Finn saw something militaristic in the Palacio Nacional in Mexico City – a sprawling, stone administrative building that stretched seemingly endlessly across the Plaza de la Constitución and which housed the Mexican government. With the expansive, almost barrenness of the huge, open space, he could well imagine carefully orchestrated military parades while the leaders looked on from the grand central balcony.
He glanced around the square. Not the best place to wait, he decided.
He’d never been to Mexico City before, and even if he’d found it a beast to navigate, given the sheer size of the city, he’d also found it more friendly and welcoming than expected. Except for this spot, out in the open, where armed police roamed by.
He found a quieter, more serene street directly around the corner where café tables spilled out onto the street. He didn’t know for sure that this would be the best place, but after a thorough recce, and from watching the other suited men and women entering and leaving the palace, he’d figured this was the most likely place to encounter the man he’d come to see.
He knew for sure that man was in the city today. Finn had already been on the phone several times to the guy’s staff, cooking up a bogus story with a bogus name about working for CNN, wanting an interview to discuss US-Mexico trade. Even if that meeting was pending while they awaited Finn’s bona fides – which, of course, he couldn’t give – he had at least found out that Minister for Trade Gonzalez was sitting in parliament for the whole of the current week.
Which explained why Finn had travelled to Mexico City to wait for him.
He didn’t have to wait long either, really. A couple of hours. Two coffees and some huevos rancheros.
Certainly, it could have been a much longer or ultimately fruitless wait.
Finn stayed in his seat as Gonzalez approached with a couple of young aides by his side – one of them rattling into his phone, the other in the boss’s ear.
Not even a glance in Finn’s direction from Gonzalez; he was too engrossed, or just too… sure of himself. Striding along like the city belonged to him.
‘Minister Gonzalez,’ Finn said, suddenly rising to his feet when Gonzalez was a couple of yards away.
Gonzalez stopped walking, as did his aides who looked even more dubious than their master at the interruption.
Finn waited for the moment of recognition – which didn’t take long – and then for the final decision. That came merely two seconds later as one of the aides stepped in front of Gonzalez as though to block Finn’s path to him.
A tap on his shoulder from the boss. A quiet word in his ear. Within a few heartbeats the two aides were walking away, casting suspicious glances over their shoulders a couple of times before they moved out of sight.
‘I don’t like being surprised like this,’ Gonzalez said, stepping up to Finn who looked around the other tables. A few other customers had taken notice of the exchange; Gonzalez was a recognizable face, after all.
‘It was the quickest way to get to see you,’ Finn said. ‘And the most discreet.’
‘Discreet?’ Gonzalez indicated around him.
‘Discreet from the point of view of my… boss. He doesn’t know I’m here.’
‘And why are you here?’
‘Let’s talk about that. Somewhere quieter, if you like.’
‘I’ve nothing to say to you.’
‘You don’t have to say anything. Let me do the talking.’
‘If you—’
‘I’m not here to cause you problems. I’m here to help you get your own back.’
Gonzalez took hardly a moment to consider before, ‘Follow me.’
* * *
A bar. Finn didn’t know whether he was surprised or not. He’d kind of expected that Gonzalez would want to stay out in the open somewhere – a bench in a park, perhaps. But the far corner of the dark interior of the working men’s bar was, Finn guessed, less likely to see them spotted by onlookers. Except, of course, for the two old soaks slowly drinking beer at the bar.
‘A regular place for you?’ Finn said. Both of them had coffee rather than beer. Finn took a sip. It was deliciously strong and smoky.
‘No,’ Gonzalez. ‘But I know it, and the owner, but you don’t need to know about that. Tell me what you want.’ He looked at his watch. ‘If you don’t get my interest in the next five minutes, I’m leaving.’
‘Then I’ll get right to it,’ Finn said. ‘I want to hurt him. Travers. And I want to hurt him badly.’
Gonzalez didn’t look surprised at all.
‘How times change. So you’re not his puppet anymore?’
‘Not for much longer.’
‘So explain.’
‘Remember your concerns about the corporate structure?’
Gonzalez didn’t say anything but glared at Finn, as though unimpressed. As though whatever Finn was about to say wouldn’t make him feel any better because he’d been screwed over already, despite trying to do the right thing originally.
Finn hadn’t seen that at the time though. All he’d seen was a barrier. An obstacle to him getting what he wanted.
‘As you know, I have… a way with resources. I know how to find the right people to dig to get to the information I want and need.’
‘You asked me here just so you could brag about yourself?’
‘No,’ Finn said. ‘I didn’t. I asked you here because I thought you’d want to know the answers to your previous concerns. And because I thought you’d have a good idea what to do with the information.’
‘You haven’t given me any information yet. And your five minutes is running out quickly.’
‘ABC Partners. Helda Venture Capital. They were two of the companies you had concerns about. Both are located in the Dominican Republic. And you weren’t given full disclosure on the ownership of either.’
