“Yes, sir, I sure will, and I’ll call you back as soon as it’s done.” Noah ended the call and smiled at Pablo. “Looks like we’ve got us a deal,” he said. “Have you got transfer instructions for me?”
Pablo reached into a pocket and withdrew a sheet of paper, which he unfolded and laid in front of Noah on the table. There was a string of numbers on it, and Noah recognized them as SWIFT codes and foreign bank account information. He dialed another number, and when Neil answered in a very practiced French accent, he said, “Henri? This is John. We’re ready to make the transfer I discussed with you last night. Use this information.” He read off the codes and numbers from the paper in front of him, and Neil read them back to confirm them. A moment later, Noah looked at Pablo and smiled. “Check your bank,” he said.
Pablo looked at Henrique, who was punching buttons on a smart phone. A moment later, he passed the phone to Pablo, who broke into a huge smile.
“Well, my friend,” Pablo said, “it appears that our transaction has been quite successful.” He looked at Felicita, and flicked his eyes to Noah. “This girl is now yours, as my gift. I hope she comes to realize just how fortunate she is.”
“Oh, Se?or, I do know,” she said. She looked at Noah, her eyes filled with love and leaking tears. “Se?or John, I will make you the most happy of men.”
Noah leaned over and kissed her, then looked up at Pablo with a smile. “Well, this has been a good day all around,” he said. “Will you allow me to buy us a celebratory drink? I’ve noticed a bottle of Tres Cuatro Y Cinco up high over the bar. I’d be happy to purchase it for you, if you’ll share a drink with me from it.”
Pablo laughed. “How could I refuse? Eduardo, fetch it down.”
Noah laughed as well, then got up and went to the bar. “Eduardo,” he said, “two double shots!”
Eduardo climbed up onto a stool and got the bottle, then poured the drinks. Noah reached for the cup full of swizzle sticks that was sitting on the bar, and snagged the two gold ones he had slipped into it the day before. No one in this bar used swizzle sticks, so he had been fairly sure they would be safe there. He dropped one into each glass, and carried them back to the table. He extended his right hand toward Pablo, but wasn’t surprised when Pablo reached for the glass in his left.
They each swirled the amber liquid once with the swizzle stick, then took them out and laid them on the table. They clinked their glasses together, and together they tossed them back. No one noticed that Noah dipped his thumb into his glass while he was stirring it.
He sat there with Pablo for another thirty minutes, and then looked at Felicita. “Are you ready, sweetheart? We’ve got a lot of paperwork to get done, so I can take you back home with me. We might as well get started today.” He turned to Pablo. “Excuse me, Se?or, I should ask your permission to leave.”
Pablo looked over at Henrique, who was once again punching buttons on the smart phone. When Henrique smiled and showed Pablo that his bank account still showed the presence of the money, Pablo smiled at Noah.
“Se?or John,” he said, “may you and your lovely young lady find great happiness, just as you have given it to me this day. Vaya con Dios, Se?or.”
Noah rose from the table, holding the girl’s hand as he did so. A moment later, after she had grabbed a small bag from behind the bar, they were out the door and walking swiftly toward the corner. Alerted by Neil that the deal was done and Noah was out and on the street, Sarah pulled up in front of them as they arrived, and he hurried the girl into the backseat of the car, then slid in beside her.
“Felicita, meet Sarah,” he said. “Sarah, Felicita. You got that little present for her?”
Without a word, Sarah picked up the Texas driver’s license that had Felicita’s name and picture on it and passed it back to him. He showed it to the girl, and she looked confused.
“Se?or John? What is this?”
“This, Felicita, is your ticket to a new life. We’re going to take you into the states, and if anyone asks you, you were born in Odessa, Texas, exactly nineteen years ago today. I’m your boyfriend, and I brought you to Ciudad Juárez for your birthday. Do you understand?”
She looked at the driver’s license, and then up at his face. “And then you will marry me?”
Noah smiled. “You bet, baby, just as soon as we get settled in back home.”
He glanced up, then, and Sarah’s eyes caught his in the rearview mirror. She said nothing, but the look she gave him called him a heartless bastard.
It took them an hour to make it across the bridge, but then they were in Texas, and Felicita began to cry. Noah held her, letting her weep on his shoulder as Sarah drove directly to the Western District of Texas office of the Department of Justice. She had called ahead as they came off the bridge, and a pair of agents were standing in the parking lot when they pulled in.
Noah looked at the frightened Mexican girl. “Felicita,” he said, “there is something you need to understand. I am not the man you think I am.”