Failed State (A James Winchester Thriller Book 1) (James Winchester Series) James Samuel (best book clubs txt) 📖

They came to a stop outside a little ice cream shop on the central street of Pompano Beach. The streets were quiet, as was common in this town. Tropical plants and a bright blue gazebo dominated the nearby pedestrianised plaza.

“Go and get me an ice cream, chocolate,” George said to his bodyguards. “What do you want, Jack?”

“Strawberry.”

“Strawberry,” George said back to the expressionless detail.

George sat down on the bench at a round table and crossed one leg over the other underneath the red-and-white-striped shelter. He’d chosen Pompano Beach as the meeting place because it was quiet. South Beach or Downtown Miami would draw too much attention. The ravenous media stalked the streets of Florida’s biggest city, always searching for a scandal.

“George, you know which side Rasgado is on?”

George grunted, only half listening as he watched through the window at the kid scooping his ice cream into a glass bowl.

“We know that Rasgado has cut a deal with the Santa Maria de Guadalupe cartel.”

“What?” George leaned forwards. “What’s he done that for? He’s meant to be neutral.”

“We have no concrete reason –”

“Money?”

“Could be, but it’s well-known that he’s had an eye on the secretariat job. He wants to be the Secretary of Defence for Mexico. If not money, it’s the only other conceivable reason.”

George slammed the plastic table with his fist. “Are you kidding me? This is a joke. What a sad world we live in, a world where people like me have to work with people like that to get ahead.”

The security detail returned with their ice creams as George seethed. They placed the glass bowls in front of them, sprinkles dusting the top, and a silver spoon stuck in the side. One of them mumbled something, but George wasn’t listening as they retreated to watch their charge from afar.

“What are we supposed to do now?” George checked his gold Armani watch. “We’ve got fifteen minutes before Governor Newton arrives. He will be expecting results. Now our plan has gone to hell.”

Jack didn’t immediately reply as he spooned some of his ice cream into his mouth.

“We need another contact in Mexico, someone with power,” said George.

“I know. Look, Romero doesn’t care who he ships to. He’s one of the few neutral drug and arms import exporters. Most of the cartels use him as a contact on the eastern seaboard. That means we don’t have to be picky about who we work with.”

“I know that, Jack,” George said impatiently. “The problem is simple.” He jabbed at the air with his spoon. “We need someone in government, not a relationship with a cartel. Those bastards have no honour, and they’d sell us down the river as soon as they got a chance. Do we have any contacts, other than Rasgado?”

Jack shrugged. “Not strictly speaking. But we can make them.”

“That’s not going to help us when Governor Newton arrives, Jack. We need something we can hang our hats on. If not, he’s going to lose faith in us. He’s retiring next cycle and he wants a good pension plan.”

George attacked his rapidly melting ice cream like he was stabbing Rasgado in the head. Without Rasgado, they were cut off from Mexico. If Romero ever found out they didn’t have a Plan B, he would have them by the balls, and then any deal would be their only option.

Jack clicked his fingers. “Emilio Lopez Cazalla.” He licked his lips and gave a self-satisfied smile. “The Secretary of Foreign Affairs for Mexico.”

“What about him?”

“Cazalla is dripping with corruption. If it weren’t for his relationship with the president, he would have been kicked out of politics years ago. Did you know he was once caught with suspected slave labourers on his land?”

“Really?”

“They were immigrants from El Salvador and Honduras. He offered them passage through Mexico then took their passports and forced them to work for him for practically nothing. It was a journalist who found out about it then made it go national.”

“And what happened?”

“The journalist disappeared. They never found the body. Cazalla kept a low profile then returned to government. Barely anybody raised a stink about it, and here we are. He’s a man who would work with us.”

George did the calculations in his head. The Secretary of Foreign Affairs wielded much power in Mexico, perhaps more than the defence secretary. If they could win Cazalla to their cause, they would have more influence in Mexico than Rasgado could ever give them.

“Good, get in touch with him.” George checked his watch again. “Okay, Governor Newton should be arriving any minute. When he arrives, act like we’ve already won him over. He’ll want us to look decisive.”

“Yes, George.”

They continued eating their ice cream when a black car parked up on the opposite side of the road to the ice cream shop. His security detail opened their doors and stepped around the back of the car. A grey-haired man in an equally grey suit emerged with a face that betrayed his love for plastic surgery. His artificial tan gave off the radiance of a Florida orange.

George and Jack stood to greet the Florida governor with warm handshakes and smiles all round.

“It’s about damn time we made this meeting happen,” said Newton. “I only have around two years left of my term. You should see the god-awful pension plan I have. What, am I supposed to live like one of those hicks in an Orlando trailer park in my retirement?”

George withheld the twitch threatening to lift his lips into a smile. Governor Newton came from Orlando himself. If anyone did their research, they would know Newton had grown up in a trailer park as one of eight children. Unlike George, Newton had no air of southern gentry about him.

“We have something for you,” said George. “I think it’s important