The New Adventures of Amber!

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:48 am

My hangover had passed by Monday morning, which was my plan.

Monday was a travel day. Rachel took me to brunch before I left.

"I'm not going to try to change your plan," she said. "But I had my guys put together a dossier for you on El Tiburon. And I have a guy in San Antonio that you should call."

His name was Freddie Rodriguez, she said, and he was a fixer who did work all around the cartels. Rachel said he was the best coach for dealing with El Tiburon I could get.

This is all very appreciated," I said. "You're very thorough, you know."

"I have a multi-level investment in you coming back alive," she told me. "And if you won't let me and my team come with you, getting you prepared is my next best play."

I told her about the latest dream. Rachel said it sounded like Amber was being brainwashed.

"I don't know if that's it," I said. "She's an optimist. Give her a situation, whatever it is, and she's going to try to figure out a way to maximize it."

"Man, I've got to find a guy who'll love me like you do her," Rachel said.

After brunch, I took to the road. It was a seven-hour drive to the Hyatt at the Riverwalk downtown in San Antonio, where I was staying. I got there just at six, checked in, and called Freddie.

"I'm in the hotel bar," he said. "Dark blue t-shirt, blue jeans."

So I found him.

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"I gotta ask this," he said, "so I'll ask it. You sure you want to go through with this crazy plan?"

"Hey, I'm here. What does that tell you?"

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"Still time to pull out, you know."

"Nah. I'm all the way in."

Freddie laughed, but then he gave me the full dissertation on El Tiburon. Who he was, where he came from, his education, how he got his start as a real estate finance guy working in Miami and the Dominican Republic, how his uncle brought him in to Los Zetas, the cartel that preceded CDN, how the new cartel was structured and what they were into, their weaknesses and opportunities.

By the time we'd eaten dinner at a place along the Riverwalk and Freddie had disappeared into the crowd, I figured I knew all there was to know. But then I went back to the room and cracked open the three-ring binder Rachel had put together for me, and around midnight when I finished reading through it, I knew even more.

I was ready.

La Hacienda, which is what El Tiburon called his compound, was a sprawling 12-acre estate on a hilltop in San Pedro Garza Garcia, which is the ritzy suburb just south of Monterrey. If your idea of Mexico is Tijuana whorehouses or destitute peasants trying to swim the Rio Grande, San Pedro Garza Garcia will simply not compute for you. It's a place that belongs in Arizona or California, and parts of it might even rival the highest-end suburbs of Phoenix or L.A.

So at the end of a five and a half hour drive, including a stop at the Laredo border checkpoint where I consulted with a border agent named Steve-O whom Freddie knew and had prepped for my mission, I finally managed to pull up to the front gate of La Hacienda.

Two burly and well-strapped sicarios stopped me there.

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"Out of the car, amigo," said one. "You walk from here."

"Is no far," said the other one. "Some exercise is good for you."

The first guy laughed. Then another guy showed up.

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"Me llamo Diego, senor," he said. "And you must be Oscar?"

"That's correct."

He nodded and then gave me the most vigorous pat down I'd ever seen.

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"You can't be too careful in this business," he said, in heavily-accented English.

"I understand," I said, "but I'm here for peaceful purposes."

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He snorted at that, but he led the way toward the house.

"You come here for Graciela," he said. "La nina cola."

I knew that was a provocation, so I simply nodded and kept my mouth shut.

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"Si," he said, "all of us are verrry friendly with Graciela. She love ALL of us very much!"

"You're El Tiburon's...nephew, right?" I asked him.

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"Ehhh, si."

I just nodded.

And he shut up for the rest of the walk. The fact I knew more about him than he did me made him stop and think, I guess.

Finally, we came to the side patio, and there was El Tiburon.

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"Aquí está el gringo, tío," said Diego.

"Ahhh, gracias! Yes, you are Oscar! But you look thinner than in your picture! You don't have a woman to cook for you and keep you bien alimentado?"

