This is where the story starts moving faster, Consul, because the next thing that happened, sometime later, was that Andrés Felipe called me one afternoon, sounding very nervous, and said, I have to see you, precious, all right? go to room 507 of the Hotel Charleston, I’m registered under the name Boris Salcedo, can you come now? When I got there, he was a bundle of nerves: they were accusing him of having links with the paramilitaries, because in a joint operation of the police and the Secret Service one of Don Fermín’s people had been arrested with a computer on which his name appeared, as a contact, and the press already had hold of it, you remember Don Fermín, the one with the ranch in Antioquia? He said that going to that fucking house had been a mistake, that he’d been following orders, that not only the press was on to it but also the prosecutor’s department, that in addition Don Fermín had given them three days to solve the problem or he’d start to talk, and the president was nervous; the advisers had told him that the best thing to do was burn him, me! Andrés Felipe cried, doing a line of coke, can you imagine? what my colleagues are suggesting is to throw me to the wolves, the sons of bitches, saying that I met with Don Fermín of my own accord to get money, they tell me the government will stand by me to protect me, and my family, but I have to declare that I went of my own accord, can you imagine? it could mean ten or more years in prison and the end of my career, what am I going to do afterwards? what’s going to happen to my wife and children? that’s why I wanted to talk to you, precious, I’m going to refuse to make a statement, I’m going to defend myself, but since you came with me it’s likely they’re going to look for you, they’re going to ask you to inform on me, they’re going to offer you things or maybe even threaten you, I don’t know, that’s why I want you to leave the country for a while, if you need money I’ll give it to you, and I said to him, well, of course, Andrés Felipe, of course I need it, and he said, look, in that case I have ten thousand dollars, take it but go somewhere else, now, today, and then I asked him, and what did I do wrong? and he said, nothing, but you were there, precious, nothing’s going to happen to you, it’s just in case they look for you and question you, but if anything bad happens to me, then I want you to remember that when we got back in the helicopter that night, I went directly to the Palace to report on the meeting, do you remember that? and I said, yes, of course, you left me in a taxi, and he said, perfect, the best thing is not to have to say anything at all, but if you do you can’t forget how it was, right? go somewhere, wait for the heat to die down.
He gave me a hug, did two lines of coke, and I asked him, have you already gone into hiding or what? and he said, no, what’s happening is that I can’t make appointments anywhere, I don’t know what to do, I thought to make a statement to the press from here, my lawyer is coming to talk with me later and then we’ll decide, but I wanted to sort things out with you first, did you tell anyone on Don Fermín’s ranch your name? and I said, no, not as far as I remember, and he said, thank God for that, that means it’ll be harder for them to locate you, well, precious, good luck and don’t contact me by cell phone, delete my number and all my calls, okay?
I left feeling nervous and making calculations, what might happen to me? I assumed that Víctor might help, after all he was in the Secret Service, so I sent him a letter, which was the only way, and wrote to him, what’s up, stranger? It worked, and the next day he called me, hi, princess, shall I send someone to pick you up? I said yes, I’ll be at the Metro Riviera, and when he saw me he said, the thing is, the heat’s on right now, I think Piedrahita is going to be out on the street all week, they’re really nervous upstairs, I stole a little moment to see you, princess, but I’m going to have to work later, I’m on a stakeout, and I licked his neck and said, don’t scare me, Víctor, who are you following that’s so dangerous? and he said, no, he isn’t dangerous, he’s a white-collar son of a bitch the chief wants to turn, that’s what they told me, we have to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid, and of course, that got me worried, a white-collar son of a bitch? it had to be Andrés Felipe, and if they’re following him they must surely have seen me going in to the Charleston and even heard what we were talking about, but it struck me as strange that Víctor should be so calm with me, so I didn’t say anything more and concentrated on what I was doing, a classic fuck, and when we’d finished and he was taking a shower I saw his cell phone vibrate several times, so I stretched over to see the screen and two capital C’s flickered on it, CC, just that, once and once again. He dressed quickly, gave me a roll of dollars, and we did a couple of lines of coke; then he saw his phone and said, hey, wait, princess, this is urgent, and dialed and I heard him say, yes, yes, oh, fuck, seriously? okay, wait for me there, have you got everything recorded? no? good, I don’t give a damn about them, and he said to me, I have to rush, princess, we need to look for a girl who talked with the man, oh, God, this is starting to smell fishy, how many times have I told you, this country is full of bad people.
We left the motel and he dropped me at Seventh and 140th. I was dying of panic, convinced that girl was me. I started to list what Víctor knew about me, and was relieved to realize he knew almost nothing, not even my name, just my cell phone number, which since it was for this work I’d bought using false papers. But they’d have a description or photographs: of the hotel, of the helicopter that took us to the ranch. I’d have to be very careful.
I felt scared for Manuel and my parents, what would happen if they went to the house? Víctor and his chief and Secret Service guys in general weren’t so fussy, I had to act fast. Then I remembered the offer from the former Miss Colombia. To go to Japan for a year, let things cool down, and then send for Manuel. It was the only solution, but I needed to talk with someone. I was alone, what to do? For some reason a light went on in my brain and I thought, Alfredo the lawyer! he could tell me how serious the problem was and if it was worth going. I didn’t have his number and I didn’t want to call the former Miss Colombia, so I went straight to his house. Seeing me, the doorman remembered, and immediately lifted the receiver of the entry phone.
He told me to follow him. Alfredo was waiting for me in the elevator, very surprised. To what do I owe this miracle? he said, and I said, I have to talk to you, you’re the only person I can trust, I have a problem, I’m sorry, if you’re busy I can wait, and he said, don’t worry, come, would you like a drink? and I said, yes, please, anything at all, a double, and I started telling him my life story, look, I’m this and this and that’s why I got involved with a guy from the Secret Service and then with people from Congress and the government, and that’s why I ended up in this and that; I told him about the visit to Don Fermín’s ranch and he opened his eyes wide, Fermín Jaramillo? and I said, I suppose so, I didn’t ask him his full name, and Alfredo said, damn it, wait, I’ll show you a photograph, he looked for a newspaper and showed it to me, is this him? I said yes, it is, I was on his ranch with the adviser I told you about, and Alfredo, looking increasingly grave, continued listening to the story, and I ended with Víctor, and I said, I think they’re looking for me, I don’t know what I did that was so bad, that’s what scares me the most, not knowing, and he said, well, it isn’t a crime to go as someone’s companion, you don’t work for the government, the problem isn’t the law but those who are covering their tracks and trying to protect this adviser. Andrés Felipe? I asked, and he said, yes, the press are investigating contacts between the government and the paramilitaries, the secret pacts, and that young man has become key to the whole business, the likeliest thing is that they’ll put pressure on him to plead guilty and say he acted alone, that’s what they always do, that’s why your problem isn’t with the law, let’s say, with the legal law, but with the law of those guys and the government, who do what they have to in order to protect themselves. It wouldn’t surprise me if they made up some sordid affair your friend was supposedly involved in that would make the visit to Don Fermín seem unimportant.