Ch 6 – When It Rains It Pours
James was ready to hang up when Pote finally picked up. Teresa had gone out for a walk in the cold, a thing that she would not have enjoyed under any circumstances, and as much as James believed she was falling again in her risk taking mode, Pote's direct and vivid opposition to any help for Marcel and Chicho didn't sit well with him. It was actually a surprise as Pote had risked his life to save Chicho from Boaz, and Marcel had helped him a lot back then. So, James decided that no preamble was necessary: "You gotta pick your battles more carefully, Pote!"
After Pote just grumbled, James went on: "I'm not gonna fight with Teresa over this… it's important to her, don't you get it?"
"What do you mean pick your fights? Huh?...Actually I know what you mean...but I don't think you have once stomped your foot like a man and said 'no', cabron!" James didn't expect an attack that fast.
"Ha…Actually, I have!" he said.
"When?" It felt like everyone was in a bad mood and sporting to fight!
"Who do you think made her give up buying a damn diamond mine...or opening a casino?...She had ideas long time ago…that if Taza could run one, so should she…I did!" James hadn't shared anything about Teresa's desire to open a casino after their trip to Vegas a few years back, but Pote for sure had to remember her ideas to buy a diamond mine because not only did she have the ideas, but Kelly Anne had a seller lined up.
"Oh?' was all Pote said. Maybe he didn't remember! James thought.
"Yeah...oh!" James felt the buzz and couldn't hold himself. He was displeased by the whole Marcel reappearance, not because of Marcel per se, but because of his issues that seemed more dire with every new piece of information. " I said 'no'...both these businesses brew crime in the background...but this thing...helping Marcel...redeeming herself...doesn't seem that dangerous... it's a resort development and some pollution on a piece of land, for fuck's sakes! I hate having us fight over it! We just need to put limits but still support each other."
The answer James expected came right on: "She redeemed herself...I personally handed this cabron...a few millions to develop the NOLA waterfront...he brought Chicho into it, but I'm sure his black ass has been making the main decisions that have resulted in this mess!"
"That may be so, but if you know Teresa… you'd know she won't give up...that's the right thing to do, it gives her the ability to look at herself in the mirror!" James wanted her to not be that stubborn but his inner self propelled him to defend her, no matter what!
"Uhhh!' another grumble from Pote.
"I know it's overwhelming", James went on: "when she decides something and doesn't let go…because it's the right thing to do...I mean she's done it before with the hotel maid… you remember what she made us do and dropped the biz in Malta for the Russian girls...that's her, man...that's who she is!"
"What maid?' came a surly question.
James realized Pote had not been part of the team when Teresa had defied the odds and saved the maid Camila had ordered sacrificed. He gave Pote a quick summary to only hear him say: "Still can't risk half of our children's future for that!"
"We won't...Marcel and Chicho want us on the project all the time, not only for security but for help, more eyes, more minds…and the splitting of the businesses will ensure the Bank can't touch a big chunk of our money…if push comes to shove." James felt like he was trying to convince himself as much as Pote.
"Or that…ahh", Pote hesitated, but then after a deep exhalation it all came out: "Or if….ahhh…Teresa decides tomorrow to go against all of us and throw more money…endangering all businesses…to save Marcel!"
"Yeah…that too". James had to admit reluctantly, with a tight chest and sweaty hands.
Pote went on: "I'd like to talk to this pinche VC guy…the one who withheld the info about the land issues… so that Marcel made the investment. Kelly Anne said he must have known!"
"He is nowhere to be found," James said.
"Let's find him...James, what do you say?" Pote seemed to be brimming with enthusiasm suddenly.
"I say we can try, but the question is if his reappearance will make the issues disappear...the Thai government needs to see the land cleaned up before they allow any development." James was starting to warm up to the idea of trying to locate the VC. Marcel had said the company was headquartered in London.
"Someone benefitted from duping Dumas…and the VC guy knows who that is…if it's not him…but his company isn't that big…I'm certain he is a front for some interests…." Pote kept thinking out loud.
"Figuring out why things happened may be half of the job of fixing them", James mused. "I will talk to everyone".
Look, cabron!" Pote sounded better: "We are in this together…all of us… I care about your children as much as mine, we need to be smart about this!" And he was right! James thought.
"We are actually helping her, protecting her by splitting the business!" Pote kept talking. "Although it may seem to her that we are opposing her…and making it more difficult…she's gotta be able to see that…and if she can't …then it's your job to make her see, cabron!" And he was right again! James thought as he hung up.
Tony had met Christoff in the ski class and the guy's enthusiasm about sports had literally infected him. So, he had stupidly agreed to follow him up in the open terrain to the west of the runs because the guy had said a few times that Tony already skied like a seasoned skier and not like a newbie of one week. And he had so wanted to hear something like that!
The sun had hid behind some grayish clouds and the wind had picked up. They had gone down this slope already, Tony was sure, but then he realized it could not be because they had been going consistently down. It all looked the same, white and endless. His eyes watered constantly, and his thighs were screaming in hot pain from the constant strain he was putting on them to control his speed on the steep slopes.
Tony realized Christoff had stopped as the black dot had stopped moving. He pushed his limit, his legs shaking, but he was able to come to a stop himself some distance below him.
"I think I…ahh…I'm not sure this is the way back to the village!" the guy shouted as he slid down a few meters and got closer to Tony.
"My parents are going to freak out!" Tony realized he had said out loud.
