by Jeff Buick
“Let him in,” he said, turning from the shed and walking back toward the pool. “No more shooting unless I give the order,” he screamed.
Eugene was already crossing the patio when Javier reached the tree line on the far side of the grass. They met about half way and stood a few feet apart.
“Did you get it?” Javier asked.
“Where are my wife and daughter?”
“Safe, but not for long if you don’t have the account number.”
“I have it,” Eugene said, watching the man’s eyes glitter at the prospect of finally laying his hands on the billion dollar account.
Javier spoke softly and without any inkling of a threatening tone. “What is it?”
Eugene shook his head. “No way. Not until I see my family.”
“And Pedro?” Javier asked.
Eugene studied the man’s face and saw that he knew. “And Pedro.”
Javier waved at one of his men. “Tell the boxer and the women that Eugenio is here. They are to come out and meet with us.”
The man scurried off with the message and a minute later Eugene heard Pedro’s voice yelling for him. He yelled back and a couple of minutes later Pedro, Julie and Shiara appeared from behind some trees. Pedro had the H & K at the ready and the women behind him. Julie and Shiara started running to Eugene when they saw him but Javier yelled for them to stop.
“No one moves until I get the code,” he said when everyone had stopped moving and there was silence.
“What guarantee do we have that you’ll let us go once you have the code?” Eugene asked.
“You have my word,” Javier said.
“What’s that worth?” Eugene said, staring at his wife and daughter; fifty feet away, but not yet out of harm’s way. The Glock weighed heavy in his waistband and his hand itched to go for it and put two or three well placed slugs in Rastano before the guards could react.
“I told you I wouldn’t hurt them and I didn’t. Ask them.”
Eugene looked their way and Julie nodded. “They treated us fine, Eugene.”
Eugene stood on the grass, surrounded by armed guards with automatic weapons pointed at him, his wife and daughter and his friend. Finally he nodded and said, “All right, Javier, you win.” He dug in his pocket and retrieved the paper that Pablo had written on. He handed it to Javier.
“Watch them,” Javier said. “I’m going to make sure this is correct.”
He disappeared into the house for the better part of ten minutes, then returned a blistering shade of red. “Nine hundred million dollars was transferred out to another account four hours ago. What would you know about that?”
“Let’s call it my insurance policy. You get one hundred million dollars today. Two years from this date, you get another one hundred million. Another two years, another one hundred million until the entire nine hundred million has been repaid. If anything happens to me or any of my family, the transfers stop.” Eugene stared at the Colombian. “You didn’t think that I would just give you the entire amount on the spot, did you?”
Rastano had calmed, calculating the length of time to recover all the money, and the rate at which it was coming back in. A hundred million every two years was almost a million a week, and that was hard to argue with. He took a couple of deep breaths and asked, “How do I know you’ll release the hundred million every second year?”
Eugene returned his stare, his blue eyes unblinking. “You have my word,” he said.
A toucan cawed, but every other living creature in the garden held their collective breaths. There could be acceptance, or there could be a bloodbath. Javier finally cracked a smile and held out his hand. “All right, Eugenio Escobar, you have a deal.”
They shook and Julie and Shiara ran across the grass and fell into Eugene’s arms. He held them tighter than he’d ever held anything in his life. Teams streamed down his face as he kissed Julie and ran his hands through Shiara’s hair. Pedro dropped his gun and walked calmly over to his friend. Eugene, with his arms still wrapped around both women, just shook his head at the sight of his friend and smiled.
Even one word would have been overkill.