Chapter 9

9

Rogue

T he two men arrived together in the same dusty jeep.

At first glance, they looked similar—tanned, dark-haired, rugged men who looked like they spent much of their time outdoors. Both wore light linen pants and shirts, made dusty by the ride. Upon closer inspection, however, there were differences between them. The younger man was slight and wiry, with hair that was already thinning and bad teeth that made Rogue think he’d sampled too much of his own product. The older man was burlier, with thick arms and legs and eyes so dark they were almost black.

Rogue, who was sitting down on the couch with his laptop, watched them out of the corner of his eye, but didn’t stand up. Cruz would introduce him when he wanted to, and it wouldn’t do to show excessive curiosity about the newcomers.

Emiliano strode across the room, a jovial smile on his face, and shook hands with them. “ Oscar. Miguel. ?Bienvenidos a mi casa! ”

The younger man—Miguel—flashed Emiliano a smile full of yellowing teeth. “Make yourselves at home,” Emiliano said expansively. He didn’t need to say it twice. Miguel made his way straight to the bar area in one corner, where he began examining bottles.

The older man—Oscar—was more cautious. He grumbled something about the distance they’d had to cover to get here and made a big show of wiping off dust from the soles of his boots. Looking around the room, he stopped when he saw Rogue. He tensed, his thin lips curling down. “ ?Quién es? ” he asked, his voice laced with poison. Who is that?

“ That ,” Emiliano replied, “is our secret weapon.”

“I don’t like surprises, Emiliano. I thought I’d made that clear,” he said, shrugging his large shoulders.

“Always so suspicious, Oscar. I promise you, you are safe here. Let me introduce you to Rogue.”

“ ?Rogue? ?Es Americano? ”

“Australian,” Rogue drawled, taking that as his cue to stand up and approach the pair. He hunched as he did so, purposefully making himself look as small as possible. No sense in alarming these assholes.

“Rogue’s an IT genius. I’ve known him for years. My brother trusted him,” he said. The three men exchanged a meaningful look. Clearly Ricardo had been an important figure for all of them.

“So what’s this genio going to do for us?” Oscar Aguilar asked. Despite the interspersed Spanish words, his English was completely fluent.

“Why don’t we show you, instead?” Cruz said theatrically. “Rogue, show them what we can do.”

Rogue nodded. He’d already connected the laptop to a projector, taking two paintings off the wall to make enough space. With a quick set of keystrokes, he pulled up a map of North America and South America. Small dots and arrows pinpointed their current location, as well as the locations and movement of the pilot shipments. Some dots were still, while others moved on roads and on the open sea.

Oscar’s mouth fell open. He pointed at one dot. “Is that?—”

Cruz nodded. “This is simply one harvest and several shipments,” he said modestly, “but it could be used to monitor every single dollar of revenue as it moves through the supply chain.”

Oscar Aguilar made as if to interrupt, but Cruz stopped him with an imperious wave of his hand. “I know what you’re going to say, Oscar, but it’s completely encrypted. That’s where Rogue comes in. Nobody, no matter how skilled, could get access to this. Imagine. All my business, all our business, if you gentlemen agree to the partnership I’m going to propose, in a single laptop. Every single dollar, viewable real-time. Not a single gram of product lost in transit.”

Aguilar stroked his beard. “And I assume that would be your laptop we’d be talking about, Emiliano?” he asked, his eyes narrowed in challenge.

“Naturally,” Cruz replied. “I’m the one who’s put in all the hard work, and I’m the one who already has the biggest business in North America.”

“This partnership you mention, Emiliano,” Miguel rolled the word as if the term was unfamiliar to him . So, not a team player. “What do we get out of it?”

“Ah, I’m so glad you asked, Miguel.” He nodded to Rogue, who clicked another key. The dots and arrows on the screen shifted and multiplied. Miguel’s mouth fell open as he stared at the screen. “This is what will happen to your business in three months.” Rogue clicked again. “And this, this would be a year from today.”

By now, the number of red dots on the screen had multiplied by ten and, more importantly, shifted into new countries. Canada. Denmark. Finland. France. The south of Spain. It was all bullshit, of course, a made-up visualization, but Rogue had to admit it looked impressive.

Dollar signs flashed in the younger man’s eyes. And though he tried to hold himself back, Rogue could see he was almost panting with how badly he wanted it.

“What do you think?” Emiliano asked. He was smart enough to address Miguel first.

“I’m going to need to see some concrete numbers,” Miguel began. So, he’s not as dumb as he looks. “But in principle, it looks great,” he finished.

Aguilar rolled his eyes. “I’ve been in business longer than the two of you together,” he said, his jaw tight. “You know how much I respected your brother, Emiliano. He was one of a kind. But I am happy with my business as it is.”

“Are you? Keep in mind, Oscar, your business is a shrinking business. Technology is changing everything and if you don’t jump on board now, there might not be another chance.”

“Are you threatening me, Emiliano?” Oscar’s neck swelled, giving the impression of a cobra about to strike.

Emiliano raised his palms quickly. “No. No. We are friends, you and I. This is... an opportunity.”

“All the same, I prefer to keep my business mine. Nothing you offer could make me change my mind.”

Emiliano’s smile increased in wattage. It was the smile of a man who knew he held an ace up his sleeve.

“Perhaps I know just the thing, Oscar, that would change your mind.”

Oscar sighed, stroking his beard again. “You’re not going to try to sell me one of these ridiculous paintings again, are you?” he said, pointing at the walls. “I don’t need any more virgins.”

Emiliano’s smile lengthened, making him look like a crocodile about to pounce on his prey. “I was thinking of a different type of virgin.”

A sick feeling erupted in the pit of Rogue’s stomach. It was all he could do to keep his hands on the keyboard, when they itched to slam against Cruz’s jaw.

Aguilar’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“How would you like to take my beautiful niece, Beatriz, with you when you go home?”

Aguilar’s mouth fell open again, and this time it stayed open. From where he was standing, Rogue could smell the foul stench.

“Think of what you could do with her,” Cruz continued, his voice slimy.

Rogue had to pull on all his training to keep the disgust off his face. He prayed Bea wasn’t hidden at the top of the staircase, eavesdropping on this conversation.

“Are you serious, Emiliano?” Aguilar asked, in a guttural voice.

“ Te lo juro por mi hermano. ” I swear it on my brother.

Those words seemed to have an impact on Aguilar.

“So. Just to be claros ,” he said altogether too calmly. “If I partner with you in this, your niece is mine, to do with as I want.”

Rogue wanted to kill him. He dug his nails into his palms so hard, he knew he’d see the marks for days.

Cruz nodded enthusiastically. “That’s right. Your loyalty, in exchange for this beautiful, pure flower.”

Aguilar’s tongue came out to lick his lips. “She’s untouched?” he croaked.

“Untouched. Untried. Innocent in every way.”

Aguilar all but drooled. “Let that be a lesson to you, Miguel,” he said, addressing the younger man. “I told you earlier nothing our friend Emiliano could say would convince me to get into business with him. Turns out, one should never say never.”

Miguel laughed, making a crude sign with his hands. “ Quédate con la mujer, yo me quedo con la plata .” Keep the woman, I’ll keep the money.

Cruz’s teeth flashed. “So. We are agreed, then,” he said, putting out his hand. “Partners.” The three men shook hands formally.

Eventually, Cruz seemed to remember Rogue was there and turned to look at him. Rogue prayed he’d schooled his appearance, hoping he wasn’t showing any of the disgust he was feeling.

“Then let’s give Rogue the details he needs on your operations to program the system, and let’s get to work on making ourselves richer, gentlemen.”