Stuart Woods: Santa Fe Edge

The deputy produced a notebook. “What is your client’s full name?” he asked.

“Eleanor Eagle Keeler,” Estevez replied.

“What time is your flight home?” the deputy asked.

“At one P.M. from the general aviation terminal,” Estevez replied.

“And the aircraft registration number?”

Estevez gave it to him.

“I calculate that the costs of this transaction will come to”-the deputy did some quick counting with his thumb against his fingers-“two million, seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.” He wrote something on a page of his notebook, tore it off and handed it to Estevez. “Here is an account number.”

“Will you excuse me for a moment while I telephone?” Estevez asked.

“Of course. I will go and put on a necktie for the office while you call.”

Estevez made the call and waited for the deputy’s return.

“The funds will be in the account by the time you reach your office,” he said.

“Oh, good. Upon verification the pardon will be prepared, signed and delivered to your aircraft in time for your departure. Come, walk with me to our cars.”

Estevez fell in step with him, and the two men linked arms. “There is one further step I would be very grateful for,” Estevez said.

“Please.”

“If you could telephone the United States attorney general, explain that Mrs. Keeler has been pardoned and is no longer a fugitive in the U.S. and that her extradition warrant should be canceled, then she could resume her normal life immediately.”

“Consider it done, Raoul.” The deputy stopped at his open limousine door and offered his hand. “It is always good to see you, Raoul, and, of course, always a pleasure to do business with you. Go with God.”

Estevez shook his hand and got into his own limousine, where his associate waited.

“How did it go?” she asked, placing a hand on his thigh.

“Perfectly and profitably,” Estevez replied, adjusting his position so that her hand could better reach its target.

Barbara put down the telephone at the pool of her cottage at a private club in Nassau.

Charles sat beside her on the double chaise. “You’re smiling. Good news?”

“Very good news,” she replied. “For us both.”

“Ellie, I don’t think I can receive good news properly until I understand why you are unconcerned with my employment status. I do need the job, you know, and I can’t relax here while worrying about it.”

“Would you like a promotion at your firm?” she asked.

“I’m already the top-producing sales manager for the firm,” he replied. “Anything else would be a demotion.”

“How do you get along with your general manager?” she asked.

“He’s an ass, but there’s nothing he can do to me, except for cause, and I’ve never given him cause, until I walked out of that showroom yesterday.”

“Would you like his job?”

Charles thought about that. “Only if I could continue to render service to my clients, and only if I could have the pleasure of personally firing my general manager and throwing him out of his office.”

“Then do so,” Ellie said. “Yesterday, I bought the firm.”

Charles turned and stared at her. “My God, are you that rich?”

“I am,” Barbara said. “Charles, I know this will seem sudden, but I think it would be very much to our mutual advantage if we married.”

Charles fell back onto the lounge. “You are breathtaking, Ellie.”

“If you accept my proposal I will make you a gift of the dealership and provide working capital for it. In return, you would sign a prenuptial agreement limiting your settlement, in the event of a divorce, to the firm and any money I have invested in it.”

“That is a very generous proposition, Ellie,” Charles said. “And I think we could make each other very happy.”

“Then why don’t we start the honeymoon right now, my dear,” Barbara said, snuggling up to him.

ED EAGLE TOOK the phone call from his friend in the State Department. “How are you, Bill?”

“I’m okay, Ed, but I have some rather startling news for you.”

“Go ahead and startle.”

“I’ve had an e-mail from the attorney general’s office. The general received a phone call today from a highly placed officer of the Mexican Ministry of Justice.”

“They’ve extradited Barbara?”

“No, the president of Mexico has pardoned her.”

Eagle was dumbstruck.

“Ed? Are you still there?”

“Just barely, Bill,” Eagle replied. “Have you any idea how this happened?”

“I don’t have any details, only deductions. Have you seen the piece in The Wall Street Journal ?”

“Yes, I have.”

“You must know, Ed, that when the sort of money she has inherited comes into play, things can happen in a hurry, especially in Mexico.”

“Are you telling me that Barbara bribed the president of Mexico?”

“Of course not. That isn’t how it works.”

“How does it work?”

“My best guess is Barbara got herself a lawyer who knows people down there, and he passed a large sum of money to someone in the Ministry, who then took care of things and distributed the funds accordingly, probably in cash. That’s only a guess, mind you, but I’ve heard of other cases where this sort of thing happened.”

“I could sue her for injury resulting from her attempt on my life, I guess,” Eagle said.

“Come on, Ed. What would you say to a client who walked into your office and wanted to sue a billionaire?”

“All right, all right.”

“Ed, I’m awfully sorry about this. I did what I could.”

“Bill, you did more than I could ever have expected. Thank you.” Eagle hung up and sagged in his chair.

THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Barbara called a number at the Nassau Airport and chartered a twin-engine airplane for the day. She instructed the company to file a flight plan to Georgetown, Cayman Islands, and to file a return flight plan for later in the day.

BARBARA TOOK A CAB from the Georgetown airport to a large bank on a principal street and walked in. She approached a man at a desk in the lobby.

“Good day, madam. May I help you?” he asked.

“Yes. I’d like to open an account.”

“Please be seated,” he said, holding a chair for her. “What kind of account would you like to open?”

“A very private account,” she replied. “One with a number, not a name.”

“Of course, madam.” He looked at his computer, selected a new account number and printed a document. “Please sign here,” he said, indicating a line at the bottom.

“I don’t wish to sign anything,” Barbara said. She took the twenty-million-dollar cashier’s check from her purse and handed it to him.

“Of course, madam,” the man said. “There is no necessity for a signature. Would you like a card that can draw on the account from anywhere in the world?”

“What a nice idea,” Barbara said.

He typed a few more keystrokes on his computer. “The card will be ready momentarily,” he said. “Would you like us to invest the funds for you, or would you prefer an interest-bearing account? Currently the rate is three percent.”

“The latter, please.”

He printed another document. “This will tell you how to view your account and statements online. Nothing will be mailed, since we don’t have your name or address.”

Barbara received the credit card and her deposit receipt, put them in her purse, shook the man’s hand and left the bank. She got into her idling taxi, went to the airport and was flown back to Nassau. Upon entering the country she used the false passport she had had made in California.