"You promised he would come back!"
"I promised he would be all right," Tony pointed out. He went into the bedroom, set his suitcase in a corner, and began undressing. "I'm worn out, Tela," he said. "I need a hot shower and a few hours sleep. I want you to contact all the captains and arrange a meeting for ten o'clock this morning. I will explain everything then."
"You have no authority to call a meeting," she bristled. "Only Monte can call a meeting."
"I speak for Monte," he said, handing her a folded sheet of paper. It read: 'To all captains— Obey Antonio Marcala's instructions as you would my own.' It was signed, 'Monte Copan.'
The note only made Tela seethe. "Why should I believe this? It could be a forgery, just like the letter from Francisco!"
"Tela, Tela, Tela," he said tolerantly, "what am I to do with you? It is said that we all have a cross to bear; you must be mine." He looked at her as she paced agitatedly around in bikini panties and a tank top in which she had been sleeping. "I could become very upset with you if you weren't so cute in your underwear."
As she glared irately at him, Tony finished undressing, stepped into the shower, and turned on the water. Tela watched him stand with his head bent under the spray, arms braced against the wall, his usually groomed face haggard, the muscular, toned body she remembered from their lovemaking now lax with fatigue. He's thrashed, she thought, really whipped. Quickly she stripped her bed and from a dresser drawer took fresh sheets and spread them in place, turning them back neatly, invitingly. She put fresh cases on the pillows and fluffed one up for him. She lighted a fat, scented candle on the nightstand and turned out all the lights in the apartment. And she turned on her little bedside radio and tuned it to the softest music she could find. Then she sat cross legged on the bed and waited for him.
When Tony came out of the bathroom, still drying himself with one of her multicolored towels, he saw what she had prepared for him and smiled a tired but pleased smile.
"Maybe," he said, "you are not my cross to bear, after all. Maybe you are an angel sent to care for me. What do you think?"
"I don't know what I am with you," she said unguardedly. "The only thing I am sure of with you is that I am very confused."
Tony dried his hair a little, tossed the towel back into the bathroom, and stretched out on his stomach on the bed. "I am so tired, Tela— so very tired—"
Immediately he was asleep, soundly, deeply. Tela looked over at the suitcase he had set in the corner. She should probably search it, she thought, for some clue to what was going on, to who he really was,
what
he really was. But she decided not to. For tonight she did not want to know anything except that he was there and that he needed her.
Tela pulled a sheet up to his shoulders, slipped under it, and blew out the candle. She lay up against him very closely so that if he awoke he would know she was there.
* * *
Tela arranged the meeting with the captains as Tony had asked her to do, and at ten o'clock they were all gathered in the back room of the El Salvador Relief Association offices. Tony's letter of authority from Monte was passed around for all of them to read.
"There's something very odd about this," Perico said bluntly. "I don't like this one little bit, Amelia." He asked Monte's wife, "Is this truly Monte's handwriting?"
Amelia glanced at Tela, then Tony, and shrugged nervously. "It
looks
like Monte's writing."
"I think we have to accept it as such," said Benito, "unless we can prove that it is not."
"I agree," Reynaldo said. "How do you feel about it, Tela?"
Tela shook her head. "I don't know. I'm not sure. I'm not sure of anything."
Tony stood up at the head of the table. "Let me tell you what Monte and I have been doing for the past ten days. Perhaps that will do away with some of your worry. There is a term in business called 'reengineering.' It means to reorganize and restructure a business operation so that it functions more efficiently and more effectively, and ultimately more profitably. That is what Monte and I have started doing for Mara Salva."
Tony walked along one wall where there were various maps. "From now on," he said, "we will discontinue concentrating our automobile procurement exclusively in southern California. That is far too risky and at some point will create an obvious pattern that both local and federal law enforcement will begin to track. Instead, we will expand our operation into the metro areas of Phoenix, Albuquerque, and El Paso. Armando, you will be in charge of California and Arizona; Benito, you will have New Mexico and Texas.
"We have purchased small auto body repair and painting shops in each of the three cities I mentioned, as well as in San Diego. There will be no more license plate switching from cars of the same make, model, and color; the risk of getting caught at that is too high— and, again, it begins to create a pattern. Instead, we will simply bring the cars that we select to the nearest shop that we own, and they will be painted the same day. We will have a list of colors of cars that are not to be taken; these are the colors we will then paint them.
"As soon as the cars are dry, they will be driven immediately to Tucson, Arizona. In transit, they will still carry the original plates they had on them. Highway patrols do not check plate numbers unless the color of the car matches the color reported stolen. Ours will no longer match.
"Once in Tucson, the cars will be taken to a newly formed company called Ari-Mex Auto Exporting Company. This is a legitimate firm owned by a parent company called Salvadoran-American. Incorporated, a Delaware corporation formed through the mail last week. Ruben, you will run Ari-Mex. The firm will legitimately purchase automobiles for export to Mexico; the cars that we acquire other than by purchase will be merged with the legitimate purchases. Two auto transport trucks, each with a capacity of eight cars, have been purchased for this exporting. Monte will select eight Mara Salva members to be sent to long-haul highway truck drivers school to learn to operate these trucks.
"From Tucson, the cars will be transported into Mexico at the Nogales port of entry. We will have legitimate certificates of title for the purchased vehicles: counterfeit COTs for the others will have come up by courier from the printer in Hermosillo, whose business is now called Salvo Printing, and is a subsidiary of Salvadoran-American, Inc., and he is a member of our board of directors— as, incidentally, all of you will also in time become.
