White Cargo (32 page)

“Finally, and most important, I must tell you that I do not tolerate the use of drugs here. I do not, in fact, tolerate the use of drugs by anyone associated with me, and you gentlemen were chosen, in part, because you are not users. Still, someone may have slipped through my net of inquiries, and I warn you now—and I am perfectly
serious—I will unceremoniously shoot the first person who is caught using drugs.

“But now, ladies and gentlemen, dinner is served. You will find a place card at each seat.” Prince waved an arm and yet another set of huge doors opened to reveal an enormous dining room with a single, long table.

Cat hung back with Meg and watched Dell shuffle into the dining room with the others. “That's my son, Dell,” he told her. “We haven't gotten along for several years. He's here as a buyer, and I can't promise you he won't turn us in, but we've got to take the chance.”

“Oh, swell,” Meg said, quietly.

“Something else,” he whispered. “Jinx doesn't know either of us is here, and I don't want her to see us without warning, if I can help it. I don't know if we'll be sitting together, but try to get near her and tell her both Dell and I are here, so she'll have some warning. If you can, find out where her room is and how we might meet.”

“Right,” Meg said.

They entered the dining room to discover that everyone had gathered along one wall, which was of glass, with a door at one end. Cat and Meg followed the crowd. Behind the plate glass was a patch of jungle, brought indoors. There was a lot of greenery, and a small stream ran through the scene. Then Cat saw what everyone was looking at. Resting on a limb of a tree, parts of its body dangling, was the largest snake he had ever seen. “Christ,” he said, involuntarily.

“It's an anaconda,” Meg said. “I've seen one before, a much smaller one.”

The huge reptile seemed oblivious of its audience, and the crowd gradually drifted to the table, looking for place cards.

Meg found hers, then Cat found his, across the table and half a dozen places down, near the center of the table. Dell, he saw was on Meg's side, near the end. Dell's expression was vacant, but he seemed calm. Then he saw Jinx take her seat, two down from Meg. Good, he thought, Meg might be able to speak to her. Then Denny took the seat between them.

Cat was in clear view of Jinx, and that worried him. Still, his appearance had changed. When Jinx had last seen him, his hair had been longer, his beard full, and he had weighed an extra fifty pounds. But Jinx would remember when he was slimmer and clean-shaven, back when she was in her early teens. Then she looked directly at him.

He looked away, then stole another glance at her. She had not reacted. Denny said something to her, but she ignored him, and he looked annoyed. Pointedly, she turned away and took up a conversation with the man on her other side.

Someone sat down next to Cat. Absorbed with watching Jinx, he ignored the man, until he spoke.

“Lovely, isn't she?” the man asked.

Cat turned and found Prince sitting next to him. “Yes, she is,” he said. Then, after a moment: “How do you persuade such a beautiful girl to come to the middle of a jungle?” Cat wanted to pick up his fork and plunge it into the man's face.

Prince smiled, revealing white, evenly spaced teeth. “Oh, there are all sorts of attractions. You're Southeast, aren't you?”

It took Cat a moment to figure out what he meant. “Oh, yes. I'm Bob Ellis.” They shook hands.

“Well, Bob, we're going to make you rich.”

“I'm already rich,” Cat replied.

Prince laughed aloud. “Of course you are. After all, you've paid a million dollars for a week's stay at a jungle resort, haven't you?”

“That's right.”

“Tell me, Bob, what is it you want that you don't already have?”

Cat smiled a little smile. “I want to be as rich as you are,” he said.

Prince laughed again. “I like that,” he said. “I like ambition. You'll do well, Bob, you'll do well.”

Cat nodded toward the glass case across the room. “That's an anaconda, is it?”

“Indeed it is. The largest one ever captured. Some Indians who were working to clear the land here caught it. It seemed a pity to kill it, so we built it some accommodation.”

“What do you feed it?”

“Small animals; the odd man.”

Cat couldn't tell if Prince was serious.

Soup came, and they began to eat.

“Tell me,” Cat said, “how did I happen to be seated next to the Anaconda?”

