by Tony Lavely
Amy waved, but Beckie headed toward the buffet and the coffee urns. She poured; when she turned back, Ian and Amy were seating themselves at a table. She headed in their direction.
“Will you be okay?” Beckie asked Ian as she placed her coffee cup at her seat.
“Of course. We will spend our time consulting with the general about the several candidates’ security and the information Willie learned last night. No,” he said in response to her query, “he added no clarity to to Minister Salvadore’s actions.” They stood together and Ian kissed her. “You and Amy Rose enjoy your luncheon.”
She nodded and took Amy’s hand; they walked to the lobby where Rich was waiting with the car.
Rich dropped the girls at the restaurant with Sue just as Mamani’s car pulled to a stop; the four women entered the building together. Sue detached from the group to wait for Rich; they would keep watch for Beckie and Amy. Mamani smiled as she pointed to her own guards. “They will work together, I’m certain,” she told Beckie.
At their table, Mamani, Beckie and Amy enjoyed small talk over glasses of wine—Amy being teased by both women about her age; Beckie cut her off after one glass, but refrained herself, too.
Mamani began by toasting Beckie’s successful recovery the afternoon before, then said, “I have some news…”
When the pause grew too long, Beckie said, “Is there something we should not know?”
Mamani gave her a forced smile. “Not really, as long as you do not publicize my foolishness.” She waved away Beckie’s protest and continued, “I don’t know if you were told Minister Salvadore remains, at large, I think you say.”
“He hasn’t been arrested?”
“He has not. His car was found, but as yet, there have been no sightings of him. However, a different event may provide us insights.
“One of Salvadore’s Ministry aircraft arrived yesterday, in time to meet him, had he arrived. Under his direction, it brought two Americans from Lima. One identified herself as Salvadore’s ex-mistress while the other claimed to be a… friend, I suppose is the way he thought we would accept.” She sipped more wine. “After some… interrogation, their stories began to come together. We must do more investigation to verify the truth, but…
“Both of them agree. Since Mateo Huamán was stabbed in New York, Salvadore has been working with, or possibly for, the man who killed Huamán, Donato Talos. He has made illicit export of both counterfeit currency and cocaine easier for Talos. Actually, for his organization, since Talos himself—”
“He’s in jail!”
Beckie grabbed Amy’s hand and squeezed. “Yeah.” She stared at Mamani. “But that doesn’t stop his organization, does it?” She turned to Amy. “We know that.”
Amy nodded. “It wasn’t… Flores, was it? On the plane? Silvio Flores?” Beckie squeezed Amy’s hand again.
Mamani eyes went wide, but she kept her mouth closed. After a moment, she said, “No. That is not his name.” Beckie waited, but Mamani said no more about the man.
“Salvadore has been working with Talos, the woman told us, in the hope of regaining the videos you…” She nodded to Beckie. “… hold; the ones concerning our scandal. He was party to that, providing financing, but while we believed he agreed with the… wisdom of dropping our effort, apparently he did not. Or…” She pursed her lips, then rubbed her forehead. “Or he now has a different plan.” She sighed. “We believe he has been acting alone, at least until he could obtain the videos and have me arrested or banned.”
“Wow,” Beckie said. “Besides the smuggling, what else would Talos’ organization get? They told Ian they made the raid on the Nest to find the videos; that plays well with your information. But they suffered a pretty big expense, especially the way it worked out. I’m just not sure it’s enough.”
“We haven’t any information, at least yet. But his gold resources are undiminished.”
“Seems like his efforts and the group working against your campaign are unrelated.”
“I’m not convinced. Some of my advisors do believe the conjunction is coincidental, that Salvadore was taking advantage of an unrelated incident that would take my attention. Still, I have asked for the investigation to continue.”
Mamani sipped the last of her wine. After the server refilled her glass and left, she said, “I was undecided whether or not to tell you the last thing we have learned. However, I feel it imperative. Salvadore was to turn you, Rebecca, over to the two; they would return you to New York. They do not know, or perhaps, refuse to say, what purpose that would serve.”
