Page 105 of Born for Starlight

"I can't. It's sealed."

"Your daughters' lives depend on it."

"Don't. Please, don't do it, you can't hurt my daughters, they're not part of⁠—"

"Then you will get us in there."

He looked at the photos in my hands. I watched a man reach the bottom of himself, and I watched what was down there start doing business. It told me everything about how Frederico Costa had ended up fronting a place like this. When the fear ran out, the salesman was underneath.

"There might be a way." He was thinking it through, one word at a time. "You could be a last-minute buyer. Deep pockets. Someone I have personally vetted. If I bring you in that way, then at the very last minute to bid, I could introduce you to my boss when it’s over. I would have to contact the hostess to delay the start."

"I like that. But couldn't you introduce me to your boss now?"

"No. Senhor and Senhora Salgado don't arrive until the auctions are done. They make certain all the crypto wiring is completed appropriately."

Salgado.

Four years of casework in this country. Four years of burned assets and dead ends, one auction I stopped that grew right back. And a sweating man in a desk chair had just handed me the name like it was change from a cup of coffee. A married couple who arrived after the children were sold, to count the money.

Nobody on the net said a word. They didn't have to. I could feel everyone leaning in.

"Okay. You introduce me when it's done. In the meantime, what about your guards? The chairs? Your host? Will there be any problems?"

"Not if I say so. The hostess, she and I report to the Salgados. But if I speak with her, if I tell her there is extra money for her to let you in and smooth the way, she will take care of everything."

"There will be. What's her name?"

"Layla."

I kept my face empty. The man had just offered to bribe my own asset to take care of me.

"Money well spent," Bruno said in my ear.

"And the guards? Will they be a problem?"

"They report to Ferraz. So, it could be a problem."

"But Ferraz reports to you, doesn't he?"

Costa hesitated.

"Either he does or he doesn't. Which is it?"

"He does. Yes. But the guards don't really know me. They won't be used to taking orders from me."

"It won't be a problem. Find the man in charge in the auditorium. Tell him Ferraz was in a traffic accident, and you're taking over for the evening. Tell him you don't expect anything out of the ordinary, but if he sees anything suspicious, he reports it directly to you. Not to the radio. To you."

Costa's eyes moved over my face, careful now.

"I thought you just wanted to do business with my bosses," he said. "What more are you planning?"

"That's not for you to worry about. You have two jobs. Get me in there as a buyer and make it believable. Then introduce me to your bosses when the evening is done."

"You cannot bring a gun in there. They will search you."

"I won't."

"Or a phone."