"Actually, I'm on a fitness kick now," I said. "Getting older and can't live like I used to."

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"Yes, I understand. Would you like a tour of the Hacienda? It's a very beautiful house."

I didn't want to spend a spare minute with this guy, but I knew that showing any hostility, even under provocation, would be a mistake I'd pay dearly for.

So I said "yes, of course. I'm about to be in the real estate market myself, though my range won't include anything this lavish."

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"Si. Dan tells me you have sold a business? Made yourself a good deal of money?"

"I was very fortunate."

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"And what will you do with this fortune of yours?"

"I'm an independent investor now," I said. "I've got some stocks I'm playing with, started another company..."

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:56 am

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"Oh yes? What does it do?"

"Security consulting. Private intelligence. That sort of thing."

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"Yes, I see."

He took me through every room in that house, and of course Amber was nowhere to be found. But I knew he'd stash her away somewhere, and there were outbuildings which held guest houses and servants' quarters. So I held off my agitation and simply played along.

Finally...

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"Well, senor Oscar the independent investor, won't you have a seat? And can I get you something? Mezcal? Tequila? A cerveza? It's Mexico, so you don't drink the water!"

He laughed. I chuckled, and then I asked if he had Dos Equis.

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"Ohhh, a man of culture! You have very fine taste in beer, senor."

"Thank you. I take it that's your favorite as well?"

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"Oh yes. Yes, mas fina."

He sent a text message on his phone. And then his pleasant demeanor changed a bit.

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"Now, down to business. It seems that I have something you want."

"That's correct, sir."

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"Call me Tibby! Everybody does. It's better than El Tiburon. Who can be comfortable talking with a man who is known as The Shark?"

"I imagine it's a good name for business, though."

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"Oh yes. You were saying?"

"Well, Tibby, you have a girl here, a Factory Girl. I'm told you call her Graciela, but her real name is Amber, and she is loved and missed by a lot of people back home. I'm here to see about taking her back to her friends and family."

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"But she has friends and very much like a family at La Hacienda."

"I imagine so. She has a way of bonding with people."

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"Yes, her way is that she is very beautiful. I have a dozen real girls here, and they are the finest my people can bring me. But Graciela is the más hermoso."

"I can believe it."

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"So you are here making demands, yes? I have taken something from you and you are here to tell me to return it? Or what consequences do you threaten?"

"Nothing like that, Tibby. I don't hold you responsible for taking the girl. I know that others do these things and then offer them to you."

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"Yes, and the men responsible you have dealt with, si? Nacho and El Oso?"

"There have been many actions by multiple people which have brought us here, sir."

Just then, a girl came with two beers on a tray.

koaplayer1998 · Post by **koaplayer1998** » Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:03 am

If "Tibby" was into really good Mexican beers, he would have offered you a Pacifico or Victoria.
Dos Equis is fine, but there are better.
Just sayin'.

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:16 am

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"Oh my God! Oscar, what are you doing here?"

I winked at her and gave her a little smile.

"Your novio is here to take you away from me, Graciela," said Tibby. "He came all this way for you."

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"He loves me very much, Papi," said Amber. "And I love him more."

"Ella te ama más!" bellowed El Tiburon. "Ay caramba! You have a real gem of a Factory Girl here, senor Oscar!"

"I wouldn't have come for anything less," I said.

Meanwhile, Amber served the two bottles of Dos Equis, her eyes wide in disbelief that I was right in front of her.

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"Graciela," said Tibby, "come and sit at my feet while we discuss your fate."

So she did.

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"Now, you were saying about how you are not here to make demands?"

"Well, it seems to me that what's in order here is a business transaction," I said. "We're both men of business; this is what we do. Unless you decide to choose the first option I can offer to you, which is that you simply say goodbye to this girl and let me bring her home because it's the right thing to do."

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"Yes, but no - I don't like this option."

