The Appointment in Manaus - Pt. 6 (Sophie Miller) (2/2) I shouldn't have heard this. It has nothing to do with me nor my family. Nobody got hurt and I can keep it as a secret. "They're going to accuse the three men. Not a word about our name. We'll need to find new employees though." Hold on. Three men are going to be charged instead of them? But that's terrible! Someone should deal with that. Now I should get away before they open the door. "That's no problem. Anyways..." I was too slow! Gabriel Brown opened the door and I fell on the floor. They were both dibelievingly looking at me for a while trying to figure out what had just happened. "Miss Miller?" "Mr. Brown I... I... I w... was..." "She's been eavesdropping!" exclaimed the younger man. He grabbed my arm and threw me into a chair in the room. "What were you doing there?" asked Gabriel Brown. "I... I was just... going in when... when you opened the door and... I fell down." "Oh yeah, nice story," intervened Brown junior. "Tell us the truth! What have you heard?" He put his hands on the arms of the chair and looked me straight in the face. "Nothing!" "Liar!" he smacked me. "I... I only heard the last words. That it was no problem." "I don't believe you." "A... And something about some three men in Brazil and new employees." "What else?" He asked with a devilish smile. "Nothing." "Don't. Lie. If you've heard of Brazil than you've surely heard of something else." I started crying. "Mr. Brown, I've heard of the cocaine, but I won't tell a soul, I swear." "That would be very unwise from you," said the older man. "Do you know what would happen if you told somebody what you've just heard?" I shaked my head. "Well, first of all, we would have to kill the person to whom you spoke about it. Then we would kill your parents. And then we would drive you away to a deserted place. We would have to get rid of everything that may identify you. That means fingers, face, tatoos and piercings, if you had any... Then, if we were busy, we would just kill you. If not... We would cut you in small pieces starting with the peripherals continuing to more important parts until your heart would finaly stop beating. Is that clear?" I nodded, drowning in tears. "And don't think that we wouldn't find out. There's always someone watching you. The police won't be able to protect you. Just whisper a word and you're dead. Understood?" I nodded again. "Oh and your vacation has been canceled." I'd be grateful for any corrections :)

The Appointment in Manaus - Pt. 6 (Sophie Miller) (1/2) The next morning I was called to Edgar Brown's office again. "Good morning, Miss Miller." "Good morning, Mr. Brown." "Would you like anything to drink?" "No, thank you, sir." "Alright. Let's start then. You've been working for us for three years so far. I just wanted to tell you that you're doing a great job and we appreciate your diligence, reliability, loyalty and confidentiality. But recently, you seem to be a bit tired and overworked. So I was thinking, that maybe you would like a pause. A few days off. Just... take your family and go somewhere nice. Maybe Spain? Or Greece? We could even give you a small amount of money if your budget was insufficient." "Mr. Brown... I... I don't know what to say. I'm really happy to be employed in your company." "Great. So, your vacation starts next monday and will last a week. Now go prepare yourself, please, my father is awaiting a businessman at half past nine and he will need you to do the notation." The businessman was really boring. He came to complain about the new version of software, which he had installed in his corporate building and which, according to him, isn't compatible with an application they need for their work. While Mr. Brown was explaining to him how to download this one particular application, he constantly held his own that it "just doesn't work", that it had cost them three work days and he wants financial compensation or he will uninstall the software and want his money back. He left after an hour when he accepted Mr. Brown's offer to send one of our programmers to help them. I was coming back from the toilet when I heared two voices murmuring behind the door. "...the oldest. The two orhers escaped. But they're guarding the airport and there are extra patrols in the streets of Manaus." Wait! That's Edgar Brown's voice! And he's talking about Manaus again. I shouldn't be doing this, but... I pressed my ear against the door to hear better. "And what about our shipment?" said another voice. The father's voice. I really shouldn't be doing this. Not after what they offered to me this morning. "Unfortunately, they're going to spill all the cocaine in the water." Cocaine! So they're drug dealers? But... That can't be! Edgar is such a nice man. How could he be a criminal?! "But the point is that they won't tell anybody and we can smuggle cocaine to wherever we want except for Brazil." Too long, divided in two parts.

