Based on an incredible true story of underground fortune and lost love, The Wanted and the Unwanted is the best of adventure and romance made even more gripping by the fact that it is written by the man who lived it.
When Roland accepts a mysterious but lucrative job offer from a friend in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, the only thing he knows about it is that his new employers want him to keep it a secret. Hoping the change of scenery will help him heal a broken heart, he lands in what seems at first a fairy tale – he lives in a mansion on the beach, takes a Learjet for a shopping trip and parties on the company yacht. After only a few short weeks he is flown to Costa Rica to oversee a new project.
But Roland’s company has deeper secrets than he knows. Just as his confidence is returning his world collapses again one fateful night, sparking a shocking discovery. Under the eyes of the media, unwanted by the woman he loved and wanted by law enforcement agencies around the world, yet again Roland’s trust is tested and he must choose between going into hiding or standing alone.
The customs inspector pulled up at the terminal and got out of his car. Waving his hand at his neck to cool it, he looked around and saw the figure in the doorway.
“Mucho calor,” he said. “Very hot today. In not so many weeks every day will be like this.”
The driver responded in the affirmative and gestured to the sky where he had seen the approaching Learjet a minute before. They watched it touch down and taxi up to the parking ramp, where the pilot turned off the strobes and marker lights and shut off the engines. The inspector strode over to the jet and had opened the door before the engine’s freewheeling turbines had even begun to slow down.
The driver heard voices from inside the plane and then he saw the passengers exit one by one, stretching and finishing the last of their drinks. He entered the terminal to throw out his coffee cup. When he reemerged he had begun to walk over to the plane when one of the passengers held his hand up. The man lingered, hesitating, and went over to the Explorer instead. He opened the back cargo door to await the luggage, and sat on the sill.
A porter had emerged from the terminal armed with a large red hand cart and had already loaded the suitcases onto it. The inspector placed his hand on one and said something to one of the passengers. In his other hand he held a sheaf of papers, and on top were the Customs cards. Now the inspector was standing back to allow the porter to open one of the cases.
The driver caught the tall man’s eye and mouthed the word “What?”, but was met with only a terse shake of the head before he looked away.
Now the inspector was pointing to the aircraft door, and amid protests the passengers slowly filed back into the little jet. The pilots stood apart from the proceedings, obviously a little bewildered, and watched the inspector as he spoke into the microphone clipped to his shirt.
The driver squinted, calculating what might be going on and whether he should wait around, but his question was soon answered. Within seconds, an airport police car emerged from the far side of the main terminal with its flashing lights on but no siren, and another one sped through the entry gate.
He closed the vehicle’s back door with a slam. Looking behind him, he could see the customs inspector motioning rapidly in his direction, and the porter took off at a run towards the Explorer. He jumped in and fumbled for the keys.
For some reason he hadn’t expected the engine to start, but it turned over and fired immediately. Reversing just enough to turn around, he floored the accelerator and narrowly missed the shouting and gesticulating porter, tires screaming on the hot pavement. The gate, still open from when the police car had come in, grew larger in his windshield, and as he tore past it he swerved to avoid a local news station van and an accompanying sedan that had seemingly materialized out of nowhere.
This, he thought as he blew a stop light and merged with the highway traffic, is going to be a very long night.
