Bloody Waters by Carolina Garcia-Aguilera

Author:Carolina Garcia-Aguilera [Garcia-Aguilera, Carolina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-625674-34-0
Publisher: Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
Published: 2020-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty

Early the next morning Barbara was waiting for me on the stoop outside my office. She called just after dawn, waking me, and ordered me to meet her there. Her face was impassive and rigid as she watched me approach.

She looked so out of place I would have been scared of her if I didn’t know her. From the cigar ashes scattered around the steps, I could tell she had been waiting awhile. I opened the door, turned off the alarm, and ushered her in.

Barbara scanned the room and seemed to dismiss the office waiting area as beneath her scrutiny. “Two men in suits were asking for me yesterday at the marina,” she said, sitting on the edge of Leonardo’s desk. “I don’t even know men who wear suits. They must have come from Betancourt.”

I put on some coffee and opened the blinds. “Who told you this?”

“My son Jose told me when I got home last night. The guys who work around the marina told him. They thought the men were there to make trouble for me.”

“What did your friends at the marina tell them?”

“Nothing,” Barbara answered proudly. “We all stick together. Like a family.”

“Those men will be back. This is just the beginning.” I spoke over the tap as I rinsed two coffee cups. “Yesterday they might have just wanted to intimidate you, but who knows? They’ll start watching your children, your home. If they want to find you, they will eventually.”

“I know that. I’m not stupid, Lupe.”

I poured coffee, and she accepted a cup. I figured a pregnant woman who smoked and drank rum probably hadn’t sworn off caffeine, and I was right.

Michelle was running out of time, and now so was Barbara. It was just a matter of time before someone came after me. I suddenly realized I’d lost the luxury of speculating whether or not to go to Cuba.

When I looked at Barbara, I saw she shared my thoughts. “I want to go, Lupe,” she said simply. “I have to finish this.”

I knew what my answer would be. I was as trapped as she was. “I watched the Weather Channel this morning while I was getting dressed,” I offered. “There are no storms around.”

Barbara sneered. ‘Weather channel? Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t watch any weather channel! I smell the sea and know all the storms! I don’t need any fancy people with fancy educations telling me about the weather. I have this!” She pointed at her nose.

I was taken aback and just stared at her. Her dark eyes shining, Barbara suddenly threw her head back and roared with laughter. “I had you going for a second, didn’t I?”

We were planning to enter communist Cuba illegally, and she was seeing how gullible I was. Great.

“There’s no point waiting,” I said, and her smile disappeared. “Betancourt could send someone for us anytime. We should make preparations and leave tomorrow.”

“I need money to get the boat ready,” she said, extending her hand.

Barbara was as plain and unadorned in her speech as in her manner.

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