The Appointment in Manaus - Pt. 5 (Nash Davis) (2/2) We put the crates in the cellar and then they invited me to have lunch with them. I think. I didn't speak portuguese very well. "O que você gostaria?" asked the man. "Umm... Manaus?" "Sim," he nodded. "Mas... Dinheiro?" he made a sign for money. "Eeeh..." I searched my pockets. There was a dirty handkerchief, a piece of wire, eight argentine pesos and... a cell phone?! How could I have forgoten about it? It was Nokia 3310, first released only two years ago. My cousin had given it to me when I had had a few days off so I had visited him. I showed the man the pesos. "Então trabalhe," he said with a smile. I went outside, took the cell phone from my pocket and searched through my contacts. Who could help me? There was Edgar Brown. I imagined the conversation: 'Hi boss, it's Nash Davis, I'm stuck somewhere in the middle of Brazil. I have no money and I lost the truck. Please send me a helicopter or a fake passport and an airplane ticket.' No. I was scrolling through the list when one of the names caught my eye. Jacob Foster. We used to be best friends since when we were kids, but when I was twenty eight, I disappeared and started smuggling drugs. He was a police officer. He will either help me or denunciate me. I dialled his number. "Police chief Foster, who's calling?" "Jacob? It's Nash. Nash Davis." "Nash Davis?! I haven't seen you for ages! What's happened to you?" "Can I rely on you?" "Of course." "I'm in trouble. I'm somewhere in Brazil and there's a warrant for my arrest. I need a fake passport and a ticket for a flight home." "Are you joking? A warrant? What have you done to them? A fake passport? Have you gone mad? I'm a policeman! Why should I do that?" "I have nothing to offer." "Why do they want to arrest you?" "I can't tell you. Not as long as I don't know if you're on my side or not." Silence. "If I help you, you will tell me what you have been doing for the last ten years? That's not a fair deal, is it?" I hesitated for a few seconds. "I can help you capture the most powerful cocaine dealer in nothern Europe." Another long pausing. "Accepted. What's your nearest airport?" "Manaus." "We'll meet in Manaus in a week." "Thank you very much, Jacob." "You're welcome. Bye." He hung up. Now I only had to work off my ride to Manaus. I'd be grateful for any corrections :)

The Appointment in Manaus - Pt. 5 (Nash Davis) (1/2) I woke up and the sun blinded me for a while. What had happened? I remembered the police control. Then Tobiah had ran away. I had started running in the opposite direction. There had been two policemen following me. In one moment I had truned my head to see if they had been catching up and then... nothing. Darkness. I looked around. Behind me was a precipice about ten feet high. I looked up. I must have hit that branch with my head and fallen down here. Therefore I got out of their sight and they gave up. I heard a sudden rattle-like noise quite close to me. I turned back. There was a rattlesnake in front of me. I crawled a few steps backwards. The snake followed me. If he bites me, I'm dead. I instinctively strated crawling further from the snake when I felt something in my hand. I looked at it. It was a cudgel. I remembred my baseball training. I looked at the snake. He seemed to be petrified for a while but then he moved a bit closer again. 'Now or never!' I thought. I hit hard the snakes's head and rushed back towards the highway. I was walking along the roadside, occasionally trying to stop a car to hitch a ride. I was extremely thirsty. The sun had been beating down on me for about three hours now. A car passed by. I had a terrible headache. Another car. The time seemed to halt. How many miles could I have walked? Ten? Fifteen? The highway was always the same - an asphalt road with forest around. Blue sky above. Sun shining. That goddamn sun. My legs crossed, I stumbled and kissed the asphalt. I got up too quickly, my head swirled and I fell again. It was quite comfortable to lie down. 'No! I have to get up,' I thought. I raised my head. My feet hurt. 'I'll just rest for a while...' "Aaaaah!" I was woken up by a splash of water. "Whoa... What?" I rubbed my eyes, looked around and found myself in the back part of a pickup truck sitting on a heap of potatoes, carrots and cabbages. In front of me was a man as old as the mountains smoking a pipe and holding an empty bucket. "Me ajude," said he and started filling a wooden crate with the potatoes. I staggered out of the truck and started putting the cabbages into another crate. We were on a farm. There was a lovely white house and on the porch were two rockers. In one of them was an old woman broidering. All around were fields. About fifty yards from here was a forest. There was only one cart track, probably leading to the highway. The whole place was so calm.