"I'd be more worried about getting to town…because it has started snowing …and because it gets dark faster here…", Christoff's accent was making his speech very difficult to understand.
"Oh…yeah!" Tony felt his temper rise: "You said you knew the hills like the inside of your pocket!...What else can happen to us? You said it will be safe!"
"I don't know, man…I thought following the rocks and always going left will make us circle…" his voice trailed off.
"Are you telling me you've never done this side of the mountain?" Tony was livid. He wanted to kick the guy, but more so to kick himself in the shin for having believed him. Only his feet were still hooked to his skis, and the wind had gotten under his jacket, which made him think that they needed to move rather than argue.
After another painful half hour of skiing, Tony could feel the exertion making him sweat. He was ratcheting his thirst to an unbearable level, but he kept going although he knew he had lost all sense of time and was faltering. Then his legs gave in, and he lost his balance. The tumble was quick and seemed painless until he had stopped moving in the white vastness that was the free terrain.
A few seconds later he realized Christoff had gotten out of his skis and had scrambled back up the steep hill and was now pulling Tony's arm trying to make him get up. He was yapping about having to walk and if not capable, having to find a cover as the wind was getting rough and they needed to rest before attempting to go down on foot as Tony's ski was not accessible after the fall.
Tony felt a shot of bitter cold hit his face. Then as they scrambled and sat under a cliff , he realized it had started to snow hard. Through the curtain of falling snow, he strained his eyes in vain in the direction that Christoff thought there should be houses.
After the cold started seeping in, they both got up and as they stepped down in the snow, immediately sank to their knees in the soft powder. Christoff began to shiver, Tony could hear his teeth rattle, but he pulled him by the sleeve and started walking with the greatest effort that made all of his trained muscles scream.
Beyond the initial layer of snow, he could feel himself continuing to sink – the weight of each step slowly breaking through a deeper, older crust of compacted snow. His cheeks were rocketing towards frostbite, and he was beginning to lose the fine motor control of his hands. His fear spiked. The snow was blowing sideways and the trees in the distance were vanishing. It looked the same in every direction. He kept squeezing his hands into fists, trying to force warm blood through to his fingertips, but he was losing the battle. His thought processes were beginning to spin out. He could only turn to ensure Christoff had not fallen down and was still following him. The guy was literally shaking with cold and had a faraway look in his eyes. Tony knew that the shock was starting to settle in.
Soon they stood in a vortex of wind and snow whereby it all looked the same. Tony didn't dare look down at his legs, the motion of it all induced vertigo. One foot in front of the other, his face now on fire from the cold, his arms aching from assisting Christoff, his feet in agony, he had them both slump down under a small cluster of trees as Christoff started to mumble deliriously.
He could feel the dark pressure mounting in his chest – fear pushing in. He drew a deep breath into his lungs and coughed from the cold air. Panic stalked him from all sides.
"Ten minutes only!" he said out loud and shook Christoff by the arm. "Then we move…we keep moving!"
"We may disturb the snow further down…this seems like an avalanche field…below that cliff!" the guy managed to say through his clattering teeth.
"Nonsense…you don't know…you knew the area…but it turned out you know shit!" Tony was busy rubbing his hands and trying to move his toes in his ski boots.
"What everyone in this life is forced to do, you can never come back from? Whoever you thought you were, that dies!" Teresa jumped wide awake as the image of her long lost godson floated before her eyes and she could hear her own voice trying to convince him to stay away from the narco life at the moment she had been headed to the top, steady and surely. A few days afterwards she had lost him in a car explosion meant for her.
The pain pieced her heart and she felt wide awake with fear that a bad dream signified a bad event coming her way.
She had decided to take a nap after her walk in the cold and according to the clock on the night table she had slept almost two hours.
Then the door opened softly and James's head poked in. His face was worried and after a second of consideration, he said without preamble: " Kelly Anne picked up Suzie from ski camp, but Tony and a local guy had separated from the group about an hour ago…and are missing as of now!"
Teresa's heart was in her throat, and she couldn't contain the cough that suddenly choked her dry throat. She grabbed the water bottle and drank, her hands cold and her heard threatening to explode.
"I...ahh…are they sending a search team?" her eyes had absorbed the picture of the falling snow through the window.
"Yeah…I'm going with them!" James said in a hurried voice. "They have a spare snowmobile for me."
"I'm going to kick his butt…big time!" her voice shook. James heard it and walked to the bed in a brisk movement and squeezed her shoulder: "Yeah…me too…but let's first find him!"
A minute later Teresa was downstairs watching him get into his snowpants and adjust the toe warmers in his boots.
She heard herself say: "How can you keep it so cool?"
He looked up at her and exhaled: "Only one of us is allowed to freak out…and it's not me!"
Then she felt she couldn't hold the tears as they came in like a waterfall and overtook her: "He is my boy…I can't lose him...not again!"
James had gotten up and had pulled her head on his chest so fast, she had not been able to gather her bearings. "Shh...it's not gonna happen", she could hear his soothing voice. "I need you to block the memory of your godson now...and also don't underestimate your son...he is well trained and very stubborn!"
She thought his hands were shaking as he pulled her away from him, caressed her face and went back to buttoning his snow jacket.
"Why would he venture up….why? He just learned to ski!" her voice was still unsteady.
"I don't know…", James put on his hat and shoved the gloves in the helmet. "Because he is a teenager…that's what teens do...challenge things, push the limit!" and he walked out the door, the freezing air he let in making Teresa shiver.
