The Bonita Protocol

by P J Skinner

  Her own face fell in shock as she absorbed the news headlines gliding across the bottom of the stream. Then she chuckled.

  ‘Fucking hell!’ she said. ‘The shit has hit the fan for Stan Gordon.’

  She laughed, throwing her head back.

  ‘Are you nuts?’ said Rhett. ‘It’s not only Stan who is fucked.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Our share price has dropped eighty per cent today, and it’s still on the way down. The whole market is in meltdown.’

  ‘But we already sold the project. Our timing was perfect. I’m a genius.’

  She stood up and strode around the room, admiring herself in the many mirrors which lined the wardrobe doors.

  ‘Have you checked whether the money has arrived into your bank account?’ said Rhett.

  ‘I rang them first thing this morning and the money hadn’t arrived yet. I can’t call them again until later, when it’s morning in Australia.’

  ‘And if the money hasn’t arrived?’

  ‘Keep your hair on. All this fuss in the markets will probably blow over in a couple of days. No one has any idea Bonita is involved. The share price will recover when everyone gets over the shock.’

  ‘I think it will take more than a few days, but you’re right. If the money is in your account, we don’t have anything to worry about.’

  Rhett’s shoulders relaxed and he let out a long-held breath.

  ‘I’ll call the investor from the office and check if they’ve sent the money. Leave my room so I can get dressed.’

  Rhett shook his head in disbelief but he did as he was told. Twenty minutes later, Amanda appeared, dressed in a fuchsia outfit and black patent leather boots. They got into a taxi and drove to the office. Amanda smoked a pink Sobranie cocktail cigarette, blowing the smoke out of the window at any beggars who approached. She jumped out of the cab without paying and marched into the office building. Rhett pulled a couple of dollars out of his wallet and dropped them through the driver’s window.

  Marina was drinking a coffee and reading the newspaper at her desk when Amanda burst in and breezed by heading for her office.

  ‘Book me a call to Canada. And make some coffee.’

  ‘Good morning, Marina,’ said Rhett, following Amanda and shutting the door behind him.

  Marina had her mouth full and swallowed abruptly causing her to cough and choke as some liquid went down the wrong way. She wiped her mouth with a napkin and got her breath back before starting down the passageway with a fax message in her hand. She knocked on the door.

  ‘Did you order me that call yet?’ said Amanda.

  ‘No, but I--’

  ‘What the hell is wrong with you? Book the call, now.’

  ‘You have a fax message from the laboratory in Chile. They wanted you to ring as soon as you got in. Here.’

  Marina gave Rhett the paper and backed out of the office, cringing at the expected reaction to the contents. Rhett shut the door behind her and flattened the fax on Amanda’s desk.

  ‘What does it say?’ said Amanda.

  Rhett wiped his brow and let out a breath through his teeth.

  ‘They’re on to us,’ he said.

  ‘What do you mean?’ said Amanda. She snatched the paper from his hand and held it under the fluorescent light in the ceiling. ‘We really need to do something about the lighting in this…’

  She slumped into the chair with her head in her hands and groaned.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ said Rhett.

  ‘Let me call the investor first.’

  A timid knock on the door heralded the entry of Marina with a tray of coffee, milk and biscuits. She put the tray on the desk and turned to leave.

  ‘Did you book the call yet?’ said Rhett.

  ‘Yes. It should come through in a few minutes.’

  ‘When are these primitive people going to have direct dial? It’s such a pain,’ said Amanda, oblivious to the fact that Marina was one of them.

  Marina bit her lip and backed out.

  ‘For God’s sake, have some bloody manners,’ said Rhett.

  Amanda looked at him as if he were a piece of excrement on the carpet.

  ‘She’s a native. Do you think she gives a shit what I think?’

  ‘Honestly, you’re unbearable.’

  He lit a cigarette and blew smoke rings to calm himself down. The telephone rang and they both jumped. Amanda leaned forward and picked up the receiver, pressing the speakerphone button. The line crackled with static.

  ‘This is your call to Canada. Putting you through.’

  ‘Thanks. Hello?’

  ‘Webber Investments. How may I help you, madam?’

  ‘Can you put me through to Lance Webber please?’

