She listened a few more minutes as he ranted on about the devils up north and then described how his country was benefitting from the high price of oil and gas. He went on to explain that the added income to his treasury meant he could subsidize the price they were paying for food and make it more affordable for all of the peasants. More applause. She didn’t want to listen to someone making political points from the anguish of others.
She turned off the set and padded the few steps into the bathroom. She found a few Tylenol tablets in her makeup bag, gulped them down with a glass of water and crept back into bed. She grabbed her paperback book and began to read. She heard a “Ding” in the hallway, then a grinding noise. Why do I always get a room between the elevator and the vending machine?
She read several chapters and then put the book aside, flicked off the bedside light and closed her eyes. But could she possibly get some sleep now without the intrusion of dire images of two men in dire trouble? The two men she had ever really loved?
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
EL AVILA –SUNDAY LATE-AFTERNOON
“Get up! We go now,” Rafael called from the doorway to Tripp’s room.
“Go where?” Tripp asked, sitting up on the threadbare mattress. He knew from their discussions that there would be a meeting of some sort today, but didn’t let on that he understood any of it.
“Go clean up.”
Tripp stood up and started to haul the chain to the bathroom. Instead, he turned and pointed to his ankle. “Take the chain off, okay?”
“When we leave,” Rafael said and sauntered back into the other room.
Tripp lifted the chain as he walked to keep it from chafing his leg any more than it already had. He splashed some of the brown colored water on his face, ran his hand through his hair that hadn’t been combed in over a week and stared at his rough beard. Looks awful, he thought. Then again, I could probably fit right in with some of the terrorist groups that Samantha is chasing down. There it was again. The thought about Samantha that kept popping into his mind at the oddest moments. He wondered where she was, whether she knew about the kidnapping and what she might be going through right now if she did.
He thought about this meeting and tried to figure out if it would be with one of the GeoGlobal security guys. He had heard Rafael and Eye-shade bitching about a negotiator. Then they said they had a message from somebody new. Tripp had no idea who that would be, but he was cautiously optimistic because it meant there was some sort of deal in the works. Maybe the company had figured out a way to pay the ransom and ensure that he got out of there alive once the money made it to the Caymans.
He didn’t know how they’d pull that off, but at this point, he was glad just to get out of this stifling hole, even for a few hours. He had also heard them arguing about whether one should go to the meeting with Tripp and one should stay back. Eyeshade had said he didn’t trust the prisoner. That he might try to escape, and so both of them needed to go, and both had to keep their guns ready at all times.
He dragged the chain back into the bedroom and called for Rafael.
The young man came into the room along with Eyeshade. Both had their guns drawn. Tripp put his hands up. “You don’t need those,” he said.
Eyeshade kept his gun trained on Tripp as Rafael shoved his pistol back into his pocket and unlocked the chain. Tripp leaned down to rub his ankle and pointed to the blisters and cuts. “Any bandages around here?” he asked. For a fleeting moment, he thought he might be able to whip his head up, knock Rafael off balance, use him as a shield and lunge toward Eyeshade before he had a chance to get off a shot. But just as he was about to raise his head, he saw that Eyeshade had taken several steps back toward the door and he thought better of it. Damn. Maybe later while we’re on the way to wherever the hell we’re going, I’ll be able to nail these two bastards. Maybe I’ll get a little help from the guy we’re meeting. Whoever it is. I’m almost out of patience now.
Rafael laughed. “You’re lucky I took it off. Just for a walk though. You come with us now.” He shoved Tripp in front of him and the trio walked out the door. “Good thing you no fight back,” Rafael said as they walked along a trail. “We get along fine. Need you to get the money. Then all is okay.”
We all get along fine, huh? So what are we supposed to do now, chant Kumbaya?” His legs felt a bit wobbly. He hadn’t had much exercise except for walking back and forth to the john and doing some push-ups from time to time. He wished he could jog, run somewhere, anywhere, just to get away from these idiots. But each of them had their weapons out, and they were watching his every move.
