by David Archer
Noah looked at him for a moment. “What happens if they spend the money before your time limit runs out and it disappears?”
Neil grinned. “Then, suddenly, a whole lot of bank examiners and federal agents from every country involved are looking for whoever owned that account, because it will be so deep in the hole that they may never figure out just how much money is really missing.”
Noah nodded. “And somehow, the banks are aware of this program of yours? You said they're all scared, right?”
Neil blinked a couple of times. “Well—okay, they're not really scared, because they don't know about it, but if they did know about it, they'd be terrified. I mean, like, shaking in their boots, that kind of terrified. Holy crap, Noah, in the wrong hands, this program could destabilize the economies of some fair-sized countries!”
Noah stood there and looked at him for a moment. “Have you told our bosses about this program, yet?”
Neil blinked again. “No, not yet. Why?”
“Do me a favor,” Noah said. “When you do tell them about it, don't mention that part about destabilizing economies. If the wrong people got hold of that idea, you might disappear, and I don't want to lose you.”
Neil opened and closed his mouth three times, but nothing came out. He dropped into a chair close to where Noah was prepping the grill. “Have I ever mentioned that you come up with some of the most unsettling notions? Do you really think I could be in danger over that?”
“I think there are people who would decide that was a useful program, and wouldn't necessarily want its author hanging around. If you wrote the program, you could probably write one to defend against it, am I right?”
Neil nodded, but didn't say anything.
“Seriously, dude, let's just keep that part between us, okay?”
Once again, Neil only nodded.
Noah put him to work a few moments later, helping him to get the chicken cut up and marinating in a wine sauce. Noah put potatoes on to boil for potato salad after that, while Neil shucked a dozen ears of corn, coated them in butter and wrapped them in foil so they could go right onto the grill.
Sarah pulled in just a little after four, and volunteered to make coleslaw. By this time, she knew where everything was in the kitchen, so Noah simply nodded and got out of her way.
Moose showed up a half hour later, so Noah decided to move dinner up by an hour. The coleslaw and potato salad were already done, so he carried the chicken and corn out to the grill and started laying it all out, basting the meat with his own homemade barbecue sauce.
“So, I'm curious, but where on earth did you learn to cook like this?” Moose asked.
“One of the foster homes I lived in,” Noah said. “The lady who ran it had a grill, and in the summertime, she liked to cook on it about once a week. I was always the one who volunteered to help, so she taught me a lot about it.”
Moose nodded. “I want her name and address, so I can send her a thank you card.”
“Yeah, I wish I could send her one, too. Hey, you want to get us a beer? There's a case in the fridge, and I could use one.”
“I'll get them,” Sarah said, and she hurried inside. Moose had started to rise, but he settled back into his chair.
“So, is this just a social dinner, or is there more to this meeting than meets the eye?” Moose asked.
“Bit of both,” Noah said. “I met with Allison today, and found out we're flying out of Denver tomorrow afternoon. We'll be in El Paso tomorrow night, meeting with Mr. Jefferson.”
“What did I miss?” Sarah asked as she came back and passed bottles of beer around to everyone.
“That the balloon went up,” Neil said. “It seems it's time for us to stop playing games and get down to business.”
Noah nodded. “I was just telling Moose. I found out today that we're flying out of Denver tomorrow afternoon, and meeting Jefferson in El Paso tomorrow night. He's supposed to have everything ready for us when we get there. I got our plane tickets. Our flight departs at twenty after four.”
Noah had the grill parked close to his patio table, so that he could watch it from his chair. The four of them were sitting at the table, looking at each other. The mood was somber, and each of them was lost in their own thoughts.
“Well, we knew it was coming,” Moose said. “It's just like anything else; sooner or later, you have to pay the piper.”
Sarah nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “Jefferson had me driving around Hollywood in a Chrysler. He said it's identical to the one I'll have down there. I can drive anything, but it's nice to be familiar with your vehicle.”
“I'm taking my own computer,” Neil said. “I might be able to use a different one, but mine already knows me. That'd be like cheating on a girlfriend.”
Moose laughed at him. “Neil, did you honestly just compare your computer to a girlfriend? Dude, we've really got to get you out more often. Have you ever even been laid?”
Neil rolled his eyes and sunk down into his chair. “Of course, you idiot,” he said. “Didn't your mom tell you about us?”
Noah held up a hand. “Okay, that's enough. Let's try to have a good time tonight, just relax. I think if we all meet here around noon, we can be at Denver International in plenty of time to check in and go through security. That sound okay to everyone?”
“Fine by me,” Moose said. “I'm probably the only one that'll have to drive over here anyway.”
Sarah grinned, and kicked him under the table, and Neil just rolled his eyes again. “I don't have to drive anywhere, I just walk across the yard. On the other hand, since I have the biggest vehicle and plenty of room for all the luggage, why don't we all ride to the airport together in mine?”
Moose looked at him for a moment, then shrugged. “Why not? Maybe you'll kill us on the way; then we won't have to put up with this mission after all.”
They talked about little things until the chicken was done, then Neil and Sarah brought everything else out from the house and set the table. It was a nice afternoon, and they decided to enjoy the weather. From everything they knew, it was likely to be hot in Juárez.
