I’d love a cup of coffee.”
“Don’t do anything to screw me up, Nick.”
“I won’t. Take your time with that coffee.”
Her face was impassive but there was a glint in her eyes. “I may need to brew a fresh pot. Might take me a while.”
* * *
MAURICIO WAS leaning back in a metal chair behind a Formica-topped table, looking bored. When he recognized me, he slowly grinned a broad smile of victory.
“I’m not talking, man. I got the … the imunidade diplomática.”
“So as soon as the legal attaché from the Brazilian consulate shows up, you’re a free man. You go home. That it?”
“That’s how it works, man. It’s all good.”
“Excellent,” I said. “I like that.”
He found this amusing. “You like that, huh?” He laughed.
I did too. “Oh, yeah. Definitely. Because out there, you don’t have any diplomatic immunity.”
His smile dimmed a few clicks.
“As soon as they let you go,” I said, “it’s going to be like tossing a handful of chum into a shark tank. Gonna be a feeding frenzy out there. The water’s going to be churning and the sharks are going to be circling.”
“Don’t try to threaten me.”
“Think about this. The guys that hired you? They’re going to assume you told us everything.”
A quick headshake. “I don’t cooperate with FBI.”
“You’re far too modest about all the help you’ve given us.”
“I don’t say nothing to the FBI. I don’t say nothing to nobody.”
“Sure you did.” I pulled out his Nokia mobile phone and showed it to him. “You gave us a phone number, for one. And the U.S. government is extremely grateful to you. In fact, I’m going to personally see to it that we issue you a commendation for all your help to U.S. law enforcement.”
“No one believe I talk,” he said. But he didn’t sound so confident anymore. He’d assumed I was with the FBI, and I didn’t plan to correct the impression.
“Yeah? I wonder what they’ll think when I leave a message on your voice mail giving you the name of your regular contact here at the Bureau. Telling you how to arrange our next meeting. Maybe talking about how you’ll be wearing a wire next time you meet with your Colombian friends.”
I could see the blood drain from his face.
“I hope you know they’ve got your line tapped,” I said. “They probably cloned your cell phone too.”
He shook his head, jutted his lower lip, feigning skepticism, but I could see I’d gotten to him.
“Ever hear what they do to people who betray them?”
“They not gonna kill me.”
“True,” I said. “They like to torture and mutilate first. They like to drag it out. You’ll wish they’d kill you, what I hear. They have a saying, ‘You can’t get a positive identification of a body from a torso.’” I paused for effect. “That’s why they like to cut off the hands and feet and head. Of course, they’re wrong. You can get a positive identification from a torso. It just takes a little longer.”
Mauricio’s brown eyes had gone flat and dull, and terror was contorting his facial muscles.
“Maybe your daddy can pull in some favors and get them to go easy on you, hmm?”
His larynx worked up and down. He was trying to swallow, but his mouth had gone dry. It looked like a sock was stuck in his throat.
“But you know what?” I said. “Today’s your lucky day. Because I’m prepared to offer you a special deal. Great terms too. You tell us what we want to know, and you’ll never hear from us again. No thank-you notes. No friendly calls. You might even live.” I waited a beat. “It’s all good.”
“What do you want?” he whispered, his voice cracking.
“A name. The name of the guy who hired you to pick up the girl.”
“I told you—”
“A full description. Height. Eye color. How he contacted you in the first place. Where you delivered the … ‘package’… to them.”
“I don’t know the name, man,” he whispered. “He was some big dude, real strong. Real scary.”
He was telling the truth now, I was convinced. His terror had yanked away his habitual scrim of dishonesty. He had just one objective, which was to stay alive. Not to protect his employers. He wasn’t going to hold anything back from me.
“Did he tell you why he wanted the girl?”
“He just told me to pick her up and give her this drug and hand her over—”
I heard what sounded like footsteps approaching, voices becoming louder. Mauricio heard it too. He froze, looked at the