“Luck of the draw, I guess,” Prince replied. “I didn't ask for anybody in particular.”

“I'm hurt,” Cat said. “I thought you'd chosen me.”

“Well, you see, I don't know anybody here, except my staff, of course, so I wouldn't have had a preference. I understand, though, that you brought someone with you.”

“Yes, my business partner.”

“Well chosen,” Prince said, gazing at Meg. “If she's as bright as she is attractive.”

“She is.” Cat had a sudden thought. “Do you play tennis?”

“I do,” Prince replied.

“Well, Meg and I make quite a mean mixed doubles team,” Cat replied. He nodded toward Jinx. “Perhaps you and your young lady will give us a match. Does she play?”

Prince nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, indeed, quite well. Tomorrow morning at eight? I like to rise early; the heat gets up later.”

“Eight is fine. I have a feeling I'd better stay sober tonight”

Prince laughed again. The main course arrived, and he turned to talk with the man on his other side.

Cat glanced toward Jinx and discovered that her chair was empty. So was Meg's. Cat had an almost overpowering urge to go and look for them, but he made himself concentrate on his food, which was excellent. Five minutes later Jinx returned to her seat. She did not look his way and immediately began talking to the man next to her. Soon Meg returned, and she didn't look at him, either. She looked preoccupied.

Prince stood. “Now, my friends, if you have finished your coffee, we will adjourn. For those of you who would like a little nightlife, the discotheque is only a two-minute walk, and we have a little floor show for you.”

Cat met Meg at the end of the table, and they followed the flow of the crowd out of the room. “What happened?” he demanded. “Did you talk to her?”

“I don't understand,” Meg said. “Are you really sure that's Jinx?”

“What are you talking about? Of course I'm sure!”

“Well, this is very odd.”

“What?”

“We were alone together in the ladies' room upstairs. I
began telling her about you and Dell, and she didn't understand a word, until I switched to Spanish. The girl is South American.”

“That's impossible.”

“I can't quite get a handle on her accent. It's odd. Does Jinx speak Spanish?”

“Well, she studied it in school, but I don't see how she could speak it very well.”

Meg sighed. “Look, if you had been kidnapped by a drug baron, and suddenly somebody walked up to you and said your dad was downstairs, wouldn't you react? She said, in Spanish, she didn't know what I was talking about, then she walked away. Are you absolutely sure that is your daughter?”

“Meg, I'm telling you, that is Jinx. Don't you think I'd know her?”

Meg didn't look at him. “I'm beginning to wonder,” she said.

C
AT SHOOK
M
EG AWAKE
.

“What time is it?” she mumbled.

“Seven-thirty; we've got a tennis date at eight.”

“What?”

“Sorry, I forgot to tell you last night. We're playing with Prince. And Jinx.”

She sat up and rubbed her eyes. “This is ridiculous, you know, all of it. We come down to this jungle camp, which turns out to be a sort of Amazonian Rockresort, to find your daughter, who suddenly speaks nothing but Spanish, who is being held by a drug lord, and we're playing tennis with them.”

“Well, I've never bored you, have I?”

She threw an arm around him and kissed him. “God knows that's true. Listen, I'd throw you down and screw you right now, if I didn't have to play tennis.”

•   •   •

Prince was waiting for them, warming up with Jinx. “Morning,” he called out cheerfully.

“Morning,” Cat called back. “Sorry we're late.” He watched Jinx walk back to Prince's side of the net. A little
heavier, maybe, but it had to be Jinx, he thought. Even her tennis swing fit.

Prince won the serve, lost the first set, six-three. He called Cat to the net. “Listen, you're stronger than we are. Why don't we trade partners? That might make for a better match.”

“Okay,” Cat replied. “Meg, you play with our host.”

He watched Jinx closely as she came around the net. She didn't avoid his eyes, but she gave no sign of recognition. Cat took his time serving, trying to figure out what to do next. They won the game and changed ends. Cat took care to walk next to Jinx. “Listen to me, but don't react,” he said quietly. “I've come to get you out of here, and I need to know where your room is.”