Beckie threw herself back in the chair. Fuck! I didn’t need this! Not now. Amy… she was almost over this.
“Be careful!” Amy’s squeal broke through Beckie’s frustration and she smiled, though more sheepishly than she wanted.
“I apologize—”
“No!” Beckie felt her smile wash away. “It’s not you, señora. God, no, it’s not you. It’s just, how do we get them to stop?” She raised her hand and scrubbed her forehead before pulling her ponytail around in front of her. “But that’s not your job, it’s ours.” She flipped the hair back again.
“You may have some help; the United States embassy person who was present was dismayed at what he heard. He said something about the District Attorney in New York being interested.” She caught the eye of the server. “Now, let us enjoy our lunch. We will talk only pleasant things.”
The savory meal filled Beckie’s belly, meeting her expectations. She sipped her coffee, then said, “If I am not too forward, we are both…” She glanced at Amy, who favored her with a curious look. “… intrigued by your invitation to lunch.”
Mamani chuckled. “I’m sure, given your backgrounds and training, you must have made some interesting suppositions. The truth is likely quite far from anything you may have speculated. Even before yesterday’s events, I wished to understand your relationship better. One of my sobrinas…”
“Nieces,” Amy said.
“Ah, thank you. Yes, nieces. One, Lia, approaches your age, Amy, and I hoped understanding you might also assist in understanding her.”
“I hope she’s not as, hard-headed’s probably a good term, as I am,” Amy said.
Beckie snickered as politely as she could, then said, “The only advice I’m willing to offer is expect her to act her age and beyond, not less. And… and if she’s half as intelligent as you, make sure there’s a good reason every time you tell her she can’t do something. And explain what that reason is.”
“Act her age?”
Beckie smiled. “Yeah. Well, a better way to say it… Expect her to act the age she wants to be treated as. Let her know that’s your expectation. Then treat her the age she acts.”
Amy said, “Beckie’s good at that. Me, not so much.” Her little laugh made both women chuckle.
“Does that give you any ideas?”
“I will begin with those,” Mamani said. “Thank you.”
“Thank you, señora,” Beckie replied. “One last thing I wanted to bring up… if we have a little more time?”
“As much as we need.”
Beckie dipped her head in thanks as she picked up her tea and brought up the videos again. “Now that we hold them, rather than Talos…” She sipped, unsure exactly how to broach the next. “I am almost convinced destroying them would be better, though it would go counter to our promise to Philip. Mr. Gomez,” she said in answer to Mamani’s unspoken question. “Did he not mention that to you?”
“No, that must have slipped his mind,” she replied with a wry smile.
“You know he supports you…”
“I do, but I also know it is because he is a political animal. If he believes I am going to fall, he will seek the best alternative at the time.”
“He didn’t put it quite that way, as I recall.”
“Nonetheless, that is his position. I accept it.” She sipped her own coffee, then leaned back. “Allow me to guess. He wished the tapes also.” Beckie tried to keep still, pl
acid. “Ah! But he did not wish to reveal them, at least for now, which is why you and Mr. Jamse still hold them. Or rather, why Philip returned with you.” She smiled. “If I thought for a second Philip’s interest did not serve our country… But I believe he does.”
Beckie smiled. “We felt the same. Anyway, Ian offered to hold the tapes.”
“Until?”
“You should discuss that with him directly, but the short answer is forever, unless we believe your country will be better served by their release.”
“Hmm. I trust that will not be a unilateral decision?”
“That was our agreement.”
“I would like another tea, I think.” She signaled the server.
The next event only added to Amy’s cachet, Beckie told Ian later.
As the waiter approached pushing the service cart, Amy slapped at Beckie’s hand; behind the waiter, a man with a revolver was drawing a bead on Mamani.
Rich and Sue wouldn’t make it in time, and Mamani’s guards were farther away. Beckie had no time to even gasp before she followed Amy’s lead and grabbed at Mamani’s arm. She yanked Mamani’s arm so hard she fell off her own chair, dragging the woman to the table, into the empty dessert dishes.
