NEW CHAPTER 8

I’m sitting in my office when Samy arrives all excited.

‘Can we take a walk?’ he says with a wink and disappears.

Once outside, we walk silently to the Tuileries Garden, our favorite park for our underground meetings.

There, in the shade of trees we can safely exchange ideas and information.

‘I spent all night continuing searching on the Cops exchanges concerning the last seizure on the Spanish border.

One man behind that is called Raphael Sanchez. In fact the stopped truck belongs to a food transport company perfectly normal. But the driver, Rogero, admitted to being paid black to carry a fraudulent transport. A normal and honest guy usually but his daughter is sick and needs a costly operation so he gave in when he saw he could afford it in one day.

‘Except that now he’s in bigger trouble’ I say.

‘Yes and no. To get out he decided to help the police, which he did by giving the name of his sponsor, Raphael Sanchez’

‘Yeah, it's always the same story ... money leads this world and rots it at all ends. Even honest people can change if you pay them enough. Except that the honest ones get quickly arrested, for some reason. Too naive I suppose.’

‘Yes , anyway I continued to search on Sanchez. You’re going to like it.

He’ not very clever, if you see what I mean. He is the only son of Guillermo Sanchez, he studied in Switzerland in private and expensive boarding school. He returned to Spain a short time ago. His father is more than shady. In fact he’s suspected for heavy drug and other traffic like women and even children for a while but they could never charge him. No proof, nothing. He is clever this one. He’s got a import-export business that makes everything look legal. He’s even losing money there but I guess that’s a good way to clean the other money too. He pays his tax in Spain, his wife is a regular employee there as well.’

‘What more did you find on him?’ I interrupt him, suddenly very curious.

‘He started as a bricklayer at 18 and has become richer and richer over the years. He renovated many Moroccan villas, approached international celebrities.

Soon after he bought a villa, with a swimming pool and all the usual trimmings. No need to be an expert to see the connection! We also wonder how the cops and the tax officers don’t react on such things. As soon as bastards get rich, oddly enough, they all do more or less the same thing; buy luxury cars, their credit cards explode for luxury clothes, jewely and other unnecessary items. Women are suddenly invited to fashion shows, they spend a fortune in cosmetics, cosmetic surgery etc.

Anyway. I managed to go back to a Swiss account that allowed Sanchez to pay the studies of his dear son. He also has one account in Morocco, one in Marshall Islands, one in Guatemala. As usual, he diversifies all over the place and plays on all the boards. In my opinion, this is the ideal plan for the future ... I just need to crack his codes’

‘Yes. That sounds perfect’ I reply.

I may need an expert. He’s in Sweden, hiding in the woods but I have direct contact because I really helped him out once. Otherwise he would be sleeping behind bars today.

‘You never told me about it! You also have some secrets, right?’ I laugh.

‘Watch out anyway. If he’s already been suspected I prefer to skip him.’

‘No. Don’t worry dude. It has nothing to do with his hacker activity.

But I promised never to talk to a living soul about it.

And he’s the right guy we need in the future, trust me a little. I know what I’m talking about.

I take care of the computing issues...you take care of the business’ Samy sounds a bit angry.

‘Ok. Calmos man, sorry! So continue your research and tell me as soon as you’re ready.

I’ll launch Asia on my side as soon as possible... We’ll finally be able to have some fun soon’.

‘Sounds good to me man.’ Samy adds smiling again.

‘By the way, we’ve got to get out the next game pretty quickly.

I happened to see the pre-test for a game that is frankly inspired by ours. Wonder if nothing has leaked outside. But let’s not get paranoid.’ I sigh.

‘What about your interview yesterday?’

‘Oh. Benjiro. A great guy who speaks both Japanese and Chinese. A real asset. And his financial ambitions are quite reasonable. I was afraid he’d take advantage of the situation. But no. He’s cool. He understood that we’re still starting and that he’s got a bright future with us.

So he isn’t too greedy.’

I’m going to see him in an hour to sign his contract and if he agrees he’ll start right away.

In which case we’ll go to Japan in two or three weeks.’

‘Sounds great. By the way,’ began Samy, embarrassed by clearing his throat.

‘Go ahead. What else?’

‘Well, listen. It’s about Emma. Don’t get angry but I couldn’t help but look at her bank account and there are weird things on it.’

‘So you can’t help but get into others’ business’, I reply a bit annoyed.

‘It's for your safety. And mine at the same time. I remind you that we’re in the same boat! If you fall, I fall. And Emma is far from clean.’

He’s going on anyway.

‘Of course as a teacher she can’t get so much. It doesn’t make sense. And the money doesn’t come from her parents either. I checked. She cashes a lot. But it disappears. It looks pretty much like she’s cleaning somebody else’s money.

I know you like her, but she’s really mad and with odd people.’

I’m getting both curious and worried of course so I frown at him.

‘What else now?’ Samy seems to be expecting my reaction because he picks up his tablet and shows me photos he collected on the net.

Emma is clearly in a stripped position, in the midst of depraved rich men drowned in drugs and debauchery in a place that looks like the west coast of the US or South America, somewhere with palm trees and a rather dry area.

I can’t help but gasp.

I certainly suspected that her addiction led her too far but then to be fucked by old debris again. So she never changed that attitude. Even now she’s older and more mature.

I can’t recognize my dear childhood friend. It’s not like the one I know or want to remember.

‘That's one thing.’ Samy continues.

‘But look what really worries me.’

I see now pictures of Emma stamped "internal police". One shows her on January last year at the Colombian customs, holding a large coat firmly under her arm.

