I WATCHED DAN walk off. I let my mind chew on all the implications, the odds of success. They weren’t good, not by a damn sight. I might’ve been able to pull it off had there not been the video. The video upped the chances of failure tenfold.
How many times had video leaked out in the past? The more concise question: How many times, if any, had a video of major media interest not leaked? Somebody in the know in the law enforcement circle, someone with a skewed moral compass, would eventually put it out, sell it to the highest bidder in the media. And if caught, they’d always have a fall-back excuse, the First Amendment, the public had a right to know. Of course they did. That same public also had the right to be blown to hell with drone missiles.
Marie came up behind me and took my hand—hers hot, mine cold. “You feelin’ okay?” She leaned her head against me. We both watched Dan disappear into the parking garage.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s get back to the room. I need a shower.”
We walked back, my arm around her waist. I didn’t know where the next twenty-four hours would find us, a fear of the unknown worse than most.
Drago stayed a few steps behind. I tried to work the problem out: how best to force the issue. To make the trade go down right away and at the same time keep my skin. That was my only chance, to make it happen now, not later. I didn’t have all the pieces yet, who the players were, who was the middleman, who had the drone and where. The where being the big one. If I knew the where, we could all go home. I stopped. “Drago, let me use your phone.” I didn’t want to use the one Dan had given me. They’d for sure be up on that one, listening.
“Sure, bud.” He handed me the phone.
I dialed Salvador’s number in Costa Rica and continued walking back to the hotel.
He answered right away. “Bueno, mi amigo.”
“Salvador, how are things in your country?”
“Everything is fine here, muy bueno. It is a beautiful day. You need not worry about anything here. Take your time on your vacation, señor.”
“Thank you, my friend.”
“I told you this was not going to be a problem at all.”
“What about that little issue we had in town with those visitors?”
“There is no longer an issue. Those visitors will never visit this country again.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes, they did not enjoy their stay here. They went out sport fishing on a boat.”
“Too bad Jose Rivera doesn’t have a passport. I could use his public relations talent right about now.”
“I am sorry you have not yet resolved your problems there. But as I said, you do not have to worry about anything on this end.”
“Thank you, Salvador, that means more to me than you know. Be safe. Hasta la vista.”
“Vaya con Dios, amigo.”
I hung up and handed the phone back to Drago. Marie heard my end of the conversation and squeezed my hand. I stopped in the shade of the building on the sidewalk along the side of the hotel. Both Marie and Drago had a right to know the score and the seriousness of the problem.
“Here’s the deal,” I said. “Someone’s stolen four Hellfire missiles and a military drone that fires them. There’s going to be a meet and a trade, money for the arms. Dan wants me to find out when and where.”
I watched Marie, expecting her to be stunned. She didn’t show any emotion at all. I knew her well enough; she was doing a slow burn on the inside. She said, “And this has to do with the Visigoths’ president, Bobby Ray?”
“Yes.”
She waved her finger. “And this has nothing to do with the problem we came here for in the first place, The Sons of Satan, right?”
“Sort of. Kind of. We did come here to talk with Sonja—”
She turned angry and pointed her finger at me. “No, you came here to talk with Sonja. I told you we shouldn’t have anything to do with her. That bitch. Anyone who’d dump a child off on the father and never look back doesn’t deserve anything from us.”
I didn’t want to argue with her, especially when she held all the cards. I didn’t know why it always happened that way, her holding all the aces, me a measly pair of deuces.
“I understand your anger,” I said, “but I’m in this now, boxed in but good, and there just isn’t any way I can back out and still be able to live with myself.”
She just stared at me, fuming.
Drago, who stood off to the side, said, “You find these things, these hell missiles, and you’re done, is that right?”
“That’s right.”
Oh, thank you, big man, for coming to the rescue.
He shrugged. “Shouldn’t be a problem at all, not really. I’ll go along and make sure he stays out of trouble. Okay, how’s that?”
She flung her hand in the air. “What then, we start all over dealing with the problem with The Sons, the reason we came here to begin with?”
“Dan said, we help him with this, he’ll make sure that our problem with The Sons goes away. We have his word.”
Drago said again, “So we work out this one problem, then we’re done.”
She spun on him. “Don’t you try and get Bruno out of the dog house. He’s going to be there a long time. A very long time.” She took off walking at a faster pace.
We caught up with her. No one spoke. We went through the lobby. The two off-duty cops talked among themselves, not looking at us. When we stepped into the elevator, Drago said, “What are we going to do first?”
“Sonja’s son, Bosco, got hurt.” I said. “He’s in the hospital in grave condition.” I used another term I’d learned from Marie, grave. I never realized until right at that moment the double meaning that the word carried.
Marie stuck her arm out and stopped the elevator doors from closing. “Ah, shit, why didn’t you tell me that earlier, before I called Sonja a bitch? Come on, let’s go.”
“Where we goin’?” I asked.
“To see your ex-girlfriend Sonja at the hospital, you big oaf.”