Sergio De La Pava - A Naked Singularity

“That’s part of the problem, part of what holds me up. You’ve only set forth that part of DeLeon’s plan that supports your theory. For example, you assume a correlation between DeLeon’s release from jail and the arrival of the drugs about thirty-six hours later.”

“Of course.”

“However, as you know, DeLeon told me he lied when he told the cops the deal would not go off without his liberty when the truth was it would in fact go off with or without him.”

“True and I believe that was the case. If he had stayed in jail, the deal would nevertheless have gone through without him. That’s why, as he also told us, he was in such a hurry to get out so he wouldn’t lose his fifty. That said, once he did get out I think Escalera astutely knew that here was the one guy who could call an untimely halt to the proceedings. I think at that point, at Escalera’s urging, DeLeon reached out to Flaco, helped seal the deal, and got his fifty in return. After that it was all according to plan and he split.”

“Well there was more to the plan though, right? As he explained it to me, and I know what your response is going to be, he was then going to give the police the real information thereby ensuring that Escalera would be arrested and therefore unable to retaliate. This is not a minor issue. If he in fact did give the police the right information then we’re going to be in for a nasty surprise next Wednesday.”

“I know what he told you but remember what he told me. Through my help, DeLeon came to realize the moral illegitimacy of vengeance. He realized that the best way to be free from the fear of retaliation was to avoid creating the need for it in the first place by allowing the deal to go through. Obviously to do that he couldn’t give the police the real information. Nor could he stick around here, not with the police looking for him. The best solution was for him to get his money and disappear immediately. Now he didn’t come to this conclusion accidentally. I, of course, led him to it by the nose every step of the way, but in a manner which allowed him to ardently believe he had come to it all by his lonesome. That’s how come I know he took his money and split without ever talking to the police again. Because when I left that day that’s what he was going to do.”

“Except that when he left me he was going to do something entirely different. So we know he’s capable of changing his mind on this matter and we can’t foreclose the possibility that he did so again.”

“But we also know that he has in fact disappeared and the police are looking for him, making it unlikely that he’s hanging around risking jail or that he in any way cooperated further after we parted.”

“So we’ve gone from perfect to unlikely?”

“No, remember what I said before. There’s a very simple way to test my theory. We know what the false information DeLeon gave to the cops was. All we have to do, and by we I mean I since you will be in Alabama, is go to the fake location at the fake time and see if there is any police activity. If there is that pretty much confirms my theory and we can proceed in calm.”

“Obviously extreme care has to be taken Saturday right?”

“Certain things go without saying.”

“Don’t overstate what we can determine on Saturday either.”

“I know, I know. The police could be in possession of two dates, including the correct one, and be checking out the Saturday one out of sheer thoroughness, but even you have to admit how unlikely that is.”

“Yes.”

“Bottom line is we’ll know quasi-definitively on Saturday, so let’s get to the actual plan.”

“Fine,” I said. “Given the scarcity of time remaining I think we need to start by mentally eliminating those potential avenues we’ve been ruminating on but which, for whatever reasons, are not practical. Tonight we need to at least substantially narrow the universe of possible plans.”

“I agree. On that note, as I said before, I think it’s going to be very difficult to locate the nephew for example.”

“Yeah I don’t think we should waste any more time on that because even if we could discover that location and get the trunk before Wednesday there’s still the problem of how to turn it into money while also destroying its contents so that’s a dead end in my view.”

“Well we need to talk about that last part but yes I agree that perfection requires we abandon that avenue. Likewise I feel that any further attempts to identify and possibly intercept the mule are similarly doomed.”

“Yes.”

“Which means we have to do this sometime around three a.m. next Wednesday.”

“Right.”

“You’ve studied up, right Casi?”

“Extensively.”

“So you’ll know everything I’m about to say, but here goes anyway. We know that at three there will be ten people in that building, nine of whom are profiled in the packet.”

“Right.”

“Three in the garage to start, one will stay with the mule, the other two will carry the chest up to the first floor. Waiting there will be Escalera, his financial partner Colon, and Grullon who will weigh and test the drugs. If Grullon gives the go-ahead, they’ll signal Ballena who will come down from the second floor with the duffel bag of money. The two will go back to the garage with the bag and give it to the mule consummating the deal.”

“That’s eight.”

“Right, plus the two lookouts on the roof make ten.”

“That we know of.”

“Well that’s all there is from that end, I’m sure of it. But I think you make a good point when you say it’s likely that people from Flaco’s end will be in the area to at least quickly snag the mule and get the money.”

“You would think. Otherwise that’s a lot of money to entrust to someone getting a hundred and fifty dollars.”

“At any rate, what is obvious is that the purchase money is going to have to arrive at 410, assuming it’s not already there, a strong assumption given that the house is still occupied by civilians, sometime before three. The idea therefore is that—”

“No.”

“What? You don’t even know what I’m going to say.”

“Look I know what you’re going to say. Here’s the problem. Several problems actually. First and foremost, if things get fucked up from their perspective, that is, we steal their money, before the mule arrives, then you can be sure they will hold her, torture her, and probably kill her, on the off chance she was involved. And even putting aside the considerable moral difficulty inherent in causing that to happen to someone who is getting a hundred and fifty dollars, a woman no less, there is the practical problem that the only time we can be sure the money will be there is at precisely three a.m. not two-thirty or some other time sufficiently in advance of the exchange to avoid complication.”

“That’s your better argument.”

“Fine, but this is certain, whatever the plan is it must encompass the mule’s safe exit.”

“Okay I’ll give you that you stubborn fuck. And I gave you the crazy swords that are in this bag.”

“The swords were your idea.”

“Only after you proscribed guns, which any self-respecting malfeasant will tell you is a vital element of almost any successful heist.”

“Almost, but who wants to be part of the murky middle right?”

“I gave you all that, understand, but now is the time to concede that your proposed destruction of the drugs must promptly go out the window.”

“No way.”

“It’s so fucking impractical! It will be the death of this thing too.”

“We just need to think of something.”

“Listen, hear me out will you? There are going to be at least ten people, probably more, in the area of that money.”