Noah was forced to hold on to the safety handle over the door to the backseat, but he managed to smile as he did so. He knew that Mexican taxi drivers were much like those in other countries, and drove like maniacs so that they could hurry back to get another fare. That was the only way they could make a decent living, especially in areas with poor economies, such as Mexico.
Noah caught the driver’s eye in the rearview mirror. “Habla Ingles?” he asked, and the driver’s face lit up again.
“Si, Se?or,” he said. “I speak very good En-gleesh!”
“Good, good,” Noah said. “I want to stay at Eduardo’s Tavern for three hours, tres horas, you understand?”
“Si, three hours, I understand!”
“Okay, you come back and get me in three hours, and I will give you one hundred American dollars. You come back for me then?” He held up a one-hundred-dollar bill and let the driver see it.
The man was nodding so vigorously that he could barely even speak, but Noah understood that he was promising to be back in three hours. He drove even faster the rest of the way, then slid to a stop right in front of Eduardo’s. “Three hours! Three hours, I be back,” he said, as Noah handed him a twenty-dollar bill, which was about twice the fare on the meter. The man’s smile looked like it was going to split his face.
“That’s right, come back in three hours,” Noah said. “One hundred American dollars.” He got out of the car, and wasn’t surprised when it sped away as quickly as it had come. Noah turned and looked at the door to the tavern, squared his shoulders and walked inside.
TWENTY-THREE
The man behind the bar, Noah knew from photographs he’d been shown, was Eduardo Hernandez. The two of them stood there and looked at each other for a moment, and Noah tried to give the impression that he was nervous. He walked slowly toward the bar, carefully keeping his hands in plain sight.
Eduardo spoke, in very clear English. “Can I help you, my friend?”
Noah smiled, continuing his nervous act. “Oh, good, you speak English? Man, that’s a break for me, because I don’t understand a whole lot of Spanish. Listen, my name is John, John Baker, and I’ve been—well, somebody told me this might be a good place to come to, if I wanted to maybe buy some stuff.”
Eduardo started laughing. “It’s a good place to come to, if you want to buy beer or tequila, or pussy. Those we got, and lots. Whatever else you might be looking for, maybe somebody who comes in can help you, I don’t know.”
Noah went with him, trying to make it look as though his nervousness was fading. “Okay, okay, I gotcha,” he said. “Listen, can I get a beer?”
Eduardo grunted, and pointed at a bar stool, so Noah climbed up on it and sat. A moment later, a small bottle of Budweiser was set in front of him, and Eduardo said, “Fifteen dollars.”
Noah’s eyes jumped up to Eduardo’s, in a classic double take, but then he shrugged and pulled a twenty-dollar bill out of his pocket. He handed it over and said, “Keep the change.”
Eduardo grinned, rang up the sale and pocketed his tip. He came back to where Noah was sitting, since there was only one other person in the place, an old man who had been coming around for years, and always sat on the same stool, nursing the cheapest bottle of tequila he could get.
“So what is it you are wanting to buy?” Eduardo asked.
Noah grinned, trying to look sly. “Oh, different things. Stuff I can send home, and make money on. Lots of money.”
Eduardo grunted again, but his grin stayed put. “Well, I do not know for sure what you might find here, but I will tell you this. Most of my customers, they are very careful who they might talk to. If you are in a hurry, then you will probably not get to buy much here in this place. People want to get to know you before they will talk business.”
Noah shrugged, still grinning. “Oh, hey, that just makes sense. I mean, I’m the same way; I won’t talk serious business with somebody I don’t know. I mean, you see how careful I’m being, even when I’m just talking to you, right?”
Eduardo nodded, and took a rag from underneath the bar and began wiping it down. “If you are not in a hurry, you might come here for a few days, and perhaps some will talk to you. Perhaps you will get to buy the things you’re looking for.” He broke into a big smile. “Perhaps you will buy so much that you will be happy, and give old Eduardo another big tip.”
Noah made a silly face, one that he hoped said that further big tips might be coming up, and then sat back to nurse his beer.
Noah and Eduardo talked off and on as Noah sat on the stool. He finished his first beer, and ordered a second, throwing another twenty at the bartender and earning a big smile in return. Eduardo leaned close to him. “Do you want only American beer? I have Modelo; it is the same price, but a bigger bottle.”
Noah gave him a huge smile of his own. “That would be great,” he said. “I’ve had Modelo before, it’s very good.”