10.2 Double-Cross

There came a tap on the door and Madeleine cried, “Come in! It’s open!”

That short girl entered and closed the door quietly seeing the two lying in bed. A tiny room and no space to move about.

“Hola señorita!” Madeleine threw a face and spoke, “leave the coffee here and you can work. We have no place to go.”

The girl paused in the narrow space between the foot of the bed and the wall to leave the coffee tray on the table. A television hung on the wall switched off.

She tossed a face up at the girl, “What’s your name?”

“Nici,” whispered the girl with an olive tan, hazel eyes and dark hair that spread over the shoulders down to the hips.

“Are you free today?”

She nodded.

“Sit down!” Madeleine straightened to a kneeling position beside the girl who sat down on the bed, “Don’t you have work?”

“Not many guests at the hotel,” replied the girl in a soft voice.

“Do you have a festival around?”

“Semana Santa just ended,” said Nici.

Madeleine rolled on her back and lit a cigarette, “Can you take us around sightseeing?”

Saturday afternoon, they travelled on a bus to a pilgrimage site on a hill – Cerro San Cristóbal. Nici knew a lot about this place and Marina paid a lot interest to learn. Madeleine, on the other hand, was not interested.

Marina was rather screaming her heart out kicked of fear; the fear of heights. “I might step on a rock and fall down!” she cried seeing the valley below.

409 metres high and on top of the hill stood the huge cross. Matchbox houses, highways and towers were all she could see to the eyeshot. It was a very clear day and the view was terrific to the details of the city. They were up on the hill when light faded and city lights began to show.

Nici took them out every time to do shopping. Madeleine gave her a big tip every day.

“Look at those legs! Smooth and shiny! She’s got a beautiful backside!” Guido mocked watching her go, “I don’t like ‘em when they’re too big. Las nalgas! That’s my kind.”

“How do you like mine?”

“I am talking about bums,” he scowled, “you don’t have ‘em!”

Madeleine looked away in a snort.

Guido turned to face three chicas in the backseat of his dark blue wagon, “When I first met her, she was on a counter top naked.”

One of the girls said, “Why don’t you go to Cali with her?”

“You have all these girls! Forty percent of your strength are women. What has she got that Chio did not have?” asked Madeleine and lit a cigarette.

Marina reached the glass doors of the Avianca office on Ground Floor at 805 Av José Pardo. She wore a casual dress; tie-dyed loose shirt and slouchy denim shorts leaving behind cheeky bums.

“I like foreigners,” he admitted tapping fingers on the wheel, “I don’t have time. You’re going to Quito and fly to Colombia. Why are you doing this to her?”

“For her! I’m doing something for her!” cried Madeleine Blanche, “It’s a long story.”

“No woman spends her money like that on another woman! She must be very popular. What has she got that big that drove you mad about her?”

“I thought I asked you, Guido!” groused Madeleine, “You are getting at it! Let’s not talk about her. This is a nice car!”

“A new Subaru Legacy. A new model.”

“You guys are loaded. How do you find all this money?” asked Madeleine.

“Banks, BCP, BBVA,” he said, “They are financing narcotrafficking. Peru is the biggest producer in Latin America. But this was a bribe from BCCI. They cut a deal in selling arms for Guzmán through M-19 in Colombia. This BCCI relationship with the Peruvian Central Bank or the government was always in a row. They quit in eighty-eight. BCCI changed course and now they want to support the Shining Path through the Colombian bank and Panama connection. Money comes in cash in hefty suitcases on the flights. I bought this car last year.”

In the meantime, at the white counter lined with red chairs, Marina procured tickets with outbound fares; three days in Cali, three days in Panama, three days in Cancun – using the forged passport in the name of Eva Lowell. She paid cash in US dollars.

As Marina reappeared behind the glass door, Madeleine nictitated, “You better go with her! Take a break!”

“Four days!” Guido uttered.

“You two girls come with me.”

“Time is on my side!” Guido descended and corrected his drooping trousers, “You can get it if you really want.”

As Marina reached, he took the tickets from her hand and checked the flight that she booked. Then he began to march towards the glass panels.