“You missed the chain-yanking.” He finished his coffee and shredded the plastic cup.
“What?”
“Jewel, let me try to explain. To get at my military records in less than six hours, Mike obviously has someone inside of Defense. Your guy wanted to let me know that he had my entire file, not just a summary. That takes some real juice.”
“I’m still not tracking.”
“When my tour was up, command really pressured me to re-enlist. I mean, I got the hard sell. They wanted to send me to Monterey and put me through the language-school meat grinder. I refused. There’s a detailed write-up in my record documenting their displeasure with my lack of ambition and overall poor career decisions.”
“That’s the potential you didn’t live up to?”
“He wouldn’t have mentioned that randomly. He used the exact phrase from the letter. He was flaunting his access to information. I’m not lying when I say that makes me nervous. There’s not much more between that and my FBI jacket.”
“Do you think we’re burned?”
“Jewel, I don’t know. You know him. What’s your call?”
I didn’t answer right away. I did a turn around the room and stopped in front of the mirror, but I didn’t see my reflection, I saw the meetings and parties where I’d dealt with Rockhound over the years.
“Ethan, he certainly has the contacts. We always suspected he had military on his payroll because he also brokers sales of hot National Guard explosives and armaments. That’s how he hooked up with Mike. But he’s cleared and vouched for us to meet Preacher Joe. That’s a major contact. I mean major. I can’t believe he would expose his direct conduit to the mines if he thought you were the law. I don’t have a lot of choice in this matter. If I back out, your bosses fry my dad. I have to go.”
Ethan came up behind me, but didn’t touch me. Over my shoulder I saw his face warring between caution and determination. After a minute, determination won out.
“I’m not about to let you go alone. This is a public meeting with a major player. Even if it stopped with this guy, it would be a major coup. I’ll also admit to being curious. Let’s go.”
With that, he laughed. “After all, what could go wrong?”
“Don’t even go there. Lawyers can be as superstitious as baseball players and I’m not wearing my lucky lapel pin.”
“All right, consider it taken back. You know, I should call Fisk.”
“Are you going to?”
“No.”
“Then let’s go see a man about some very expensive rocks.”
CHAPTER 58
Before we left, Ethan put the finishing touches on his quick change. The goatee was gone and he’d gelled his hair back slick and flat. The ballistic shades were replaced with the aviators and the jeans and compression t-shirt were black this go round. He noticed my appraisal and smiled.
“This look is known as Euro-prick. It’ll work where we’re headed. Nice isn’t a recognized virtue and they wouldn’t be impressed by haute-militia. Time to roll. We’re headed to a place that’s a lot of miles geographically and several thousand culturally away from here.”
We packed our bags in the trunk, but kept the room key. We still had it for several more days and might need to hole up while this played out.
Ethan wound through Austin with ease, taking his own shortcuts to avoid traffic snarls. As we closed in on our destination, jeans started sharing the street with colorful robes and head wraps. Small shops with exotic names competed for space with cell-phone outlets and payday loan offices.
“There’s the African market. On weekends in the summer, they set up stalls in the parking lot and it always devolves into a big party. When this crap blows over I’ll bring you back here. Okay, Rockhound said two blocks south, an open air café. I think that’s it.”
He executed another ninja parking job down the street from our target. Immediately, a group of kids on ragged bikes stopped to admire the sleek Challenger. Motioning the oldest one to my window, Ethan let loose with a rapid barrage of French. After a brief exchange, he palmed a twenty to the boy who, after a lingering look down the front of my shirt, pedaled back to his friends.
“The car should be fine now, but lock it up tight.”
“What did you say?”
“That if everything was okay when I got back there was another twenty in it for him. If not, I’d twist off his balls and stuff them down his throat.”
Swallowing hard, I wiped my mouth and said, “Dammit, Price, warn me when you’re going to say something like that. Is this part of your Euro-prick persona?”
“It’s all in the delivery.”
The cafe reminded me of both Paris and Morocco. The once-chic bistro décor had faded and mellowed into authenticity and the polyglot of languages made it hard for me to believe I was still in Texas.
“Jewel, I should have asked this earlier. Do you have any idea what this guy looks like?”
“I’ve met him a couple of times. He’s pretty distinctive.”
“Let me guess, at one of your dad’s parties.”
“Hey, in the day, they were the place to be. If you’d ever wrangled an invitation, let’s just say your case-clearance stats would have shot through the roof. Damn, good thing I have immunity.”
I couldn’t help it. Slowly, but surely, I was taking off the verbal gloves. If he wanted to run in my world, he needed to see it for what it was.
“Ethan, you do know that cops are basically just cheetahs, don’t you?”
That got me a quizzical look.
“You only catch the slow stupid ones.”
I scanned the café. In the corner, under a torn tapestry and a sign proclaiming Free Wi-Fi, sat a figure that could almost be described as comical if I didn’t know what he controlled and was capable of.
“Ethan, he’s in the back on the left.”
“Let’s do it.”