Over the clatter of scattering and breaking china, the gunshot rang in her ears; she kept her head down, waiting for another shot. Mamani’s amazed exclamation ended with a scream of pain, quickly covered by the sounds of a heavy scuffle.
Damn. I hope the fight means the Guardia’s neutralized him! As the noises faded, she felt a hand grasping at her side; when she opened her eyes, Amy was also lying on the floor. “You okay?”
Amy took a quick inventory. “Yeah. You?” Beckie followed her gaze, focusing on the fixator. “Your arm? Is it—”
“Fine,” Beckie said. “I landed on my hip. Mamani?”
Rich’s face appeared behind Amy and Beckie felt hands lifting; as she twisted, Sue helped her to an upright chair.
Amy said, “Thanks—”
Rich’s smile morphed into a wide grin. “No, Amy, you and Beckie get the thanks!”
Because the girls had pulled Mamani flat across the table, the bullet merely grazed her, leaving a furrow from midway up her back to her shoulder. Rich made sure they were fine, then assisted the Guardia. Sue allowed Mamani to thank both Beckie and Amy from her stretcher before leading them out and whisking them back to the hotel.
Ian had heard the report before they arrived; after he opened the car door, Amy took his hand, but as soon as she’d emerged she pushed him around the back of the vehicle so Beckie wouldn’t have to scramble through.
After a reasonable stint of hugging and kissing, Mr. Jamse stepped away from Beckie and turned toward her. “Amy Rose—”
She stepped into his embrace. After a single kiss, she leaned back to smile at Beckie. Attempting to work her single good arm about the two of them, Beckie said, “Amy reacted perfectly.”
“But he was ready to fire!” Amy said. “What happened?”
“He took extra time to avoid the waiter,” Beckie said. “That gave us the second we needed to drag Mamani out of the line of fire. Almost, anyway.”
“I was so scared! But it looked like she would be okay, didn’t it?”
“Indeed. Philip reports she is on the way to hospital with a flesh wound. He sends his strongest appreciations.”
In the hotel bar, sharing well-deserved glasses of wine, Beckie said, “I’m really happy about the way Amy’s reacted down here.” Amy made a fake swing at her before smiling a huge smile.
“I am also,” Ian said. “She has earned our high respect. What do you think would be a suitable reward?”
Beckie paused, to give the girl the impression she had to think about it. Then, she said, “If it’s all right with you, I think I’ll take her home. She’s been at risk twice in two days; I can’t see how we can justify keeping her here. Besides, it’s only a couple weeks till school.”
“I believe that to be a perfect payment.”
“Thank you, Mr. Jamse. And you, Beckie, for being willing to—”
Beckie touched her arm. No need to go into that. I have to trust Ian.
Amy kissed them both on the cheek and asked Rich to escort her to her room.
Sunday
Beckie followed Ian out of bed the next morning when the alarm went off at seven. She dug through her bag while he was in the shower, then accepted his assistance as she showered and made herself ready for the trip home.
Amy knocked on the door at quarter of eight; she dragged her rolling suitcase behind her. “Mathilde did say she wanted to leave about half-past ten, right?”
“Yeah. She figured that would put us home about five or six tonight.”
“Well, we better get down there, then.”
“Not to worry,” Ian said cheerfully. “You have time for a light breakfast.”
They walked onto the tarmac from the non-commercial side of the terminal, and looked for the Gulfstream. “There,” Amy said. “At least, I think that’s ours.”
“Yeah. The official one beside it… I guess that’s the Minister’s plane señora Mamani was telling us about.”
“I guess. Look! Is that Mathilde waving to us?”
Beckie stopped short, then turned back toward the terminal, as if she’d forgotten something. “Have you ever seen Mathilde wave from the plane when she’s piloting? Ever?”
Amy had stopped when Beckie turned. She came back to grab Beckie’s bag. “No. So… What’s going on?”
“Bet they still haven’t caught Salvadore.”
“Not gonna take that bet,” Amy scoffed. “But you don’t think…”
“I do, actually.” She turned back after making a wave-it-off gesture toward the building. Speaking softly, she said, “The entry’s narrow, between the cockpit and that closet forward. From the angle, I’m guessing he’s… Well, him or some one of his crew, anyway… they’re in the door to the cockpit forcing Mathilde to make pretty for us.”
