By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Margot pulled into the parking lot at the San Jose Customs docks. Trucks were parked in front of all the loading doors so she parked next to the stairs going into the warehouse. She had only a small box so it didn’t matter. A man at the table inside asked what she needed. Margot asked for Jennifer Araya.
Margot heard a voice call out from the left: “I am Jennifer.” A twenty-something girl in tight jeans and denim shirt raised her hand. Her brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, which stuck out the back of her hat. She put a friendly smile on her face as she looked questioningly at Margot.
Margot walked over to the truck Jennifer was standing next to and, lowering her voice so the guard couldn’t hear, said, “I was told you could get this through Customs for me. I would just die if someone opened it and it got stolen. It belonged to my mother. I understand there’s a special fee for the service. I was told two hundred dollars.”
“Who told you to ask for me?”
“He wouldn’t be happy with me dropping his name but he told me to tell you he’s Julio’s friend from Puntarenas. He said you would know what that meant.”
“Okay, give me the package and the money. Now get out of here before you are seen.”
Margot walked out to her jeep. That had been too easy. It was worse than she thought – the people were so corrupt they did business with strangers right off the street. Well, now she knew that getting into Customs wasn’t going to be hard. Next time, she and Charlie would have a larger shipment, one that would require approval from Julio Morales.
Margot drove down the road from her house and entered the freeway heading toward the ocean. She thought about calling Charlie but decided to let it wait until she was home. It was almost a two-hour drive back but she knew Juan was meeting with Charlie and they would be busy.
She felt better now that Juan Reyes was working with them. Charlie was even easier to get along with and seemed to be over the ordeal of the fishing boat. Juan was someone whose judgment he trusted – a fellow warrior — while she was the person who had almost gotten him killed. She was happy he had someone he trusted, and maybe one day he would trust her again.
Charlie opened a couple of beers and handed one to Juan. “I would like to get into Mr. Tai’s warehouse and see how he packages his drugs. I know the drugs go with the fins to Dallas, that is the only thing that makes sense. Once in Dallas, the fins, which are waiting in Customs to be loaded on a flight to Hong Kong, are separated from the drugs. I just can’t figure out how the drugs are removed from Customs in Dallas. I believe the answer is in Tai’s warehouse.”
Juan found a seat on the couch and let the cold Imperial Beer flow down his throat. He smiled at Charlie. “You are crazy if you think you can get into that warehouse and back out alive.”
“Maybe, you’re right, but I would still like to know.”
“Why do you care? Nobody is going to raid them, nobody is going to check the fins. Who would you share this information with if you had it – me?”
“Information is always good to have. When or how I would use the information, or even if I use the information, will depend on what happens in the future. Right now it’s about the money. I have worked out the money flow for three departments. But the police department is divided into so many units I don’t know where to even start.”
Juan drank his beer and thought for a minute. “Forget about the units. The people at the top are the key. The bribes come from on high. The money doesn’t go to the different units and then move up, it starts at the top and comes down. That is why you’ll never be able to stop them. They are the all-consuming power. They had me shot right in front of the police station and nobody said a word.”
“We’ll get them, Juan. Their greed is digging their grave as we speak. The wall is big, but all it will take is one crack.”
“I wish you would tell me what in the hell you are planning.”
“I haven’t filled in all the blanks yet. There are a lot of factors that need to be put in place first. But there’s a weak spot someplace, and that’s where we start the crack.”
“Like what factors are you missing?”
“The big one is how Mr. Tai is paying these people off. I can’t find a money trail anywhere. I know that the department heads are getting paid off, I just don’t know how. They have more money than the office they work for pays them, but it all seems to come from legal outside businesses.”
“You know the trail doesn’t have to be money.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t really know. Maybe they own stock in one of Mr. Tai’s businesses. Or maybe the kickbacks come from the U.S. and don’t come from Mr. Tai. All I’m saying is, there is more than one way to pay somebody off.”
“I think you may be on to something. The legal businesses may be a way to wash the money.” Charlie picked up his burner phone and called Tommy. “Hello, Tommy, I need you to start looking for anything that all of these people may have in common. Same business ties, or membership in the same clubs, anything where their names show up together.”
Charlie hung up the phone. “If there is a tie, Tommy will find it. Let’s change the subject to Julio Morales. I want to get next to him. Margot is feeling out Customs today, at the lower level, but I need something to move us up one more level. What can we get our hands on that needs to go through Customs without being inspected? Customs is the weak spot in the whole organization and it is the most important. That will be where we start our crack.”
“Birds.”
“What?”
“Birds. They are the hardest thing to get through Customs. Costa Rica is in love with its birds. There’s a limit to the number of each kind of bird that can be exported. They are easy to capture, but shipping them out of the country is next to impossible. Julio or someone higher up would have to be involved in order to get the birds through without inspection.”
“Once again, a good idea. The birds won’t put us on Mr. Tai’s radar as competitors, but they will still move us up the line. Tomorrow, you and I will go see Mr. Morales. Margot should be able to pave the way through Jennifer. I’m sure everything went fine with their first meeting or I would have heard something.”
“Charlie, I’ve been thinking. We can’t get into Mr. Tai’s warehouse, but we might be able to get someone to plant a camera for us.”
“Do you know someone that works there?”
“No, but let’s take a ride. It’s time for the day shift to get off work. Maybe we can spot someone.”
They took Juan’s car and parked on the narrow street that ran from the warehouse all the way to the ferry docks. The houses and small business along the street were piled on top of each other. It was where the working class lived, worked, and tried to survive.
The horn sounded and men and a few women poured out of the buildings of the Taiwan Shipping Company. They had to pass one at a time through the guard gate, which gave Charlie and Juan a good look at each person.
It didn’t take long before Juan said, “There he is. That’s our man.”
Charlie watched the man approach, he was maybe in his early thirties but looked like he carried the weight of the world on his back. His shoulders were bowed, his head was lowered, and he moved slowly toward a home where he would find only more sorrow. If ever there was a man who needed a break, this was him.
Suddenly Juan opened the door and stepped out of the car. “Go around the block. I’m going to follow him and find out where he lives.”
As Juan disappeared in the mass of workers moving down the street, Charlie walked around and got back into the car on the driver’s side. Most of the people were gone, so he turned down the street to his right and drove to the end of the block, where he took another right and headed toward the ferry docks.
He eased the car down the narrow street they had been parked on, looking for Juan. Three blocks down he saw him and went to pick him up. Juan jumped in and pointed toward a shack next to the water. “It has no electricity or running water. He, his wife, and three kids live there in two rooms. He looks Nicaraguan, and no doubt he is illegal. I know his kind. Hand him the camera, and for very little money he’ll put it anywhere you want him to.”
Charlie took a right and parked in front of the store where he had bought the other cameras. “I’ll be right back.”
He came out of the store and handed Juan a camera. “How much money do you need?”
“Twenty dollars will get the job done.”
“Here’s forty, he has kids to feed.”
“You need to be careful, Charlie. Give him too much money and he will run back to Nicaragua and leave the wife and kids to fend for themselves.”
“Well, give him twenty and tell him there’s twenty more when we ask him to bring the camera out.”
“That makes more sense. I’ll have a talk with him tomorrow.”
| Copyright © 2018 by Ed Rogers |
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