Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro

Eventually, the Bentley came to a stop just meters from the gate of Suzane's condominium. The nice security guard hid his gun to not scare the visitors and allowed them to pass. Above the reception guardhouse, a huge sign with the name of the condominium was illuminated by four LED lights and some very tall palm trees. During the short drive, the two of them admired the beautiful residences, one more beautiful than the other, in the most different designs. Obviously, the most beautiful house was Suzane's, a singular construction, with a contemporary style. Huge windows, more than six meters high, a small bridge and two floors. The chauffeur opened the door for the two young ladies and smiled discreetly. Most likely his next stop would be a psychiatrist after the events of that afternoon/evening.

Vini went ahead and knocked twice on the huge pivoting door, more commonly known as the "rich man's door". Everything was going smoothly, which sounded very suspicious. And it didn't take long for the situation to get even worse.

On the other side of the door, Pacifiers welcomed them. He made a surprised face, and started to stare at them as if they were aliens.

- Mom, what the fuck is this?

- They are my guests. - she answered.

But Pacifier was not convinced.

- I don't know, I must know them from somewhere.

- Sarah. - Enzo held out his hand. - And this is Diane.

- They are my friends, son. - Suzane clarified. - I met them at the club.

- So be it! - Pacifier went to his room.

- Forgive my son. He's a little edgy.

Enzo stared at Vini.

- That's fine - he said. - Vini made light of it.

- Did it take them long to arrive?

- It did not. - Vini replied, but was soon nudged by Enzo. - I mean, yes, a long ass time. It's the freaking rush hour traffic.

- It's really terrible.

- Your Bentley is very beautiful. - Enzo said.

- What Bentley?

- The car.

- Oh. Thank you. - Suzane replied, as any non-car enthusiast would.

Suzane took them to the center of the living room, decorated with two Turkish carpets, several colorful flowerpots detached from the imported furniture, and a beautiful wooden floor. That room alone must have cost a few thousand bucks.

- Beautiful home. - Vini said.

- Thank you. I bought it in the blueprints. - Suzane pointed to the seven-seat rectangular dining room table. - Please, sit down.

Vini positioned himself in the opposite direction from Enzo, while the hostess stood at the head of the table.

- How are you doing? - Suzanne asked.

- Fine, fine. - Vini answered, a little awkwardly. - I'm getting ready to move. No more living in the South Zone. Barra is much better.

- Do you need help to move? My husband works in a shipping company.

Oh.

- Really? - Vini stared at Enzo for a few more seconds. - That would be very useful.

- And I'm sure he would give you a very good price.

- We appreciate it.

- What kind of carrier? - Enzo was interested.

- That depends. Just choose.

- How about drugs?

Suzane's facial expressions changed rapidly. Oddly enough, so did Vini's.

- What do you mean, Sarah?

- It was just a prank. - Enzo clarified. - There's no way to transport narcotics.

- I mean, there is, but... I have no idea how. - Suzane cleverly disguised it.

- Sarah has an enormous tongue. - Vini stared at Endo, quite angry - It's hard to keep it in your damn mouth, right?

- It's a hard job, sometimes I feel like I have a poisonous snake in my throat.

After a few seconds of silence, Enzo was quick to think, which was very uncharacteristic, and asked:

- Where is the bathroom?

- At the end of the hall, after the stairs.

- That's fine, thank you.

Enzo stood up from his chair and made his way to the toilet. On his way back, he noticed the light on in the floor above, which caught his attention. He turned sideways to work out an escape plan in case he was called in for questioning. Three seconds later, he was already climbing the stairs, trying his best to avoid any noise.

Upstairs, he found three distinct white doors. He looked downstairs and found nothing suspicious, except for that particular hallway. He visualized that scene well and said:

- I have a very bad feeling about this place.

