The Cain File Read Free Page B

10-7
    Maggie stared in disbelief. 10-7 was old CB-radio code for “out of service.” NVC was obviously the National Vice Squad. The vice squad wasn’t going to show after all. John Rae must have gotten some bad information. Or someone was leading him on.
    She typed a quick response: r u sure?
    10-4
    so no go? she typed.
    go ahead and authorize but no pending action will be taken
    Beltran must have found out about the arrest. Cancelled it. But she was supposed to go ahead and give the rat two million dollars of U.S. taxpayer money anyway, and then let him, Li, and Velox go off and trash the Amazon at will.
    k, she typed to Ed. will do
    “Is there some problem?” Beltran said.
    Maggie looked up at the attentive faces watching her.
    “I’m so sorry, gentlemen,” she said. “But I seem to be having problems with the access code. I’m afraid we’ll have to reconvene while I look into it.”
    John Rae squinted at her, trying to read her words.
    She rubbed her chin with her left hand.
    He did a double take, as if to say—really?
    She gave a curt nod.
    “What the hell is going on?” Velox said, bordering on a screech.
    Li and Beltran drilled her with unpleasant stares. John Rae was looking at Maggie with his eyebrows raised.
    “We can’t proceed,” she said to him. Meaning, I’m not going to proceed.
    “I see,” John Rae said, nodding sagely. Then, to Beltran, Velox, and Li: “I hate to say it, gents, but Ms. Marin needs to sort this out. Damn computers, anyway. We were better off when we used a shopping bag full of cash. Can we circle back tomorrow?”
    “No,” Beltran said, his voice rising. “We can’t. I demand an explanation.”
    Li was panic-stricken. Velox was gulping.
    “Make that bank transfer,” Beltran said to Maggie.
    “I wish I could,” she said.
    “I don’t believe you for a moment,” he said. “You’ve been stalling us for an hour. Now do as I say or I’ll have you placed under arrest.”
    “What?” Velox said to Beltran. Li was looking more than uncomfortable.
    “They’re trying to back out of the deal,” Beltran said.
    “Now relax,” Maggie said. “I just need to get another access code. That requires several approvals. I’ll start contacting people, but it’s late. It won’t be ready until tomorrow. Say first thing?”
    Beltran snapped his fingers at the two men by the door. They drew their pistols and came forward. Beltran stared at Maggie with slitted eyes. “Make the transfer,” he said between his teeth.
    “Gentlemen,” John Rae said, drumming his fingers calmly on the table. “And I use the term more loosely than before, because you ain’t gentlemen at all now, are you? What we have here is what is commonly called a Mexican standoff. Sorry for the political incorrectness and all.”
    “Do you really think the National Vice Police are waiting outside?” Beltran said with a smirk. “Who do you think runs this country?”
    John Rae nodded, taking everything in.
    “I’m not sure I like this,” Velox said to Beltran, eyeing the two men with their pistols drawn. “Maybe we do need to make alternate plans.”
    Corruption, Maggie knew, was one thing, but being part of something that involved guns wouldn’t fly with someone like Velox, a well-known American businessman with connections to Commerce Oil. Li, a political figure in China, would probably be less fazed, though he was much less easy to read.
    “They have no intention of making any transfer,” Beltran said to Velox and Li. “Can’t you see that?”
    “Then we need to resume at some other time,” Velox said. “Or cancel altogether. I didn’t authorize anything like this.”
    John Rae said, “We’re not paying you a thing, Beltran. Not tonight.”
    “I beg to differ,” Beltran said and Maggie saw what he was thinking. The payoff slipping away. A drastic change to the oil deal. Quite possibly failure. What would that mean for him? He had scrabbled his whole life to get where he was.
    John Rae