The Titicaca Effect

by Richard N. Tooker

  “This is Bill Henson.” There was a long pause as he listened to the caller. “Jesus, you’re kidding!” Then another long pause as he listened again “I’ll tell him,” he said finally, and clicked the phone shut.

  “Mr. Freeman, that was the front office. There’s been another development”

  “What now?” Freeman asked.

  “Apparently the managing director of our Pacific rim office in Tokyo just had a visit from someone who said he was an assistant to the prime minister of the People’s Republic of China. He offered him a bribe to rig the bidding in China’s favor.”

  “A bribe? How much?”

  “Two million dollars American. He had it with him in cash, two suitcases full of twenties and hundred dollar bills. Our guy said he tried to refuse the money, but the assistant had some muscle with him, two bodyguards, and they wouldn’t take no for an answer. He got scared and agreed to do what he could, just to get rid of them. He called us immediately, and he wants to know what to do. He’s sitting in his office with two suitcases full of U.S. currency.”

  “How soon does the bidding start?” Freeman asked.

  Henson glanced at the control room clock. “Eleven minutes.”

  “Put a hold on the bidding. Tell everyone the delay will only be for a few minutes. Then tell your man in Tokyo to lock the doors and call the American embassy. I’ll ask the embassy in Bolivia to tell them what’s going on. They can have security in your Tokyo office within minutes. I need an office where I can make some calls.”

  Henson took Freeman down the hallway to an empty office. In less than two minutes, Freeman found Barbara Fontaine, who promised to cut through the red tape to get the Tokyo embassy to act quickly. Freeman then called President Maldonado and told him what had happened.

  “What do we do about this, Mr. President?” Freeman asked. “I’ve put a hold on the bidding, and it won’t be long until people wonder why.”

  “Let them wait,” Maldonado said. He knew that this was going to be one of those defining moments. Bolivia was about to assert itself as one of the world’s superpowers. If it did not, the country stood to lose control of its one shot at economic and political power. “I want the Chinese to wonder if we’ve found out what they tried to do. While they’re wondering, I’ll place a call to the Chinese premier. When I tell his people that I want to personally tell the premier why China has been disqualified from bidding on launch dates, I’m pretty sure they’ll put him on the phone.”

  “Disqualified? Are you serious?”

  “I’m absolutely serious, Tyler. We have to do this. We simply cannot let them get away with it. They have to understand that Bolivia is in charge. He’ll deny any knowledge of the bribe, of course, and I’ll tell him that I never for a minute believed he would personally have anything to do with it. China will be welcome to bid in a later round, just as soon as he has straightened out this unfortunate misunderstanding created by people beneath him who obviously don’t understand how important it is to keep anything from happening to the friendship between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Bolivia. I’ll also promise him that since this was obviously not an official act of the Chinese government, I’ll make sure that news of the attempted bribe doesn’t get out if they’d prefer to simply withdraw from the first round. I’ll tell him that you’re about to go talk to all the reporters covering the auction and tell them why there’s been a delay, but I can stop you if he’d prefer to handle it that way.”

  “What if he balks at if he balks at withdrawing?” Freeman asked.

  “He won’t, once he understands they’re out of the first round and there’s no negotiating that point. It’s important for them to be able to save face. They’ll withdraw. Can you enforce it at your end?”

  “Not a problem, Mr. President. It’s all electronic. We’ll just unplug them.”

  Freeman said goodbye and went to find Henson. The Freemarkets executive was in a small conference room off the main hallway to the control center, waiting for Freeman to tell him what to do about the hold.

  “What’s the plan?” Henson asked when Freeman appeared at the door to the conference room.

  “Pull the plug on China and let’s get on with it.”

  “What do I tell them?”

  “Nothing. Just pull the plug.”

  “You got it.” Henson headed for the control center, with Freeman a few steps behind. Freeman took a seat so he could watch the proceedings as Henson talked to the event representative assigned to the Chinese bidders. Freeman saw the rep nod, then he threw a single switch on the console, removed his headset, and left the control center. Henson nodded to the technician manning the main console, lights on the monitor wall changed to green to signify the opening of the bidding, and all the event representatives started talking into their headsets simultaneously.

  It took less than two minutes for the opening bids to begin appearing on the monitors. Freeman grinned as he saw that the high bid for the first round was $7.5 million. Since the event was scheduled to last two hours, the bids would surely escalate well beyond the $25 million he needed to pay for the initial construction costs at the launch site.

  Henson had left the control room and taken a seat beside Freeman. “Care for an educated guess?” he asked.

  “How much do you think we’ll raise today?” Freeman asked.

  “$100 million or more. I’d bet on it.”