"I understand. She has value to you, and there was a cost to bring her here, so simply giving her away is too much to ask."

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"El Tiburon does not give, unless it is to the poor. You see this, con certeza."

"Of course. So the second option is a price. Amber is valuable, so we can discuss how valuable, agree on a number and I'll have it wired to you, or we can use Bitcoin or some other vehicle to make a transaction."

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"Ehhhh, I have no need of money. They bring it here in trucks once a week!"

"Do they really?"

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"No. I am joking. But if I wanted it, yes. This I could have. I don't need your money, senor Oscar. What else can you offer?"

"OK, then, perhaps I can replace her for you."

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"Oh? What is this?"

"Well, Amber is a Factory Girl. Which necessarily means there are more of her, and we can order one and have it here soon. But I expect that you appreciate how unique she is. Her personality, how she carries herself..."

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"Yes, yes, now you are talking the right things! She is beautiful not because of her figure or face, so much as her bearing and sweetness!"

"What if I were to train a replacement for her? Or what if I were to replace Amber with a real girl trained to do the things that Amber does for you?"

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"Oh my God," said Amber under her breath. "Paula."

"Amber, honey," I told her sweetly, "hush and let the men talk."

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She smiled at me sheepishly.

"I don't want any more real girls," said El Tiburon. "I have 12 of them. They're a bunch of whores who just want things from me. Diamonds, jewelry, cocaina. I like this girl. She don't want nada, only my attention. Es perfecto!"

"The point is that I can deliver that to you. I'll train a Factory Girl for you if you want."

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:30 am

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"It's something to consider. Maybe you do that and come back, yes? And if I like her, we make a trade?"

"Well, my aim is to have a deal today. Because the point is to bring Amber home as soon as possible to her loved ones."

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"This way that you are speaking is making me out to be the bad guy. I don't think I am the bad guy here. Am I bad to you, Graciela?"

"No Papi," Amber said. "You are very good to me."

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"Bueno. So what else do you have for me? You seem to have a plethora of options. Isn't that so, Graciela? Your novio has a plethora of options for me!"

"Si, Papi," said Amber.

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"Ay, nobody gets my references."

"No, I get it," I said. "Three Amigos. Should I call you El Guapo?"

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"No," he said. "You should not."

"Well, the last option is more of a true business transaction. The crux of the company that I sold was contained in a computer application which I can best describe as Quickbooks on steroids."

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"Quickbooks...on steroids?"

"Yeah. In fact, I built it off Quickbooks. That's why I couldn't market the app on its own. Copyright infringement."

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"Okay. What is interesting about this app?"

"Well, it can be tailored to service any industry. And I do mean any industry. In fact, when we were building it, my software engineer joked that it would be the perfect app for smugglers."

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"And now I am finally interested in what you have to say."

"I have a copy of this app sitting at a Dropbox address. It contains no tracking software, there are no tricks, it can be installed on any computer or phone, it's capable of full encryption so the data cannot be accessed by anyone you don't want to see it, and it can be yours now. My software engineer can walk your people through it in an hour and you can have it set up in a day. Based on what I sold my business for, it's worth millions of dollars. I'll give it to you right now if you let me take her home."

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"Hmmm. Graciela, what do you think? Should I give you away for a computer program?"

"I've worked with it, Papi. He trained me on it, and I kept the books for a dozen different businesses using it. And I only scratched the surface of what it can do."

Meanwhile, my phone buzzed. It was a text from Rachel.

"If you're still in your meeting," it said, "and you need something, see the attached. It turns out Cole is laundering money for El Tiburon at a sex club in Miami he owns called Azalea, and he's cheating the shit out of him on the skim. This is a PDF and it has bank statements and all the proof."

I hit the "Sounds good!" button and put my phone back in my pocket.

"Sorry," I said. "My business partner. She insists on keeping me informed."

