David Unger - The Mastermind

Guillermo nodded. “And what happened next?”

“I was told not to worry. You and I saw the same kinds of ledger manipulations last time we met. But I can show you what they did last month, only with smaller quantities, and in a less apparent way. Balicar and the board secretary both laughed at me and said we needn’t worry about such small transactions when the Guatemalan government has a budget of nearly a billion dollars. There you have it, Guillermo.”

“But why are you telling me this? Is there something you want me to do?”

“First the threats, then the garbled phone calls, and now I think I’m also being followed.”

“Oh shit.”

“Yes , merde alors .”

“This is dangerous.”

“It is. In Lebanon we say, Yellah !”

“Which means?”

“ It’s time to go. We have to do something.”

Guillermo scratches his chin. “You need around-the-clock protection. I will get it for you.”

“I am sorry, but I prefer to die than to live like that,” Ibrahim responds.

“This isn’t some kind of joke. These people are serious.”

“Sorry, Guillermo, but that is out of the question. I already have more protection in the office and factory than I need.” He rubs his very wrinkled face with his hands. “Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned anything to you. We should get back to discussing the possibility of moving the accounting and budget personnel of the textile factory to another country with lower taxes—”

“Don’t be silly. You have others who can advise you on that. On the contrary, Ibrahim, as your principal lawyer I must know everything that is going on in your life. You need someone on staff who sees the big picture.”

“I have given you complete access to both my thoughts and my files.”

“I want to have a security team check out the safety systems in your car, home, and factory to make sure there are no possible leaks. I want them to check your phones and your complete phone records.” Guillermo sees an opportunity. “And I want them to inspect Maryam’s car and apartment as well. In fact, I want you to give me Maryam’s home and cell numbers right now so that I can be in touch with her.”

“But what for?”

“To determine if her phones are tapped. My chief concern is for you and your daughter. I want to make sure I can contact either one of you whenever I need to. I’ll also need Samir’s cell phone.”

“Why Samir’s? He’s not involved in any of this.”

“Yes, but he’s also a likely target whether you like him or not. I’m going to use my connections at Guatel and the Ministry of Defense to see if I can figure out what’s going on.”

Ibrahim writes the numbers down on a small card. After that, the two men get back to business.

“You won’t believe what’s happened at Banurbano since our last meeting.”

Guillermo raises his eyebrows.

“Take a look at this.” Ibrahim gives him a folder with the latest Banurbano transactions. For the first time, everything seems more or less in order, as if someone were trying to clean things up. New deposits appear cancelling the withdrawals. The financial payments are smaller, and mostly directed to NGOs with rigorous financial oversight. Clearly their inquires have produced greater caution and scrutiny, but probably also great anxiety. No one likes to have the cash spigot turned off. Something will have to give.

The two men agree they should see the Pricewaterhouse audits, to make sure Ignacio’s telling the truth.

“Ibrahim, is there any chance these threats have to do with your own company?”

Ibrahim coughs. “What do you mean?”

“All along we have assumed that the threats you’ve received have to do with your appointment to the board. But what about your textile factory? Has anyone tried to shake you down here? A disgruntled employee?”

“I treat my workers as family. There is absolutely no union activity. Ask them. They love me,” Ibrahim says, somewhat offended.

“What about suppliers?”

Ibrahim closes his eyes, then puts a hand over his tightening mouth. “Well, actually,” he says, before hesitating. “No, never. There are crooks everywhere, certainly in the textile business. People who want to offer me Italian cloth that they have somehow gotten into the country without paying import taxes, or that is actuality manufactured in Singapore or China. You know that I believe we are entitled to pursue wealth without government interference, but I won’t break the law to become richer. I don’t need to do that. That’s not how my parents educated me. And if you think I would do something illegal to prosper, Guillermo, then you really don’t know me.”

Juancho used to say the same thing. “I was only asking. I believe you, completely, but I need to make sure I am not missing any viable source to these threats. I want to be absolutely sure these calls are the result of your work on the board.”

“You can be absolutely sure of that.”

“And what about Samir or anyone else in the Lebanese community?”

Ibrahim smiles. “Maryam’s husband is an ass. And the others, well, they admire me.”

Several minutes later, Ibrahim’s secretary comes in to say that his daughter has just driven up and will wait at the first-floor gate to take them home for lunch.

Ibrahim stands up and motions to Guillermo that it’s time to go.

“I am going to have to take a rain check on this lunch.”

Ibrahim looks disappointed.

“I promised to go with Rosa Esther to talk to my daughter’s teachers.”

Ibrahim shrugs.

“Please convey my regrets to Maryam.” Guillermo is a bit disappointed that he will not see her, but at the same time he thinks that a cooling of his interest in her might be for the better. He doesn’t want to lose the upper hand in his courtship. Besides, he has some serious research to do. He doesn’t really know how he would go about improving Ibrahim and Maryam’s security systems. He has promised Ibrahim he’ll look into it, but he doesn’t have any strong connections with the security apparatus or the telephone company. Still, it shouldn’t be too complicated.

This much is certain: he now has Maryam’s phone number, a way to contact her independently of her father. And this makes him more than a little excited.

Guillermo sits on Maryam’s phone number for almost a week. Each day, instead of putting all his attention into his work, he lobs the idea of calling her back and forth. He’s certain she likes him, but he’s still not sure if he wants to mix pleasure with business. And the fact that he is hopelessly attracted to her might lead to something more explosive in his life than the occasional sexual romp with Araceli.

One Tuesday morning, when he finds himself especially distracted at his law office working on some incorporation papers, unable to concentrate and sporting a formidable erection, he texts her.

Maryam .

A minute later. He receives a Who is this?

Guillermo, your father’s lawyer.

Oh hi.

Would you consider going out to lunch with me?

There, he has taken the plunge.

When he doesn’t receive an immediate response, he begins agonizing. Was his message too formal, or baffling in its purpose? Should he have been a bit more direct? He might have said something more urgent, like, Maryam, I need to discuss a security issue about your father in private . That certainly would have piqued her interest, but it might have also worried her.

Guillermo is certain that Ibrahim has not discussed the threats, the hang-ups, and the static noises on the phone lines with his daughter, since he also made Guillermo promise not to. But she has to be aware that he has been making himself a nuisance at the Banurbano meetings by asking very provocative questions — discussion of this has taken place during their Wednesday lunches. Her father, she must know, has a sturdy moral soul and is the type of person who will question discrepancies — even those committed by his own family — until the truth about them is revealed.