Gonzalez sighed, folded his arms and sat back.
‘And it doesn’t stop there,’ Finn said, delving for the papers in his bag. He flicked through. ‘Shell company after shell company. Mostly in tax havens. All interlinked. Profits and dividends and management fees being pushed upward, sideways, all over the place.’
‘Tax evasion?’
‘I’m not an accountant, but at the very least I’d say it’s incredibly aggressive tax minimization. And I know for a fact that a lot of the transactions ultimately end up benefiting Travers directly, while the corporate entities build up more and more debt.’
He paused as he gathered his thoughts and waited to see if Gonzalez had anything to say. Apparently not.
‘From what I’ve seen, regardless of the country, regardless of the nature of the business, he operates his empire like a Ponzi scheme. Pulling more and more money in from investors and lenders, siphoning it where he wants. Since we last met, I oversaw a restructuring of his investment business in Europe. A four-hundred-million debt facility replaced by seven hundred million. At least a hundred of that has already been stripped out and moved into the ether. The new facility, like the old, is interest-only for the first five years. The business makes enough profit to service that cost, but in five years’ time it’ll never have enough cash to honor the repayments. It doesn’t matter. He’ll just re-finance again. A new set of banks willing to pump in even more because this is Victor Travers. Ever larger debt in the corporate entities, no intent to ever repay it, while he takes hundreds of millions for himself.’
Gonzalez shook his head. Was he disgusted with Travers or maybe just unimpressed with Finn’s story?
‘Mr Delaney, Travers is a very rich and powerful man. I’m afraid what you’re telling me is nothing more than I’ve come to expect from such people. Does it make me angry? Yes. Is there anything I can do about these… allegations? No. Not me. I tried to stop him once already. You got in the way of that.’
‘I’m not so sure,’ Finn said. ‘The Europe thing… That was just me giving you a taste of the reality. But this…’
He passed two pieces of paper across the table, giving Gonzalez a few minutes to scrutinize the information.
‘Do you know those names?’ Finn asked.
Gonzalez didn’t answer.
‘These are some of the ultimate beneficiaries of the shell companies,’ Finn said. ‘Anything look familiar to you there?’
‘Should it?’
Finn sighed. ‘Four names. One is a man in his nineties who suffers severe dementia and lives in a care facility in Baja California. The other is a seventeen-year-old girl in Mexico City who goes to one of the most prestigious private schools in the country. Another is a man in his seventies who I find particularly curious because the only person I’ve been able to find who matches the personal details died fifteen years ago, apparently. And finally, a woman in her forties who lives in Texas now but is the wife of the cousin of—’
‘I get it, I get it,’ Gonzalez said. ‘You’ve written the name connecting them all right here and circled it for me.’
‘All four are connected to just one man. Javier Lozano.’ Finn spoke the name quietly, the previous threat from Lozano still on his mind. Of course, he’d known the cartel boss was involved with Travers after that first meeting, but he’d been warned off digging into the ownership structure then. And he hadn’t done so, to get this evidence, until a few days ago when he’d made the call to move against Travers. A dangerous move, he knew. ‘And it’s not just these four people who are receiving money, I don’t think. This is only what I’ve managed to find so far.’
‘I always wondered how Travers had found it so easy to get himself embedded in Mexico,’ Gonzalez said.
‘And now you know why. It’s because his businesses are paying off one of the biggest drug cartels in the world.’
And in Mexico, the cartels were hugely powerful, influential.
And of course, very, very dangerous.
Gonzalez had gone pale. He shuffled in his seat and looked about the bar. No one had entered or left since they’d arrived, and the two men at the bar were out of earshot and paying no attention. But no doubt, Gonzalez was more rattled now. He pushed the papers across the table back to Finn.
‘This isn’t my department at all,’ he said. ‘I tried to block Travers because I suspected he wasn’t playing by the rules, but I… I hadn’t got this far and I’m not sure I feel any better knowing this now.’
‘So what? You’re just going to walk away and pretend you don’t know?’
‘It could be the best solution. For both of us.’
‘No. Not for me. Maybe it’s not your area, but you’re a government minister. A man who knows people. All I’m asking is for you to show me to the right person. Introduce me. I’ll take it from there. When this is all over, at least you’ll know you didn’t turn a blind eye, but helped to bring Victor Travers down.’
‘You’re a long way from bringing him down, believe me. Just carrying those pieces of paper around with you…’
‘Let me worry about that. Just tell me… Will you help me or not?’
Gonzalez seemed to consider the question as Finn tidied the table. Then the minister got up from his chair and smoothed down his suit while he looked back to the bar once more.
‘OK, Mr Delaney, I’ll help you. I’ll be in touch with a name. But please, don’t come to see me again. Not ever.’
He headed out of the bar.