“Please, everyone. Relax, relax,” James said, slipping on a white silk shirt as he entered the living room. “Welcome, especially you, senorita. Alessandra, right? I couldn’t forget you, now could I? Sorry about that mess up the hill. It was an unavoidable situation I won’t bore you with. Anyway, now that we’re in a less stressful setting, let’s talk. I have an idea of why you are here, but if you could please quickly refresh my memory.”
“Alberto said you are in the market for some transportation,” Alessandra said. “That’s what our firm provides.”
“What kind of transportation?” James said as he sat.
Alessandra offered a palm at Lou.
“Air and then ground,” Lou said. “I have planes and pilots with the state-of-the-art techniques to avoid detection over the water. Then Lt. Herrera here takes it the rest of the way by armored caravan.”
“To where? What’s the point of entry?”
“We guarantee delivery into Brownsville, Texas, within seventy-two hours,” Alessandra said.
“That is quite the guarantee,” James said as he finished buttoning his shirt. “FedEx hardly does better. You take off and land where? Not in Mexico?”
“Honduras. Near the border of Guatemala,” Lou said.
“Then?” James said, fastidiously brushing at his slacks as he sat.
“Then I and my federales take it up through Guatemala and straight up along the Gulf,” said Manny.
“Honduras,” James said, crossing his legs. He looked up in the air above them with an expression of intense concentration. He pursed his lips.
“Honduras,” he repeated with a nod.
“There’s no issue with the border there, if that’s a worry,” Lou said.
James glanced at him.
“I do need transportation,” he said. “And new routes are always welcome, depending on the price. What do you charge?”
Alessandra gave a number per kilo which was more than twice what they had been charging the Panamanians.
“That’s outrageous,” James said with a frown. “Where do you get your numbers from?”
“We run a tight operation. It’s worth every penny,” Alessandra said.
“Fine,” James said, rolling his eyes. “I will agree to your outrageous price provided you take care of all the details. A new facility I’m building is almost complete, but a runway nearby will have to be made into the jungle. That’s on your end or it’s a deal breaker. If you make me tackle that headache, you can forget the whole thing.”
Alessandra looked at Lou. He nodded. He’d arranged jungle runways before. It was a pain in the ass getting the proper equipment in but doable.
“We will take care of it,” Alessandra said.
“Perfect then,” James said as Alberto handed him another drink. “Meet me at my estate in Iquitos in three days.”
“Iquitos?” Alessandra said.
Iquitos was damn Peru! Lou thought. Shit.
“Yes, Iquitos. Is there a problem?”
“The planes we use,” Lou said. “The range is limited.”
“What kind of plane?”
“It’s a Cessna 414.”
“How much can it carry?”
“One ton. It will go fifteen hundred miles empty. It’s the return trip I’m worried about.”
“That’s your lookout. Give me a break. Can you handle this weight or was all this a waste of my time?”
“Yes, we can handle it,” Lou said, not sure if that was true.
James lifted his drink to signal the meeting was over.
“Okay then. It’s a deal. Three days. When you get to Iquitos, contact Alberto and we will share all the details with you,” he said.