, uneven, almost masculine voice. "The Vanguard can supervise the dis- mantling of San Martino and the vetting of the prisoners. Those who have only minor differences with the People's State will be given some free- doms." Her eyes came to rest on Aguilar's. She flicked her

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long hair back again. “Many have requested to be allowed to serve in the Armed Forces to prove their patriotism.”

The Chief of Staff made a polite gesture. The big mo- ment, he thought, had passed. Irena Varga had shifted her political alliances again, just as the country was demanding. The militants were out and the Army had new allies in the Party. And she had done it all without a word in his direction. He had been her puppet, just like the stunned Fuentes and Salluca. Only when he saw those two so gloomy did Aguilar catch the significance of the San Martino thing. He had to smile then. What a symbol to present to the people. The old, fearful prison 'dismantled'- had she really said that? and its prisoners returned to their families.

Salluca pressed his hand hard on hers. He did not yet want this meeting to realize that the Democrats were being fully restored. That must wait until they lined up Margoles and the Party's deputies in the National Assembly. Still, as he thought about it, it might just be the 'capper,' the idea to top it all off, to unite the people behind her again, if the Demo- crats would swear to uphold the Revolution against Boca.

Figueroa was the next to break. He stood and left the table without a word, but his face showed that his world - - which had begun and ended with Irena Varga - - had come to an end. Why doesn't he de- nounce her, thought Aguilar as the door closed quickly behind Figueroa. He looked back at the strange expression on Salluca's face. It was almost as if there was another game being played here that Aguilar wasn't aware of. It was as if Figueroa dared not say or do anything, for fear that something else might be revealed. Aguilar stared at the smoothly madeup face of the flushed Irena Varga. The ner-