absence of affection- javier peña

Part 5

The boss turned and looked at Vanessa "What?" he asked. Before she opened her mouth, Peña opened his. "May I?" he asked the interrogator before he began talking to the men in Spanish, explaining the situation. After Peña was finished talking, the boss began talking and then he must have said something because the interrogator rushed to him and slapped him across his face before getting close to his face and yelling at him. He began speaking again and then the receptionist cut in and then his boss yelled at him to "Shut up". They conversed and the last thing the boss said, was the name "Poison." Vanessa and Steve both looked at Peña with raised eyebrows. "Let's go." Barlowe said as she took Peña's keys from his pocket and walked out to his car. As Peña and Murphy got into the car, Barlowe drove them back to the station where they brought the ambassador to their board of the Medellín Cartel. "According to the CNP wire tapes, the sicario Poison was recorded saying he was driving to Bogotá this afternoon." Peña explained. "For what purpose, we don't know. But if we don't respond to the obvious threat to both Agent Murphy and Agent Barlowe, we're sending the wrong message." Peña told the ambassador "Police have the information and they should make the arrest." the ambassador replied to Peña.

"No. No, if we leave it to them, someone will sell us out. The narcos have informants in their department." Peña continued "I think what Peña is getting at is that Major Carillo should man a roadblock." Barlowe told the ambassador and Peña looked surprised at her words. "Exactly. We can trust Carillo." Peña said. "I don't have authority over the Columbian police." the ambassador said. "All due respect, Ambassador, but you know where we are." Peña said as he put his hands on his hips. "With enough money, you can get anything done." Peña said. "Come on." Murphy said and they walked away, Peña driving them to Carillo. "Excuse me for saying so...but this isn't much of a roadblock, is it?" Murphy asked Carillo upon arrival. "Well if the roadblock is too obvious, Pablo can be tipped off by a cop or by a passerby, who knows." Carillo explained. "Can anybody in this country keep a secret?" Steve asked and the three others slowly turned to look at him. "I've got a spotter set up about four kilometers away. He's gonna let us know when Poison passes." Carillo said "You're gonna question them, right? Because we need to--" Barlowe began asking "Poison's killed three of my men already. If I catch him alive, you guys can question him here." Carillo abruptly interrupted her. 

"Then you guys gotta go." he told them before walking away. "So what are we supposed to do to kill time?" Murphy asked Peña "I don't fuckin' know, pick some daisies or something." Peña said as he walked away from Barlowe and Murphy. "Pick daisies?" Murphy turned to Barlowe "You're looking at me like I said it. I mean I would've because it was funny. But I didn't say it." Barlowe chuckled. Barlowe walked over to Peña who was eating a grapefruit. "So..." she began and he looked up at her from the fruit in his hand. "So what?" he asked, making direct eye contact. She stared at him for a minute before he lifted his sunglasses "You okay, Barlowe?" he asked her "What? Yeah, I'm fine." she quickly responded. He put his sunglasses back down and nodded his head before Murphy walked over. "Got any daisies for me?" Peña asked Murphy "Ha ha." Murphy sarcastically replied. "No, I'm serious, I wanted to get a present for someone. Now I'm gonna have to pick some myself." Peña told him in a serious tone. "You fuckin' kidding?" Murphy asked with his arms crossed. Peña looked at him with a straight face before shaking his head and chuckling "You're too gullible, man." he said and Murphy scoffed. "We have visual confirmation. Four kilometers away." Carillo walked over to the group. Barlowe walked around the fruit stand and stood behind as Peña dragged Murphy off somewhere. They stood around for a while and there was nothing so they gathered back into a group. Vanessa looked at Murphy as he walked back with Peña, looking like he knew something she didn't.

"I'm calling this off. Nobody's coming." Carillo said as he walked over to the three agents. "What the fuck has happened here?" Murphy asked "Poison probably spotted the spotter." Barlowe suggested. "Either that or Suárez sold you out." Carillo brought up. "Yeah, if he did, he must've had a better offer and it wasn't a fucking cat." Peña said and looked at Murphy. 

Later that night, the agents met with the ambassador. "We cannot have Columbia become a narcos state. We need to find someone who can prove this guy is a drug dealer. Let's stop his campaign before it starts." she said as she walked over to the agents with a couple of glasses of whiskey in hand. "No one will go on record." Peña said. She offered one to Murphy and Peña reached forward and took it. Then she offered one to Barlowe but she declined. "I got a better idea." Barlowe spoke up and they all turned to face her. "We let him win. If we get him in the spotlight and then prove he's a trafficker, the embarrassment alone might get this country off its ass." Barlowe explained her idea. Peña looked at Barlowe then at the ambassador and nodded. 

But first, they had to get proof that Pablo was the drug dealer they knew he was. So they went to Suárez and gave him a lot of money. The first thing he told them was that Pablo was arrested back in '76 for trafficking. And then he gave them the name of the sergeant who could give them the files. The big problem was that Suárez was on both the DEA and the narcos' payroll. Then Suárez gave them the name of the journalist who reported Pablo's arrest. And then the lawyer who defended Pablo. And finally the judge who signed Pablo's arrest warrant. Peña, Murphy, and Barlowe were like the Bermuda Triangle. You got too close to them, you disappear.