As we wound through the crowd, heads turned. A server in hijab scuttled out of my way and I felt conspicuous as sideways glances and frank stares crawled over my bare skin and tattoos. At one table, I didn’t need an interpreter to know the comments were crude. Ethan confirmed it when he turned and brushed aside his loose shirt to give them a brief look at the holster on his hip. The group immediately fell silent.
Joseph “Preacher Joe” Bemba easily tipped the scale at three hundred and fifty pounds. His massive frame was encased in hard slabby fat, the kind that looked like it would stop bullets. Dressed in a pale blue guayabera shirt the size of a camping tent and adorned only with a large gold cross, he dwarfed the banquette and small table. When he saw me, he broke into a wide smile, his teeth white against his gleaming black skin.
“Miss Martin, I was hoping to see you today. Please have a seat. This must be the enigmatic Mr. Price.” Even though, as far as I knew, he’d been in America for a couple of decades, his voice still held the flavor of his native Africa.
Ethan and I took the two spindly chairs across the table. After a quick round of handshakes, where even Ethan’s hand looked like a child’s in his massive grip, Preacher Joe summoned a waitress and ordered in French.
“What would you like? The coffee is guaranteed fresh from the Congo.”
Ethan met his gaze and then spoke to the server, his French matching our host’s in speed and lilt. As at the bar, the posturing made me feel like a fashion accessory. I’d done it enough in my own way across different tables, so I sat quietly. Preacher Joe didn’t bother suppressing his smirk, but he didn’t say anything until the drinks arrived and we were alone.
“Miss Martin, our mutual friend tells me you would like to get into the materials business, is that correct?”
I gathered my thoughts before answering. If he told me it was more complicated than briefcases, I would scream.
“Joe, I’m sure Rockhound filled you in on my situation. We aren’t looking for a steady gig here, but we can move a small shipment to your off-label customers with a minimum of fuss. We’ll want full market price bec
ause of who the customers are and they can take care of the buyer’s premium. If you like our work, maybe there can be more later on. But, for right now, we need a one-off so I can comfortably get out of the reach of American law enforcement.”
“I presume it will be the usual financial arrangements?”
This wasn’t a place I was ready to go with an FBI agent sitting next to me. The intricate web of offshore accounts was my true lifeline after this was over. If the Feds got a credible whiff of those, I was sunk.
“Not this time, Joe. Cash on delivery. U.S. currency, or”—I hesitated—”we’ll take payment up front in gold, at a discounted rate of course, and you can work it out with the customers.”
I hoped that would get him off the banking discussion. If he agreed to pay us with the gold that his interests extracted for a pittance, he would make a personal fortune on the exchange rate with the customers.
Ethan stayed quiet through this exchange, but his attentive stare felt like a heat lamp. I tried to break up his attention to the subject as well.
“Price, could you do your magic and make my cup full again?”
He caught my drift and signaled to the server who hustled over with a silver pot. The tea was like heaven: rich, green, and smelling of flowers.
“Miss Martin, I think the gold can be arranged. I will need a significant deposit in advance.”
My original plan had been to say we could invest. I decided on a different tack. It was time to go all in.
“No can do, Preacher Joe. If I had a significant deposit, I’d be on a beach right now. This one has to be on trust. My dad and I made millions for our mutual friend and I know quite a bit of that has spilled onto you. It’s time to pay that forward. Hit the buyers up an extra point for your trouble. I can offer you a small tribute for your time.”
I reached into the pocket of my shorts and pulled out an envelope with a grand in it. I’d originally planned on giving him three, but decided that was, in a word, stupid. With my main stash back at the camper, I might still need cash for an escape if this went bad.
Joe opened the envelope and I could see him doing a mental count. He tucked it into one of the large patch pockets on his shirt and leaned back into the booth. I waited. His next words would determine whether or not we’d passed the test.
“So, Mr. Price, how do you plan to move the merchandise, not to mention the gold?”
We did it.
Ethan met Preacher Joe’s gaze and held it as he finished his coffee.
“Mr. Bemba, with all due respect, that’s my business. I tell you, and you send your crews to jack us. The merchandise isn’t even a two-foot cube. Suffice it to say, I can hide that. Oh, and Jewel and the gold will be elsewhere, with security, so don’t think about that either. She’s strategy. I’m tactics.”
Price, you’ve got stones.
People usually didn’t talk to Preacher Joe like that and keep all of their parts in working order. Instead, the huge man laughed. Laughter that I thought would collapse the bistro table.
“Mr. Price, I reiterate my job offer.”
“I only care about this job. So, is this a go or a throw?”
Ethan was playing another double-down on a split pair of eights. My heart was loud in my ears.
“Rockhound told me to assist you unless it was against my better judgment. I see no reason not to hook you up with a shipment of a thousand kilos. That’s barely the dust out of one of the mines. Miss Martin is correct. My dealings, even indirect, with her father have been profitable and a certain customer has been clamoring for a discreet resupply.”
I hoped I looked half as cool as Ethan did. Then the tell. His right hand came up and smoothed his already perfectly slick hair. He was thinking. Ethan put out a hand.
“Then we have a deal. You’ll set it up with the controlling faction?”
