By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Margot pulled up at the hotel and as Charlie stepped out of the car she said, “I am truly sorry Charlie.”
He would have answered her but he honestly didn’t know what he was feeling. He walked through the empty lobby and waved at the night guard watching TV while half asleep on the couch. The sex had been outstanding, and Margot may have thought that was why he agreed to help her, but no, this wasn’t about his feelings toward her. It was the story. She was right. If he lived through this, he would have the greatest story of his life.
Charlie had just opened the door to his room and turned on the lights when it hit him – he would have to move. He needed to be closer to the Taiwanese warehouse. Without intending to, Charlie had begun forming a plan for his new life. If he was going to convince Edgar and Rufino that he was all in with them, he first had to convince himself. He could no longer show how much the entire idea of shark finning disgusted him.
That was the part that scared him, because he wasn’t sure he could pull it off. At some point, he knew he would have to cut up a living creature and watch as it sunk out of sight fighting to stay alive. How would he act, would he get sick and have everybody laughing at him? Or when the time came to draw the knife, would his mind refuse to let him do it, thereby branding him a coward?
Charlie opened his backpack and removed the bottle of rum. It was the same question soldiers had to ask throughout time: When the time comes, can I kill? The answer comes only in the moment before the act.
There were deck chairs around the pool, and with his bottle in hand, he headed outside. He needed fresh air and a drink. He wondered how he could pull off something that upset him that bad just thinking about it.
Charlie turned up the bottle, took a long gulp, and leaned his head back onto the chair and stared up at the stars. In the distance he could hear thunder. Rain was coming, but for right now, he had the stars.
Four drinks later the rain began to fall and he went to bed to the sound of a downpour.
Charlie awoke early the next morning and after a couple glasses of water, he took a shower and shaved. He wasn’t sure what time his new partners were returning, but he wanted to have a look around town before he met up with them. His first stop would be the lawyer’s office. That part had to go without any problems whatsoever. He was sure the guys weren’t going to be happy with him covering his investment with a legal document.
Charlie had never mentioned a lawyer because he’d never planned on giving them any money, so he was sure they thought he was going to hand over the money with a handshake. The thing he had going in his favor was that they needed the money now more than ever. They had cut a deal with Mr. Tai and he was someone one you didn’t want to be pissed at you.
He walked to the corner next to their café and waited a few minutes before a taxi came by. He gave the cab driver the lawyer’s address and moved back in the seat. The town was waking up and people were cleaning the street, garbage trucks were picking up the trash, and seagulls were fighting over the crumbs. It was a beautiful day overall. Hopefully, it was a good sign – he could really use one.
The taxi stopped across the street from Mario Vargas’s office. As the cab pulled away he found himself looking at a very nondescript building. He wasn’t sure what he had expected, but it had been more than this. Charlie crossed the street and entered a small room with a desk and two chairs.
“Hello, is anybody here?”
A voice from the back room shouted, “Have a seat, I’ll be right with you.”
In a few minutes, a man in his late forties or early fifties came out to greet him. He was a head shorter than Charlie, had light skin, dark wavy hair, and about twenty pounds on Charlie.
With a smile that covered his entire face and his hand out in front of him, he asked, “What can I do for you today?”
Charlie shook the lawyer’s hand as he came past Charlie and walked to his desk and sat down. “Have a seat.”
Charlie sat down. “My name is Charlie Blankenship. Margot Rosenburg wanted me to come see you.”
“Yes, yes. She called me at home this morning. I was just finishing up the outline of the agreement between you and your two partners. I need everyone’s passport numbers along with a photocopy of each passport. I can get yours today and your partners’ later. Also, I need the papers for the boat before I can finish the agreement.”
Charlie had yet to get a chance to say a word, and Vargas was already standing up and heading to the back room. “I have the loan paperwork finished. I’m glad you came in without your friends. We can get it signed and out of the way. Do you have your passport?”