Amy spun around the suitcases like she was dancing. “So, okay. You think your Ruger is still in the galley?”
“Hope so. Bottom right cubby. Don’t hole the plane, okay?”
“Okay. You go up the stairs first—”
“Cool! I’ll pretend to trip into Mathilde and push her toward the flight deck—”
“Excellent! I’ll barrel on behind you, throwing my weight around, and see if he has any troops with him.” With a stern expression, she said, “Be careful with your arm, hear?” before she glanced up at Mathilde, still half-heartedly waving. “Anyway, what’s the worst that can happen?”
“We could die, is all. No one’d be very happy about—”
“I certainly wouldn’t! So, let’s cause someone else to… Well, not die, maybe, but… you know.”
“Yeah, I do.”
They were now twenty feet or so from the stairs. Beckie made a come-closer gesture with her hand. As she quickened her steps, she heard Amy following behind her to the right.
“Ready?” Beckie whispered.
She felt Amy brush her hand.
Mathilde was leaning out the hatch. She might be a little off balance, which would be good. I’ve gotta twist to hit her with my right shoulder… I wonder how strong the Transformer arm is. She hit the first step and allowed the slight recoil of the ladder to pitch her into the steel railing at the aft side of the stairs. It rebounded just as she’d hoped and threw her into Mathilde. She felt the woman collapse under the blow, and the stairs jounced again. Amy.
Amy’ll take care of herself. Beckie’s right foot slipped, but she caught the hatch coaming with her left, and drove her right shoulder into Mathilde’s solar plexus. The woman’s breath blew out, but her motion stopped as she ran into something. Beckie felt like a miniature tackle; she kept pushing and shoving, thrusting, but keeping Mathilde between her and whatever was impeding them.
Over the sound of her breath and Mathilde’s, she heard a clatter and then three Pop’s. The middle on
e she thought she recognized—her Ruger, chambered for .22 LR, but the other two—Heavier. A .45, I’ll bet. She kept her head down and thrust again, but whatever had been resisting Mathilde’s backward progress vanished. Wow! She did a little free-form dance to keep her balance, and tried to catch Mathilde, but failed. The woman fell atop an unmoving man, then wriggled her way off and up into a crouch. Beckie ducked down beside her to survey the cabin.
Thank God!
Amy sat, draped across the first chair in the cabin, smiling like the Cheshire cat. “I got this one.” She stood and handed Beckie her Ruger. “Clean out the cockpit.” She held a M1911. When Beckie raised her eyebrow, Amy nodded toward a man in anguish sitting on the sofa and said, “He understood the wisdom of allowing me to hold it once he’d shot at me and hit what’s his name there.”
Before Amy finished speaking, Beckie heard the engines spin up and gave Mathilde a look. Without a word, they dragged the man into the galley. It was Salvadore, with blood leaking from two holes she could see. Mathilde looked out the open hatch at the passing scenery and punched the entry door control, closing it.
“Hey, what’s going on? Who’s driving?” Amy’s voice was a little more frazzled than it just had been. Beckie glanced in that direction, then waved her back. “Take care of him. I’ll be there in just a second.” She turned and looked toward the flight deck.
“Knocked out Janice, huh?”
Mathilde nodded. “She’s aft. What do we do now?”
“We take the plane back… but I think we’ll wait until there’s some air under us, since this guy is ready to rotate.”
“You don’t think he wants to kill us all?” Mathilde’s voice was a bare whisper.
“Naw. He’s gotta be too smart to be that committed to a drug dealer.” She nudged Salvadore with her toe. Since he hadn’t moved except in response to the plane’s actions, she didn’t expect a reaction.
The plane had rotated and was well into the climb-out. Beckie glanced back at Amy, and signed to her, “Watch this guy,” pointing to Salvadore.
When she nodded, Beckie grabbed Mathilde’s arm and eased her to the right. “Any idea which seat he’s in?”