why the drug trade has higher gross sales than General Motors. The bad guys aren’t stupid but sometimes … usually, in fact … the good guys are! Fernandez knows I can do five million. If you got it, sometimes you have to flaunt it. Hey! Check out that brunette! The emeralds? That’s personal. It’s also a deterrent to the DEA to never try to recruit us again. They’ll find out about it, but if we pull off the other part they won’t dare to mess with us about the emeralds. But you can bet your brass bippy that we’ll not be invited back to play again!”
“OK, Mike. This is your department. Frankly I can’t wait to get back on the boat. Did you see those decrepit shacks that people live in only a block or two from that office tower?”
“Now you’re starting to sound like Linda.”
“It’s my first time here. I guess the poverty and the machine guns come as a bit of a surprise even though I knew to expect it.”
“Well at least we can fly back to Cartagena.”
“In a brand new plane, no less! Do you think Lyn and Jude would mind if we brought back a couple of Colombian pool beauties?”
“You ask Judy, yourself.”
“Up until you turned a five hundred thousand dollar job into a six million dollar one I was having fun.”
Phil swallowed the last of his rum, and unhooked his arm from around Farris’ neck.
Mike grinned. He felt he knew his friend very well. Regardless of Phil’s reaction to the deal, he knew Phil was more committed now than he had been earlier this morning. There was one thing about fighting a concept or a conviction or a cause. But fighting a cause could never be compared to fighting a face. Perhaps that was where George Bush had gone wrong. He forgot about Bin Laden and his support collapsed. Phil would not forget about Eduardo Fernandez.
Chapter 11
The Director entered the conference room having been advised that two of his agents were already waiting. Part of his reasoning was good time management. The other part of his reasoning was power and arrogance. He liked it when others, especially type A personalities, waited for him.
The two senior agents scrambled to their feet but the Director waved them to sit back down and as always began the meeting without the usual niceties.
“I read your update. Barrens is killing time in Guadeloupe and Martinique. Harrison and Farris are in Colombia. Whitehorn reported that a buy has been arranged.”
“We heard that Farris refuses to use a satellite phone to contact Barrens,” said the younger of the two agents.
The Director grunted.
The second agent was ten years older than the first and had known the Director, or at least known of him, for fifteen years. “We are aware they made it into and out of Fernandez’ building. Naturally, we never saw Fernandez. We have no idea how he comes or goes. There is not a car in the underground parking area that doesn’t have windows tinted black. Our suspicions are that he enters from another building, connected underground and then goes up the elevator using his key to ensure the elevator never stops before his floor.”
“Can you install some kind of signal so that we know when it’s him in the elevator?”
“We thought of that. No joy. Everyone who uses that floor … roughly twenty or so … has a key. Fernandez is practically never in that building. We haven’t ever seen him go in or out.”
“Where are Harrison and Farris, now?”
The younger agent was not going to pass this opportunity to be noticed. “We have them in the air, between Bogotá and Cartagena, in a brand new Cessna that Farris’ wife just bought in Florida.”
The Director shuffled in his seat. This information, directly from these agents confirmed what he had been told by Dick Whitehorn. “Next. How much does Barrens know and how much will he guess?”
The older agent answered. “So far he doesn’t know anything. Farris is to make the buy. We set up the sale to bust the first level of importers into the States. He has no reason to suspect anything else. Yet!”
“He’ll figure it out pretty soon when we don’t nab the bad guys. This is the career building bust Barrens has been waiting for. He’ll be livid when it falls apart and he’ll be smart enough to figure out that something is wrong at this end.”
“We could fake the arrest at level one.”
“Too many people involved. Too much chance of a slip-up. Keep Barrens in the dark as long as possible. Cater to him. Make him think he is important. We’ll sideline him at the last second. Up until then, let him think that he and Whitehorn are heading this operation. Anything else?”
The Director stood and walked out the door. The two agents stood, expecting to say goodbye. The younger agent reached out his hand to shake the Director’s, but he was half a second too slow and the Director already had his back turned and was crossing the threshold.
As the door closed the older agent said to the younger man, “Don’t worry about it. If this plan works, you’ll be recognized. If it doesn’t, you’ll still be OK as long as you don’t personally screw-up.”
The view from the air was magnificent. Bogotá, being far inland, was separated by mountain ridge after mountain ridge, between it and Cartagena. The number of ridges was astounding, like the ripples on a beach except for the fact that these ripples had tall, sharp edges. The vegetation was dense, lush tropical rainforest everywhere, with occasional roads and villages appearing randomly and disappearing in the dense foliage almost immediately. At one thousand feet over the peaks, the small communities and farms were quaint and picturesque. They showed no sign of the poverty and corruption that they survived on. The military was visible, though. It maintained a strong presence on the highways.
“We can talk up here. Fill us in. What’s happened?” said Judy over the headsets that each person wore.
“This plane could have bugs in it,” cautioned Phil.
“No way! It’s brand new. Besides, Judy swept it for bugs with her dildo.” Linda grinned at Judy. “They won’t believe us until they see it.”
Judy dug into her purse and extracted what looked like a vibrator, packaged in a silver plastic carrying case with a pink lining. Indeed, the case had originally carried a vibrator. But when Judy flipped the switch, instead of vibrating, the little machine swept the area for electronic devices where Judy pointed.
“Cute, hunh? And believe me, no third world customs jerk would dare to ask me how it worked … or for a demo. I got it in Florida while Linda was buying the plane. The US officials might be harder to fool. Anyway! We are clean, so fess up …no secrets, no omissions.” Judy sat back in her chair acting like an eight year old, preparing for story time.
Farris looked at Phil, for help, but Phil was busily watching the scenery and refused to be baited by Michael’s stare.
“OK! We met Fernandez and offered to buy some coke.”
“How much?” asked Linda.
“Five million.”
“Five million! ” exclaimed Judy. “Are you nuts! Hey, didn’t you say Tom authorized five hundred thousand?”
Farris looked for Phil’s help but Phil was calmly surveying the land below, ignoring the battle that Farris was entering. “OK, everybody. Now listen up. Fernandez would have spotted the DEA limit like it was written in fluorescent orange paint. We are all undercover, so let’s start acting like it! Besides, I’ll front the money,” he added grudgingly.
“No, that won’t work. We agreed to partner-up on this. I can’t cut you a check for two point five, but I am good for five hundred,” said Phil.
“About