The Cain File Read Free

“Anybody else? Come on, gentlemen. Where I come from it’s bad luck to sign a deal without wetting it first.”
    John Rae stopped a waiter in a white jacket, ordered drinks. They arrived, far too soon for Maggie’s liking, and everyone drank.
    Velox, Li, and Beltran were now checking watches regularly.
    “I hear your pool table was built in Spain in 1792,” John Rae said to Beltran. “I do love the game, but it doesn’t love me. I promise to lose gracefully.”
    Beltran lost his smile. Velox’s was non-existent. Li’s face turned to vinegar.
    “I was telling your assistant here that we have to get to the airport tonight,” Velox said to John Rae. “With the traffic in Quito, we need to leave soon.”
    “I agree,” Beltran said.
    “JT,” Maggie said. “Can I have a quick word with you?”
    “Sure, darlin’,” John Rae said. “Excuse me, gents.” He and Maggie moved off to one side, well away from Velox, Li, and Beltran.
    Maggie said: “I’m starting to smell a rat.”
    “I hate to say this.” John Rae maintained a devil-may-care smile, but his words were the opposite. “But I’m thinking we better bail.”
    “Yes.” Maggie gave a deep sigh. “We’ll never get another shot at it.”
    “No, we won’t. You had to beg to get this, Maggie. And they were reluctant. This was your shot to make good. But, I’m sorry to say, it’s starting to look a little funky. I’ll make up some excuse, tell them we can’t go through with it.”
    In her mind, Maggie saw the bulldozers tearing up ancient trees and the topsoil of the Amazon blowing away. That would only be the start. Entire tribes would be rendered homeless, made extinct. There were two pristine fragments of Amazon rainforest—the lungs of the planet. The Yasuni was one of them. With it gone, that left one lung. And seven billion people needing to breathe through it.
    “Christ, John Rae—it’s not just about me. I want to nail those guys. I want Commerce Oil.”
    Their eyes met. More than a little electricity. “You and me both. But you know the protocol: if Vice fails to show, we can’t move forward with the arrest. We’re not armed. We’ll just have to give ‘em the money, regroup, and report back home. Convince the guys up top to think this warrants another stab down the road.”
    Maggie felt a year’s work slipping away.
    “John Rae, you didn’t come all the way down here to give those bums two million and go back home without a fish. And Commerce Oil is a whale.”
    “I knew you and I were cut from the same cloth.”
    “We can string them along, right up to the signing. If National Vice aren’t here by then, we’ll cancel. I’ll pretend the access codes don’t work.”
    John Rae drank. “You got it.”
    Maggie saw Velox marching over. His smile had a twitch to it.
    “Is there some kind of problem?” he said. “Li’s starting to get antsy. We all are, quite frankly.”
    “None at all,” John Rae said.
    “We had to notify Star Bank and let them know we’re going to be entering the access codes in the next fifteen minutes,” Maggie said.
    “We’ll be right over, Mr. Velox,” John Rae said. “Thank you so much for your patience.”
    Velox huffed mildly and marched back over to Li and Beltran.
    “How am I going to know if Vice are on their way?” Maggie said. “How are you going to communicate that to me?”
    “Right hand on the chin means it’s a go,” John Rae said, demonstrating. “Left means no .”
    “And if we get right up to singing, and it’s still a no? ”
    “Give Beltran the damn money.”
    “That’s about the worst plan I’ve ever heard,” she said.
    “Me too,” John Rae said. “But it’s the official line from head office. No one wants to see anyone get hurt over two measly million.”
    “Two measly million of U.S. taxpayers’ money.”
    “Bottom line, this is a milk run. And I’m not just a pretty face, either.” John Rae flashed one of his winning smiles, patted Maggie’s arm.