by David Archer
TWENTY-FIVE
Outside the bar, Noah had walked calmly down the street. He stopped at the first corner, and looked around as if trying to determine which direction he needed to go, but that was just a ruse to allow him to be sure he was not being followed. Once he had sent the girl back inside, he was fairly certain that everyone there would be involved in the conversation about his plan to marry her.
He crossed the street at the intersection and made his way over to the next one. A black-and-silver Chrysler sedan pulled up in front of him, and he opened the passenger door and slipped inside.
Sarah looked over at him. “Everything okay?”
“It's all going according to plan,” he said. “How is Neil?”
Instead of answering, she handed him a cell phone. “Ask him yourself,” she said. “He's on speakerphone now.”
Noah grinned, and held the phone up close to his face. “Neil? It's Noah, how's it going?”
“I've still got good feeds from all of the bugs you planted over the past week, including the camera bug under the bar. Your little girlfriend is causing quite a stir.”
“Yeah, well, it isn't often that a little Mexican prostitute gets the chance to marry a rich American. I would imagine she's got everyone pretty curious, about now.”
“I'll say,” came the voice from the phone. “Ortiz just promised her that if everything goes well tomorrow, he'll see to it you get to take her home with you. She's pretty excited. He even suggested that he might buy her out from her pimp behind the bar and give her to you as a gift.”
The girl behind the wheel looked over at Noah. “You're not seriously planning to marry her, are you?”
“No, I'm not,” he said, “but I would like to get her out of that life. If she's a day over fifteen, I'm the king of Siam.”
“Oh, wonderful, I've always wanted to work for royalty,” Neil said. “Listen, your highness, the plan didn't call for you going back in and actually completing a deal like this. Or have you forgotten that?”
“Last I knew, Univac, I'm the one who makes the plan. That means I get to change it, if I feel the need, and in this case I do. You just make sure you're ready to spoof the banks once I get the transfer info. If I play this right, we not only get to take out Pablo and company, we can also lay our hands on some genuine black-market nuclear material.”
“Okay, unless I misunderstood something, said material is somewhere in the Middle East. Pablo is expecting you to make the purchase, while somebody over there picks it up. Got someone in mind for that job?”
Noah grinned. “That depends,” he said. “How quickly can we get Moose over there? Nobody knows who the Dragon is or what he looks like, right? I've just decided that he bears a strong resemblance to a Moose.”
“I'm checking,” Neil said. “Well, since Moose hasn't been compromised on this mission, it could conceivably work. I can actually get him onto a flight out of DFW in about four hours. Of course, that's going to mean getting him on a flight out of El Paso sometime in the next hour or so, which is going to require using our NetJets card. I'll have him in the air before you even get to your hotel room.”
“Good job,” Noah said. “As soon as he's taken possession of the material, then I'll go ahead and complete the mission on Pablo. How long will we have, once we do the money transfer?”
“Pablo's bank won't know he's been scammed for at least seventy-two hours. Depending on where the pickup is scheduled to be, Moose ought to be able to get to it anywhere in the Middle East within no more than twenty-four.”
Noah nodded. “Okay, and I'm going to play a little tighter than that. Since we're talking about this much money, I think I can get away with demanding that it be inspected before we make the final transfer. If it really is somewhere in the area around Dubai, then we should be able to accomplish it within a few hours. Pablo can tell us how to reach the supplier, so once Moose has checked it with a Geiger and confirmed that it's real, I'll tell you to go ahead and make the transfer. Pablo can confirm it, and tell his people to let Moose take possession.”
A new voice came through the phone. “Do I get any kind of say in this?”
Noah's face broke into a big smile. “Moose, I didn't know you were right there with Neil. Think you can handle this?”
“Can I pretend to be the Dragon? Yeah, I can pretend all day long, but that doesn't mean I get out of there alive, let alone with the product. Don't you think we need a backup plan on this?”
“Don't worry, buddy,” Noah said. “As soon as we clear this line, I'm going to call Mrs. McGillicuddy. I think I can get her to put another team on you for support, since we got the chance to actually lay our hands on some of this stuff.”
