Business at Gringo Chili had never been better with so many hungry gringos in town working on the Trans Ecuadorian pipeline that had crumpled and broken, like so many aluminum beer cans strung end to end, from the force of the earthquake and the landslide that went with it.Benecio was amassing a war chest, like the Conquistadors of old to fund his voyage, by the back route to his El Dorado.
And while he had absconded with a small fortune in emeralds already, he did not want to make known their presence yet, drawing every kind of mongrel dog this border town was heir to, sniffing his butt.Except for one cabochon which he had wrapped in newspaper and then wrapped in a Gringo Chili T-Shirt and had sent through a known sympathizer of the Colombian rebel forces to Colonel Paco Moreno.
Days passed.
Then one afternoon around three as Benecio was reading the newspaper he saw a man walking through the central plaza in full camouflage regalia with a strapped pistol at his side.Horns honked and Paco Moreno waved and laughed.
It was strictly forbidden in Ecuador for anyone not in the Ecuadorian armed forces to wear a uniform of any kind but this man seemed not to care.
Benecio knew he was headed his way and looked up and down the wide avenue making sure no one would see him come in to Gringo Chili. It was hopeless. Siesta time had ended and people and cars seemed to all be heading in his direction.
Benecio grunted a curse.
Paco walked in.
"Compadre!" Benecio,shouted.
"Compadre!" replied Paco, taking off his camouflage uniform hat to reveal a completely bald head. The two men hugged gingerly for Benecio still wore his sling and grimaced, unseen by Paco, at the embrace.
Paco sat at the bar and Bencio pulled out a Budweiser for him.
"Don't give me that Gringo Piss !'
"I have just the thing for you, Paco, compadre."
He reached up high on his bar and pulled out a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Lable which he sold to the gringos at $15 a shot. It cost him over $100 a bottle and while there wasn't an overwhelming demand for it, he'd sell a bottle's worth every ten days and what was more important Paco knew what he was getting.
"Rocas? Agua?" he asked him.
Benecio brought down two drinking water glasses .Filled them with ice and then filled them with Johnny Walker Blue Label. He left the bottle near the two glasses. They drank a toast. And another.
"So how goes the thing,"Benecio asked him
"In the words of Ernesto Che Guevara,Benecio, You don't wait for the apple to be ripe to shake it from the tree. We will win...But we are floating in money from marching powder, half our time is spent with the dealings of coca. Sure it gives us money to fight...But it is changing the character of our people...our revolution.
Benecio filled up Pacos glass and smiled like a Cheshire cat as the alcohol seemed to make his compadre sentimental.
"So how many men do you have under your command Paco?'
"Benecio, you know that is a military secret."
"Sorry, I was just trying to make conversation Paco you seem so...tired."
"I don't care if they shoot me as long as there is someone to pick up my gun."
"Drink some more Paco."
"When are you going to give me the good stuff ?"
"Ay, compadre!"
"So where is the girl?"
"Dolores ? She is where the emeralds are."
"She is in Colombia?"
"Maybe."
"All emeralds come from Colombia."
"Not true. There are Emeralds from Africa, Brazil, even from the United States."
"You have sent her to the Yanquis?" With their patrullas who are helping the government pigs wipe out our coca ? He fell silent.Took a long drink. Benecio freshened his ice."You know all are kids are sniffing this white powder now. All our soldiers... I am sick of it. A whole generation will be lost not to bad government but to this poison!"He filled his glass.Paco took a long pull. "How much do you think it is worth ?"
Benecio smiled. He had him. "I know how much it is worth."
"How much?"
"About two thousand dollars.And you can keep it. That is the price I am willing to pay to have you come away from your very important business to talk to me about some other very important business.
"And what can you tell me about this important business of yours."
"Better than tell you, I can show you,said Benecio with great confidance now and he reached into the cooler, behind the bottles and pulled out a fist sized leather pouch. He placed on the bar between, still fastened tight by its cord looked up and down the street both for witnesses and for dramatic effect. Satisfied that no one was lurking, he opened the pouch and made the one hundred or so emeralds splash a little on the bar and throw off what light there was. They were all bigger than the one he had given Paco and although still rough their clarity and color would impress even the most casual and amateur viewer of gems.
Benecio spoke in evenly measured words spelling out as much of his proposition as he dared to at this point:"Besides yourself , Paco,do you have 4 strong men of confidence Paco, like the Conquistadors, who could call each other compadre and who would be willing to do a little freelance work- two weeks- to earn enough money for the rest of their lives ? I assure you, there is very little risk in this proposition only faith and trust and the belief that some great things are still left to be done in this world."
The men continued to drink and the efffects of the alcohol were beginning to set in.
"take a break from your revolution or if you feel you must give the profits which will be great to your great Jefe Morales as a token of your faith in his work."
At this moment Benecio noticed that Fernando, the quiet one, had somehow entered the bar without his notice and was listening in a dark corner to his conversation.He had no idea how long he had been there.
He sloppily tried to cover up the emeralds-
Paco raised his head from the bartop-
Benecio with dificulty pulled a sawed off shotgun with his untrained left hand from behind the bar-
Fernando Ran,
Benecio fired and shattered the glass of his restaurant door-
Fernando Kept running-
Paco turned his head in the opposite direction to the action.
"Kill him," cried Benecio.
"Kill who?"Asked Paco
Didn't you see it, "That fulano tried to kill me!"
"I was resting!' yelled Paco, "He tried to kill me ?"
"Yes ,"said Benecio, 'He was a government assasin, and I fired back at him and I saved your life."He looked nervously in the direction in which Fernando had fled.
"You saved my Life, compadre? Then I am in your debt."
"Then you will do what we discussed and not forget," said Benecio firmly.
"We will get the esmeraldas,"said Paco, Just tell me when."
"Right now I will drive you in my truck- it is parked by the back door -to your people and I will contact you again when I am ready by the same method. Do you have people in Dureno right now?"
"That's a military secret."
"Well where do you want me to drop you ?"
"Near Dureno."
"Okay Compadre"
"Compadre"
"March," said Benecio.
And with those words the Rebel Colonel seemed to instantly sober up and made his way through the back door to the truck as Alexandra carefully peaked around a corner of the bar window summoning up the courage to come down from their upstairs apartment and look in. She heard Benecios truck ignite and saw it speed through the dust towards the road. She recognized Paco Moreno and presumed he had shot out the window, the son of a whore !
Inside the bar she called Antonio the glass man who said he had too much work to do already. She doubled his asking price and he said he would come right over.
On the counter she found a beautiful emerald, and knowing how meticulous and selfish her husband was with things of monetary value she vowed to never admit having seen it when he asked and to have it cut and made into a fine piece of jewelry for Dolores who she was sure she would see again one day soon. The Gringo Nate was such a nice man. He would never run off with Dolores. He would bring her home and married or not she would have this beautiful jewel waiting for her. The stone was too big for a ring but it would make a very beautiful pendant .
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