The Last Network - Chapter 43
Job Description
She was wearing a black dress, enormous sunglasses, and a wide brimmed hat. She carried shopping bags in one hand and a small leather purse in the other. To an untrained eye, she looked like half the women in the hotel. Generic, upscale shopper, heading back from the boutiques.
Paolo recognized her immediately as the woman from that night.
They made quick eye contact. She continued strolling through the lobby. He got up and followed her to the elevator. She handed him her shopping bags and pressed the up button. They ascended in silence. Paolo examined the skin of her neck. No marks or bruises. The shallow yellow from that night had been erased and replaced by the light of the sun. The elevator stopped on eleven. She stepped out; he followed her down the hall. The carpet pattern was a maze of red and gold interlocking diamonds. At 11015, she took out her key card and opened the door.
Paolo paused for a moment, afraid to cross the threshold. Last time he trusted this woman he lost an evening of his life. Then again, he was back because he wanted that to happen again.
“Get inside.”
He did as he was told. The door clicked shut behind him.
“You can put the bags on the other bed. Let’s talk about this job.”
Paolo put the bags down, turned, and faced her. “I need a name first. Your real one.”
“Monica.”
“Monica?”
“Just Monica.”
“I’m just Paolo.”
“You are a whole lot more than just Paolo.”
He smiled and looked across at her. “Just like you’re a lot more than Monica.”
“Sometimes, but not today. This is business,” she said trying to keep on track.
“Before business, I need to know a few things. Otherwise there can’t be business.”
“Go on,” Monica ordered.
“Were you in on it?”
“Of course, I was in on it.”
“Were you drugged?”
“Yes.”
“Same as me?”
“Same as you.”
“Who drugged you?”
“I did it myself.”
Paolo looked at her cockeyed. “Why?”
“That’s how it works. I’ll save you the questions. Yes, you hurt me. No, not badly. Yes, I knew what they were going to do with us. Part of me likes it, part of me does it because that’s the gig. Now we need to talk about this job. No job, no next time. You understand?”
“Yes.”
“This should be a simple enough task. The city of Lagos wants to build a new stadium as part of a revitalization project.” She opened a folder, pulled out a map, and pointed to a circled area on it. “They want to use land that one of our clients owns. Our client is planning to build a marina and hotel there and is not being fairly compensated for the land. We need to turn the public against the stadium idea and get it killed.”
Paolo stood over her, leaned in and asked, “What’s the angle?”
“Oil prices are low, so Nigeria is broke. They owe China a lot of money. Anti-Chinese resentment is running high. You are going to start a riot and ransack a Chinese-owned block. Afterwards, the Chinese community will demand an apology. Make sure the Nigerians are too pissed off to let their government apologize.”
He reached around her, a finger tracing the circle on the map, his chest brushing against her back. “What does that do for your client?”
She stepped away and turned towards him. “Chinese money is going to build the stadium. No apology, no stadium. Our client waits a month, spreads some money around, and they get cleared to break ground on their project.”
“So, you just need one big riot to smash up a bunch of boutiques?”
“That’s it.” She closed the folder and handed it to him. “This has all the background you need for the job.”
He took it from her and placed it in his laptop bag. “Monica, why do I want to do it again?”
“For the purge. Every bad thing about you comes to the surface and is washed away. You wake up the next day feeling empty. That’s why we wait until after a job. It drains us of the horrible things we’ve done, so that we can go out there and do more of them.”
“That doesn’t last, does it?”
“No. At some point you do it just to turn yourself off.”
“You there yet?”
“I was, then we found you and Kendra.” She walked towards the door and opened it. “It’s time for you to go, Paolo.”
Paolo lingered for a moment, then kissed her on the lips. It was a quick tentative kiss for a couple who had done so much more before. She smiled, then disappeared behind her glasses. The door shut, and he was back out in the hall.