As he tried to open the first door, he noticed that something was trapping the door from the inside. He had to force it a bit to get in. And he was rewarded. The small windowless space was filled with a bunch of boxes. Weird, thought Enzo. Of course he was going to snoop. And what he found surprised him.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

- Holy bollocks! That's Narcos room.

He had never seen so much money in his life. Piles and piles of cash piled up like the Twin Towers. And it didn't stop there. When he opened the second box he found weapons, lots of weapons. In the third box... Well, he couldn't tell, as he heard his name, or rather the name "Sarah" being called downstairs. Before leaving the room, she tried to leave everything just as he found it, with a few exceptions.

- Did someone call my name? - Enzo asked, cynically.

- You took an eternity, you fool. - Vini said. - Where have you been?

- I got myself lost. It's a very big house. I saw a stairway and thought I had to climb up.

Suzane changed her facial expression again.

- Did you find out anything?

Enzo shook his head.

- No, not really. I was able to find myself later on. It was not that hard, but it was dark and I didn't want to touch anything.

Oh, if only she knew.

- Well, as a matter of fact I wanted to ask you a favor.

- That's swell. - said Vini.

Enzo shook his head in disapproval, but Vini didn't notice.

- I need to deliver something in Vidigal, but I'm very busy tomorrow and I've given the driver the day off. Could you go there for me?

Enzo looked at Vini wide-eyed, because he knew he'd have to deliver one of the boxes from upstairs.

- That's okay, we'll do it. Do you have a preferred time of day?

- No, no, no. Just drop it off. I'll give you the address.

Suzane wrote down the location on a piece of paper and handed it to Vini. The names were not familiar at all, not to Vini, even less to Enzo.

- It would be a huge favor. I know it's a lot to ask, but I have no one to call on.

- You can count on us.

- Great. - Suzane looked relieved.

She got up from the table and went to the floor above. Meanwhile, Enzo poked Vini, who couldn't take his eyes off a small thing. In other words, a very potential for trouble.

- What the hell are you doing? - Enzo questioned him.

- What am I doing what? - Vini didn't understand.

- You're standing there looking it!

- No, I'm not.

- Of course you were, you imbecile. Even Stevie Wonder could see.

- Okay, I kinda was. Shut up.

- Watch out for those prying eyes of yours. And you shut up!

- And what about you? What took you so damn long? Were you doing what I was suppose you were doing?

- And what were you wondering?

Vini made a movement with his hands that disgusted him.

- Oh, Vini, this is just sick!

- That's my fucking point exactly.

- You do know that I only do it in your bathroom.

Hold on a second.

- What?

- Ha, just messing around. You should have seen your face.

- Fuck off, Enzo. But you didn't answer my question. What did you do in the meantime?

- I went upstairs. Suzane is not who she says she is.

- Why do you say so?

- She has a room full of boxes.

- Wow, Enzo, i'm quite shitting my pants.

- Yeah? Wait for it. Including... - Enzo pulled out from under his skirt a Beretta 9mm.

- Enzo, holy shit!

- Right? We could never hide it in menswear.

- No, no, no, you idiot! That pistol! You said there's more?

- Vini, a lot more. If the DEA shows up here we might all be thrown over the border, which you should well understand.

Vini was not very amused by the joke on mexicans, after all, Vini was born in the country.

- Jokes about Mexico never fail to cheer me up.

Suzane came back into the living room with a box. Enzo hid the gun under his skirt as he had done before. Vini shook the box, but couldn't imagine what was inside.

- What's in it?

- Oh, I can't open it. My husband would kill me.

Metaphorically?

- That's fine. Better leave it sealed.

At exactly two minutes to midnight, Enzo and Vini thanked their hostess for dinner. The driver took them back to the same address. The problem was that, once again, they would have to travel the way back in the early morning hours of Rio de Janeiro. Alone. Still, it could be worse.

- How many kilometers is it from here to Lake anyway? - Enzo asked, already imagining that he would not like the answer.

- 19.

- Oh, cock. We're going to die already.