“Don't you just love the way he says ‘our hands,’ when he really means ‘your hands?’ Does he always act this way?”
“Neil,” Noah said, “why are you asking Moose? You've known me as long as he has.”
“Longer, remember, by approximately two minutes. That's a little bit like being the older twin, you know what I mean? And since you're the king of Siam, that means were a little bit like Siamese twins. I wonder if they can ever determine which one of them is really the older one, got any ideas on that?”
“The only way to tell which one of a pair of Siamese twins is older is to see which one lives the longest. Since they're both born at the same moment, the older one is the one who dies ten minutes after his brother.”
“Noah, you say the most comforting things. Okay, boss, we're on it. Talk to you later.”
The phone went dead, and Noah turned to Sarah. “Everything cool on your end?”
She shrugged. “No worse than usual,” she said. “When Neil saw Ortiz come in, he told me to get over here quick, so I've been cruising around, waiting for him to give me the word that you left the bar. As long as I keep the car moving, nobody bothers me too much, but when I have to stop for gas I feel like a goldfish in a shark tank. What is it with Mexican men when they see a blonde? Am I wearing a sign that says, ‘Here I am, who wants a piece of ass?’ Feels like it, sometimes.”
“I can imagine,” Noah said. “Let's run by my hotel so I can check out, then get back across the border and get some rest. Tomorrow's gonna be a busy day.”
Sarah nodded, and maneuvered the car through the city until she got to the Hampton Inn. She waited in the car while Noah hurried upstairs to his room and packed quickly, remembering to remove the microphones and flush them down the toilet. He came down the elevator and checked out, then loaded his bags into the trunk of the car.
Sarah got back on the road, headed for the bridge back into the US. It took about an hour to get across, mostly because of the delay in showing ID to get back into the states. Noah used the time to put in a call to Allison.
“How's it going down there?” Allison asked.
“Pretty hairy,” Noah answered. “I'm changing the game up a bit. Intel was right, I found out Ortiz definitely has a contact for nuke juice. I made a deal to make a purchase of some material, but I've got to send Moose to Dubai as fast as possible. He's going to pose as my client, who's known as the Dragon, so that he can inspect the material and take possession.”
“Making an actual purchase wasn't in your mission parameters. What brought this on?”
“Spur of the moment decision. It was too easy to put the deal together, I just can't stand the thought of leaving that material out where some real terrorist can get his hands on it. I've already got Neil setting Moose up with a flight, but I'm hoping you got some assets in Dubai that can back him up.”
She was silent for a moment, and he could hear computer keys clicking. “Team Aladdin is close to there, getting ready for a mission of their own in a couple of days. I can put them on him tomorrow. Noah, how confident are you that this is a real buy?”
“I'm pretty solid on it,” he said. “Ortiz seemed awfully excited about the possibility of a big payday. He quoted me twelve million, which is about three million over market value. Apparently, he's
in tight enough with these people that they trust him for the money, because he assures me we can take delivery as soon as I have Neil make the transfer to him.”
“Okay, I'm going to back you on this. I'll be honest, I normally wouldn't allow a new asset like you to make a call like this, but we both know that I've got a lot of confidence in you. Let's just hope that computer you use for a brain is working up to its usual standards. You're putting Moose out there at some risk, but I'll grant you that the payoff sounds like it'll be worth it. I'll make sure Aladdin is briefed and ready, and I'll send Moose their contact info.”
“Cool,” Noah said. “As soon as I've gotten the word that he's taken possession, I'll complete my mission here.”
“Good, make sure you do. Eliminating Pablo Ortiz is a top priority; he's one of the major conduits for getting ISIS cells into the US. If we can lay our hands on some real nuclear material, that'll be a bonus, but your mission takes top priority.”
“Got it, Boss lady.” He ended the call without another word, and grinned at Sarah. “See how easy that was?”