Joe accepted the offered hand. “No, you will.”
The tea turned to lead in my stomach. I had to fight my voice steady.
“Preacher Joe, what do you mean by that?”
“Miss Martin, it just so happens that one of the major suppliers is in the states. He has been transacting business with what you called an ‘off-label’ customer. I took the liberty of asking for a meeting for you. They said yes, if I would vouch for you. So, should I vouch for you?”
I looked at Ethan who gave me a half nod before meeting the big man’s gaze.
“Yes, you should vouch for us.”
He reached into the other large pocket of his shirt, pulled out a small computer tablet, and pushed it across the table to me.
“What’s that?”
“Consider yourself vouched for. This GPS device has the coordinates of your meeting place already programmed in. It is about a two-hour drive, even in that sports car.”
I’ll admit it, I missed that one on the first pass, but Ethan didn’t.
“The boys?”
“Of course. They work for me. I knew as soon as you passed the market. I must have gotten a half-dozen text messages. This is my neighborhood. So, do you take the deal? They are waiting for a call from me.”
I don’t know why I was hesitating. This was supposed to have ended here with Preacher Joe. When he gave us the information about the load, the cops were supposed to swoop in and roll the whole thing up like a rotten rug. Now we were looking at a direct meeting, probably with a commander of one of the insurgent militias. Those guys don’t travel alone. Security would be heavy. Joe also hinted that customers would be there. That meant a sleeper, or worse. It could mean al-Qaeda.
Fuck.
Ethan broke the stalemate. He reached out and palmed the GPS device.
“And the gold?”
“I’ll call them and arrange it. They may be interested in moving more than your payment.”
“Make the call.”
Ethan stood, signifying the meeting was over. I joined him. He didn’t say anything as we made our way out to the street. After seeing us with Preacher Joe, the café denizens weren’t nearly as fascinated with us. They bent over their coffee and computers until we were gone.
The Challenger was just as we had left it, with the bike cavalry on guard. Ethan flipped the promised twenty to the oldest boy with a wink.
“Let’s get out of here,” said Ethan, pulling into traffic.
“What about the GPS?”
“I want to be out of range of Joe’s wi-fi before we do anything. Call me paranoid if you want, but indulge me.”
This was a better idea than Ethan knew. He wasn’t as familiar with our client list and their capabilities as I was. Dad and I both had won more than one case with info we’d come by through backdoor means.
Ethan got back on the highway and headed north. The first exit we came to advertised some fast food joints. He pulled into the parking lot of one with Internet access.
“Jewel, where’s your laptop? I want to find out what I can before we head off on this little adventure.”
“Pop the trunk.”
We went inside and grabbed a booth. I booted up my computer while Ethan got food. Even after only a couple of days, he didn’t ask what I wanted. Instead of being pissed off, it amused me.
I had the map program pulled up and was waiting for his instructions. As he said, he was tactical. I munched fries while he turned the GPS unit over in his hands.
“I hate these. I like maps.”
“Well, give me the coordinates and I’ll see what I can do.”
He read them off to me and a glowing dot appeared on the Texas map. After I put in our location, a line connected the two points. I zoomed in and compared the map to the list of driving directions.
“Ethan, you remember the comic who had all the rules about being a redneck?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Well, one of the sure signs was directions that included turn off the paved road.”
His serious façade cracked and Euro-prick vanished for the moment. I turned the laptop around to let Ethan see the screen.
“Now, just pretend you don’t see what’s on the top of the graphic.”
The surprise in his face amused me. I knew he expected to see the Google logo, not the name of a major oil company.
“Let me guess, a client?”
“They did a special flyover with LIDAR mapping in this part of the state for a pipeline project. I have a login, thanks to the engineering company. Much more detailed than anything available publicly, especially for the boonies. These are weapons-grade maps. Money is good. Favors are gold.”
“This is one time I’ll agree without questioning you. This is fantastic.”
I finished my lunch while he zoomed and scanned over the area around the coordinates, stopping occasionally to take notes on a napkin.
“Jewel, screen-shot this and then pull up your word processor. How long does the battery on this run?”
I complied with his request. “It should be good for another few hours and I can plug it into the car.”
“That’ll work. Now type what I tell you.”
He read off a series of directions and turns that I transcribed. He made me read them back to him twice before folding the napkin and stashing it in his pocket.
“You ready?”
I nodded and put my laptop into sleep mode.
“So what was all that about?” I asked.
Ethan tossed the GPS into the trash. “I told you that I hate those things.”
I could only agree.
CHAPTER 59
We didn’t say much as Ethan dispatched the first forty miles on the state highway with ease. The next leg took us onto secondary state roads and finally to narrow one-lane strips of uneven asphalt.
“Looks like we go to gravel up ahead, we’re still about twenty miles out.”
He patted the dashboard. “I’m sorry to do this to you, beautiful.”
He knocked the speed down to minimize the dust cloud. It still filtered in through the vents and soon every surface sported a thin coat of grit. Up ahead was a triangle where the gravel roads headed off in three directions. It was one of the final landmarks. Ethan pulled the car under a tree and stopped.
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