When dinner was over, they sat and visited for a little while, but then Moose said he wanted to go and spend some time with Elaine, and Neil decided to go to his trailer and make sure his computer and gear were properly packed. That left Noah and Sarah alone, so they cleaned everything up and loaded the dishes into the dishwasher, then sat down to watch some TV until they felt like going to bed.
TWENTY-ONE
Their flight was uneventful, and landed in El Paso at just after six. They had all been sitting together, so they all came off the plane in single file and found Jefferson waiting for them inside the terminal.
“Noah, good to see you,” he said, shaking Noah's hand. “Good flight, everyone?”
They all smiled and nodded, agreeing that it was an easy flight. Jefferson led them toward baggage claim to pick up their luggage. “I brought a van with me,” he said, “since I didn't know how much baggage you might have. I got vehicles for each of you back at the hotel, but I just thought the van would be easier for right now.”
“No problem,” Noah said.
It took them about twenty minutes to gather up all of their luggage, and Moose snagged a cart and loaded it all up. “Lead the way,” he said to Jefferson, and pushed the cart as he followed along. The van was in short-term parking, and the walk took about five minutes.
Everything was loaded, and they were all inside and headed for the hotel. “I put you at the Holiday Inn, it's pretty decent. Has a nice restaurant, too. I thought you guys would like that. Pool, weight room, all the goodies.”
“That'll be fine,” Noah said. “I understand you've got everything else we need?”
Jefferson smiled. “It's all at the hotel. If you guys are hungry, we'll get you checked in and put your things in your rooms, then meet at the restaurant and have dinner. After that, we can go to my room and you can start looking it all over.”
Noa
h glanced at the other three, who nodded. “Yeah, I think we're all hungry. We ate lunch early, so we could get going to the airport.”
They pulled up in front of the hotel about fifteen minutes later, and were quickly checked in. Once again, Moose grabbed the luggage cart and loaded everyone's bags onto it. They were all on the third floor, and their rooms were close together, so it worked out well. Once everything was put away, they all met in the hallway and rode down the elevator together to go to the restaurant.
Dinner was pleasant, and when it was over, Jefferson pointed out that the restaurant had a very nice bar, then ordered a bottle of wine. He poured a glass for each of them, and held his own high. “To success,” he said, and the others all joined in the toast.
They rode up together again, and this time, they all went to Jefferson's room. It was also on the third floor, just down the hall from theirs, a slightly bigger room. That was good, since it gave them all room to find a place to sit.
Jefferson picked up what looked like a shoebox, glanced at it, and then passed it to Noah. “Open it up,” he said. “Inside, you'll find a wallet containing your ID, passport and credit cards for this mission, in the name of John Baker. Mr. Baker is from Chicago, and the wallet trash would lead you to believe that he's single and probably self-employed. He's got health insurance with Blue Cross, he's a member of two different country clubs near Chicago, and he has a couple of pictures of a teenage boy, both of which are marked as being to Uncle John from Bobby. There's also a Beretta nine millimeter automatic, but you might not want to try carrying that into Mexico. Oh, and you'll find about five thousand in cash. That's flash money, you'll need it.”
Noah was busy examining the wallet, and simply nodded. Jefferson picked up another box and passed it to Sarah. “Your name is Kathy Stratton. There's a purse inside with all your ID, passports, credit cards, etc., and lots of normal purse-type stuff. Makeup, aspirins, couple different kinds of candy floating around in there, I don't know what all. However, if you take a look at this end of it, you see this ring?” He pointed at the one he meant. “If anything goes wrong, you pull that ring and a device inside the purse starts transmitting its location, as well as audio so Neil can hear what's going on. He'll have the receiver, and a way to pinpoint your location. If at all possible, we'll get you out of whatever happened.”
Sarah looked at the ring, then up at Jefferson. “You won't get upset if I prefer to get myself out of jams, will you?” She swung the purse by its strap, feeling its weight. “I could beat four men to death with this thing in the time it would take to pull that ring and yell for help, and I'll be driving a car with a Hemi engine. I don't think I'm likely to need much rescuing.”
Jefferson smiled and nodded. “I knew you were likely to feel that way, but our administrator being a lady who doesn't happen to possess those skills herself, she insists that we always offer a panic alarm like that to our female operatives. Besides, you might run into a situation where there's more than four men you have to beat to death. Pull that ring, and one of us will try to come and help.”
Sarah gave him a sarcastic smile, and he turned to pick up another box. This one he handed to Moose. “Moose, your name is Billy Scott. ID, passport, everything, just like the others. There's a Glock forty in your box, I understand that's one of your favorite weapons. Keep it on you at all times. It's been specially treated with a film that will keep metal detectors and even gun-sniffing dogs from spotting it, at least until it's been fired the first time. If you have to carry it across the border, you should be able to do so without being caught.”
Moose looked the weapon over, but didn't remove it from the holster it was in. It was a clip-on, one that he could snap onto his belt so that it would be covered by a loose shirt. He nodded, and put it back in the box.
