“It’s been fun hanging out with you too, Eddie,” Jake told him, and, to his surprise, he found he was telling the truth. It had been a bit disconcerting, but it had been fun. “And if you’re ever in the states, I’d love to show you a few of my favorite places as well.”
“I will keep the invitation in mind,” he said. He took a large drink of his beer and then looked at Jake meaningfully. “There is one thing I would like to ask you.”
“What’s that?”
“Those stories one hears. The stories about you snorting yeyo out of that zunga’s butt crack?”
“Yeah,” Jake said slowly. “I’ve heard those stories.”
“As have I,” Eddie said. “Are they true?”
Jake looked at the man and smiled a little. “Before I answer that, Eddie, can I ask you something?”
“Anything, parcero,” he said. “Anything at all.”
“I’m told you’re in the import/export business, that that is how you made enough money to buy a business jet.”
“That is correct,” Eddie said with a nod. “I have been very successful.”
“Obviously,” Jake said. “My question is: what exactly do you import and export?”
Eddie stared at him for a moment, his eyes darkening momentarily. Jake began to think maybe he had had one too many Bravas while playing darts. But then the eyes softened, and Eddie chuckled.
“I export coffee,” he said at last. “You have heard we grow world famous coffee here in Colombia.”
“I’ve drank some of it,” Jake said. “It is quite good.”
“That is how I make my living,” Eddie said. “I export coffee and I import American and Asian consumer electronics. The business has been very kind to me.”
“Yes, it has,” Jake agreed.
“And of the yeyo and the zunga?” Eddie asked.
“It never happened,” Jake told him, shaking his head. “Nothing but media lies.”
“Oh ... I see,” Eddie said, visibly disappointed.
“Sometimes the truth is not nearly as interesting as the story, huh?”
“You speak correctly, Jake.”
When they returned to the hangar, they found that the two mechanics were the only people still physically working on something. They had the cowling off the number one engine and Travis was standing on a step ladder, peering inside with a flashlight while Samuel read numbers to him from a logbook. Nick, the accountant, was sitting by himself, reading through some notes and running some figures with a pocket calculator. Jill and Sebastian the pilot were sitting at one of the tables drinking coffee and having what appeared to be an animated conversation. Jake was surprised to see that Jill was smiling and giggling at whatever they were discussing. He had never known Jill to giggle before, would not have thought she was even capable of it had he not seen it with his own eyes.
As the two men came inside, Jill quickly excused herself from Sebastian and Nick quickly folded up the notes he was working on. They both came over to where Jake and Eddie stood and put their business faces back on.
“Well?” Eddie asked them. “What have you accomplished?”
“We’re sure we have a preliminary agreement worked out,” Nick said. “At least we do until the lawyers get their hands on it.”
“Yes, the vampiros,” Eddie spat, contempt clear in his voice. “They have to have their greasy little hands in everything.”
“Some things truly are universal,” Jake put in.
“Indeed,” Eddie said with a sigh. “That is for another day, however. Tell me what you came up with.”
“Well,” said Nick, “the sale will be conducted in United States dollars to be deposited by Jake’s lender into a Colombian escrow account in Bogota. The official inspection of the aircraft will be performed by American inspectors. Señor Gomez, you will pay for the inspection itself, Jake, you will pay for the travel expenses, lodging, and transportation of the inspection team from the United States to Bogota. Assuming the inspection is satisfactory, we will enter a forty-five-day escrow, during which either party may withdraw from the deal without penalty. Señor Gomez will continue to pay for maintenance and storage of the asset until the close of escrow and will continue to pay for storage after closing until one of Jake’s agents takes possession of the aircraft, as long as that does not take longer than sixty days from closing.”
Eddie nodded thoughtfully as he heard this. “Sounds reasonable enough to me,” he said.
“Me too,” Jake agreed.
“Of course,” said Jill, “this is just the very basics of the agreement. There are some other details involved—things like funding transfer procedures, use of the aircraft during the escrow period, unanticipated delays caused by weather or political upheaval. Should we discuss those things now?”
“Uh ... no,” Eddie said. “Not unless Jake wants to.”
Everyone looked at Jake. He looked at Jill. “Jill, is there anything in this agreement you and Nick have come up with that should concern me?”
“Other than the fact that you are spending a huge amount of money on a depreciating asset, no,” she said.
“Well, all right then,” Jake said. “I guess I’m happy.”
“We have a deal then?” Eddie asked.
“Assuming I get a good report from Travis, and assuming that the vampiros and the loan sharks and the international trade people keep their noses reasonably out of it, yes. We have a deal.”
They shook hands on it. Eddie then turned to Nick. “Oh, and by the way, I’ll need you to take fifty thousand dollars off of the agreed upon price.”
Nick looked at him sharply. “Fifty thousand dollars, jefe? For what reason?”
Eddie shrugged. “Jake and I made a wager playing darts. He won.”
Nick’s eyes widened almost comically. “You lost fifty thousand dollars playing darts, jefe? Darts?!”
“It’s only money,” Eddie said. “And he won fair and square.”
“You gambled fifty thousand dollars on a game of darts?” Jill asked Jake angrily as soon as their limousine pulled away from the airport services office.
“I won,” Jake said defensively.
“That’s not the point!” she said. “You might have lost!”
“I didn’t think so at the time I made the bet,” he replied. “I did get a little nervous when we got to game five though. It turned out he was a much better thrower than I gave him credit for. But I pulled it out at the end. Sank the final shot right in the double ten for the win.” He smiled a little, miming the act of throwing a dart. And then something occurred to him. “Hey, that rhymes.”
“Jake!” Jill said, quite exasperated now.
“All right, all right,” Jake said. “I promise I will not gamble with Colombian drug lords anymore. Are you happy?”
“Not really,” she said.
“Good,” he said, then turned to Travis. “Now then. What did you discover in your examination?”
“The maintenance records are perfect,” the mechanic said. “Every scheduled maintenance has been done on time and in the correct manner using the correct parts. There is, of course, the possibility that the records were faked—I have heard that such fraud happens in second and third world countries from time to time—but I did randomly check several of the replacement parts that were logged and had Samuel read off the part numbers from the logs. They matched in every case, which suggests that the records are accurate.”
“So ... the plane looks good then?”
“It looks very good,” he said. “Lovingly cared for, in fact. Of course, the official inspection that will be required by the bank before approval of your loan will be much more thorough than my preliminary look, but I’ve been working on these planes for three years now. I am confident it will check out.”