The blonde shook her head. “Yeah, well, you just better hope it pays off. Rumor has it that she's been known to eliminate agents who went off the reservation and did things outside of their normal mission requirements. Don't forget that if you get eliminated, there's no guarantee something nasty won't happen to us.”
Noah's grin never slipped. “You worry too much,” he said. “You heard the lady, she has a lot of confidence in me. Let's just get back to the hotel, so we can rest up and be ready for tomorrow.”
Sarah let out a sigh, and drove on through the city. A half-hour later, they parked at the Holiday Inn and made their way to their rooms.
After freshening up, they went to the hotel restaurant for dinner together, indulging in a couple of drinks while they were there. Neil came in just as their orders arrived, and simply ordered an appetizer so that he wouldn't have to wait.
“Well, the Moose is currently winging his way toward Dallas,” he said. “I had to twist some arms, but they'll make sure he gets to his gate in time to board his flight to Dubai. Queen Allison called and filled him in on who to contact when he gets there, so he's got backup.” He shoved a taco into his mouth. “Now, as for your little Mexican girlfriend, I went on the assumption that you're serious about getting her out. I'll have some new ID for her before you head out tomorrow, proving that she was actually born in Odessa, Texas. I didn't bother trying to change her name, I figured that would just confuse her. Once we get her into the states, then someone from DOJ will take over and help her get established in a completely new identity. That work for you?”
Noah nodded. “Sounds good, she needs a break. Assuming she was telling me the truth, the poor kid's an orphan who got snagged off the street and turned out by her previous pimp, but Eduardo bought her a few months ago. I'm guessing she's probably been in prostitution since she was twelve or thirteen.”
“That's disgusting,” Sarah said. “No wonder you feel sorry for her.”
“Yes, well, she's actually been one of the lucky ones,” Neil added. “Girls like her who get snatched off the street in Juárez usually end up dead within a few months. The only hope they've got is to be pretty enough to get into a bar or a whorehouse, and even then they don't usually live past eighteen or so. Your girl is lucky she hasn't gotten caught up in drugs, or she'd probably be dead already.”
“Her luck came in when Eduardo spotted her, and decided he wanted her in his stable. From what she told me, she had been doing meth and crack up until then, but he doesn't allow his girls to use drugs, so he got her off that shit. It's sort of ironic that her pimp may have saved her life, but at least it gives her a chance.”
The three of them sat and talked for a little while, and then went back to their rooms. They each had a room of their own, but Noah wasn't terribly surprised when he heard a knock on his door a half hour later.
“Come on in,” he said. “I left it unlocked for you.”
The door opened, and Sarah walked in. She closed it behind her, then just stood there and looked at him for a moment. “Yeah, I know we're not supposed to do this when we're out in the field,” she said, “but I just don't want to be alone. Do you mind? I mean, I know I'm not your little Mexican girlfriend, but…”
Noah was lying in his bed, reading a book. He laid it on his nightstand, then reached over and flipped the covers back on the other side of the bed. Sarah walked over to stand beside it, unfastened her jeans and slid them down her shapely legs, then pulled the shirt she was wearing over her head. She reached behind her back and unfastened her bra, let it fall to the floor, and then pushed her panties down and kicked them off. She climbed into the bed and pulled the covers up over herself as Noah reached for her, but she put a hand on his chest to stop him.
“You, um, you have been using protection with her, right?”
Noah grinned. “Every time,” he said. “Condoms, plus the special cream they gave us. I'm not taking any chances, that's just not logical.”
Sarah smiled and slid a little closer. “Okay, then,” she said.
“So, what brought this on?” Noah asked. “You're not jealous over Felicita, are you? She's nothing but a tool I'm using.”
“Yeah, I know. I'm not jealous, not really. I told you, I just didn't want to be alone. Besides, while you've been having fun with your little señorita, it's been a while since I've gotten laid. If you can handle an American girl, I figured it'd be nice to get back in your bed.”
Noah kissed her deeply, and pulled her close. “Everything I've done with her has just been part of the act,” he said. “Would it surprise you to find out that I was thinking of you the whole time?”
