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Orlando Bosck Ricardo MoralesBranch looks out the airplane window and pictures Orlando Letelier lying in the middle of Massachusetts Avenue, his legs blown off at the thigh, his torso pulverized, detectives all around. On the curb nearby sat his passenger Ronni Moffitt, her eyes frozen, holding her throat. The bomb in Letelier's car had blown a sliver of metal through Ronni Moffitt's carotid artery, and she was drowning in her own blood. Her husband sat nearby, suffering from shock, watching his wife die. She was twenty-five. The killers were the kind of people who would machine-gun a whole crowd of people in a public square just to hit their mark. They wouldn't care about the others. Ronni Moffitt could just as easily have been half the people Branch knew in Washington. The next day Jerry Ford rode right over the bloody spots in the road on his way to a reception for the president of Liberia; he never said a word about Washington's first gangland-style political assassination. Unwise to talk about it, especially if the force behind the murders is most likely the government of Chile. The military junta there overthrew Salvador Allende with a big boost from the CIA, which is still thick as thieves with the generals. Letelier was ambassador to the United States under Allende, then foreign affairs minister, interior minister and defense minister. He had been jailed and tortured by the generals after the coup, then, a year later, deported, and in September of last year he was stripped of his citizenship.From the day of the murder, Branch had been pondering the bomb he thought was used on Letelier-C4, a white, odorless dough resembling Silly Putty. Branch had heard many Cubans tell tales about C-4 and its predecessor, C-3. It was the C.I.A.'s favorite substance for sabotage in the war against Castro, and thousands of Cubans were trained in its use. Branch had not been surprised when evidence came out that Cuban exiles might have pulled the Letelier job, but he was surprised by tips he received that they had also killed hundreds of others on a big spree in the Caribbean. God, there is something big going on, he had thought. And all his sources and his instincts told him the answers were in Venezuela, of all places.It was now October 21, one month to the day since the Letelier murder."So you decided to take a little trip to Caracas too, I guess." It is Hilda I n, a reporter for *The Alami News*, standing in the aisle, looking down at us. She is a specialist on Latin terrorism in Miami."Looks like it," says Branch, shrugging. So much for the secret trip. Yet he is inclined to trust Inclán, even though he an! Rothchild hal met her only that day, while going through clips at the morgue of the News. The three work out a way to make contact in Caracas. Branch is embarrassed at being a little reserved. Inclán is candid, her face cheerful and open.Inclán leans over and whispers, "Listen, I think you should be careful. There's something strenge going on. This flight is crawling with cops and prosecutors from Miami."Branch and Rothchild turn their heads in unison, and their necks sink down into their shoulders. There are two young Latin men in the back with neatly trimmed beards, unisex hairdos and brightly colored shirts. There are several men in the front who do not look like ordinary passengers. Rothchild decides there might not be any ordinary passengers."What are they doing here?" Branch asks bluntly."Who knows?" says Inclán. "I know these guys from Miami. They give me tips sometimes. But now they aren't giving me the time of day. I don't understand them, so I'm going to act just like they are. I don't think you should let them in on what you're up to, either.""Those cops are Cubans, aren't they?" Branch asks. Inclán nods. Branch worries. Cubans on the Miami police force are a strange lot, he has heard. The cops want to infiltrate Cuban terrorist groups and drug-running organizations, but sometimes it turns out that the terrorists and drug runners are infiltrating the cops.Branch and Rothchild exchange signs of bewilderment as Inclán drifts back to her seat. "Jesus Christ,> [Figure] Orlando Letelier's bombed car, Washington, D.C.> The photograph shows the wreckage of a car after the bombing that killed Orlando Letelier in Washington D.C. The car is severely damaged, with debris scattered around it. Firemen are present at the scene, examining the remains and cleaning up.> continued