They trudged along an ill-defined path through the jungle and dodged a big spider web with dozens of black flies caught in the center. I know just how you feel, he thought, staring at the insects embedded in the web.
Eyeshade led the small parade, pushing branches out of the way. They were obviously staying off any sort of road. Tripp remembered they had driven on some sort of makeshift roadway to get up to the casita, but as he looked around, all he could see were trees, exotic plants, and tangles of vines wrapped around most everything in their path.
They finally came to a clearing, and Tripp saw an amazing sight. He could look out and see the entire city of Caracas some six thousand feet down in a valley. From this vantage point, the city looked beautiful, its skyscrapers ringed with areas of rich forests. If only he could figure out a way to nail these guys, he thought there must be some way to get down this mountain and back to civilization. After all, hadn’t Rafael gone for sandwiches and beer? There must be shops or tourist hang-outs somewhere within walking distance.
“We stop here,” Eyeshade said. Pointing to a stump, he ordered, “Go sit. We wait now.”
Tripp checked his watch. Whoever it was would be coming soon. Would he take a picture to get proof of life as they used to say when he worked back at Greyfield and went out on a number of these rescue missions? Would he bring some food with him? Now there’s a good thought. I could sure use a candy bar, a bottle of decent water. Anything.
Joe studied the cable car operator. Old guy, bored, not paying much attention to the gaggle of tourists crowded on board, except when he spied a particularly good looking younger woman. Then he leered for quite a few minutes. Joe found a flier stuck in a side pocket that advertised the Humboldt Hotel, built half a century ago by some strongman. Now it had been turned into a museum. There were also ads for some little shops in a town called Gallipan.
On the back side, he found what he was looking for. The schedule. He had checked it briefly that morning when he made his first trip up and noticed they weren’t too punctual about it. The operator had left when the car was full and that was about it. The trip up the mountain took about twenty minutes. Now, he wanted to gauge when the last run would be. He made a mental note, folded the ad and shoved it in his pocket.
When they got to the top, he jumped out and checked his compass. He started to walk due East again. This time it took a little less than a half hour since he had already scoped out the place that morning. The message said there would be a clearing with a series of tree stumps around the edge and a view of the city below. Now he was getting closer.
He peered ahead through the trees and slowly worked his way toward the clearing. He moved slowly, quietly. Even though he had no plans to try and rescue Tripp at this point and didn’t even have a weapon with him, he had always valued the idea of stealth and surprise.
He pushed some vines aside and there, on one of the stumps, he saw his old buddy, sitting quietly, but scanning the area, side to side. Never saw him with a beard like that. And the clothes. Must be the same ones he was traveling in. He looked gaunt, but still strong, still vitally aware of his surroundings.
Joe saw the two guys, sitting across from him, holding guns in their laps. They never took their eyes off Tripp. They were dressed in jeans and T-shirts. They also had stubble on their chins and both wore ball caps. So we have some sports fans to deal with here. They look
like a couple of overgrown punks. Tripp and I could take them in a heartbeat, but this is not the time or the place. Besides, we’re operating in a foreign country, and if I can pull this off without killing anybody … well, that’s the plan.
Joe moved around through the trees until he was facing Tripp, and the goons had their backs to him. He made a circular motion.
Tripp saw it and was careful not to react too quickly. What the hell? Joe Campiello? I can’t believe this. How in the world did he get involved in this mess? Did GeoGlobal hire him? How could they have known to call Joe? He couldn’t believe his eyes. For the first time since he was taken by these idiots he felt an overwhelming sense of elation. This was incredible. He took a deep breath and tried to stay still to let Joe make his own entrance. He was a pro. He obviously knew the score here.
“Buenos Dias,” gentlemen, Joe said, pushing his way to the clearing. Rafael and Eyeshade jumped up, whirled around and trained their guns on Joe. Again, for a fleeting moment, Tripp toyed with the idea of jumping them, but quickly pushed it aside. He couldn’t take a chance that Joe could be shot, and he probably didn’t have a weapon on him. He looked around for a rock or branch, but didn’t see anything nearby.
