Code Name: Camelot (Noah Wolf #1)(74)

Pablo nodded, and this time his smile was more genuine. “Then I believe we are talking about the same woman,” he said. “It is very possible that I have access to what you seek, but I do not handle such things personally. In fact, the actual material is not far from your Dragon, in the same city. If we can come to an agreement on the price, delivery can be arranged in a direct manner. Would that be satisfactory?”

Noah shrugged. “I would have to check with my contact, and see what the client has to say.”

Pablo nodded. “Then we’ll meet again, this time tomorrow. You may tell your client that the price would be twelve million dollars. If that is satisfactory, then be sure you have the ability to transfer the funds when we meet tomorrow. If it is not, then do not return to this bar.”

Noah raised his bottle, as if proposing a toast. “Tomorrow, then,” he said, and then he reached into his pocket and took out several hundred-dollar bills. He gave two of them to Felicita, then rose and walked over to the bar and gave one to Eduardo. He left without saying another word, and Felicita hurried out the door behind him. A moment later, she came back alone.

Pablo called her over. “Your gringo no longer wishes your company?”

The girl smiled. “He told me that he will see me here tomorrow,” she said, and then she looked over at Eduardo. “He also told me to ask you to have a figure in mind for which he could buy me from you. He says he wants to take me back to America, and marry me.”

Eduardo’s eyes became as big as the moon. “And is this what you wish? To be sold like a dog, like a pet?”

Felicita looked smug. “If he wishes to marry me, I do not care how he obtains me. Will you give him a price?”

“Of course he will,” Pablo said. “If this gringo does return, and wishes to buy your freedom, and if he and I conclude our business satisfactorily, then the price will be named. Perhaps I shall even pay it myself, and give you to him as a gift.”





TWENTY-FIVE

Outside the bar, Noah had walked calmly down the street. He stopped at the first corner, and looked around as if trying to determine which direction he needed to go, but that was just a ruse to allow him to be sure he was not being followed. Once he had sent the girl back inside, he was fairly certain that everyone there would be involved in the conversation about his plan to marry her.

He crossed the street at the intersection and made his way over to the next one. A black-and-silver Chrysler sedan pulled up in front of him, and he opened the passenger door and slipped inside.

Sarah looked over at him. “Everything okay?”

“It’s all going according to plan,” he said. “How is Neil?”

Instead of answering, she handed him a cell phone. “Ask him yourself,” she said. “He’s on speakerphone now.”

Noah grinned, and held the phone up close to his face. “Neil? It’s Noah, how’s it going?”

“I’ve still got good feeds from all of the bugs you planted over the past week, including the camera bug under the bar. Your little girlfriend is causing quite a stir.”

“Yeah, well, it isn’t often that a little Mexican prostitute gets the chance to marry a rich American. I would imagine she’s got everyone pretty curious, about now.”

“I’ll say,” came the voice from the phone. “Ortiz just promised her that if everything goes well tomorrow, he’ll see to it you get to take her home with you. She’s pretty excited. He even suggested that he might buy her out from her pimp behind the bar and give her to you as a gift.”

The girl behind the wheel looked over at Noah. “You’re not seriously planning to marry her, are you?”

“No, I’m not,” he said, “but I would like to get her out of that life. If she’s a day over fifteen, I’m the king of Siam.”

“Oh, wonderful, I’ve always wanted to work for royalty,” Neil said. “Listen, your highness, the plan didn’t call for you going back in and actually completing a deal like this. Or have you forgotten that?”

“Last I knew, Univac, I’m the one who makes the plan. That means I get to change it, if I feel the need, and in this case I do. You just make sure you’re ready to spoof the banks once I get the transfer info. If I play this right, we not only get to take out Pablo and company, we can also lay our hands on some genuine black-market nuclear material.”

“Okay, unless I misunderstood something, said material is somewhere in the Middle East. Pablo is expecting you to make the purchase, while somebody over there picks it up. Got someone in mind for that job?”

Noah grinned. “That depends,” he said. “How quickly can we get Moose over there? Nobody knows who the Dragon is or what he looks like, right? I’ve just decided that he bears a strong resemblance to a Moose.”

“I’m checking,” Neil said. “Well, since Moose hasn’t been compromised on this mission, it could conceivably work. I can actually get him onto a flight out of DFW in about four hours. Of course, that’s going to mean getting him on a flight out of El Paso sometime in the next hour or so, which is going to require using our NetJets card. I’ll have him in the air before you even get to your hotel room.”

“Good job,” Noah said. “As soon as he’s taken possession of the material, then I’ll go ahead and complete the mission on Pablo. How long will we have, once we do the money transfer?”