  A long pause.

  ‘Hello, is anyone there?’ said Amanda.

  ‘Yes, I’m still here. It’s just…’

  ‘Are you going to put me through or not?’

  ‘Don’t you watch the news? Mr Webber’s been arrested.’

  ‘Arrested? Why?’

  ‘I’m only the receptionist. That information’s way above my pay grade, although I’d hazard a guess that it has something to do with Granoro.’

  The woman’s sarcasm cut through the static on the line and hung in the air.

  ‘Granoro? I didn’t know he had an investment in them,’ said Amanda. ‘Anyway, you might be able to help me.’

  ‘I very much doubt it,’ said the woman.

  ‘Please.’ Amanda’s voice had turned into a little girl wheedle. ‘I need to know if he organised the transfer for Bonita Mining.’

  ‘Oh, that I can help you with. I cancelled it this morning before it went through. Goodbye.’

  The line went dead. Amanda dropped the receiver into its cradle and rubbed her eyebrow with her fist.

  ‘Well, that’s us fucked,’ she said.

  ‘I’ll get Marina to book our flights.’

  Amanda shook her head.

  ‘Not for me. I’m going by land to Colombia. My forger friend lives in Cali. I need to pay him a visit.’

  ‘Have it your own way. I’m off to pack. Marina, can you come here please?’

  ***

  Gloria opened the front door and found Amanda on her doorstep. She wore a pair of jeans and a designer t-shirt with heeled trainers and a bun on her head. Gloria was taken aback by the casual clothes. It was not like Amanda at all, and even weirder that she should still be in the country. Didn’t she realise that Bonita Mining was finished?

  ‘Hi Gloria. Can I come in? I wanted to buy David a pair of converse trainers. He said he liked mine so I thought I would take him to get them today.’

  Had Amanda been told that Sam had been rescued? Maybe she wanted to check the house for signs that Sam was back in town? She would not find her. Sam and Alfredo had gone to the supermarket and wouldn’t be back for at least an hour. Gloria had been enjoying a relaxing hour reading Vogue on the sofa while David made a town out of Lego.

  Seeing no polite way to refuse her, even though her instincts told her that something was wrong, her good manners took over.

  ‘Come in,’ she said, heading for the sitting room. ‘David’s on the--’

  Amanda’s driver, who had been hiding behind the door, leaped out and hit her with a cosh. Gloria’s world went black and she slumped to the ground. David had his back to them, concentrating on building a complicated roof for one of his buildings, and he did not notice the driver coming up behind him.

  When the driver put the bag over his head, he struggled with all his might and bit the driver hard on the hand. The driver yelped in pain and dropped the boy on the ground.

  ‘The little bastard bit me!’

  ‘Stop fussing and get him into the car.’

  David tried to get the bag off his head but it was too late. The driver trussed the boy up with a rope and threw him over his shoulder. He stepped over Gloria and led the way to the car where he threw the boy onto the back seat.

>   ‘Let’s go then,’ said Amanda. I want to be at the border tonight.’

  When Alfredo and Sam got back from the supermarket, they found Gloria lying on the floor groaning. Alfredo dropped the groceries on the floor. Apples and tomatoes skittered across the parquet and there was the sound of breaking glass. He sank down beside her and lifted her head onto his lap, stroking her hair. Gloria blinked and open her eyes. She groaned with pain as her senses returned.

  ‘Mi vida, are you okay? What happened to you? Did you fall?’ said Alfredo.

  ‘David,’ said Gloria. ‘she took David.’

  ‘Who took him? Araceli? I don’t believe it,’ said Sam. ‘Why would she do that?’

  ‘Amanda,’ mumbled Gloria, trying to sit up.

  ‘Amanda? She always acted strangely around him, but why would she take him?’ said Sam.

  ‘Maybe it’s something to do with our discovery in the laboratory.’ said Alfredo. ‘But aren’t we too late to stop them getting the money? I don’t understand.’

  They helped Gloria onto the sofa and Alfredo sat with her while Sam wrapped some ice in a tea cloth. Alfredo placed the compress gently on her head, producing another moan. Sam picked the shopping off the floor and swept up the glass and olives to throw away.

