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ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR

Rafael phoned Jando, telling him to come to Tota’s hotel room pronto. Tota suspected Jando of deceit. Rafael didn’t. They sat and waited; the girl still draped on the chair stark naked. When Jando arrived, they showed him the money. Jando was shocked, but accepted no blame. He explained that the buyer, who’d dressed like an executive, had called the shots; insisting Jando pick him up at Denpasar Airport, drive to Uluwatu and pull over in some dark spot. Then, in the dimly lit privacy of the rental car, they exchanged cash and coke. Jando had flicked through the cash, checking for blanks, while the buyer sniffed a bit of the coke. Then, deal done, Jando took him back to the airport. Job done, Tota was a happy man. Jando left, unaware of the Benjamin’s facial problems until Rafael called.

The next person on Tota’s blame list was his close friend Fabio. All was fair in love and war, and this was war. He grabbed a vicious-looking scuba diving knife out of a drawer, telling Rafael, ‘This is for Fabio. I’m gonna kill this motherfucker tonight.’ Tota was suddenly now sure Fabio was involved.

Again, Rafael didn’t think so, but this night wouldn’t end until Tota exacted revenge on someone. ‘He fucked me with this shit, let’s go there now, come on, Rafael. I want to fix this, do you know where his villa is?’ Rafael insisted he didn’t, anxious that Tota’s years of Rio shootouts and knife fights would make it easy for him to slaughter their friend Fabio.

I say noooo, I don’t go anywhere. I have to go home. I don’t know where he lives.

– Rafael

Then Tota remembered that his horse had delivered the coke to Fabio’s new Canggu villa. Rafael left, desperately trying to call Fabio. But his phone was off.

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