The next box went to Neil. “Mr. Blessing,” Jefferson said, “in reading your file, I learned that you were a very active participant in your high school's drama club, and have a knack for accents. Your name, as you will see you on the ID and passports and credit cards in that box, is Henri Batiste. Mr. Batiste is a French-Canadian who is now a US citizen, but has never shaken his accent.”
“Oui, oui, monsieur,” Neil said with a grin.
“You don't have to worry about maintaining the accent around the hotel, but make sure you don't forget when you're on the phone. Speaking of which…”
Jefferson picked up another box, and opened it. Inside were four cell phones, the latest models of smartphones. He passed one to each of them, glancing at each before deciding whom to give it to. “These are your phones,” he said. “You will leave your regular phones with me for now, and use these exclusively. Each of these has the numbers for the others programmed into it already, under the names they're using for the mission. You've also got numbers for me, under Jim Thorpe, and for the administrator, under the name Barbara Davis, and you'll see a lot of other numbers programmed in. If anyone gets hold of your phone and calls those numbers, we have people who will answer and act like they're old friends of yours.”
The four of them took a few moments to familiarize themselves with the phones, and then Jefferson produced another box. “Noah, this is the special shopping list you gave me. I got everything you asked for, it's all there.”
Noah opened the box, glanced inside and then smiled grimly. “That's perfect,” he said. “Ortiz literally won't know what hit him.” He closed the box and set it aside.
There was one box left, and Jefferson picked it up gingerly. He handed it to Neil, who suddenly began to smile. “Neil, that's the special shopping list that you gave me, and let me tell you some of that stuff is very hard to come by. If you hadn't been able to get me part numbers, I might not have found some of it.”
Noah looked at Neil, and indicated the box with a flip of his chin. “What kind of goodies you got there, Neil?”
Neil opened the box, and began rummaging through its contents. “Some absolutely amazing things,” he said. He pulled out what looked like a sheet of paper covered with blue dots. “See this? Each of those dots is a microphone capable of transmitting an encrypted audio signal through a piggybacked cell tower. The cellular service won't ever know the signal is there, but it can reach my decryption equipment anywhere in the world. If anyone else were to pick up the signal, it would only sound like static.” He put the sheet back in the box, then lifted a small box from inside. Opening it, he showed them all what appeared to be a wad of chewing gum, such as might be stuck under a table. “This little jewel is a well-camouflaged, high-definition video camera. Like the microphones, it can send its signal right through cellular data signals, like using Skype on your phone. It has a super adhesive on the back, so when you peel off the paper and stick it somewhere, I'll get a clear color video signal for the next two weeks, unless somebody goes to scraping off the gum. You stick this up under the bar, or under a table, and I'm betting no one in that establishment will ever get around to it.”
Noah nodded appreciatively. “Excellent, that's great. We'll know what's going on there, even when I'm not in the place.”
“Exactamundo,” Neil said. “I'm supposed to keep you supplied with Intel, and that's what I'm going to do. Besides, once you stick a few of these around that bar, we'll know instantly if anything starts to go wrong for you. That way, Blondie could drop off Muscles to help get you out of it.”
Noah shook his head. “No, I'm going in alone,” he said. “Moose will stay back with you; he's got his own wheels and ID if he has to come into town for any reason, but I don't want anyone getting a look at him if we can possibly avoid it. Same goes for you, Sarah; you'll drop me off some distance away from the bar, and I'll walk in. I don't want them getting a look at you, not at all.”
“People might wonder how you get in and out of the city,” Jefferson said. “What do you plan to tell them?”
“I don't,” Noah said. “In a city like that, I don't think too many people advertise where they sleep, especially people who are involved in ill
egal activities. If anybody gets so nosy that they want to know where I go when I leave, they can follow me, but that means they're taking the risks that go along with it. I'm supposed to be a bad guy, if I have to, I'll act the part.” He shrugged. “Besides, I think it would make sense for me to get a room in Juárez, let myself be seen in other places around the city. If I'm in that bar every single day, that's going to look pretty suspicious, wouldn't you think?”
Jefferson looked at him for a moment, then nodded. “Okay,” he said. “There are a few hotels with some decent security, places where an apparently wealthy businessman like John Baker might stay. What about a vehicle? Or do you want Sarah to drive in each day to chauffeur you around?”
“No, of course not. I'll let her drive me in tomorrow, so that I can get a room in one of those hotels, but I'll use taxis to get around the city. Sarah, I'll let you know when I need you to come and pick me up.”
Moose grunted. “I want to go on record right now that I do not like this plan. How am I supposed to cover your back, when most of the time I won't even know where you are?”
Noah shook his head. “Calm down, Moose,” he said. “I've got to play the part convincingly, and this John Baker wouldn't be trusted if he was sleeping in El Paso every night. On top of that, if I come back to this hotel each night, we run the risk of someone managing to successfully tail me. That could expose all of you and compromise the mission. I'll be needing you, don't worry; I'm quite certain there will be flaws in the plan that will require quick improvisation. That's where you guys come in. I'm not all that scared of being in Ciudad Juárez, I genuinely believe that the reason I'm not afraid to walk through the valley of the shadow of death is because I am the meanest son of a bitch in the valley.”