  ‘We have to go now,’ said Gloria. ‘Don’t you get it? Amanda is planning to take David to Australia with her.’

  ‘But she can’t take him without a passport. How will they get through security at the airport?’ said Sam.

  ‘She can’t have gone far yet. We were only at the supermarket for an hour or so,’ said Alfredo

  ‘Let’s go to the apartment block where she lives. Maybe the guard will know where she’s heading,’ said Sam.

  ‘I’m coming too,’ said Gloria.

  ‘Darling, you can’t. You’re hurt,’ said Alfredo.

  ‘Not as hurt as you’ll be if you don’t let me come with you.’

  Alfredo drove them to the shiny new block on the Avenida Miranda where Amanda and Rhett both rented apartments, and they called the guard over.

  ‘Good afternoon. Have you seen Miss Amanda today?’ said Alfredo.

  ‘She left about half an hour ago. For good, I imagine. She filled the car with luggage,’ said the guard.

  Gloria leaned over.

  ‘Did she have a boy with her?’ she said

  ‘A blonde boy? Yes. Isn’t he her son?’

  ‘Did she tell you where she was going?’ said Alfredo

  ‘No. She doesn’t ever speak to me. Only shouts at me in English.’

  He wiped the back of his hand over his mouth.

  ‘I’m sorry, I can’t help you.’

  He walked off towards his office.

  Gloria moaned, holding the ice pack on her head.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ she said.

  ‘We could go to the airport,’ said Sam.

  ‘Maybe she’s got some scheme to take him on a flight,’ said Alfredo.

  He put the car in gear and drove at full speed through the streets without stopping at any red lights until he screeched to a halt outside the departure terminal.

  ‘Sam, come with me. Gloria, use all your charm and Sanchez power to stop them towing the car. Go around the block if you have to,’ said Alfredo.

  ‘But I want to come in,’ said Gloria.

  ‘If Sam stays in the car, they will arrest her for being a gringa and I am stronger than you. Trust me.’

  Sam and Alfredo ran to the departure desks and checked all the queues, but there was no sign of Amanda. Panic rose up Sam’s throat as they searched without finding anything, her hope fading. Then she saw Rhett come through the doors of the terminal looking frazzled, shouting bad Spanish at a porter who pushed Rhett’s bags on a wobbly trolley. She ran over to him, knocking over people’s bags and throwing herself in his path.

  Rhett blanched and tottered when she approached as if he had seen a ghost. He pointed at her and backed away.

  ‘You,’ he said.

  ‘Yes, it’s me. I’m alive, no thanks to you.’

  ‘But how did you get out?’

  He stared at her in shock.

  ‘The Incas helped me,’ said Sam. ‘You wouldn’t understand.’

  ‘I’m sorry, really I am. It was Amanda. She’s--’

  ‘Where’s David?’ said Sam, cutting him off.

  ‘David? I don’t understand. Gloria’s son? What’s he got to do with anything…’

  He tailed off. ‘Oh.’

  ‘Oh what?’ said Alfredo, who had caught up with Sam.

  ‘Amanda told me she had to go by land to see a forger in Colombia before she flew home. I thought she was going to get a fake passport in case she had any problems with the police but now I understand. The passport is for David.’

  ‘Why would she want a passport for David?’ said Sam.

  ‘She’s delusional. She kept telling me that Gloria didn’t deserve a son. I ignored her but now I see. She always gets what she wants, and she wants David,’ said Rhett. ‘I should have seen it. I’m sorry.’

  ‘Christ in boots,’ said Alfredo. ‘We’ve got to go.’

  ‘Wait. I need to tell you something Sam,’ said Rhett. ‘Now that you’re alive.’

  ‘Make it quick.’

  ‘I told him. Fergus. I told him it wasn’t your fault. About dinner.’

  Sam froze to the spot.

  ‘You did?’ she said, eyes wide.

  Rhett nodded.

  ‘Come on,’ said Alfredo, tugging her arm.

  ‘Thank you,’ she mumbled, and turned to run for the door.

  Chapter XXV

  There was only one main road to the border with Colombia. The minor roads ran through territory invaded by the FARC guerrillas and drug traffickers hiding from the Colombian police and no local would use them. They flew down the road overtaking every car in their path, searching for Amanda’s jeep.

