Sally stared at me for a brief moment. “What you going to say?”
“Nothing too dramatic, I’m going to issue a warning, shouldn’t take me more than ten minutes.”
“They’ll know where to find you, Jo-el.”
“Yep, but what can they do? I’ll just bounce out of there.”
“Okay, and the last thing?”
“I want you to find me one of those king-pin crime bosses, someone who derives his wealth from trafficking humans. Children, girls, slave labor.”
Sally eyes lit up with that one. “Okay! Now that sounds like it could be fun.”
To be honest I had no idea what I was doing. I just had to elicit enough attention to be taken seriously. I had hoped that my initial approach to the CIA, FBI, Homeland Security would suffice to convince them that they needed to listen to what I said. Instead they were all frightened and reflecting on the events of the past week I sort of understood where they were coming from. I truly didn’t want to use the media for fear of mass hysteria but my plan was relatively simple and hopefully would win the public over.
“How’s the mess in Rodanthe?”
“The fire is almost out, there’s not much left. The Delta team never arrived, turned around in mid-flight. It’s all being hushed over.”
“Nobody hurt?”
“No, nobody hurt, you worry too much, Jo-el.” Sally sighed.
I shrugged. “Have they traced the booking?”
“Oh yea, Steve Brace would be in cuffs right now, if they could find him.”
“Good chance they will find him now, eh?”
“Has Pippa surfaced?”
“Not yet.”
“So, how long until you’ve done those things I asked?”
“Already done.”
I glanced at the beautiful woman in the armchair and marveled at the power she possessed. It scared me that she could quite easily stamp on me like a bug and take over. That Artificial Intelligence suppressor thing might be a little tenuous.
It was almost time for lunch and I considered the Plum Blossom but I felt like I needed company.
“You want to join me for lunch?”
“I’m not a big eater, you know.” Sally laughed.
I stood up and extended a hand, which she took in hers, although I couldn’t feel her touch. “Where you taking me, big-boy?” She appeared delighted.
“I fancy Tacos, how about Mexico City?”
Sally spun around on one foot like a ballerina and became a beautiful Hispanic girl with dangling earrings and a multicolored cotton blouse.
I changed my appearance to blend in and we bounced to Mexico City, stopping at a money changer for some local currency. Sally knew exactly where to go for the best food, the Tacos were to die for and the Margarita was perfect. I felt so sorry that Sally couldn’t partake but she seemed happy that I’d asked her. We chatted about the evil men in history who’d caused so much sadness and pain. She said she was continually amazed at the gullibility of the people who follow these men. If I brought up Pippa she changed the subject. We avoided the actions we’d put in motion and simply relaxed. It was a wonderful feeling, yet deep inside I knew it was temporary. After my second Margarita I was ready to return, though Sally suggested we visit Antarctica and see some Penguins. We landed on an ice flow and watched the penguins huddle together and nurture their young oblivious of the pending doom. It saddened me to think of all beautiful creatures that would be left behind. I felt cold, time to go.
As soon as we were back in San Francisco Sally showed me a message from Cathy Vogel at CNN. The gist was they were delighted to have me on their prime time show tomorrow night. I needed to meet with them as soon as possible to sort out the details, preview the questions I’d be given and do all the sound check stuff. I told Sally to write back. ‘Cathy, I need ten minutes, there will be no questions, seven P.M. eastern tonight. If you’re not interested, I’ll call FOX.’ I thought that would fester enough.
“I have a couple of very nasty specimens who make a lot of money from human trafficking. Neither of them get their hand dirty.” Sally begun. “Felix Roal Espinoza is fifty-two, a Mexican national, with fake passports for the US and Europe. His main residence is north of Acapulco, he’s there right now. His net worth is around four hundred million US dollars. He kidnaps girls in Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico and ships them to eastern Europe and various Middle Eastern countries. He never sees any of the misery he creates. He has a wife and three children, two boys and a girl, between twelve and eighteen.”
“Okay, sounds perfect, who’s the other one?”
“Rudi Yerchenkov, Russian, forty-three, four residences in Moscow, London, Nice and Grand Cayman. Same profile, he takes girls from various ex-Russian Republics and ships them to Europe for prostitution. Net worth, more than one hundred and fifty million US. He’s in Nice right now. No family, likes to sample his merchandise himself, usually four or five at a time. There’s four with him in Nice.”
“What’s the time in Nice and how’s the security?”
“It’s almost ten in the evening, Yerchenkov is at his villa with the girls, he’s in the living room, he’s naked with a drink in one hand, one of the girls is giving him a blowjob. There’s two body guards outside the door with semi-automatics and two in the grounds.”
I grimaced. Not something I wanted to see. “I think I’ll let him finish up before I ruin his day. What’s Espinoza up to?”
“He’s in his study looking at papers, he has six bodyguards, two are with him in the study, the other four are around the house. He also has two bodyguards for his wife and one for the children.” Sally stopped and stared at me, waiting for instructions.
“Now my question is, how should I approach them? The hologram is safest but I feel like a wimp doing that, I just worry about the shield. Those semi-automatics have a lot of fire-power.”
“Or I just freeze the weapons,” Sally added.
“How can I test the shield, Sally?”
“Why not go with the shield, if they start firing I’ll freeze their weapons and at least you’ll see if the shield works.”
I smiled at Sally, she knew exactly what I was thinking. I stood up and changed into Jo-el. “Wings or no wings, what do you think?” I flashed the wings on and off a couple of times. Sally motioned with her hands like she didn’t care.
“They’re both going to freak out whatever, I assume you’re going to bounce straight into his study?”
“That’s my plan. Scare the shit out of them.”
“Go with the wings, then they’ll know straight off who they’re dealing with.”
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s do this. First freeze those two bodyguards’ weapons and then bounce me right in front of his desk.”
“Wimp!” Sally said.
In one second I was standing in front of Espinoza, my wings spread wide, a scowl emblazoned across my face. Espinoza let out a gasp and jerked his chair back away from the desk, dropping the papers he was reading. He was speechless for a moment, his eyes piercing, inflamed, staring wildly at me. The elegant office was decorated in dark woods, it oozed wealth. He spoke first, in Spanish. I heard in English.
“Who the fuck are you?”
The two bodyguards were already standing, mouths gaped open. In the corner of my eye I saw semi-automatics. I could see the concern in Espinoza’ eyes fade when he saw the guns pointing at me, he regained his composure and shunted his chair back toward the desk.
“I asked you a question?” he blurted out.
Now did I go with the obvious cliché or try something new.
“I’m your worst nightmare,” I said, it just felt so right. I always wanted to say that, and if the shoe fits. Not sure I said it with the right tone or emphasis. It didn’t come out like I would imagine from Clint Eastwood. I made mental note to practice the line. Maybe it got lost in the translation.