Joe came closer, held up his hands and said, “You speak English, right?”
“Si. Yes,” Eyeshade said and turned to Rafael. “Go make sure he doesn’t have a gun.”
Rafael sauntered over to Joe, ran his hands down the sides of his legs and pointed to a bulge in his pocket.
“It’s the money,” Joe said. “That was our agreement. But first, I want to see your prisoner.”
“You can see him there. He’s right in front of your eyes,” Eyeshade said, stepping aside and pointing his gun at Tripp. “You see he is okay. Now give us the money.”
Joe moved toward Tripp and reached into his shirt pocket.
“No tricks,” Rafael shouted.
“Not tricks,” Joe said, extracting a pair of glasses. “I brought these. I figured that in all the … uh … chaos of taking this man prisoner, he may have lost his glasses.”
“He said nothing about glasses. He sees okay,” Eyeshade said.
“He’s not the complaining kind,” Joe said in a lighthearted voice. He handed the glasses to Tripp who put them on. Recognizing the signal, Tripp paid close attention.
Joe then said, “I want to check his hands. We got your last message and it was not a good one.” Tripp wondered what he meant by that. He held his hands out.
“Rafael gave a half laugh. “So take a look. So we sent somebody else’s. So big deal.” He turned to Eyeshade and muttered, “I thought I was pretty smart hacking off a finger of the brother before I dumped his body, don’t you? It got us results.”
Eyeshade grunted and kept his gun trained on Joe and Tripp. “As you see, he’s all in one piece. Now give us the money.”
Joe shook hands with Tripp and said, “Glad to see you’re all right. Now be sure to stay hydrated. Gets pretty hot this time of year. And take care.”
Tripp nodded and put his hands back in his pockets.
Joe turned and said, “Now that I see that this man is okay, we will work out plans to wire the money to your bank account as you asked.”
“Good,” Eyeshade said. “Fifteen million. And when?”
“Today is Sunday. Monday is New Year’s Eve and Tuesday is a holiday. So fourteen and a half million will be sent to your account on Wednesday. As we agreed, I have the first half million with me. But first, I want to know your plans for turning this man over to us.”
Rafael looked at Eyeshade and raised his bushy eyebrows. “What do you think?”
“I think we see that we have the money, then we have no need for him.” Eyeshade looked at Joe. “We will bring him here again, and you can take him back. We will send a message as soon as we know the money is there.”
“And you think we would trust you to bring him here again and just let him go? You believe you would expose yourself to me and my people again?” Joe countered.
Eyeshade hesitated and thought for a long moment. “We don’t want him. We don’t want to feed him or do anything else with him. We want to get rid of him. All we want is our money. Now where is the down-payment you promised?” he asked, waving his gun at Joe.
Joe reached into his pants pocket and took out the package. “It’s all right here. And we will arrange to have the rest wired to the Caymans as you said. Here’s how it will go down. You bring him here again, same time on Wednesday. We will bring a computer with us so we can send instructions to have the money wired to your account. You will be able to watch us hit the send button when you return this man to us. Do we have a deal?”
Eyeshade glanced over at Rafael who nodded. “A deal. We will meet here again. Same time, on Wednesday when you say the money will be ready.”
“Okay,” Joe said. “Now, I also have something for our man.” With his other hand, he took two power bars out of his side pocket and handed them to Tripp.
“I said no tricks,” Rafael said, grabbing the bars and tearing off the wrappers. “This could be a trick.”
Tripp shook his head and said, “Just a snack. Just a snack. I am pretty hungry, you know.”
Rafael broke both of the bars in half, stared at them and said, “So you eat it all now.”
“No problem,” Tripp said, gobbling down all of the pieces. They must have thought there was some sort of knife or maybe a tracking device or something in the candy bars. Dumb shits!
“The money,” Eyeshade bellowed.
