“This horse have a story?” I asked.
“My uncle has ranch,” Emilio explained, “it is his grandson that produces the sculptures. He modeled that after his horse, Tempestad, just before he was put down.” I looked at the picture again.
“How big is it?”
“About a foot from head to tail,” Emilio replied, holding his hands about a foot apart.
“If he adds a write up in English about the horse and affixes some kind of signature or logo, this is very sellable,” I said, “the more pieces he can develop like this, the better. The abstract stuff I can’t really move. It needs an art gallery.”
“How much would something like the horse sell for?” Emilio asked, his interest at a new height.
“With the additions I mentioned,” I paused as I thought, “maybe three grand a piece, the artist would get a third of that.” I watched Emilio’s eyes widened. He shifted his body, facing more toward me.
“Would your firm be interested?”
“We could be, if we could be assured of a certain volume.”
“It takes him a week or so per sculpture and his brother had started learning,” Emilio added.
“A play on the family thing always works well,” I added, “a family crest can increase value and create word-of-mouth.”
“Do you have a card Mr. Bennett?” Emilio asked. I pulled my card out of my pocket and handed it over. Emilio snapped his finger at one his shadows and the man produced a card. Emilio took it and added something on the back with a pen.
“This is my private number,” Emilio instructed, “you can get me anytime night or day. If you make a deal with my cousin, I will make sure he honors it.” I took his card and glanced at the front.
“Colonel Campos?” I said with some surprise. He smiled at me.
“I can also help with export issues,” Emilio said with a chuckle. I read a lot into that statement. I wondered if I would have more issues if his cousin wasn’t offered a contract.
“I think this might work out well,” I said. My phone rang before I could continue. It was Tamara. She knew I was on layover and I had forgotten to check in. “Excuse me a moment,” I apologized. Emilio nodded with a smile. I stood and walked to the other side of the room to answer.
“Hello,” I said in Armenian.
“You not call,” Tamara responded. I could hear the relief in her voice.
“Sorry.”
“Okay,” Tamara continued, “you check plane?” I tried not to laugh. One crash and she thought I should do a once over on all planes.
“Plane is okay,” I said, trying not to let the humor through.
“You check,” Tamara insisted. She heard the humor. She knew my tone better than I did. I think we could just hum to each other and get meaning from it.
“Okay,” I said with seriousness, “I love you.”
“I love you,” Tamara added, “You check plane. You come back.” I could feel her apprehension and looked over at the Colonel. I wondered if anyone had it out for him. We said goodbye as best we could. My Armenian was improving, but the phone made it difficult. I walked up to the counter and spoke to the attendant.
“Ahh,” I stuttered trying to think of a good way to put it, “is there some kind of inspection performed on the plane before take-off?” The attendant looked at me confused. The request was a bit heavy for her English. I turned to Emilio.
“This may seem a strange request,” I hesitated, “but I wonder if you can ask if they inspect the plane before take-off. My fiancee is worried I might have a repeat of an incident. Not that I expect one, but I don’t want to lie to her.”
“You had a bad flight?” Emilio asked. I spent the next few minutes explaining the crash, my fiancee, daughter, and the suspicions as to the cause. Emilio listened intently, and I noticed his shadows’ interest as well.
Emilio turned to the shadow behind him and rattled off some Spanish, a command about inspecting the plane much more thoroughly than I intended. The shadow jumped and moved out the door quickly.
“I would like an inspection as well,” Emilio said with a smile, “I never question a woman’s intuition. So you met your future wife in a plane crash. That is a wonderful story for your grandchildren. My wife and I met at a dance. Not nearly as romantic, but I did accidently tear her dress.”
“No,” I said with surprise, “you rip a woman’s dress, and she married you.”