  Over the next hour and 50 minutes, Freeman talked to Maldonado three times – once when the president called him to let him know that the Chinese premier had done precisely what Maldonado had predicted, so there was no need to talk to the reporters, and twice more as Freeman updated the president on the bidding. When it was over, the winning bidders were the United States, Great Britain and Japan, each with two launch dates for the first month’s operations. The remaining two slots, one of which would be the very first manned launch from Espaciopuerto De La Titicaca were, of course, reserved for Bolivia. Cuba had to abandon the bidding less than halfway through the event, since the dollars involved quickly escalated beyond the reach of any private individual, no matter how wealthy.

  The final tally was $212 million. It didn’t occur to Freeman until much later that evening that his piece of the first months’ revenue was more than $4 million. He had become a wealthy man.

  Chapter 19: Janey

  Freeman waited nervously at the security exit from Concourse C at the Miami International Airport, scanning the herds of people coming toward him for a sign of his daughter, Janey. He hadn’t seen her in more than a year, and he had experienced a recurring nightmare in the last week that he wouldn’t recognize her. Stupid, he knew, but his palms were still sweaty.

  He spotted her, relieved that she looked pretty much like he remembered her, except a few inches taller. Her hair was in cornrows, and she wore low-rider jeans and a tank top that looked a little too adult for his taste. He smiled and waved, reminding himself that kids’ fashions always looked that way to their parents.

  Janey spotted him, shrieked, and took off at dead run, dragging her rolling carry-on bag behind her. She was ten feet away when she dropped the bag, launched herself into mid-air and landed in his arms, all four of her limbs wrapped around him. She nearly knocked him down, but he managed to keep his balance although he staggered back a few steps and bumped into some of the other passengers who were clustered around the concourse exit. He could hear people laughing at the two of them.

  “Daddy, I’m so glad to see you,” Janey blurted, squeezing him so hard it hurt his not-quite-healed ribs. “We’re going to Bolivia! Is this great, or what?”

  “Janey, honey, I have two broken ribs. I’m glad to see you too, but do you think you could not squeeze quite so hard?” He winced. “Please?”

  “Oh shit, Daddy, I forgot! I’m sorry,” she said as she unwrapped herself from his torso and hopped to the ground.

  He looked at her in surprise. “Did you say ‘shit?’ Is that any way for a young lady to tal
k?

  “Oh, daddy, lighten up”, she said. “Mom says it all the time.”

  “Yeah, well, she’s an adult. You shouldn’t use that kind of language.” It was at that instant that Freeman noticed the silver ring in her right nostril. “Oh my God, Janey, is that a ring in your nose?”

  Janey rolled her eyes and looked at the ceiling. “I was afraid of this,” she said, pouting. “This is gonna be a long three weeks.”

  “Your mother let you get your nose pierced?”

  “Yeah, it was kind of a birthday present,” she answered.

  “Well, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t wear it around me,” he said. “Please take it out.”

  “I can’t Daddy. I haven’t had it that long. If I take it out now, it’ll heal shut.”

  “Perfect,” he responded. “Take it out.” Freeman realized that this was not going well, but he couldn’t help himself. “I will not introduce you to the President of Bolivia if you have a ring in your nose. Please take it out.”

  “But Daddy….”

  “Now!”

  “Oh, all right,” she said sullenly. “Can I please go to the ladies room to do this? It’s gonna hurt, and it might bleed a little.”

  “Sure,” he said, trying to sound conciliatory. “It’s right over there. I’ll wait for you right here.”

  His daughter turned his back to him and bent down to retrieve her carry-on bag. It was then that he noticed the butterfly tattooed in the middle of her lower back.

  Freeman bit his tongue, fighting the urge to yell at his daughter. God almighty, he thought. She’s only ten, and her mother is letting her mutilate herself! By the time he brought his emotions under control, Janey had disappeared into the rest room. After a couple of minutes, he had decided not to mention the tattoo, at least not right now. There was nothing he could do about it anyway. Those things were permanent. He just hoped she had brought along clothes that covered it up.

  After about ten minutes, Janey emerged from the rest room, dabbing at her nose with a Kleenex. Her eyes looked red, as if she had been crying.

  “Did it hurt?” he asked.

  “Like you care,” she answered, looking around to avoid making eye contact with him.

  Not knowing how to respond to that, he said, “Do you want something to eat?”

  “I guess,” she said, still refusing to make eye contact.

  “There’s a Burger King right down the concourse,” he said. “Is that OK?”

  “Whatever,” she said, shrugging her shoulders and walking away from him toward the row of fast-food franchises, pulling her carry-on behind her. He could see the butterfly tattoo peeking over the waistband of her jeans. She had obviously tried to pull them up to hide it, to no avail.

  She’s right about one thing, he thought as he walked behind her. This is going to be a long three weeks. This kid has a 15-year-old mouth on her.

