Free Mule by Tony D'Souza Page B

use it, drive away from your house and get up on it through a cell tower that's not easily connected to you. It seems like a hassle, but it's not. Then you want to dump the phone after a while. Don't pass out the number over the phone, send it in the mail to the people who need it. Use the post office for everything—it's one of the safest things we have—because postal inspectors need a warrant to open first class mail. Use a fake return address, but make sure it's an actual address or they'll check it. Don't put anything in the letter to tie it to you. If the letter gets lost or takes too long to get there, ditch that phone and start over."
    "Do I have to do all that this one time?"
    "You're pristine for now, James. But the thing is, you don't know what they know about the people you're dealing with. If they figure out one person, it spreads through the system and contaminates everyone. Another thing is, you don't know where this might go. You want to establish a good business model, be disciplined, lay a foundation for a long and lucrative future."
    "That's not my plan," I told him.
    "That's what they all say."
    The last thing I asked Darren was, "Do you think this is going to work?"
    "Of course it's going to work," Darren said. "Because everybody needs it to. People like you, people like me. Even the bad guys. They wouldn't have jobs if it weren't for us. And if it weren't for them, our product would have no value."
    Â 
    I had the MetLife checks with me. That money had given me some peace of mind throughout my life. Now it was giving me the chance to do this. How was I going to explain that part to Kate?
    I did the math again as I drove from the beach into town. We had $3,000 from Eric and a little more than $5,000 left from the first trip. So I had to get $17,000 more. I drove to the WaMu branch in the strip mall near my mother's, sat in the car outside. I couldn't get the cash directly from MetLife; they weren't a bank and didn't work like that. Instead I'd have to write a check to myself, deposit it into my WaMu account, and then withdraw the cash.
    I called Mason from the car before I went in.
    "How's Florida?" Mason said when he picked up.
    "I'm outside my bank. I've got a trip put together. I would have called you sooner, but it all went down yesterday. Now I have to get everything together and jump on a plane. I'm calling to ask how much you want."
    "Are you kidding me? I want one. No, two. Let me make a couple phone calls and call you right back."
    Five minutes went by. Then five minutes more. It was the same as when I'd waited for him in Austin. I listened to the Killers, Damian Marley, drummed my fingers on the steering wheel. Then I had another idea, called Rita in Sacramento. When she picked up, she said in a whisper, "James? Are you here again?"
    "I will be in a few days."
    "I'm at work. Can I call you tonight?"
    "I have to know right now."
    "I'll take a break and call Henry," she said, still whispering.
    There was a coffee shop a few doors down from the WaMu. I went in and ordered a drip. I bought a copy of the
Herald-Tribune,
scanned it with my phone out on the table as I waited. The front page above the fold was about the Sarasota real estate implosion: the massive condo project was indeed about to go bust. I couldn't care about any of that. In a minute, my phone rang.
    Rita said, "How much if we get a pound this time?"
    "Five grand."
    "Then we'll have the money ready."
    I hung up and did the math on my phone. Now I needed the rest of the baby's college money. A minute later, Mason was calling. I held the phone to my ear, glanced at the other people sitting at their tables. They had no idea what I was doing. Mason said, "I want two this time."
    "Can you really handle that much?"
    "I met new people because of what we did."
    "You have to send me half the money."
    "No problem, James."
    "It has to be cash."
    "How am I supposed to do that?"
    I remembered what Darren had said. I said to Mason, "Money