“Hey, man, I don’t know nothing about that. Roach hasn’t been busted in a year as far as I know.”
“What’d I tell you,” Jake said to Ted.
The banker looked at them, nodded, and continued, “That’s the problem, Miguel. You’re out of touch. These are your people. You’ve got to be in control and you’re not. Each time you come here, you’ve got at least one new person with you.”
The banker stepped forward to one of the men standing at Miguel’s side. “Who the fuck are you?” The banker asked him. He turned back to Miguel without waiting for an answer. “Your organization is too loose for us to do business anymore, Miguel – too loose.”
“So what are you saying?” Miguel asked. “You won’t sell to me anymore?”
“Exactly,” the banker replied. “Not unless you get a grip on what you’re doing. You’re doing too much volume to be as stupid as you are.”
“This isn’t good,” Miguel replied. “We have people expecting us to come through tonight, and if we don’t, there’s going to be trouble.”
Jake and Ted both leveled their shotguns at the others.
“Then it sounds like you’re going to be in trouble because right now I wouldn’t give you the sweat off my balls.”
Miguel glared at the banker. His dark eyes narrowed. Chris could hear him cursing under his breath in Spanish. “This is not good, my friend, not good at all,” Miguel said.
“It doesn’t have to be good, Miguel. It’s business. That’s what you’ve got to learn. Now get back in your car and hit the road. I never want to see or hear from you again. Understand? And tell that rat Roach that his ass is mine.”
Miguel glared at the banker for a solid minute before motioning with his finger for his men to leave. He turned and followed them back to their car. “You’re making a big mistake,” he said as he walked away. “A big mistake.”
Jake was about to say something, but the banker tapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t.”
Jake and Ted kept their guns aimed at the car as it backed away down the road rapidly. After about fifty yards, it whipped around and sped off in a cloud of dust that hid the taillights from view.
“That was what I expected,” Jake said.
“I’m just glad they didn’t pull something stupid,” Ted said. “You never know with guys like that.”
The banker grunted.
Chris stood motionless. The confrontation had scared him. It was probably the norm for these guys – just another day at the office.
“Come here, Chris,” the banker said. “This is the deal. I’m not sure why, but I believe your story. We’ll take you over to the McGuire place and drop you off there. Then you’ll forget this whole scene. We don’t exist. Can you do that?”
Chris just nodded. He tried to say something but nothing came out of his mouth.
“That’s right, just keep quiet,” the banker replied. “Get in the car.”
Chris would rather have just run as fast as he could in any direction than get into the car but he didn’t feel he had a choice in the matter as the banker pushed him into the back seat.
Ted climbed into the backseat with him while the banker sat up front and Jake got behind the wheel. The car vibrated and the heavily modified engine growled as it started – the family wagon wouldn’t do in this business.
As they started to move, Ted lit up a bone. The sweet smell of marijuana soon filled the car. He passed it up to the front seat where Jake and the banker each took turns on it before it came back to Ted.
So much for handing this over to the FBI and washing his hands of everything, Chris thought as they raced through the woods along the dirt tracks. Why hadn’t he just stayed out of this? He should have driven Pell to the hospital, told the FBI what Pell had told him and gone back home. What was he thinking coming all the way out here? Right now, he had no idea if he was being driven to a shallow grave in the woods or right into the hands of Sarah Burns. If they do let me out at the McGuire house, at least the odds are low that it was Sarah Burns and her entourage staying there, he thought. Hopefully, he could get some help from whoever is there and get the hell out of this place.
A shout from the front suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
“Miguel!” Jake exclaimed as he stomped on the accelerator, the engine roared and the car lurched forward.
12:05 am PDT Humboldt County, California
Camilla smiled at Sarah as she opened the fifth bottle of wine. Sarah was feeling a little tipsy. Standing up would be the test but there was no need to do that right now. They had spent the evening playing cards at the kitchen table, drinking excellent wine and listening to music. Exhausted from the long drive, Albert had gone to bed hours ago.
As Camilla came back to the table with the fresh bottle, Jerry stood up and said, “That’s it for me. I’ve got to get some sleep.”
“Me too,” Seth said as he too stood with a groan. “See you in the morning.”
He looked awful – burnt, uncomfortable and worn out from the events of the past week. Sarah smiled at him. After hearing the details of what happened back in Maine, her anger had faded quickly. Thank God all of them hadn’t been killed. That would’ve ruined the entire operation. Their departure left just Sarah, Camilla, and Mike at the table.
“Are you two up for another game?” Mike asked.
“Hell, it’s too early to go to bed,” Camilla said.
“You’re still a night owl,” Sarah said.
“Always have been, always will be,” Camilla replied as she refilled everyone’s glass. Mike shuffled the cards. They had been playing poker, dealer’s choice.
“I think that this place will work out well,” Sarah said. “It’s so quiet.”
“It certainly is that,” Mike agreed dealing out the cards.
“I can’t believe we’re here,” Camilla said.
“Me neither,” Mike replied. “It almost seems like we’re on a set, doesn’t it?”
“That’s exactly what I feel like,” she replied. “All that’s missing are the cameras and directors.”
“Well, we’re definitely not acting here,” Sarah said. “This is as real as it gets.”
“There is no going back now,” Camilla said.
“Not a chance, at this point we’re all committed,” Sarah replied.
“We’re doing the right thing, aren’t we?” Mike asked.
“What do you mean?” Sarah asked.
Mike placed the deck on the table and leaned back in his chair. He combed his short beard with his fingers. “I feel kind of different now that it’s achievable. Almost like I’m second-guessing my ideals. The other day when you were explaining how it works and what it’s going to do – at first I was happy. I felt successful. But the more I thought about it, the more I began to question what we were doing.”
Camilla frowned as she said, “It’s the right thing, Mike.”
Sarah was frustrated. “The Earth simply can’t support this many people indefinitely,” she said. “We’ve been through this. Slowly but surely, day after day, we’re consuming the planet. Resources aren’t infinite. There’s just too much of everything. We have to – we can – do something about it.”
“And look at all of the suffering,” Camilla said. “Remember how you felt after you went to India a few years ago? What about our trip to Mexico City? It’s all a matter of population and we’ve got a relatively painless cure.”
“This is no time to be questioning your commitment and ideals Mike,” Sarah said. “Don’t let the emotions of the moment skew your view.”
“I know,” Mike said. “But before it was less tangible – a dream, a philosophy. Now it’s going to be a reality. Doesn’t that make it different for you?”