By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Rufino opened his eyes and fear gripped him. That last thing he remembered was being hit by a bullet and falling backward. He had been wearing a lifejacket in case they found that rat Charlie, and it must have saved his life. But how did he get to be in a hospital?
The nurse saw that he was awake and came to his bedside. “How are you feeling? You are very lucky.”
“Where am I?” Rufino asked.
The nurse smiled and poured him some water. “You’re in the hospital in the town of Puerto Sandino.”
“Nicaragua?”
“Here, drink some water.” She held the glass while he pulled the cool water down his dry throat.
She set the glass down and began to walk away but paused. “Yes, you’re in Nicaragua. The police have been asking about you, so I’m sure they’ll be by to speak with you later.”
He watched her walk out the door and realized he had not asked about his friends. Did Edgar or Paulo make it off the boat, or was he the only one left alive? He decided it didn’t matter. What mattered was he was alive, and somehow, if Charlie made it out of the ocean— And Rufino hoped and prayed Charlie was alive, because he was going to take great pleasure in killing him.
He slept most of the day after that. They woke him to eat, but other than those two times, they left him alone.
The next day the police came by and took his statement. He told the same old story: Pirates had attacked their boat and after being shot he didn’t remember anything.
They wanted to know who else was on the boat. Rufino realized by that question that nobody else got off alive. He asked the police how he ended up in a hospital in Nicaragua. They said it was his luck that a Nicaraguan fishing boat pulled him out of the ocean and rushed back to port.
The police weren’t there more than ten minutes. Rufino looked away as they left. He didn’t want them to see the tears in his eyes. He had known Edgar for over twenty years. They had had falling outs, but they were the only family either of them had. He would make that rat-bastard Charlie pay for killing Edgar and destroying their dream. Edgar should have listened to him and killed Charlie on that first trip like he wanted.
For some reason, Rufino had been thinking the D.E.A. had been the ones who shot up the boat. But as the drugs cleared from his head he realized that that made no sense whatsoever. Then, in his mind, he saw the other boat as it pulled alongside theirs. It was Taiwanese! “My God, Mr. Tai ordered them to kill us!” he said aloud.
Rufino looked around to make sure no one had heard him. But now he had much more to think about than killing Charlie. He had to stay alive himself.
He was discharged the next day and made his way to a river crossing where there was no border guard. He hitched a ride to Puntarenas to retrieve his money and passport from the hotel where he had stored his suitcase.
It didn’t take long to find out that Charlie was alive. Everybody knew the French woman and the American she was sleeping with. Rufino needed a plan now. When his only thought had been to kill Charlie, the plan was to walk up and shoot him in the face. But now he would also have to deal with the problem of Mr. Tai. As long as Tai was alive, Rufino would be in danger of being killed.
He called a guy he had done business with before and paid three hundred dollars for a short-barreled .38. Puntarenas was a small town where everybody knew everybody else and his only hope was that Tai would think he died on the boat with the others and not be looking for him. Even at that, sooner or later, the word would reach Tai that he was alive. He would have to meet with Tai, but on his terms. In the meantime, the little pistol felt good in his pocket.
Juan waited outside the shack for the man to come home from work. As the man turned to walk down the planks leading to his house, Juan stepped off the street and onto the planks with him. The man turned and Juan could see the panic in his eyes. “I’m not here to hurt you,” Juan said.
“What do you want?”
“I have some money for you.”
“Money? Why do you have money for me?”
“I have a small job I need you to do. It pays twenty dollars.”
At the mention of money, the panic left and was replaced with interest. “What do you need me to do?”
Juan smiled at the man and took out the small camera. “I need you to place this in the warehouse where you work.”
The panic came back into the man’s eyes. “I can’t do that. Mr. Tai would kill me.”
“The idea is not to get caught planting the camera. Once it’s in place, it could belong to anyone. Also, there will be twenty more when you bring the camera back out in a couple days.”
Juan pulled the twenty-dollar bill from his pants pocket and waved it in the air. “I’m paying good money for very little work, but if you don’t want to do it I’ll find someone who needs this money.”
Juan turned to leave, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. “I’ll do it.”
“Good for you. Here’s the camera. You pull the strip off the tape in back and stick it in place. I need the camera pointing at the area where the pallets are loaded for shipment. Can you do that?”
“Yes. How do I turn it on?”
“You don’t. Just stick it in the right place and don’t worry about turning it on. I’ll take care of that.”
The man nodded his head okay and started toward his house. Juan said to his back, “Don’t forget, when you return the camera I’ll be back with the other twenty.”
The man waved his hand in the air and went into his house. Juan knew there would be no way of telling whether the man placed the camera or not until he brought it back. But it was a gamble worth taking. If the man didn’t place the camera they would have lost no more than what they had now, which was nothing.
Margot got home at 5 p.m. Charlie’s motorbike was parked on the road near her gate. “Charlie, are you here?”
Charlie’s hand came up from the over the top of the lawn chair and waved. “I’m out here. Grab a drink and join me.”
Margot pulled off her shoes and poured a glass of red wine. She walked to the chair and bent over and kissed Charlie. His hand slid up her dress on the outside of her thigh and under her panties as he cupped a cheek of her butt. Margot laughed. “It’s been awhile – do we need to get the sex out of the way before I tell you about Customs, or can it wait?”
“It can wait – but not for long.”
Margot took a seat next to Charlie and reclined with her drink. “I met with Jennifer Araya at Customs. I was in and out in about five minutes. She took the money without batting an eye.”
“Good – because Juan has come up with a great idea.”
“What?”
“We’re going to tell Julio Morales that we want to ship birds to the States.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“We aren’t really going to ship them, but I want him to think the deal is going to be big enough to involve his boss. We’re after the top dogs, the rest of the pack can run free. If I can get in tight with his boss, Carlos Ramirez, I’ll set him and all his friends up for a big fall.”
“You think you can trust Juan?”
“I do. Why? Do you have doubts?”
“No, Charlie. I was wanting to make sure you didn’t have any.”
“I trust Juan as much as anyone can trust another person. If he betrays us I would be surprised.”
“I’m glad to hear that, Charlie. But tell me, you seem to have a plan in your head – why don’t you share it?”
“I will as soon as I know it will work. Juan is having some guy put a camera in Tai’s warehouse tomorrow. What we learn from it will be very helpful. Tommy is working on the money trail, which is the key to everything. Money makes the engine run and that’s the gun we’re going to use against them. However, I need more information than we have now. Without knowing how the money is moving or how the drugs are being shipped, I can’t put anything in motion.”
Margot had finished her wine and she stood up. “I’m going to run a bath. If you would like to join me, make us a couple of drinks and come on in.”
Charlie finished his beer and stood. “Anything special you want to drink?”
“Surprise me, Charlie.”
“I’ll do just that.”
Margot locked the front door and made her way to the bathroom. As Charlie was getting ice from the refrigerator he heard the water being run in the tub. It had been weeks since they had made love and he was feeling the strain. He had thought about making a fancy drink, but in the end he went with rum and Coke. What they drank wasn’t high on the list of things he was caring about right then.
He went into the bathroom and placed the drinks on the tray along the outside of the tub. Margot was in the tub already and he watched as the bubbles touched the bottoms of her breasts. He quickly got out of his clothes and in his haste to enter the tub, he splashed water onto the tile floor.
His erection caught her attention. “It looks like you’re starting without me.”
Charlie was too horny to play word games. He got on all fours and crawled toward her. She smiled at Charlie and turned, getting onto her knees and holding onto the back of the tub. Charlie entered her from behind and they both let out a low moan.
| Copyright © 2018 by Ed Rogers |
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