“Here you are,” Joe said, handing over the packet. “Half a million dollars.”
“Eyeshade tore open the packet and saw the bills tied tightly together. His eyes gleaming, he waved it at Rafael. “So we do business with this guy.”
Rafael stared at the money and gave a wide grin. “Yes, but now we want the rest.”
Joe nodded and turned back to Tripp. “I’ll go now. Just remember, take care.” And with that short phrase, he ambled back through the trees.
As soon as he was out of sight, Eyeshade walked up to Tripp, tore off the glasses, threw them on the ground and stomped on them. “I trust no one,” he said as he left the broken glasses on the ground and led Tripp away. “No one at all.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
CARACAS–SUNDAY EARLY EVENING
“Take me with you,” Samantha said as the team sat huddled in Joe’s hotel room surrounded by maps and equipment.
“Are you insane?” Joe asked.
Angela asked me the same question when I told her I was coming down here. Does everybody think I’m nuts? They better not because I put this whole operation together, and I want to see it through. Besides, I spent my life hiking around oil fields, traveling first with dad, then later with Dexter. We climbed the Tetons. Well, we almost climbed the Tetons. Still, I know what I’m doing in tough places. I should go along now.
She pushed her hair back behind her ears and faced Joe. “Look, I know you all work as a team, and you’ve done things like this before. And I know you think I’m just some White House aide who sits in an office all day long. Well, that’s not entirely true. I’ve got lots of experience hiking and climbing, even rock climbing. And besides, you know I would not be here unless I had a strong personal interest in seeing that Tripp gets out of this alive.”
“That’s the whole point,” Joe said. “Getting Tripp out alive. Now, I know you’ve got some sort of soft spot for him. Or, well, maybe it’s more than that. Whatever. This is serious business. We’ve got a plan for our pilots to helo over that mountain tonight, try to pinpoint their location, get word back to the rest of us while we head up on the cable car and move in. Timing’s going to be tight, but we figure that tonight is our best shot.” He turned to Dick, “You double checked the weather?”
“Sure did. And you’re right about tonight. Should be clear, but early tomorrow there’s a front moving in that could last another day or two. And it could get messy, so we’ve got to move
tonight.”
“With what I left him, we’ve got our best chance at tracking Tripp tonight as well,” Joe said.
“Okay, so we all go tonight,” Samantha said.
“Look, Samantha, I told you, I’ll have the pilots in the air, the rest of us go up in the cable car and go to the hideout. We’ll have weapons, gear, all sorts of things with us and we’ll have to move fast. We don’t know how many guys they have up there. We could be walking into all kinds of trouble, and we just don’t need one more person that we have to rescue. Get the picture?” Joe said.
“It’s just that I’ve come all this way. I put the deal together with GeoGlobal. I got you the contract. I arranged the payment, and now I’d like to see it through. There must be something I can do to help,” she said, almost pleading.
Joe scrutinized her face and looked around the room at the other members of the team. Their expressions were unreadable.
“There is one thing …” Dick ventured.
“Yeah, what?” Joe asked.
“You said that the cable car goes to the top all day long and on into the late hours.” Dick grabbed the schedule lying on the bed next to the maps. “And it says here that they make their last run at midnight. Guess they give the tourists time to go up and have dinner or look at the city lights or whatever people do up there. There probably won’t be many people though at that night time of night, except maybe some cleaning crews that have to go up and do their thing and then maybe come down again.”
“And your point is …?” Joe asked.
“So, looking at our schedule, let’s say the helo goes up as soon as it gets dark. They’re able to get a line on the location and get word to us that he’s somewhere on that mountain. By then it could be nine or even ten. So then let’s say we’ve taken the cable car up, and we get word on the location by, say ten. That gives us two hours to find the place, work our way in, get Tripp out and get back to the cable car. But, what if it takes us longer than that? What if there’s a screw-up? Well, we all know the what if’s. Anyway, maybe we could use Samantha as a delaying tactic?”
Final Finesse Page 25