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"Es no problema," said El Tiburon. "Okay, so you have a promise of a Factory Girl who would be a replacement for Graciela, and you would give me your business app so that I can sell marijuana and cocaina and migrants over the border into your country more efficiently, and maybe I consider these things. Come back when you have the girl, I look her over, maybe you give me your app and then we have a deal for Graciela. Si?"

"No. I'm sorry. I came here to get Amber, and what I have to offer is contingent on having her leave with me."

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"Then I am sorry that you came all this way, senor Oscar, but Graciela is not for sale."

The crestfallen look on Amber's face broke my heart.

"There is another matter," I said. "I may have information for you that you might find of value."

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"Es que un hecho?" said Tibby. "What would that be?"

"How closely are you monitoring the books at Club Azalea? The money laundry Cole is running for you in Miami?"

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:39 am

It was like a miracle. No sooner did I describe what Rachel had sent me about how Cole was tripling the skim at the sex club but Tibby's manner changed completely. No longer driving a hard bargain for Amber, he was hanging on every word I said. I gathered it wasn't the money Tibby was worked up about; he had already turned me down flat at the idea I'd pay him for Amber.

It was the betrayal, and the chance to smoke it out, which moved him. Rachel had saved the day.

"You can prove this?" he asked.

"I have it right here in a PDF file," I said. "I'll text it to you, but of course..."

"Yes, I must part with dear Graciela."

"As I said, it's what I came for."

"Graciela, querido," he asked her, "do you choose senor Oscar over your new family at La Hacienda?"

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"You've been so kind to me, Papi, and I've come to love everyone here, but my home is with him. My heart is with him. I can't be apart from him."

I had to fight off a couple of tears. The last thing you want to do is get choked up in front of a Mexican cartel boss.

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"Then yes, you must go with him. And you, senor Oscar, you have won her from me. I salute you, senor."

"We do what we must for those we love, senor Andujar," I said.

He nodded and sent a text message on his phone.

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"Okay then," he said, "as you might imagine I have other things I must attend to, so Graciela, I wish you well with this man you love. And Oscar, I appreciate very much the information. Send me that and your app and you have your deal."

"Sure," I said. "I guess you don't want a replacement girl?"

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"Maybe I take on that project on my own," he said. "Go. Vaya con dios, senor."

So we did.

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At the front door, a quite voluminous black lady met Amber with a little bag.

"Here's your stuff, honey," she said. "The shoes stay with the house."

And she kissed Amber and, and I noticed it, squeezed her ass. Then she gave me a dirty look and in a flash she was gone.

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"OK, let's go," said Amber. "Please tell me you have a change of clothes for me."

"In a bag in the car," I said. "Why? What's in your purse? And what shoes?"

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"Two bathing suits and makeup, basically. The girls here don't really need clothes. But I didn't get to keep the Louboutins, and that just breaks my heart."

"Got it. Maybe if you're good I'll buy you a pair of your own."

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The door opened and Amber's gait quickened. I could hear her muttering nervously, as though she was waiting for something terrible to happen.

"Baby, hurry up!" she said.

"OK, OK," I responded. "Give me a second. I'm sending Tibby what I promised so they'll let us out of here."

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I didn't think she could move so fast in those stiletto mules she was wearing, but I found myself sprinting to catch up to her.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go," she said.

Then, in a lot less time than it took to approach the house, we were at the car, El Tiburon's hired guns softly catcalling "Nina Cola!" as we passed them.

Amber jumped in the passenger seat. "Drive, baby," she said.

So I did. And Amber fished through the bag I'd brought her and changed in the passenger seat, and then she eased back her seat and took a nap. The poor girl was so stressed out over her surprising rescue and the fear that El Tiburon would change his mind and come after us, she just couldn't handle it and simply shut down.

I didn't mind. She was next to me again. Nothing else mattered. And when I got a return text from a restricted number saying "info es bueno," I figured it was signal that this was as close to over as we could get.

