Part 15 (2/2)
”Who are you?” she demanded.
Becker switched to Spanish with a dead-on Andalusian accent.”Guardia Civil.” She laughed. ”Impossible,” she replied in Spanish.
Becker felt a knot rise in his throat. Rocio was clearly alittle tougher than her client.
”Impossible?” herepeated, keeping his cool. ”Shall I take you downtown toprove it?”
Rocio smirked. ”I will not embarra.s.s you by acceptingyour offer. Now, who are you?”
Becker stuck to his story. ”I am with the SevilleGuardia.”
Rocio stepped menacingly toward him. ”I know everypolice officer on the force. They are my best clients.”
Becker felt her stare cutting right through him. He regrouped.”I am with a special tourist task force. Give me the ring, orI'll have to take you down to the precinct and- ”
”And what?” she demanded, raising her eyebrows in mockantic.i.p.ation.
Becker fell silent. He was in over his head. The plan wasbackfiring. Why isn't she buying this?
Rocio came closer. ”I don't know who you are orwhat you want, but if you don't get out of this suite rightnow, I will call hotel security, and the real Guardia willarrest you for impersonating a police officer.”
Becker knew that Strathmore could have him out of jail in fiveminutes, but it had been made very clear to him that this matterwas supposed to be handled discreetly.
Getting arrested was notpart of the plan.
Rocio had stopped a few feet in front of Becker and wasglaring at him.
”Okay.” Becker sighed, accentuating the defeat in hisvoice. He let his Spanish accent slip. ”I am not with theSeville police. A U.S. government organization sent me to locatethe ring. That's all I can reveal. I've been authorizedto pay you for it.”
There was a long silence.
Rocio let his statement hang in the air a moment beforeparting her lips in a sly smile.
”Now that wasn't sohard, was it?” She sat down on a chair and crossed her legs.”How much can you pay?”
Becker m.u.f.fled his sigh of relief. He wasted no time gettingdown to business. ”I can pay you 750,000 pesetas. Fivethousand American dollars.” It was half what he had on him butprobably ten times what the ring was actually worth.
Rocio raised her eyebrows. ”That's a lot ofmoney.”
”Yes it is. Do we have a deal?” Rocio shook her head. ”I wish I could sayyes.”
”A million pesetas?” Becker blurted. ”It'sall I have.”
”My, my.” She smiled. ”You Americans don'tbargain very well. You wouldn't last a day in ourmarkets.”
”Cash, right now,” Becker said, reaching for theenvelope in his jacket. I just want to go home.
Rocio shook her head. ”I can't.”
Becker bristled angrily. ”Why not?”
”I no longer have the ring,” she said apologetically.”I've already sold it.”
CHAPTER 33
Tokugen Numataka stared out his window and paced like a cagedanimal. He had not yet heard from his contact, North Dakota. d.a.m.n Americans! No sense of punctuality!
He would have called North Dakota himself, but he didn'thave a phone number for him. Numataka hated doing business thisway-with someone else in control.
The thought had crossed Numataka's mind from the beginningthat the calls from North Dakota could be a hoax-a j.a.panesecompet.i.tor playing him for the fool. Now the old doubts were comingback. Numataka decided he needed more information.
He burst from his office and took a left down Numatech'smain hallway. His employees bowed reverently as he stormed past.Numataka knew better than to believe they actually lovedhim-bowing was a courtesy j.a.panese employees offered even themost ruthless of bosses.
Numataka went directly to the company's main switchboard.All calls were handled by a single operator on a Corenco 2000,twelve-line switchboard terminal. The woman was busy but stood andbowed as Numataka entered.
”Sit down,” he snapped.
She obeyed. ”I received a call at four forty-five on my personal linetoday. Can you tell me where it came from?” Numataka kickedhimself for not having done this earlier.
The operator swallowed nervously. ”We don't havecaller identification on this machine, sir. But I can contact thephone company. I'm sure they can help.”
Numataka had no doubt the phone company could help. In thisdigital age, privacy had become a thing of the past; there was arecord of everything. Phone companies could tell you exactly whohad called you and how long you'd spoken.
”Do it,” he commanded. ”Let me know what you findout.”
CHAPTER 34
Susan sat alone in Node 3, waiting for her tracer. Hale haddecided to step outside and get some air-a decision for whichshe was grateful. Oddly, however, the solitude in Node 3 providedlittle asylum. Susan found herself struggling with the newconnection between Tankado and Hale.
”Who will guard the guards?” she said to herself. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes. The words kept circling in herhead. Susan forced them from her mind.
Her thoughts turned to David, hoping he was all right. She stillfound it hard to believe he was in Spain. The sooner they found thepa.s.s-keys and ended this, the better.
Susan had lost track of how long she'd been sitting therewaiting for her tracer. Two hours? Three? She gazed out at thedeserted Crypto floor and wished her terminal would beep. There wasonly silence. The late-summer sun had set. Overhead, the automaticfluorescents had kicked on. Susan sensed time was running out.
She looked down at her tracer and frowned. ”Come on,”she grumbled. ”You've had plenty of time.” Shepalmed her mouse and clicked her way into her tracer's statuswindow. ”How long have you been running, anyway?”
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