Sarah laughed. “Not really,” she said. “Now, shut up about her and show me what you want to do with me.”
They stopped talking.
TWENTY-SIX
The morning sun woke Noah as it always did, and he found himself cuddling Sarah close. He kissed her cheek until she woke, then rolled over and climbed out of bed.
“I could use some breakfast,” he said. “Want some?”
Sarah nodded as she sat up on the edge of the bed and reached down for her clothes. She slipped into them, then said, “I'm gonna run back to my room and get a quick shower, meet you down in the breakfast room.” She blew him a kiss and was out the door.
Noah went to the bathroom and got a quick shower of his own, then shaved before he slipped into clean clothes and left the room. He wasn't surprised, as he stepped out of the elevator, to see Sarah and Neil at a table. She pointed, and he saw that she already had a waffle and a cup of coffee waiting for him.
“So, today's the big day, right?” Neil asked. “I got a message that Moose will be landing in about two hours, and everything is in place on my end.”
Noah nodded. “Yep,” he said, “As soon as Moose can get to wherever he's got to go and confirm what he's looking at, I'll signal you to transfer the money. Then, once we get the word that he's taken possession, I'll take Pablo down, then grab Felicita and meet Sarah at the rendezvous point.”
Neil cocked his head sideways. “Forgive me for being a party pooper, especially since I won't even be at this party, but tell me again how you plan to assassinate one of Mexico's most notorious arms dealers, right in front of several of his cronies, and then walk out unscathed with a pretty girl on your arm. Somehow, I think I missed part of the plan, here, and I'd really like to be able to believe that I'm going to see you again. Just in case you've forgotten, the blonde and I are sort of dependent on you for our continued existence and survival.”
Noah smiled. “Ask me a hard one,” he said. “The answer is simple. Pablo won't know he's dead yet, and since he won't know it, neither will his buddies.”
Neil's eyes went wide, and he put on a sick grin. “Okay, so you're going to kill him, but he won't know it. Exactly how is it that he's not going to notice that?”
“Easy,” Noah said. “Since we're going to b
e concluding a very lucrative business transaction today, I expect Pablo to be in a rather friendly mood. He and I will share a drink, a double shot of tequila each from Eduardo's top shelf. He's got a bottle of Tres Cuatro Y Cinco up there, and a tequila man like Pablo won't be able to refuse if I offer to buy it. I'll have Eduardo pour the drinks from the bottle, and I'll carry them to the table. I'll add a specially prepared swizzle stick to each glass, so by the time I get to Pablo, both of them will be laced with campsonol, a poison that acts rather slowly but can't be counteracted once it's gotten into the bloodstream. It mimics the symptoms of a heart attack, paralyzing the heart and stopping it, and it's almost impossible to detect unless you know exactly what you're looking for. Pablo is old enough, and his lifestyle is crazy enough, that no one will be surprised at a heart attack, so no one will be looking for poisons.”
Neil looked at Sarah. “Excuse me, dear, but did you catch that? He did say that both drinks will be laced with this deadly stuff, right?”
Noah chuckled. “I did, indeed, but what I failed to mention is that I will have a tiny amount of bentonite clay under each of my thumbnails. Bentonite has an amazing property, in that whenever it comes into contact with a liquid, it develops an electrical charge that causes it to bond with any toxins in that liquid, including campsonol. Once it has bonded, it and the toxin it bonds to will simply pass through my digestive system and be expelled the next time I take a dump. All I've got to do is allow Pablo to choose the glass he wants, then dip my thumbnail into my glass a couple of seconds before I toss it back.”
Neil shook his head, and Sarah leaned her face in her hands. “Does it ever worry you, the things you know?” Neil asked. “I mean, what if you get this wrong, and use something besides bentonite?”
“That isn't likely,” Noah said. “Bentonite is harmless, and actually has a number of nutrients in it. I got a snuffbox in my pocket that's full of the stuff. If I'm searched, all I got to do is take a pinch. Like I said, it's harmless, and that's how easy it is to get it under my thumbnails. Just take a pinch, and shove some up in there.”