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We traveled quickly down the hillside road and made it to Highway 400, then to Highway 850 heading to Nuevo Laredo. Then, with the sun beginning to set, I pulled over a little south of the city.

"OK," I said, "they tell me the quickest way to get you over the border is to box you up. That way you won't need papers to get across."

"Seriously?" she protested.

"You can't talk your way across a border, honey. We have a contact with one of the border agents, and this was the suggestion he made to me."

She grumbled, but she let me pack her up for the trip across.

But a half-hour later, as I pulled up to the checkpoint on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande, there was Steve-O.

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"How about that? You made it!"

"Yep. I did. All good?"

"Yeah, definitely," he said, "except..."

"What's that?"

"Well, so I told all the guys your story, and they all said the same as me, which was that this must be some amazingly hot chick for you to go to all this trouble. So is there any chance we could, you know, get a picture with her?"

"Well, I'll ask."

So I unpacked the box and I asked my girl.

She said yes.

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Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Fri Mar 29, 2024 8:05 am

Bumping this for the folks who missed it when it got buried yesterday, plus a bonus raw shot that I didn't end up using...

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koaplayer1998 · Post by **koaplayer1998** » Fri Mar 29, 2024 9:48 am

The irony is a few weeks ago I ordered this bikini for my Isa for this summer.....to match her leopard glasses.

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Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Fri Mar 29, 2024 10:06 am

koaplayer1998 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 9:48 am The irony is a few weeks ago I ordered this bikini for my Isa for this summer.....to match her leopard glasses.
Screenshot_20240306-171256~3.png

Amazon, right?

koaplayer1998 · Post by **koaplayer1998** » Fri Mar 29, 2024 10:48 am

Oscar DeBarataria wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 10:06 am
koaplayer1998 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 9:48 am The irony is a few weeks ago I ordered this bikini for my Isa for this summer.....to match her leopard glasses.
Screenshot_20240306-171256~3.png
Amazon, right?

Yep, sure was. Came from China, so took awhile to get here. In fact, it arrived yesterday. Probably not exactly the same one as Amber's:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CVXMF874

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Fri Mar 29, 2024 2:53 pm

koaplayer1998 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:03 am If "Tibby" was into really good Mexican beers, he would have offered you a Pacifico or Victoria.
Dos Equis is fine, but there are better.
Just sayin'.

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"OK, so, the thing about Tibby you need to understand is that while he's rich and powerful and he knows all these people, he's not really all that sophisticated. Like he has a chef at La Hacienda, and half the time he has the guy making him fried spam nachos with jalapenos out of a can.

"The wine cellar is full of really expensive, amazingly good stuff. Meanwhile, Tibby's drinking boxed wine from the fridge.

"One of the things I learned living there was that money and influence does NOT equal culture. So now I have to work on Oscar and make sure we smooth out his rough edges."

"Wait, what rough edges? Why is this an Oscar problem?"

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"OK, honey, I love you, but come on. You have rough edges. You're totally a man, and a bachelor at that. Let's not pretend, OK?"

"Sheesh. She's home all of a day and already back to bossing me around."

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"Hah! Yeah, well, you need it, honey. I mean, look at this place."

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Sat Mar 30, 2024 2:23 pm

Amber had been home a couple of days, and I decided I'd make no demands on her. She needed time to decompress from the three weeks she'd spent in hell.

But to give the girl credit, while things had been a bit weird on the drive home - she didn't want to talk, and it felt like she was waiting for something horrible to happen - once I got her home to the house her smile came back with a vengeance...

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So I knew that Amber was going to be all right.

And the phone rang off the hook once the word got out that Amber was home. But she said she wasn't up to seeing anybody just yet, and particularly not Katie or Kim - she said she wasn't angry at either of them, but I knew that was a lie. I covered it with another lie, which was that Amber was in rough shape and needed recovery. She wasn't; she was in great condition. She was just fragile as hell emotionally, and having it out with the sister and best friend that she felt had let her down was too much.