Charlie handed him his passport, thinking, This guy runs a one-man office and he’s Margot’s lawyer? Oh well, it’s her money, so if she trusts him, what is it to me?
Charlie heard a copyer running and paper being moved around in the other room, then Vargas returned. “Thank you. Here you go.” Mario handed him his passport and sat back behind his desk. He laid out papers in front of Charlie. “Here is a pen, I need you to sign here, and here.”
After Charlie signed the note for the money, Mario asked, “What time are you coming back with your partners?”
“I’m not sure, I’m waiting to hear from them. They’re picking up the boat. I’ll call as soon as I know.” He stood and they shook hands. “Thank you for your help.”
“It is my pleasure. When you come back, make sure you have all the paperwork I need.”
“I will and thank you again.” Charlie closed the door behind him and decided to walk across the peninsula and see how close he was to the warehouse. There were a number of small hotels along the upper part of the beach. The area went from upscale to low rent very fast as you left the town of Puntarenas. Charlie wanted to live close enough so that if he were stopped at night and asked why he was in that neighborhood, he would have the excuse of living close by.
It became hotter as he moved away from the ocean, and he was sweating by the time he had walked the three blocks. Charlie turned the corner at the end of the street, and his heart stopped. He was right in front of the warehouse. He jumped back out of sight when he saw where he was. The last thing he wanted was the guard reporting a sighting of the gringo again.
As he walked back toward the beach his phone rang. “Hello.”
“This is Edgar. We will be in Puntarenas in an hour. Do you have the twenty thousand dollars ready?”
“I had it wired to a lawyer here in town. He has the paperwork and money waiting. All he needs is your passports and the papers on the boat.”
“No one said anything about a lawyer. We don’t do business like that.”
“Well, then we won’t do business.”
“Fuck you, asshole.”
The phone went dead and he was left wondering if he had overplayed his hand. But one block later, as he stepped onto the main drag, his phone rang again.
Edgar said, “We’ll call you when we get to the dock.” Charlie smiled.
An outdoor bar was situated a half-block down from the lawyer’s office. Charlie called Mario and let him know they would be coming to see him in a couple hours, and then he found a seat in the shade. He inhaled the first beer – the walk had worked up a thirst.
He had a while to kill so he went into the hotel next to the bar and checked on the price of the rooms. They were cheaper than Eric’s but without A/C. The clerk assured him that the wind from the ocean was all he needed. Charlie told him he would get back to them and went to the bar and ordered a beer.
The beer was half gone when his phone rang again. Edgar said, “We are docking now. Where do you want to meet?” Charlie gave him the name of the bar and hung up and called Mario.
A cab stopped in front of the bar fifteen minutes later. When the two amigos came over to his table, they didn’t look overjoyed. Charlie asked, “You want a beer before we go see the lawyer?”
They pulled out chairs and Charlie waved at the young man running the bar for three more beers. No one spoke until the beers came and the waiter was gone. Then Rufino leaned in toward Charlie and, through clenched teeth, said, “Why’d you get a lawyer involved in our business?”
Charlie took a drink and placed the bottle between them. “That is why I have a lawyer. Because I took out a loan for the money and put up my share in our business together, which means there’s a contract so we both understand what this partnership is all about.” He pushed his chair back and said, “If you don’t want my money, I’ll bet I can find somebody that does.”
Charlie felt Edgar grip his left arm. “Sit down, Charlie. Everything is cool, we have all the papers and are ready to do this.”
Edgar looked hard at Rufino and asked, “That is the case, right? You are ready to sign the papers?”
Rufino threw his hands up in the air and then reached for his beer. “What the hell, let’s get it over with.” He took a long gulp to finish his beer and stood.
Edgar and Charlie followed suit. Setting his empty bottle on the table, Charlie pointed down the street to his left. “The lawyer’s office is right down there.”
| Copyright © 2018 by Ed Rogers |
No comments:
Post a Comment