"After entering Mexico at Nogales, the auto transport trucks, which will leave on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays of each week, will drive one thousand miles south along the Mexican limited-access toll highway, Route 15, to the Pacific seaport of Mazatlan. There they will be loaded onto freighters belonging to the Lago Shipping Company, in which SA. Inc., now owns a sixty percent share. Reynaldo, you will become general manager of Lago Shipping's office and berths in Mazatlan.
"From Mazatlan, the vehicles will go by sea approximately fourteen hundred nautical miles south to the Salvadoran port of Puerto Cutuco. There, they will be off-loaded and driven individually to either Santa Ana in the north, San Miguel in the south, or the suburbs of the capital, Nueva San Salvador. Reynaldo, you will have an assistant who will be in charge of Lago Shipping's new offices and berths in Puerto Cutuco.
"In each of the cities just mentioned, SA, Inc., through another subsidiary called U.S. Cars, owns a used-car dealership which we just put into operation last week. We are, as required by Salvadoran law, in partnership with a Salvadoran company, that being the Liberdad Holding Company, a firm formed by a retired army general for the express purpose of expediting foreign investment. We have made him a director of U.S. Cars and he will receive generous compensation for his assistance. He is, of course, our enemy, and not to be trusted, but we will use him as we must.
"Since we will now be retailing the cars ourselves, profits will no longer have to be shared with any middlemen, and more can be diverted into other profitable ventures which will ultimately generate more funds with which to buy arms. To that end, our Delaware corporation will open a branch office in one of the modern, new high-rise office buildings in San Salvador. Monte will have an office there, and both Amelia and Tela will work there. I will have offices in the same building, for another subsidiary to be known as Delaware Investments, Limited, a secondary corporation under SA, Inc., which will invest profits from U.S. Cars in other ventures. For instance, I am already looking into a balsam forest in the Chula region, because balsam resin is now being used extensively in the manufacture of cosmetics. I am also looking at stock in a new hydroelectric plant being planned."
Tony walked back to his chair and sat down. The others were stone silent, obviously overwhelmed by what they had heard, more so because it applied to them, and because this business wizard sent to them from the grave of Francisco Barillas could recite it all without notes or papers or figures of any kind. They felt like kindergartners on the first day of school.
"I know it all sounds very complicated." Tony said to allay some of their unease, "but I assure you that no one will be required to do anything that he or she has not been trained to do. Temporary consultants will be in place to teach each of you everything you need to know about the responsibilities you will have and how to cope with them." He looked around the table. "Does anyone have any questions?"
"I do," Tela said. "What about Perico?"
"Perico?"
"Yes. Perico and I are the two who have been against you all along. You mentioned a place for me and for everyone else in the room, except Perico. What about him?"
Tony shrugged. "I have no information about Perico. Monte made all the assignments among you; I merely described the various jobs and what they would entail. Monte did not mention Perico to me."
"And you did not inquire?"
"It is not my place to inquire about matters involving Mara Salva
people
. I am a business consultant, not a revolutionist."
"Perhaps, then," Perico said, speaking for himself for the first time, "you do not belong among us."
"That," Tony countered, meeting Perico's cold stare with one of his own, "is a matter for you to take up with Monte. Unless, of course, you wish to overthrow him in his absence. Perhaps you would like to take a vote among the people here to challenge the leadership passed on to him by Francisco Barillas?"
Perico's stare turned into a look of open malevolence. He would kill me here and now, Tony thought, if he could get away with it. But the others, including the always mercurial Tela, were staring at their comrade with expressions that said he dare not try to seize control from Monte Copan.
Finally, after a deep breath of resignation, Perico yielded. "I will await my orders from Monte," he said quietly.
"Good," Tony nodded curtly, and rose. "Monte will return from San Salvador in two or three days and begin putting everything in order here. I will attend to some financial matters today and will go back down there on this evening's flight. Tela, Monte has given permission for you to accompany me, to assist in setting up the new offices in San Salvador. You have a valid passport, do you not?"
"Ah— yes, I do," Tela replied hesitantly, perhaps even suspiciously.
"Good. Amelia, will you please arrange for two first-class tickets to be held at the AeroMexico check-in counter?"
"Yes, Tony," Amelia said. It was the same tone she used when speaking to Monte.
"I guess the meeting is over, then," Tony said. "Tela, I'll pick you up at your place at six for the flight. You'll be ready?"
"I'll be ready, Tony," she said.
Tony frowned. There was something about the way she said it, something in her voice, an intonation or pitch, that he had never heard before, or at least never noticed. But her expression was inscrutable; nothing in her eyes told him anything.
"Okay, see you then," he said, and left.
* * *
At four o'clock that afternoon, Tony came out of the Los Angeles federal building with another man. They stood at the top of the steps for several moments, talking, then shook hands. The other man went back inside and Tony came down the steps and walked to the parking lot. Before he reached his car, Tela stepped from the doorway where she had been watching and fell in beside him. He felt the muzzle of a gun against his side, concealed by a sweater she carried over her arm.
"Don't make me kill you in public, on a parking lot," she said.
Halting, Tony replied, "I'm not going to make you kill me anywhere, Tela. You followed me?"
"I had you followed."
"Not Armando and Benito again? I would have spotted them."
"No. A loyal young couple with a baby, whom you had never seen. They watched you go into the FBI office, then called me. So, you were an agent all along?"
"Yes."
She prodded him with the gun. "Walk to your car."
In the car, Tela had him leave the Civic Center and drive back toward East L.A.
