North of Havana by Randy Wayne White

Author:Randy Wayne White
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery & Suspense
Publisher: Berkley Books
Published: 1998-05-01T07:00:00+00:00

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12

The first chance I got, I took Tomlinson aside; led him off into one of the dark corridors. I said, "You couldn't just send a messenger to the hotel? Or send a note, tell me and Dewey to meet you someplace? Jesus, setting me up like that." They had given me a wet cloth. I was holding it to my head, wishing the pounding would go away.

Tomlinson said, "You okay?"

"No, I'm not okay. When Dewey gets here, I'll be better but, no, I'm not okay."

"What choice did we have, Doc? Rita and I've been on the run since Saturday morning, then like a little bit ago, Molinas comes in and says, 'Hey, one of my contacts just told me your friend Ford is going to get hit tonight... or someone wants your friend Ford hit.' Molinas says, 'And I just saw them leave the Havana Libre, headed this way.' So what the hell are we supposed to do?"

"Yeah, lead me here, someplace nice and dark for some assassin to jump me. That makes sense."

"You think we knew he was following you? Come on, man."

When I didn't reply, he said, "I... felt bad, the way Valdes laid all those heavy questions on you. Like you were

the criminal but, hey, these people have to be very careful."

Back in the room, Valdes had pressed hard for an answer: Why was I so important that someone would send a professional killer like Rosario?

I was vague; I repeatedly said I didn't know. Not the whole story, but I saw no need to confide in Valdes. Finally, Valdes decided it was probably because of my association with Tomlinson and Rita Santoya. Maybe it was true. I sure as hell hoped so.

But acknowledging it seemed to frighten Valdes. I heard him say to Rita, "There's no use pretending. The wrong people know that you're here. They know why."

I remembered the story Jimmy Gardenas had told me about the two Cuban brothers, Eduardo and Angel Santoya. Angel would be Rita's great uncle. He was the one who had been an informant; sided with Castro. He was probably pretty high up in the corporation by now. If Rita returned to Cuba, he'd be after her.

Tomlinson was still talking about why he hadn't sent a messenger. "These people, the Ochoas, they know best. Very smart people. No one knows anybody else's real name—they're that careful. They say we can't be seen with you, that's all I need to hear. So we had to wing it. All night long, they said Geis never left your side, so we had to find a way to get you off the street. I said use the boy-Doc's a sap for kids. Like I said, it was last minute."

"You were so sure Geis wouldn't come into the alley with me."

"Yeah, pretty sure. I've met a handful of men who'd go charging into a dark alley to help a stranger, but Geis isn't one of them." Tomlinson waited a few moments before he said, "It's really good to see you, man.

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