The other represents her again in February checking-in a large suitcase at the airport.

Another one month later and so on: a trip to Colombia every month.

'Where do you get these from?’ I ask in a muffled voice.

Samy ignores my question and simply replies:

‘Well, tell me what you think’.

‘I don’t have a lot of illusions about her anymore. Now what you see is just the proof that things are much worse than we thought and that we’ll actually have to pay attention to that. To be connected with her can get us into serious trouble, man. Shit.

Obviously she’s really in trouble. The cops know about her but for some reason are just watching her. I don’t get why. Do you?’

I’m still so pissed off by what I saw I can’t think clearly right now I’m afraid.

I manage to continue.

‘Ok. What we know is she prostitutes herself for her dope! I wish I could help her but frankly I... I feel both angry and helpless. She was so nice when she was young... What a mess! How to help her out of this crap? I guess it’s too late now. I suspected all these years she was involved in something sordid. But somewhere, I didn’t want to know it! I thank you for showing me the truth, which is much worse than I thought. When I think she told me that she was studying, etc. and that I believed it! All this is just bullshit! I think that's what hurts the most: it's to see that even with me, she isn’t able to be honest, tell her problems or at least not to lie’.

We both continue our walk in the park in silence.

Samy tries to comfort me:

‘Of course she might be trying to protect you by lying to you. In a way, the less you know about her criminal activities, the safer you are.’

‘Still how can she look at me, smile at me, laugh with me about casual life? How can she look at herself in the mirror every morning? Doesn’t she realize that by doing her shitty traffic, she's dragging other people into the same crappy life style? She’s destroying others too? And she’s helping others bastards to get richer and richer every day on people’s misery.

What do you want me to say to you? I feel disgusted by all this trafficking!

But I really didn’t need that right now. I must keep a cool head and not let my emotions muddle my mind. It won’t be easy.’

Samy keeps silent for a while, then adds:

‘Just tell me something and we won’t talk about it any more. You’re really in love with her despite every thing right?’

I put a poor smile on my face and raise my eyes towards him, without being able to utter a single word… My throat is hurting, tears are not far away…

I guess it’s a confession in itself.

Samy looks at me with a hint of pity in his eyes. I hate that. Without saying anything either, he just pats me embarrassed on the shoulder as to comfort me. ‘Let’s sit down and have a cup of coffee in this coffee shop. It’s on me Man.’

I follow him, still wondering what to do with Emma.

I don’t know why I’m still in love with this girl. After all I know about her know, all I just saw, I should logically drop everything. But love has unfortunately nothing to do with logic;

I can’t help but see the real Emma behind all that, the wonderful little girl who used to be so openhearted, so humble, so funny. I wish I could just take her in my arms and tell her I forgive her for everything, that I can help her. I feel so badly for meeting her while she’s in Paris. When I saw her last I realized how I’ve missed her, her eyes, her smile, her laugh, our conversations, our games, our jokes.

Still I don’t want to jeopardize our plans, our challenge. If the cops are on her, I shouldn’t get in touch with her - too risky.

‘Now let’s talk about Spain a bit more. You know this Rafael seems to be a big jerk. All his records from school show or say the same thing: he’ll never set the world on fire. He’s been struggling to pass all his exams. He obviously loves girls, clubbing, driving cars, drinking too much and smoking pot. His parents probably hoped to take revenge over the society by sending him to an expensive Swiss boarding school but it didn’t work that well for him’.

‘Ok but what’s the plan with this story? How can we use it?’ I wonder.

‘We have the choice. Shall we mess with the Netherlands, where he was supposed to deliver the dope? Or shall we mess with Morocco, where I think the cannabis came from? I need to get new access to those guys--I need a few more days.’

‘Don’t forget the other son of a bitch, Serge Fabre. I want to see him down.’

‘I’ve already started my search on him. His life is not so funny any more. His wife left him a few years ago now, fed up with his parties and low sense of morals. His political career seems on hold, even going down hill.’

‘When it comes to our first attack I’m wondering. Do you have already access to Sanchez account and emails?’

‘Yes. He’s totally under control thanks to the Narcotics squad’s files. Very well informed indeed. So maybe our job will help them indirectly to catch him.’

‘No. I don’t’ trust the justice any longer. The bastards always manage to escape one way or the other. No man, I want him dead or at least so destroyed, so powerless, that he won’t be able to harm anyone anymore.’

‘Wow’ is all Samy can figure out to reply.

‘I know, I sound cruel maybe but look at them. Do they really care? An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is the only answer. Get rid of those bastards. I mean it.’

‘Ok. So the war is declared the.’ Samy summarizes in a sigh.

I look at him and smile broadly.

‘Yep. In our way, with our tools. After all these years of preparation, all this hard work with the studies, the company, we’re finally there. I’ve been waiting for this moment to come for 5 years. Now I can’t wait any longer. Still I know patience is a virtue in this kind of battle. You need to know when the time has come or not.

So when do you think you’ll manage to get access to the Dutch accounts and emails then?’

‘My friend is working on it. Don’t worry. It could be today or tomorrow. This week for sure. I’ll let you know.’

‘Perfect. Let’s celebrate!’

I raise my hand and call for the waiter.

Still I feel a bit of pain in my stomach. I have a strange bad feeling slowly creeping in.

Isn’t it too early to call it a victory? Never under-estimate my opponent, I know for sure they won’t be that easy to crash down and exterminate.

But most of all, with Emma around I feel more vulnerable somehow. I wish I won’t have to sacrifice her in the process.