chapter twenty-eight
The following morning, Jack went to the hotel lobby with his laptop and only one of his suitcases. He had decided he would not check out of his room in the event he needed a safe haven later on.
In the lobby he used a pay phone to make a collect call to Natasha. He did not want to risk using the phone in his room in case a nosey hotel clerk listened in, nor did he want to use his cellphone in the event it fell into the wrong hands after and would have a record of his call home.
Natasha answered and Jack could hear Mikey banging a spoon on the tray of his high chair in the background.
“So where you been?” asked Natasha, sounding snippy. “Taking care of business?”
Jack smiled. Usually collect calls meant they could talk freely, but not always. Natasha always acted like a jilted woman until Jack gave her the clearance to talk. Even then, most details were left out.
“I called to tell you I love you,” said Jack, “and Mikey, too.”
“I love you, too,” she said lovingly. “We miss you.”
“I think the only thing Mikey misses is his food if it’s a minute late,” said Jack.
“No, he doesn’t. You’ve seen his face light up when he sees you. Speaking of which?”
“Hope to have a business meeting today with this new partnership. With luck, I’ll be back sometime this weekend.”
“Call me as soon as you can.”
“I will.” Jack knew Natasha worried about him. They had made a pact that rather than have her worry needlessly, he would try to let her know when he was doing something risky and then call her as soon as it was over. In the long run, it was a bit easier on her that way.
Jack saw the Camaro pull up in front of the hotel lobby and knew he had to go. He quickly said goodbye and picked up his luggage and stepped outside.
Adams and an attractive young woman got out of the car as he approached.
“This is Sherry,” said Adams. “My one night-stand,” he added with a grin.
“Don’t you wish,” replied Sherry, rolling her eyes.
After arriving at the airport and giving his laptop to Adams to hold for safekeeping, Jack rented a car. He then went for breakfast to give Adams and Sherry time to ensure the cover team was in place and check into the Armadillo Motel before he arrived.
It was twelve-thirty when Jack arrived at the motel. He spotted the Camaro in front of a unit as well as five other vehicles parked in front of other units. Slater’s truck was not one of them. The other vehicles made Jack feel a little more comfortable. The motel had enough business that the presence of Adams and Sherry should go unnoticed.
The motel manager turned out to be a skinny, nervous-looking man who constantly sniffled. Jack figured he either had a cold or a bad coke habit. Probably the latter …
“Oh, you’re the guy from Canada,” said Sniffles, as he read the hotel registration sheet Jack filled out. “Got a message for ya,” he said, reaching into a beehive of cubbyholes behind him and handing Jack a slip of paper.
The message was short. Hit a deer and gotta wait for a new radiator. Will be there tomorrow afternoon. T’s guys said they would be over to see you. Clive
Jack didn’t care if Slater was there. The important thing was to meet Tio. He got the key to his room and discovered it was a couple of units past where the Camaro was parked. He didn’t look in the darkened room as he went past, but did notice the curtains were open a crack for someone to see out.
Jack hadn’t slept much the night before and was hoping to get a few hours’ shut-eye. He lay on the bed, but his adrenalin wouldn’t allow him to sleep.
He was in the room less than an hour when he heard a vehicle pull up. He looked out the window and saw two Mexican men getting out of a white SUV. They both appeared to be in their mid-thirties.
The passenger was obese, with rolls of fat on the back of his neck like a walrus. He had a thick black moustache and his eyebrows met in the middle. His puffy cheeks gave the impression that his nose had sunken into his face and overall, he was one of the ugliest men Jack had ever seen.
Jack saw him hold up a hand to gesture for the second man to remain at the SUV while he waddled over to the door. Jack opened it as the man was about to knock.
“Señor Jack?”
“Jack will do. Who are you?”
“They call me El Pero,” he said with a smile, extending his hand.
Jack shook the sweaty paw and discreetly wiped his hand on the sides of his cargo pants afterwards.
“¿Habla usted español, Señor Jack?”
“What’s that?” replied Jack. “Are you asking me if I speak Spanish? Sorry, I only know a couple of words.”
In fact, Jack knew enough to get by, but thought it might be in his best interests if the bad guys thought they could speak freely in front of him and believe they were not understood.
“El Pero in Spanish mean The Dog,” said El Pero. “It is what my amigos call me. You can call me by that name, too.”
“Pleased to meet you, El Pero. Come on in.”
El Pero entered and Jack glanced at the man standing by the SUV.
“He is okay,” said El Pero. “He can wait.”
Jack closed the door and gestured to one of two chairs in the room. After they sat, El Pero said, “I came by to welcome you and tell you that tonight I will take you to a party in Juarez.”
“I was expecting Tio to be here,” said Jack. “It may not be safe for me to go to Juarez.”
“Tio?” asked El Pero. “Your uncle is coming?”
“Not my uncle. I’m talking about the man I came to meet. The man who told me to come to this motel,” said Jack.
El Pero’s triple chins shook as he wheezed out a laugh and said, “Now I understand. When I deal with Señor Slater he has heard me call my tio, which in Spanish means uncle. The man I report to is my uncle and that is who you were expecting to meet.”
“Oh, I see … so what is your uncle’s name?”
“Señor Alphonse Franco,” replied El Pero.
Jack smiled. Finding out the uncle’s name had been easy. Meeting him might not be as simple.
“Señor Alphonse Franco told me you had a concern about going to Juarez,” said El Pero. “You are not to worry. He has checked with the federales and the policia. They do not know you. Even if they did, it would be nothing we would not take care of.”
