me who you are, I feel certain that you will be more inclined to tell me the truth.?
?I admit that I?ve underestimated you, Don Hererra,? Bourne said.
?Adam, please tell him the truth.? Tracy was clearly terrified for her life.
?I know that you?re a confidence man, just as I know you?ve come to swindle me out of my Goya, which, by the way, Professor Alonzo Pecunia Zu?iga?the real Don Alonzo?has confirmed to me is authentic.? He pointed. ?He has also confirmed that Se?orita Atherton is genuine. How you seduced her into going along with your scheme is between the two of you.? But his expression conveyed his dismay and disappointment at Tracy?s fall from grace. ?My concern is who you are and which of my enemies hired you to con me.?
Tracy shivered. ?Adam, for God?s sake??
Hererra cocked his head. ?Come, come, Se?or Con Man, you have forfeited your right to scare the young lady.?
It was time for him to act, Bourne knew that. He also knew that the situation was on a razor?s edge. Hererra was the wild card. On the surface it seemed unlikely that such a polished gentleman of Seville would actually direct the young man to pull the trigger. However, Hererra?s black-hands work in the oil fields of Colombia belied his current gentlemanly identity. At heart, he might still be that rough-and-tumble man who fought, finessed, and bullied his way to a fortune in the oil industry. A man didn?t successfully do business with the Tropical Oil Company without a heart as hard as mahogany, and without spilling some blood. In any event, it was not for Bourne to gamble with Tracy?s life.
?You?re right, Don Hererra. My apologies,? Bourne said. ?Now to the truth: I was hired by one of your enemies, but not to take the Goya from you.?
Tracy?s eyes opened even wider.
?I came up with this ruse to get in to see you.?
Hererra?s eyes glittered as he drew up a chair to sit in front of Bourne. ?Continue.?
?My name is Adam Stone.?
?Forgive me if I?m skeptical.? He snapped his fingers. ?Passport. And use your left hand. You don?t want to alarm Fausto, believe me.?
Bourne did. With the tips of the fingers on his left hand, he produced his passport, which Hererra scrutinized as if he were a special agent from immigration.
As he handed back the document, he said, ?All right, Se?or Stone, what are you??
?I?m a freelance specialist in let us say hardware of a special nature.?
Hererra shook his head. ?Now you?ve lost me.?
?Don Hererra, you know a Balinese merchant by the name of Wayan.?
?I do not.?
Bourne made a show of ignoring the lie. ?I work for the people who supply Wayan.?
?Adam, what is this?? Tracy said. ?You told me you were interested in seed money for an e-commerce start-up.?
At this, Hererra sat back, contemplating Bourne in, it seemed, an entirely new light. ?It seems, Se?orita Atherton, that Adam Stone lied to you as easily as he did to me.?
Bourne knew he?d made a desperate gamble. He?d calculated that the only way to take control of the situation was to astonish the Colombian. In this, it appeared, he?d been successful.
?The question is why??
Bourne saw his chance to tip the scales in his favor. ?The people who hired me?the people who supply Wayan??
?I told you I don?t know anyone named Wayan.?
Bourne shrugged. ?The people I work for know better. They don?t like the way you?re doing business. In fact, they want you out of it completely.?
Don Hererra laughed. ?Fausto, do you hear this, do you hear this man?? He hunched forward so his face was close to Bourne?s. ?Are you threatening me, Stone? Because the air in my house is vibrating in such a way.?
Now there was a stiletto in his hand. The hilt was inlaid with jade, the long blade as tapered as Hererra?s own fingers. He tipped the blade forward until the point touched the skin above Bourne?s Adam?s apple.
?You should know I don?t take kindly to threats.?
?What happens to me is irrelevant,? Bourne said.
?The se?orita?s blood will be on your hands.?
?Surely you know how powerful my employers are. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen.?
?Unless I change my business practices.?
Bourne felt the shift in Hererra?s thinking even before he said it. He was no longer denying his business in arms shipping. ?That?s correct.?
Don Hererra sighed and made a sign to Fausto, who removed the muzzle and holstered the Beretta at the small of his back. Then he threw the stiletto onto the