At least for right now.

So instead we had some Amber And Me time. And even though that didn't involve any sex, I was OK with it. I had her back and she was an absolute cuddling queen.

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"Are you OK with how needy I am toward you right now, baby?"

"Of course. This is great."

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"I mean, I know you want more."

"I do, but after what you've been though I'm not going to push. When you feel back to normal, we'll celebrate in style. How about that?"

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"That's awesome. I'm just - I mean, it's not like I have PTSD or anything. But that was an...experience, I guess. I don't know what to do with it in my head."

"Just let it percolate. You have time. I'm not going anywhere."

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"I know, but, like, we have this great life to lead now. You sold your business! We have money, we can do and be whatever we want. I'm so pissed that I got myself kidnapped right when this happened, because we could be off on all of these great adventures already."

"Instead we're sleeping late and cuddling at home instead of some hotel room somewhere. It's fine. Try not to beat yourself up, OK?"

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"OK. I promise I'll chill. I know I've been a nervous wreck since you rescued me from Tibby, and honestly, I'd kind of resigned myself that being a slave-girl at La Hacienda wouldn't be such a bad thing - and now I'm acting like I was so traumatized. It's all really weird."

"Nah. Your life was a pretty serious yo-yo for three weeks or so. It probably feels strange to have something normal again. You don't have to get back to ordinary life right away, and the good news is we have very few problems to deal with right now, so if you're looking for low stress, you've got it."

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"Oh, that's exactly what I needed to hear. So what happens today?"

'Well, believe it or not I have to go to lunch with Dan Cole."

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"You've got to be kidding me. Why would you want to do that?"

"Well, seeing as though the deal to bust you out of La Hacienda involved me explicitly selling out Cole's crooked money laundry down in Miami, it's probably the least I can do for him."

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"Hmmmmm. I'm not crazy about this."

"I don't think it's a problem. If you want to come with me, you can."

She turned her nose up at that idea. I think all Amber wanted to do until she finally caught her breath was to live in her nightgown and robe, read books and the internet and binge-watch shows on Netflix.

And I was happy for her to do that. I wanted Amber happy again.

But I went to lunch with Cole.

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"Look, I imagine this is more than a little strange, so..."

"Dan, I'll admit it. I sold you out to get Amber back. I'll have you know that offering up what we found out about Club Azalea was my last resort, but when it was what El Tiburon wanted to set Amber free, I had zero qualms about telling him you were scamming him on the skim."

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"Well, I want you to know that I'm not mad at you about it."

"That's good to know."

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"And while I also know that our relationship probably isn't going to be super-friendly, I don't want us to have hard feelings."

"Well, it's been pretty weird. I'm not going to pretend that doesn't creep me out a little."

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Sat Mar 30, 2024 2:35 pm

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"Let me say a few things for a minute, though, OK?"

"Sure, Dan."

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"All right. So, yes...when Tibby took Club Azalea away, I lost about $4 million a year I was making on the skim from that money laundry. It's a lot. But I have a half-dozen other things I'm doing which also produce good revenue. It's not like I'm going to be poor."

"That's it, though? You're not in danger or anything?"

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"From Tibby? Shit, no. He and I go way back. More to the point, he knows I have all kinds of dirt on him and he knows I have a dead man switch. He called me and told me he was taking Club Azalea away because I was cheating him on my cut from laundering the money, and he was bringing in a new guy, and that was it. Hell, I'm still a member of the place. Any time you want to go, let me know. It'll blow your mind.

"I think I'm good. But I'm glad to know that spilling your beans isn't going to make you dead."

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"Nah. And even if it did, it's not like I could blame you."

"No?"

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"No. One of the things I thought you should know is that our assumptions were correct."

"Oh, that Paula caused all this with Amber's kidnapping?"

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"I'll give that bitch credit - she is stubborn like a mule. I'd starved her near to death before she finally broke and admitted it was her who set up that kidnapping."