  When they reached the restaurant, Janey ordered a double whopper with bacon and cheese, a large order of fries and a Coke. Freeman, who had lost his appetite, got a salad.

  They sat down and ate without talking until Freeman decided to try breaking the frosty silence. “Janey, honey, I’m sorry if I upset you. I really am glad to see you.”

  She poked at her food for a few seconds, tears welling up in her eyes. “You don’t want me to go back home?”

  “Oh, God no, sweetheart. I love you, and I want you to come to Bolivia. We’re doing some exciting things down there, and if there are no delays, you’re going to see history being made. More than anything, I want you to be with me when that happens!”

  She gave him a tentative smile. “Really?”

  “Absolutely,” he said. “I can’t wait to introduce you to everyone. This is going to be fun.”

  “As long as I don’t have a ring in my nose,” she said, now smiling openly.

  “Well, yeah, honey. You need to think about where we’re going. These people don’t do piercing. They’d just think you’re weird.”

  She laughed.

  Thank God, he thought.

  “Mom said Dr. Stout is there,” she said. “I like him. Will I get to see him?”

  “Sure you will. He said to tell you he’s looking forward to playing chess with you again. He wants revenge for the last time you two played and you beat him.”

  “Yeah, well, I think he let me win. He’s pretty smart. So, is Lake Titicaca as pretty as it looks on TV?” she asked.

  “It’s gorgeous, honey. Maybe one of the prettiest places on the planet. You simply won’t believe how blue the water is.”

  “Will I get to go the spaceport?”

  “Absolutely! I have a lot of work to do to get ready for the first manned launch, so we’ll be spending a lot of time there.”

  “What else are we gonna do?” she asked.

  “I’m going to be pretty busy, honey, but maybe you can spend some time in La Paz while I’m working at the spaceport. You’ll like it.”

  “By myself?”

  “Well, no, I don’t think that would be a good idea. I have a friend who said she’d show you around. She has some nieces and nephews your age.”

  “Who is she?” Janey asked, a mischievous look on her face. “Mom said she bets you have a girlfriend. Is that who she is?”

  “Well, uh, yeah, I guess you could call her that,” Freeman stammered. The question had caught him off guard.

  “Daddy, lighten up,” she laughed. “I’ll bet she’s pretty. What’s her name?”

  “Alicia. Alicia Montoya. And you’re right, she’s very pretty. I think you’ll like her. She’s meeting us at the airport.”

  “Okay,” Janey said. She looked away again, biting her lower lip.

  “Is something wrong?” he asked. “Listen, Janey, I was going to tell you about Alicia. We just kind of got off on the wrong foot for a minute.”

  “It’s totally cool, Daddy,” she said, looking down. “Don’t worry about it. I just need to tell you something else. Promise me you won’t go crazy again.”

  “What?” he said.

  “Promise?”

  “Is this about the tattoo?”

  “You saw it?” she said, panic on her face.

  “Well, it’s pretty hard to miss when you bend over,” he said, being careful to maintain a neutral expression.

  “Are you mad?”

  “Lighten up” he said, smiling at her. “It’s totally cool.”

  “It is? Really?” She was beaming.

  “No, honey, not really,” he said, chuckling. “I hate it. But I’m not going to rag on you about it. Besides, I don’t think you can just wash it off. We’ll just need to make sure you keep it covered up when you go to the presidential palace.”

  “Oh wow, are we going to a palace?”

  “Sure. I work for the president of Bolivia, and he told me to be sure to bring you by.”

  “Will I get to meet him?”

  “You bet. You can even have your picture taken with him.”

  “Oh, wow! This is way cool!” she said.

  Freeman looked at his watch. “Time to go the gate, honey. Do you have your passport?”

  “Here it is,” she said, fishing it out of the pocket of her carry-on and handing it across the table to him. When they left the Burger King and headed back to Concourse C, she took his hand.

  Way cool, he thought.

  * * *

  The flight from Miami to La Paz took a little over five hours. Feeling flush from his portion of the auction proceeds, Freeman had upgraded the two of them to first class. They made small talk about the things that 10-year-old girls are concerned about – school, boys and clothes – until lunch was served, after which Janey fell into a deep sleep. Apparently, she had been so excited about the trip to Bolivia that she had hardly slept the night before. Freeman used the time to catch up on the never-ending mountain of paperwork that was a necessary component of his new job.

  When the aircraft neared the border between Peru and Bolivia, he woke his daughte
r so she could see Lake Titicaca as they flew over it. It was a brilliant, cloudless day, and as usual the lake was a deep, sapphire-colored blue from the air. When they landed and finished collecting their luggage and going through customs, they emerged into the airport waiting area to find Alicia waiting for them. She gave Tyler a brief hug, but did not kiss him because she wasn’t sure how much his daughter knew about their relationship. She didn’t want Janey to be uncomfortable.