I nodded slowly. “You get a name?”
“It was Jo; that’s all that showed on the app. I didn’t want to interrogate the girl and scare her too much. I did leave her with a card, though.”
I exhaled slowly. “How convinced are you that she’ll call?”
Marcos hesitated. “On some real shit… I’m not sure I convinced her enough,” he admitted. “I just mentioned making more money, and usually that’s all needed to be said.”
“And she didn’t question how much?”
“Nope.”
That made me smile a little.
If she didn’t ask how much, then it shows that she’s not greedy. Greedy people want numbers first.
“So basically, we’re relying on a phone call from some random Uber driver.”
“Pretty much.” He nodded.
“Depending on one girl to come through ain’t gon’ fly… at least not with Alejandro.”
Marcos didn’t argue with that.
“Look, I’m on the way back home now. When I get there, I’ll talk to Alejandro and let him know wemight have somebody. Maybe he’ll give us a little more time to get her on board… well,yo’ assto get her on board.”
Marcos chuckled. “That’sifshe calls.”
I leaned back in my seat. “If she needs money bad enough… she’ll call.”
They always did.
“And if she doesn’t in a reasonable time,” I included, “we still got ways of getting in touch with people we need… or want.”
“Right.”
“In the meantime, keep scouting girls, “ I ordered.
“Already on it.”
“One.”
We hung up.
As the jet came into view ahead of us, I stared out the window.
Somewhere out there, a girl was deciding whether to make a call that would change her life… and she didn’t even know it yet.
***
The jet ride from Baltimore back to Mexico took a little over four hours, but by the time the car rolled through the gates of the estate, it felt longer.
Home.
The compound was quiet in that controlled way it always was.
When I stepped out of the car, two of the soldiers near the entrance gave me a nod. I returned it… no words needed.
Inside, the house was even quieter. Usually by that time of the morning, Alejandro would be in his office, cigar burning, papers spread across his desk like a general planning war, but when I passed the office door, the lights were off.