“Qué?”
she said, raising her eyebrows and smiling. “I do not speak English,” she said with a heavy accent. “Do you speak Spanish?”

“For Christ's sake, Jinx, what's the matter with you? It's Daddy, don't you know me?”

They had reached the baseline. She smiled and shrugged, then pointed to herself.

Cat glanced at Prince. He was talking with Meg. “Yes, I've come for you!” he said, trying to keep from shouting.

Now she was pointing at the ball. It was her serve; she wanted the ball.

Cat finished the match in a fog of frustration and bewilderment. Prince and Meg won the next two sets easily. Prince waved them to a little pavilion at courtside. “Have you had breakfast?” he asked. “Join us.”

They served themselves eggs, sausages, and bacon from a nearby buffet, then sat down at a beautifully set table.

“Good match,” Prince said, “but you were a little off your game the second two sets.”

“I guess I'm not awake yet,” Cat said lamely. “Say, how did you choose this site for your factory and . . . all this?” He waved a hand.

“The factory came first,” Prince replied. “I chose the site purely for its remoteness. We got in a chopper one day and left Leticia, just looking. There was a small clearing here, and there's a river not far to the north. We get our water supply from there. We began simply enough, but business was so good, it made sense to build a more permanent setup. Here, we are, for all practical purposes, immune from any intrusion.”

“But surely the place will become known to the authorities eventually.”

“Eventually, yes, I suppose it will,” Prince replied. “But you don't understand the extent to which we have infiltrated the authorities. There is virtually nothing that goes on in the police or the army that I don't know about, and having access to that information is remarkably inexpensive, considering its value.”

“You don't worry about arrest, then?”

“Of course not, but even if any of my people were arrested, they would never come to trial, and if they did come to trial, they would not be convicted, and if they were convicted, they would serve no sentence. There is almost no one who cannot be bought, and the exceptions have a way of disappearing.”

Cat could think of nothing to say. Prince was wrong about the army; he had to be. Cat concentrated on his eggs.

But Prince was not through impressing him. “Let me tell you, Bob, that in another couple of years, we are going to completely control this country.” He sat back and sipped his orange juice. “No person will run for office
without our approval; no official will be appointed, no policeman hired or promoted, no army officer given command, no judge will sit. Not unless I say so. Have you ever thought of what it would be like to have an entire nation at your disposal?”

“No, I haven't,” Cat replied.

“Oh, I don't want to be another Adolf Hitler,” Prince said, waving a hand, “don't get me wrong. I have no interest whatever in politics or the international situation, except as they apply to my business. I don't wish to rule this country, just to control the people who do. And believe me, the people will be much better off when I do.”

“How?” Meg asked. “Are you going to do something for them?”

“Indeed I am,” Prince replied. “This country has a foreign debt of thirteen billion dollars. Not as bad as Brazil or Argentina, but bad enough. We're going to pay that off in one fell swoop.”

Cat gulped.
“Thirteen billion dollars?
How the hell can you pay that off?”

“Our consortium, along with a dozen others, has considerably more worth than that,” Prince said. “And once that debt is paid, Colombian tax dollars can be spent on housing, job training, industrial development, and, above all, drug rehabilitation programs.”

“I'm confused,” Cat said. “Why would you want drug rehabilitation programs in this country?”

“It's very simple,” Prince said, spreading his hands. “A drug problem is very expensive for a nation—it generates violent crime, which requires a large police force and prison system to control. We will eliminate the drug problem very quickly because we control the source of the drugs. Without drugs, there will be no drug problem. We
see the cocaine trade as purely an export business. Five years from now, when you visit this country, there will be general prosperity, the tourist trade will have been revived, the beggars and thieves will be gone from the streets, the bars will have come down from the windows and doors of homes. Colombia will be the pearl of the Western Hemisphere. Believe me, I will make all of this happen.”

“That is a breathtaking plan,” Meg said. “How many people will you have to kill to accomplish this?”