  The Alfredo who chased after Amanda was not a man that Sam recognised. She had always known him as a gentle drunk who got into scrapes of his own making, and failed at everything he tried with good grace and humour. That man had disappeared. He had metamorphosed into a hardnosed rally driver with his set jaw and laser focus which freaked her out. Gloria, whose speedy recovery from unconsciousness continued to surprise Sam, sat beside him, casting him adoring glances and spurring him on.

  ‘Vamos, mi amor,’ she urged, and he went still faster, the car teetering on two wheels as he flung it around the steep corners leading down into the valley in the corridor between the volcanoes.

  Sam scrounged cigarettes from Gloria and tightened her seat belt until she could hardly breath. Her incarceration in the cave seemed like a bad dream already. Her eyes still hurt in the bright sunlight but apart from that she felt relatively normal and remarkably calm considering Alfredo had turned into Ayrton Senna. She hoped they wouldn’t end up like him.

  The large engine of the Toyota four runner roared in approval as Alfredo pressed down the accelerator on a piece of straight road. The journey to San Martin brought out Sam’s memories of her first adventure in Sierramar. Whatever had happened to Wilson Ortega and Don Moises? Was the treasure still hidden?

  She was not the same woman who arrived in there for her first job and marvelled at the folds in the cut away rocks at the road’s edge. The hard knocks of the last few years had matured and changed her. She still wanted to take a photograph of the folds though. Maybe she never would.

  Alfredo drove straight past San Martin and headed for the border. Gloria changed the cassettes as they finished, checking her choices with Alfredo. Another change.

  ‘Héroes del Silencio?’ said Gloria.

  ‘My favourite,’ said Alfredo.

  Senderos De Traición soon pounded out of the speakers making them all nod their heads to the beat. It seemed particularly apt to Sam. Routes to betrayal summed up her whole experience with Bonita Mining and its ghastly cast of characters, each worse than the other. Only Selma and Marina had come ou
t smelling of roses and they were two of the people who lost the most.

  As they neared the border, the tension in the car increased to breaking level. Gloria smoked one cigarette after another. Sam had been gripping the edge of the seat so hard that her hands were aching. Were they going to arrive too late?

  Alfredo grunted as he threw the car around another bend and came out into flatter country where he could increase his speed. Sam couldn’t bear to look. Surely, they would crash?

  ‘Oh my God,’ said Gloria, leaning forward in her seat. ‘That’s her car.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ said Alfredo.

  ‘I’ve been in it often enough.’

  Alfredo slowed a little as he approached Amanda’s car, unwilling to alert the driver to their intention. By the time they caught up with it, the border post could be seen in the distance. Suddenly, David’s face appeared in the back window of the vehicle. He looked terrified. A hand pulled him back down and he disappeared. The sight of the little boy spurred Alfredo on. He swung out into the middle of the road and overtook the car, swerving in front of it and coming to an abrupt halt.

  The brakes squealed as the other car stopped inches from the Toyota. No one got out. Alfredo approached the driver’s window. Suddenly, the car reversed out of the trap and shot forward leaving their car in the dust. Amanda leaned out of the window giving them a V-sign.

  ‘Losers,’ she shouted.

  Before they had the chance to react, Gloria screamed and jumped out of the car in a single movement. There, sitting in a cloud of dust on the road was David, looking in a bemused fashion at a scrape on his knee. Gloria ran towards him. Alfredo looked like he might follow, but Sam, who had also left her seat, put her hand on his shoulder and shook her head.

  ‘Give her a minute. She needs to be his mother right now.’

  David looked up and shouted, ‘Mummy.’ He staggered to his feet as she reached him and pulled him close. As she held him, the tears streamed down her face, leaving two black traces of mascara down her cheeks. He stroked her hair and wiped the mascara with his T-shirt.

  ‘I knew you’d come and save me,’ he said. ‘You’re so brave. I love you.’

  The look of ecstasy on Gloria’s face melted Sam’s heart. No more doubts now. The mutual love shone out of her and the little boy like a supernova had landed on earth. Alfredo sobbed behind her; his relief palpable. Sam sighed. I’d better start looking for another job.