"I figured that. Question is, how?"

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"That guy El Tigre is a supplier to Club Azalea. He recruits girls. Volunteers, you understand. We don't do any real sex trafficking at the club, because you can't do anything illegal at a place you're using to launder money; it defeats the purpose. Anyway, we had a girl here who was working for the French Maid business but wanted to make some real money, so El Tigre came and talked to her and ended up hiring her. Paula met him then. And after that she started cultivating your girl. She said the plan was for Amber to get pinched from here when I was out of town, but it didn't work out. So Tigre just had his guy grab her from the mall."

"So all of that Sweet, Repentant Paula stuff was a lie."

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"Exactly. She was putting me on, too. I thought I had her converted to The Process. Not by a long shot. She's quiet, she's patient, and she's evil straight to the core."

"That was my thought, too. So what are you going to do with her?"

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"Shit, I sold her."

"Jesus, Dan. Just dump her out in the street."

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"To hell with that. I got a buddy, he's a real-life oil sheikh in Bahrain who said he was looking for a redhead for his harem. I hooked him on Paula. He's coming to pick her up in a week or so. She's stashed in my Brick Rrom until then. I've got her on Rosetta Stone learning Arabic. She wants to eat, she has to pass the daily test at dinnertime."

"Bet she doesn't like that."

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"You'd never know. 'Oh, yes, Mr. Dan. No sir, Mr. Dan.' It's pretty convincing but I don't buy her bullshit anymore."

"Here's where I can get sparky and tell you that I don't think The Process is all that big a success."

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"Yeah, it's too bad. Probably would never have worked on Paula. It did work on Stella, though. At least until she found out about Tibby."

"Well, that was my doing."

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Sat Mar 30, 2024 2:43 pm

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"Yeah, but it's on me. The Process rests on always telling the truth but I lied to Stella."

"I heard she moved out."

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"Yeah, well - I made her a good chunk of money buying her stupid business and I was going to give her a do-nothing job while I used her as a fuck-buddy, but she wanted more than that. Can you believe these chicks?"

"More that that? Like what? Get married?"

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"Yeah. Dude, I've been married. Never again. And especially not to Stella."

"OK, why?"

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"Because she's a freaking moron, that's why."

"Damn, Dan. A moron?"

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"Her big business idea is a French Maid service but she's not running it as a front for hookers? How stupid can you get?"

"She didn't want that reputation, Dan."

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"Yeah, no shit. Even when I had Paula giving me blowjobs and I'm telling everybody about it, Stella still didn't get the hint. So fine, I bought the business and now I'm tricking out all these bitches and it's three times more profitable than it was."

"She find out about that?"

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"No, and do me a favor. Don't tell her."

"You don't think she ought to have the truth?"

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"I made her sign an NDA. She finds out her little business is now the best call-girl service in town, the first thing she'll do is blab to everybody, violate the NDA and now I have to sue her and get back all the money she's made. You're doing her a favor keeping your mouth shut."

"Fine. Wow, man - you got some crooked shit going on."

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"Yeah, well, even though it's expensive as hell the way it happened, getting out of that laundry down in Miami now is a good thing."

"How come?"

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"Because in a year the people who are gonna be running Mexico and this country both are going to be a lot less cartel-friendly and people still in business with Tibby will have the Justice Department up their ass. That's less likely to be me. So I should thank you, I think. I'm out, and I didn't have to go see Tibby and tell him I'm out, which would have been dangerous."

"Well, you're welcome, I guess."

Dan picked up the check for lunch and, a little stunned, I made it back home.

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"Hey honey, how'd it go?"

"Amber, I don't think you want to know. You're definitely not ready to hear any of it."

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"Well, that's OK. You can tell me later or something. Because I decided I definitely am ready for...something else."

"Oh, really?"

She got up, wrapped her arms around me and, well, that's how we spent our afternoon.