“I see,” said Jack, not overly surprised that the cartel had checked with the police.
“You will be Señor Alphonse Franco’s guest tonight,” said El Pero. “I will pick you up at seven o’clock and take you to meet with him for dinner. We have reserved an entire restaurant for the occasion.”
“That sounds great, but I would prefer to drive myself there.”
“I am sorry, but I must insist,” said El Pero. “My uncle is always very careful that the Americans do not find him. He is afraid any car rented in America could have a satellite tracker installed in it by the authorities. The same rules apply for cellphones in the event the Americans triangulate the signal and locate our position. The only cellphones allowed are ones my uncle obtains through a special connection.”
“Your uncle is a wise man,” said Jack. “That is good. I do not like to do business with men who are stupid or careless.”
“Si,” replied El Pero with a smile. “I will tell him you are happy with the security measures being taken. Now you may wish to sleep. Tonight there will be a big fiesta in your honour.”
Jack waited ten minutes after El Pero left before strolling to the motel office while tossing the key in his hand to announce his intention to leave. He dropped the key off with Sniffles for safekeeping and told him he was going into El Paso to look around. When he walked back toward his car he saw Adams standing in the doorway of his unit without his shirt on and yawning.
Jack pretended to ignore him as he walked past, but said, “Wait fifteen and then meet me at the first gas station you come to on the way back to town.”
Thirty minutes later, Adams and Sherry pulled up beside Jack’s rented car that was parked beside a garage where Jack was pretending to top off the air in his tires.
Adams unrolled the window to talk and Jack said, “Looks like we’re delayed for a day or two. Got a message from Slater when I checked in that he hit a deer and damaged his radiator. I spoke to one of the two Mexicans who showed up and it looks like we’ll have to wait until Slater gets here to get everyone together.”
“Too bad,” replied Adams as he looked at Jack and raised one eyebrow.
Jack gave a nod as though he was in agreement the delay was unfortunate.
“Typical,” said Sherry. “Dopers never do anything on time. Guess we have to become lovebirds again, John.”
“We did manage to snap a couple of photos of the guy who waited outside,” said Adams, “but from the angle they parked, we never got to see the face of the guy you spoke with.”
“That goof gave me the name for Tio. It’s Alphonse Franco. Do you know him?”
“Big Al!” exclaimed Adams. “Damn rights we know him. He’s one of the upper echelons. Only a rung or two down the ladder from the Carrillo Fuentes brothers. He definitely has the political standing to talk to Guajardo himself.”
“Which he is probably doing if they think they will be doing business with Satans Wrath.”
“Man, I didn’t think you would reach this level so quickly,” said Adams.
“Satans Wrath have a huge international reputation with a world-wide drug distribution network. It’s a bit like GM approaching Nissan and suggesting they go into business together. It makes sense that they would send out their upper echelon to talk to me. Who knows, maybe Guajardo himself or the Carrillo Fuentes boys will show up.”
Adams shook his head and said, “Not a chance. That I am sure of. Maybe if you were to really buy three or four ton off of them they might, but there is no way any of those guys would risk showing up yet. Big Al will have to vouch for you himself and oversee things to start with. As close as he is to the top guy, it would cost him his life if things went wrong.”
“That’s good to know. So why won’t Big Al come into the U.S.?”
“We nailed his ass on a major cocaine beef four years ago. He’d be looking at a minimum of twenty-five years if we could get him deported. Unfortunately we can’t. He’s one of the untouchables over there. At the moment he’s got his nephew running things for him in El Paso.”
“El Pero?”
“Yes, that’s his nickname. His real name is Pietro Franco.”
“That’s who spoke with me.”
“I wondered if that was the fat fucker you were talking to. El Pero is halfway up the corporate ladder. Being Big Al’s nephew, I’m certain the cartel has big plans for him.”
“Sounds like everything is going good. We just have to wait. Which is fine by me for the moment. I’m running on empty when it comes to the sleep department. Think I’ll go back to my room in the city and sleep for the next twenty-four hours. You can call the guys off and I’ll give you a shout tomorrow morning when I wake up.”
Adams rolled up his window and started to back up, then stopped and said to Sherry, “I’m going to invite him home for dinner in case he changes his mind about sleeping.”
“I was thinking of asking him the same thing,” said Sherry. “He’s cute.”
“Forget it. He’s married,” replied Adams as he got out the car.
“I know, but that is still no reason for him to be all alone. Besides, back at the motel you mentioned you had already had him over for dinner so —”
“Forget it. I know what you’re thinking. He’s very married.”
“Very married?”
“You know what I mean,” replied Adams, closing the door and walking over to Jack who was about to get in his rental.
“What’s really happening?” whispered Adams.
“El Pero is picking me up tonight at seven to take me to meet Big Al. They’ve reserved an entire restaurant someplace in Juarez. I’m not allowed to take my rental or a cellphone. Big Al is paranoid you guys might use either one to try and trace him.”
“I can’t cover you over there. Our friend can’t be seen, either.”
“I know. I’ll call you when I’m done.”
“What if they want you to stay over? If you don’t have a car or a phone —”
“I’ll tell them I have to be at a certain gas station in El Paso in the morning to take a call from Damien. I’ll use it as an excuse to have someone drive me back if the party goes on for too long. I’ll call you as soon as I can.”
“So, Juarez it is …” said Adams sombrely.
“Yes.”
The muscles rippled along Adams’s jaw line as he clenched his teeth before turning on his heel and walking away. He knew he had made a mistake by befriending Jack. They were in a war … and liking someone made it all the harder when that person became a casualty.