The Vibe Manager

Chapter 29

Once again, I was in a funk. Of my three chief weapons — denial, sedation, and bliss — nothing could lift my mood, and my desire to set Jade free was reaching an internal crescendo. Even the newspaper I'd painstakingly stolen from the library and planted right in front of her face, with a photo of her Knight in a White Lab Coat, hadn't moved the needle. If anything, after that session with Madre, she was acting even more lovey-dovey to me.

It was getting difficult to keep finding ways to annoy her, and frankly, the whole Microagression Campaign was harshing on my vibe. I was poetry in motion! A creature of joy! My mission had slid off-course, and Jade's unshakeable devotion to my dark side was giving me hives.

The only thing that salvaged my mood was the sound of a Skype call ringing through the next day like an ambulance siren on Madre's computer.

Of course, the sainted Monkey Boy is right on time....

"Watch and learn, Madre," I said as I accepted the call, even though her calendar assured me that she would be at the hair salon getting her roots done for hours, and she would never know how smooth my performance had been.

"Yes, hello, is that Joe?" came Rafael's mildly accented voice after a slight delay.

"Yo, yo, yo, bro!"

Still hate him, I decided, bracing myself for the business at hand. But the heroic outcome was going to be worth the drudgery. Eyes on the prize....

"I'm sorry — are we using the cameras? I'm afraid I can't see you," Rafael said.

"Better not, dude," I answered. "Nina has extremely sophisticated systems installed here — I don't know what anyone's tracking. In fact, I'm deleting this whole Skype program as soon as we're done. Use the cell number I gave you from now on."

"Oh — alright. Well, thank you for getting in touch... I was excited to get your email —"

"You understand — Nina can't be associated with what we're going to discuss? Not when a client has a frozen contract. And she doesn't want to hear any playback from you about it later."

"Yes, understood," Rafael said. "Please tell her I appreciate it and I understand that she can't be directly involved. I didn't realize she had an associate — "

"Moi? Ancient history — "

Now he's checking my credentials? Who did he think he was talking to, some Nigerian email scammer? I leaned back in the desk chair. "So, have you wired the supplemental service fee to the account details in my email?"

"That's just it —" Rafael started. "It's a ... significant sum of money. I want to be clear on what we're doing first."

I rolled my eyes. Could nothing be simple?

Still, I carried on with my officious-associate act. After all, nearly everything was above board, and Joe/Gio was even my real name — Giordano. Another stroke of brilliance. Jade wouldn't recognize it if Rafael let it slip during their happily ever after. (Revealing — now that I thought about it — that my own wife didn't even know my full name. Such was the carefree spirit of Atlantic City nuptials....) Of course, Madre would recognize it in a second, but she'd just assume I'd answered her phone one day and blabbed my face off....

"Nina has sketched the broad outlines of your situation for me," I said. "And I understand you're a — monkey researcher???"

His hearty laugh came through the computer speakers. "You could say that. As I told Nina, I am nearly doing her job at the moment."