Gary Ponzo - A Touch of Greed

“Of course,” Walt said. “We’re no different over here.”

Ken squeezed the back of his neck. “Walt, I am truly sorry about your losses. I’ve been on the phone nonstop pressing my contacts for a name down there and it’s just not coming. Whoever is embedded with the cartels is remarkably stealthy.”

“Or dead.”

“Or that,” Ken said, picking up his pencil and tapping the eraser on the legal pad. “Do you have anything?”

“Just one thing.”

“Yeah?”

“Does the name Sandoval mean anything to you?”

Ken shrugged. “Boy, off the top of my head I’ve got nothing, but I can run it by the analysts and see what they come up with.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

Ken wrote the word, ‘Sandoval,’ on the legal pad. “Are Nick and Matt still thinking about storming over the border?”

“It’s a miracle Matt hasn’t gone already.”

“Sure,” Ken said, swirling a circle around the eight mysterious letters. He noticed something peculiar about the series of letters he’d just written on his pad. He drew a line from the first letter of his jumbled message to the ‘n,’ in Sandoval. Then he took the second letter from the message and drew a line to the ‘v’ in Sandoval. He did this six more times until it became clear the letters matched the exact letters in the word ‘Sandoval.’

“You still there?” Walt asked.

Ken grinned, circling ‘Sandoval’ over and over, pressing the pencil tip so hard, it broke in two. “Walt,” he said. “I think I have something for you.”

Garza was watering his flowers when his phone rang. He looked down at the name on his display and frowned. Julio was behind him throwing a tennis ball against the side of the building, so he handed the hose to his son and instructed him to finish watering.

Garza walked to the back of the complex and pushed the talk button on his phone.

“Yes,” he said, in a tired voice.

“Mr. Garza, are you prepared to transfer the device?”

“Yes, Sadeem,” Garza said.

“Very well. I shall meet you at your complex tomorrow night.”

Garza sighed. He found Victor eating a burrito on the back patio and sat next to him at the table. “No,” Garza said. “I don’t want you bringing that thing here. We’ll meet out in the desert. I’ll have a car meet you in town at Guedo’s Taco Shop at three. You’ll follow them to our meeting place.”

“If that is your wish. There is one other thing,” Sadeem said. “My people want me to travel with the package until it arrives into the United States. They are concerned about the stability of the device.”

Garza tugged at his hair. “This is not what we had agreed upon.”

“This material is simply much too sensitive to be left to inexperienced transporters. I am doing this for your safety as well.”

Garza could feel his pulse quickening. His expression must’ve seemed extreme because Victor had put the burrito down and was staring at his boss.

“No,” Garza snapped. “You will not be going with the package.”

There was a pause. After a few seconds, Sadeem said, “Very well. I will come by first thing in the morning to pick up my briefcase.”

The words hung there in the air and Garza recognized them for what they were. A bluff. Sadeem was in no position to call off his assault. He would have to find another method to cross the border with a nuclear device and Garza doubted he’d be able to find a substitute within a reasonable time frame. Yet, the man kept quiet and let it stew in Garza’s belly. In his mind, Garza had already spent the money and Sadeem seemed to know that. Returning the briefcase would be like returning a winning lottery ticket.

Finally, Garza said, “I do not trust you.”

“There is no need for trust. This is a business transaction. You either accept the offer or you do not. Would you like a few minutes to talk it over with your people?”

Another insult. As if Garza needed permission to make such a decision on his own.

“Okay,” Garza said. “We will bring you. But you will not be allowed to see our entry point.”

“As you wish,” Sadeem said. “As long as I am with the material.”

Garza hung up the phone and slammed it onto the table. Victor’s burrito jumped up a few inches.

“I have a bad feeling about this Sadeem character,” Garza seethed. “He insists on coming with us while we bring the nuclear device across the border. This is not how I planned things.”

“Then don’t do it,” Victor said.

Garza squeezed his eyes shut. “I must.”

“Why?”

“Because, Victor. I am simply too greedy.”

* * *

Nick, Matt and Stevie were in Roger Decker’s office contemplating their next move, while Tommy slept on the couch still battling jet lag from his cross-continental flight. Stevie sat behind Decker’s desk, his fingers scurrying across the computer keypad while he searched for a connection with the word, “Sandoval.”

Matt leaned back in a chair, writing notes on a legal pad as Nick paced.

“You’re sure there’s not one Sandoval with any law enforcement in the Tucson PD?” Nick asked Stevie.

Stevie placed his index finger on the computer screen to mark his place. “How many times do I need to say no?” Then he resumed reading something on the screen.

Nick felt a buzz in his pocket and pulled his phone out to see a text message from Julie.

“How are things going?” she asked.

Nick messaged, “Great. Getting closer every hour. How’s Thomas?”

“He misses you.”

“Love you guys.” Nick sent the final message, then returned to pacing. He would call before bedtime as usual.

Matt seemed to be drawing something on his legal pad.

“What do you have there?” Nick asked.

“You’ll see.”

Nick was glad to see Matt productively helping the process. There were two directions he could’ve gone after Jennifer Steele’s murder: depressed and distraught or bent on getting revenge. So far Matt had shown great restraint by following the plan and not jumping in a car and crossing the border all by himself.

Another buzz and Nick looked at his phone. This time it was a call from Walt Jackson.

“Hey,” Nick said, picking up the speed of his pace. “Anything from the analysts?”

“Not yet. How about Stevie?”

Nick looked at the tech busy speed-reading the computer screen. “I’m not allowed to interrupt him anymore.”

“I see. Well, we have some new info from one of Ken’s contacts south of the border.”

“Tell me.”

“Apparently the plant down there is still alive and he’s in close proximity to the bomb. Also, he’ll be there when the bomb is transported across the border. Possibly as soon as tomorrow night.”

“That’s good news, right?”

“You tell me? What’s one good agent going to do if he’s all by himself?”

“Maybe he could cause a scene and disrupt their plans.”

“Maybe he could get himself killed doing that.”

Nick placed a hand on his forehead and thought about the scenario. One double agent embedded within a foreign organization was close to useless, unless he could communicate with someone up here.

“So this cryptic message, ‘Sandoval.’ Ken still believes this was left by the plant?”

“Yes.”

“Well shit, Walt. We can’t just sit here and expect to come up with an answer online. We need to get proactive.”

With that comment, Matt sat upright in his chair.

“Nick, you can’t go down there. You guys have gotten away with crap in the past, but this one you won’t walk away from. I promise.”

“Gee, thanks. For a minute I thought we were in trouble.”