The first day back from the hospital Samir had slept all afternoon and all night, and was still sleeping when Ricky went to check on him the next morning. He hoped and prayed Samir would die in his sleep, but no such luck. Ricky listened to his labored breathing and watched his chest rise and fall.
He went back to check on him an hour later and Samir was awake, but groggy. His eyes would open and look at Ricky and then close and open again.
"How you feeling?"
Samir said, "Where's the money?"
"What money?" Ricky said, playing dumb. "Oh you mean the money Karen stole from you? No word yet, but I'm on it."
"The collections," Samir said.
Ricky said, "You've been asleep since you got home."
"Now I'm awake."
Ricky thought he had a few days before Samir would bring this up, and by then the Iraqis would have Karen and he'd be able to pay Samir back the $82,000 he'd lost, and be rich. "The doctor said you shouldn't work or even think about business for two weeks at least."
"Bring me my money," Samir said, raising his voice. He started coughing and couldn't stop.
Ricky went over and picked up the water glass on the bedside table and handed it to him. He drank some water and it helped. He drank more and stopped coughing. "I'm not going to jeopardize your health." Ricky remembered the doctor saying something like that at the hospital. Ricky thought it sounded good. What could Samir say to that?
"I'm not going to ask you what you did with the money," Samir said. "You have till tomorrow to give it to me-all of it."
"Take it easy," Ricky said. "I've got it."
Ricky went downstairs and called Tariq. His phone rang three times.
Tariq said, "Yes?"
"What's going on?" Ricky said. "Talk to me, tell me something good."
Tariq told him they went to the lawyer's house and almost had her.
Ricky said, "Almost had her? What're you doing? Two of you can't handle a girl? You've got to find her today. I'm going to give you each $50,000. You know how much money that is?"
"If you pay $150,000," Tariq said, "I guarantee we will find Karen Delaney."
Now the Iraqis were trying to take advantage of him. "I'll go one twenty but you better deliver." He hung up and thought, but what if they didn't find her? What if he didn't recover the money? Ricky needed a backup plan. He called Wadi Nasser. He hated to do it but didn't have a much of a choice. He asked Wadi if he could borrow a hundred grand for a few days, a week at the most.
Wadi said, "I don't know Ricky, that's a lot of money. I'd have to charge you 20 percent."
Ricky said, "That's fucking robbery."
"Listen," Wadi said. "I'm doing you a favor. You want it or not?"