She simply stared at him as if she didn’t understand a word.
Then he added a couple of very nasty curses, while he continued smiling, but she only stared at him with both eyebrows risen.
Convinced, he outlined the deal for Raines. A certain number of pallets of fentanyl, delivered to this bar in two weeks exactly, at which time Raines’s boss would bring him half a million dollars in cash. American dollars.
Raines agreed to the amount and the date for the transaction.
An old man at the bar turned to the man in the suit. “Señor, puede ayudarme?” he asked in a hoarse tone. “No tengo ninguno dinero y mi niñita es muy enferma....!”
The bartender grabbed him by the collar and yelled at him not to insult their distinguished guest in such a stupid manner. He didn’t want people coming into the bar and begging for money.
“Por favor. Necesito ayuda!” the old man wailed. Josie knew he was asking for help.
The bartender dragged him to the bar. His hand moved, and there was a sound like a firecracker exploding. The old man clutched his belly and groaned. His open eyes met Josie’s as he fell to the floor.
“Pendejo,” the bartender spat at the dead man. He motioned to another man. “Get it out of here,” he said icily and kicked the body.
As Josie and Raines and the man in the suit watched, the body was carried out the back door. The old man’s daughter was sick. Now she might die, because how would they find out who she was? Josie felt sick to her stomach and didn’t dare show it. The man in the suit made an insulting remark about the stupid old man annoying him with begging when he was trying to do important business.
Raines turned the conversation back to that business, with no indication of sympathy. Josie managed to look bored and not at all concerned that a man had just been killed in front of her. She’d have to find a way to help the old man’s daughter.
Surely, they had somebody down this way who could track her down. But she didn’t dare ask for help now. She couldn’t afford to get involved in a murder, despite the fact that she’d have enjoyed turning the bartender in. This bar was her only link to the drug lord and his henchmen. This was bigger than one death, however callous that sounded.
A few minutes later, Raines and the man agreed on a price, unbelievably millions of dollars, shook hands, and Raines motioned for Josie to follow him out the door.
“Well, did you do the deal?” she asked, not even mentioning the murder that had taken place. Although she would certainly make sure her boss knew, so that he could tell one of theFederales across the border. The killer bartender would face justice, she thought.
“Yes, we did the deal,” he said. “And for less than he expected, but we had him over a barrel,” he chuckled.
“How so?” she asked, pretending ignorance.
“He’s under investigation by his government,” he told her, “so he has to move his product quickly. We get it for less because he’s out of time and he doesn’t have another buyer on the string.”
“So we get more money?” she asked excitedly, smiling.
“We do.”
“How lucky!” she exclaimed. “I guess this long trip wasn’t so bad, huh? Does our boss go with you to deliver the money?”
“He never touches it,” he told her. “That way, if anybody gets caught, it’s us,” he muttered. “We take all the risk, and he takes all the money.”
“That doesn’t sound right,” she said.
“It isn’t right. It’s just the way things are,” he added in a curt tone.
And there, she thought to herself, is a good way to sow discord. Which might work to their advantage when the deal was concluded. Now all she needed was a definite date and place. No way would it be at the bar. She’d already figured that out. Probably Raines had, too.
“It’s just not right,” she sighed, closing her eyes. “I mean, you risk so much, years in jail, and he just walks off with all the money. He doesn’t risk anything.”
Raines glanced at her. Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all.
“Why isn’t Pete around anymore?” she asked out of the blue.
He cleared his throat. “Best not to mention him again.”
“Oh? Why?” she asked absently.
He hesitated. “He was going to turn us in for the reward,” he said after a minute. “So he’s been... neutralized.”