“I was her ride home,” Emilio continued, “I was young and so excited that such a beautiful woman would let me escort her. I closed the car door too soon and ruined her dress.” He laughed as he thought about it. “She yelled at me like I had run over her pet or something. It was her passion that thrilled me. It took me two weeks just to get her to speak to me again. I think the struggle made me want her all the more.”
Emilio and I spoke for a while. I found out he attended UCLA for a degree in geology before he joined the Peruvian special police. He traveled around the states when he could and even visited Chicago once. He started the conversation with me because he wanted to keep up his English skills. He didn’t like losing what had taken him so long to gain.
The shadow came back and had a heated conversation with Emilio. I could see the Colonel appear in Emilio’s stature and words. Commands flowed, and both shadows took off to complete the tasks. Emilio grabbed his phone and made a call. His tone was not pleasant, and I could make out enough to know that something was wrong with the plane.
“Tamara… is it?” Emilio asked. I nodded, “It looks like Tamara has saved you. And me in the process.” I could see his shoulders straightening. He had a strong authority about him. “They have found a device on the plane. Some kind of improvised explosive.”
“Shit!” I commented. The odds of this happening to me twice were astronomical.
“Appropriate word,” Emilio continued, “my men are searching for the mechanic who worked on the plane this morning.” He looked at me with steel eyes, “I would not want to be him today.”
“This can’t be happening twice,” I said.
“I have enemies,” Emilio admitted, “you seem to have bad luck picking traveling companions.” He paused for a moment, then gave me the bad news. “I am shutting down the airport. I am sorry, but a bomb on a plane forces my hand. Every plane must be inspected now.”
“That makes sense,” I said. Only an idiot would consider it isolated.
“I would like to offer you my home for the night.” Emilio’s manner changed back to cordial. “I can offer a good meal and we could talk more over a glass of wine.”
“Maybe a cousin could drop by,” I said with a smile.
“Yes,” Emilio replied as he laughed, “we must find our silver linings where we can..”
“I would be honored,” I agreed. It was a much better idea than trying to find hotel and eating by myself. I enjoyed talking with Emilio, and his political power couldn’t hurt.
I would classify Emilio’s home as more of an estate. It had a high brick fence surrounding the property and an automatic gate for entry. The grounds were immaculate. Every bush and tree trimmed professionally. The house itself was a modern example of Spanish colonial architecture. A breathtaking example.
The dinner was excellent and Emilio’s wife, Florencia, was as beautiful as he had indicated. With that beauty came an air of sophistication that she tampered down when she noticed how familiar Emilio and I were. Her English was good, so I was able to include her in the conversation. It was a very pleasant evening.
Emilio’s cousin, Alejandro, joined us for dessert. He was a young man whose grasp of English was equivalent to my skills with Spanish. We mostly spoke through Emilio and Florencia. He brought the horse along with pictures of other non-abstract work. Each modeled after a physical structure, be it animal or building. Looking at them as a set, they were a good representation of Peru. Our clients loved to be worldly and paid dearly to do it with class.
I explained the marketing necessities and harped on the need to embellish but not lie. My customers had a tendency to take trips to verify their acquisitions and see if they could get more on the cheap. A lie would spread like wildfire and destroy an artist quicker than a bullet to the head. I promised to send samples of logos, crests, and history copy so that they could put something together. I also agreed to draw up a contract if he could meet the criteria. Alejandro was ecstatic. I had a sense that his family had looked down at his art, and I was his shining moment in the spotlight.
The guest room was beyond anything a hotel could offer. Emilio enjoyed his luxury and didn’t spare it for the guests. My room had its own patio, which I enjoyed while I called Tamara. She was so relieved I didn’t get on that plane. I suffered a few I-told-you-sos and assured her I had a high ranking official helping me deal with the issue. I made her tell me about her and Melina’s day to change the subject. Tamara emphasized that Melina missed me almost as much as she did. She didn’t enjoy me traveling without her. Maybe she feared I would get stranded with another woman.
I slept quite well tucked into the Egyptian cotton sheets.