“I get it,” she said. “So, they want to know what we know and beat us to the library.”
“Right, “Doc said, “and, if our information is correct, they may have no compunction about eliminating the competition.”
She leaned back in her chair and looked at me with a sardonic smile, “As I said, you sure know how to show a girl a good time.” She raised her mug in a salute and finished her beer.
“So, what’s the plan?” Dimitri asked.
I was thoughtful for a moment and said, “We need to follow through with our meeting/dinner with Mendez and see what we can find out there. Also, we need to give Uncle Harold a call and let him know about the new players, and we need to finish up our plan to get back into the mountains. We’ll have to wait on our new friends to show their hand and then respond accordingly. Paco is going to keep his eyes open and let us know the next time they come around.”
“So, then business as usual till the shit hits the fan and then Boom,” Dimitri said, smiling.
“Boom,” I repeated, “yeah, probably… Boom!”
“Works for me,” he responded as he poured himself another beer.
We ate, had a few more drinks, and then headed back to the hotel. We removed our handguns from the compartments in the Beast and armed ourselves. I thought it would be a good idea if we stuck together and told Reggie she could stay at the hotel with us, which she declined, saying it might be better to have someone on the periphery of the group as another set of eyes and ears. She would be around, just not showing up with us wherever we went. I saw the logic in her statement and agreed. We parted company with the plan of staying in touch via SAT phone.
On our drive back to the hotel, I said to the group, “I’ve been thinking about our meeting with Mendez and our new friends.”
“What about them?” Doc asked.
“What if we let Mendez know about this new group that has been snooping around and showing an interest in our activities?”
“Why would we do that?” Doc replied.
“Think about this for a minute; if we feed this information to him, then he may see this other group interested in us as rivals, which could put their motives at odds with those of the Brotherhood.”
“Especially if we let him know they’re Europeans,” O’Reilly said, “planting a seed of doubt and fueling his paranoia.”
“Right, that way,” I continued, “if the Brotherhood does pursue us, they will have to be looking over their shoulders too.”
“So, we can pit one set of bad guys against another, and that way, we may only have to deal with the winners,” Dimitri said with a chuckle.
“Now, that’s devious, Colt, downright devious,” Joe added.
“Unless they decide to join forces, and then we’re really screwed,” Doc added.
“I think that’s highly unlikely,” I said.
“I agree,” O’Reilly said, “I’d be willing to bet these two groups do not have the same end goal in mind. And even if they did, say, both wanted the information for themselves, I don’t see either willing to share with the other.”
“Once again, a lot of variables out there, so we’ll just have to be on our A-game at all times once the plan is put into motion and be ready for anything,” I stated.
“Agreed,” Doc said, “if not, somebody will pay a hefty price.”
“I just hope we’re not lighting a fuse to something that could blow up in our faces,” Joe added.
Dimitri slapped him on the back and said, “Not to worry, Joe; remember, I’m the one that makes things go boom around here,” and laughed.
The next day, the call was made. We left a message for Senor Mendez that we were back in town and looked forward to seeing him. Later that afternoon, there was an invitation to dinner Monday evening waiting for us at the front desk. Cocktails at six p.m., dinner at 7:00, and he would send a car to pick us up.
“That didn’t take long,” I said to the group, relaying the information.
“The bait has been taken,” O’Reilly quipped, “now, it’s time to set the hook,” she said with a smile.
“I didn’t know you liked to fish,” I said to her.
“Only for sharks,” she replied, still smiling.
The rest of the weekend was spent getting our gear and provisions together for our trek to the mountains. I let Reggie know, and she said she would be ready to go whenever we called.
“Good,” I said, “I would like to get out of Dodge by Wednesday, if possible, but I will talk with you again once we finish our meeting with Mendez.”
“I’ll be ready,” she replied and broke the connection.
I called Uncle Harold and brought him up to speed on our plan. He said, “Let’s meet Sunday afternoon, same bar we met at last time.” I agreed, and we set 4:00 p.m. as our meeting time. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening prepping for our trip. Around 9:00 p.m., we all met downstairs in the restaurant for a late dinner.
As our meal progressed, Doc said, “So, we meet with Mendez, smile, and make nice, drop our bit of information about the stranger’s interest in us, then what?”
“I’m sure he will want to know our plans in a general sort of way, of course,” I said, “so, we let him know we are heading into the mountains with no real new leads. We need to keep him thinking we’re just a bunch of rich adventure types—out for thrills and notoriety and all that.”
“Do you think he’ll still buy that?” Dimitri asked.
“I hope so; we need to be convincing, maybe even flippant about it. Now that we’re rich, we just want to keep our names in the paper.”
“Stay
