Mrs. Wrong Last Name

Chapter Twenty-three

Nautika was lit.

Their table was of course waterfront and next to Anjelica Huston. Stacy could not believe that Clara from Lonesome Dove was sitting right there and could not stop smiling and looking over at her.

"You'd better get ready to believe a lot of things, girlie," she laughed.

They ate and laughed and made a big show of it. Ordered everything. No hats tonight.

And finally, their esteemed guest showed up- a retired 3 star General whose daughter was her elementary school best friend. The General was in his late 60s but was in remarkable shape. He was a commanding presence- standing straight as an arrow with his shoulders back and chest out. He would have reminded her of Bruce Willis some if she had not known him most of her life.

The two ladies smiled broadly and welcomed him- he had his men stationed around their men, and after everyone in the restaurant made a note of the crazy security the three got down to business. "I must say, I have not been to a business meeting with this kind of view in quite a while," he smiled. The General was nothing if not a ladies' man and a big time charmer.

Not catching on, Stacy commented, "Well it's dark, you should see it in the daytime! Simply lovely!"

The General smiled. "My dear I was speaking about you and your friend here, you two are simply lovely in any level of light and I am proud to be in your presence."

Stacy blushed and looked at her. She smiled like "I told you so."

"So," she said. "You have some stuff for us on the Paraguay developments?"

Stacy listened intently as he leaned forward in his chair. "Yes," he said. "It has been shaping up nicely for years, but I think everything is now finalized. At the last minute, like just earlier today, several legal documents came through that made it a done deal. Looks like we have acquired about 300,000 acres in the Chaco region of Paraguay, right over the top of the Acuifero Guarani. That aquifer as you know is the main source of water for four countries. There are at least 90 covert runways in the area which add to the value tremendously, probably 35 or so of which are located on the property. It is truly a nice investment there for multiple reasons aside from just the location, which by the way couldn't be more perfect. Right next to both the Bolivian and Brazilian borders."

"You know my husband's family is from Bolivia," Stacy added proudly.

He smiled and grabbed her hand. "My dear girl, they are a little more than just from there. And your father in law and I have had shall we say a working relationship for quite some time."

Stacy smiled and seemed to be very pleased with herself.

The General continued. "At any rate I am not exactly sure what you had in mind with all of this, and truthfully I must be the most skilled and overpaid real estate agent in the Western Hemisphere, but you're set up pretty darn close to the Bushes and their land and also in good proximity to 2 US bases, one of which is DEA and the other of which is run by the Pentagon. That is where I was stationed off and on through the 70s and early 80s. It was a pleasure to visit again, many friends down there, many friends," he said. "Not many at the DEA base, ha! But they are extremely interested in recent developments and have really been eyeballing it. You have us all completely engrossed, little lady."

"The Bushes?" Stacy asked.

"Yes my dear, our esteemed dinner partner here goes way back with them. And I almost forgot to mention that George P. sends his love," he said as he winked at her.

Stacy let that sink in for a moment and then finally had her chance to contribute to the conversation. "You know, the Mexican cartels have gotten to be so powerful that many of the South American countries are scrambling with what to do. Unrest, lots of murders... the Mexicans have been seriously fighting for a foothold and position down there. Paraguay and Bolivia have both been hit super hard, as we do not have a good outlet for trade- we are completely landlocked and have to depend on the good will of our neighbors to send or receive anything in or out by train or trucks to get to the coastal ports. Things have been difficult, and I know that Samson and his father have tried to get an alliance with Paraguay, hoping the two would have a bigger export lobby to make an alliance with Peru or Brazil more appetizing. But the fact of the matter is that the politics of it all can be so tricky and so far anything they have put together has been tenuous at best."