I can’t help but squeal. “That’s forty thousand bucks.” I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that much cash in one place.
Tyler goes for the papers while I go for the passports. They’re blue with a gold crest, very similar to the U.S. passport, but it says REPÚBLICA FEDERATIVA DO BRASIL. I open the first one and it’s Thomas’s picture but the name is listed as Rafael Costa. I hold it up to show Tyler, “Look, meet Rafael.”
He glances at it quickly but seems more concerned with the papers he’s reading. I lean over so I can see what it is, but he hands it to me instead.
I start reading but I don’t know what it is.
“Those are wire transfers. From five or so different banks into five or so different accounts under the same name on the passport.”
I read the papers again and see lots of different names all transferring money to the same person: Rafael Costa.
“I don’t get it,” I say.
Then Tyler hands me another sheet. It’s written in Spanish. Or Portuguese, I guess, if this is from Brazil.
“I can’t read this.”
He points to the top and says, “I can read some of it. It’s a deed for a piece of property. In Rio.”
I look down at the second passport, but Tyler grabs it before I can. He opens it up and I can tell immediately it’s not for him since his face drains of color.
“He’s leaving you behind, isn’t he?”
He’s got a death grip on the passport. “There has to be another one in here. He wouldn’t leave me behind. He wouldn’t!” He searches the brown envelope but it’s empty.
There’s nothing else inside so he moves back to the file drawer, throwing papers out as he searches, still clutching the second passport.
He’s doing that crazy back and forth swaying thing again.
He’s losing it. Fast.
Tyler slams the file drawer closed and screams, “I can finally see just where I fit. Nowhere!”
He throws the passport down and it lands near my leg, but all of a sudden I’m scared to pick it up.
“Go ahead. Look.”
I pick it up and open it to the page with the picture. Agent Parker’s smiling face is staring back at me. Or should I say Mariana Costa’s.
Rules for disappearing
by Witness Protection prisoner #18A7R04M:
It’s risky hanging out with a bunch of amateurs.
New rule by Anna Boyd:
It’s riskier hanging out with your psycho ex-boyfriend and his assassin brother.
see her face but I can’t process what it means. She’s dead. Thomas killed her in the woods and left her body there.
“She’s the mole,” I say, and the moment it leaves my lips I know I’m right. “And they’re leaving town—new identities, the money, the property….”
He nods and shoves the money, papers, and passports back in the envelope. “Yes. Looks that way. Apparently he’snottaking over once Vega is gone. And it doesn’t look like I’ll be traveling with them.”
“But…but…I don’t understand,” I stammer out. “She was in the back of the van. Her face was a wreck. She was so scared.”
“She must be a very good actress.”
