A Quiet Street in El Paso

by Jim Daddio

  It didn’t take long for a car to pull up in front of the house and stop. They watched as Sue got out of the car and walked toward the door. The Mexican said, “There. Look. Oh, man, look at that outfit. Look at that ass. Nice long legs, too.”

  “She must be the pickup.”

  “I’d like to pick her up.”

  They watched as the door opened and she went inside. The Mexican said, “I think maybe we make a move. Get the money and give the lady a good fucking and head to the airport. We can be in Mexico before anybody knows.”

  The American laughed. “Yeah. And dead before we could spend a dollar. Every drug dealer in Mexico would be notified and coming after us. They wouldn’t hesitate to cut off our balls and stuff them down our throat.”

  ~ * ~

  It wasn’t too long before another car pulled up and parked behind Sue’s car. They watched as a man got out of the car and trotted toward the door. The American turned toward the Mexican. “Something’s not right. I don’t like this.”

  “You think something went wrong with the pickup?”

  “First the lady goes in and, well, she’s been in there too long. Now this dude shows up.”

  “Think maybe they killed the man inside and are taking the money?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Should be call The Captain?”

  “Let’s wait a few minutes and see what goes down. Maybe she called for backup. Hell, I don’t have clue.”

  ~ * ~

  Mat walked into the kitchen. He looked at the man taped to the chair. “What the hell?”

  Sue smiled and said, “You taught me this. Cool, huh?”

  Mat walked over and ripped the tape from the man’s mouth. He yelled out. Mat said, “So, either you haven’t received the money, or you have a death wish.”

  “Why doesn’t anyone want to believe me?” he replied. He stopped for a second then shouted, “The fucking money never came. Get it?”

  Mat crossed his arms. “Okay, relax. Take it easy.”

  “Your lady friend is a little nuts, you know. Waving that gun in my face and all.”

  “Listen, she came here to pick up the money. You’re supposed to have it. What did you expect her to do? Say, okay I believe you. Bye.”

  “I just didn’t expect this. That’s all I’m saying. And then your lady friend here rubs her tits in my face and offers me a good fuck if I give her five hundred grand.”

  Mat turned and looked at Sue. “You did that? You were going take off?”

  Sue didn’t hesitate. “Jesus, Mat. It was just a plan to get the bastard to give me the money. You know I would have called you, grabbed it and headed home. I thought maybe I should put what God gave me to good use.”

  Charlie yelled, “She's so full of shit. She was all over me and…”

  Mat sat down across from him. “Just shut up, okay. Let’s go over this. First, who are you and why did Fat Baby choose you for the delivery?”

  “I’m Charlie. I am a tax accountant. I do the books and taxes for him. He trusts me. He knows I wouldn’t take the money. He’s paying me enough.”

  “Yeah, his favorite word. Trust. So, how much is he paying you for this trust?”

  “Fifty large.”

  “And you wouldn’t be tempted to take the entire two mil?”

  “I’d be dead before I spend it. Fat Baby’s got people everywhere. I’m happy with the fifty big ones. I have a ticket to Vegas. I was supposed to be on my way to the airport. I was hoping to have a wild time in Vegas with my cash. You know, what happens in Vegas…”

  “I know. I know. Here’s the deal. We’re going to rip this place apart. And…do you have the fifty grand?”

  “What? No. I was to take it out of the two mil.”

  Mat sighed and rubbed his hands through his hair. He took a swing at Charlie and drove his fist into the side of his face. Charlie’s head snapped back. He screamed in pain. Mat took a step back and drove his foot into Charlie’s ribs. Again, he screamed.

  Charlie rolled his head around trying to catch his breath. “What the hell is that for?”

  “Insurance. Just making sure you know we mean business.”

  “You got to believe me.”

  “Maybe I do. Maybe I don’t. This whole trust thing with Fat Baby. He’s big on it. He wouldn’t have chosen you if he thought for a second you would take it and run.”

  “Like he chose you…and who are you?”

  “Not important. What is important is…who has the fucking money?”

  Mat looked deep into Charlie’s eyes. He believed him. “We can all sit around and wait. But if you’re telling the truth, and I think you are, you would have been long gone before we came.”

  “Thank you. Now—”

  Mat cut him off. “Here’s the deal. We’re leaving. I’m not going to take the time right now to trash this place. I need to do some work and find out what happened to the person who was to deliver the money. If we find him, maybe we can figure this out. We’re keeping you like this. And—”

  Charlie shouted, “Ah, come on. Take this fucking tape off me.”

  “Can’t do. But we won’t tape your mouth. You won’t scream ‘cause you wouldn’t want the neighbors to see you like this. Plus, you need to stay here until we figure this out.”

  “Shit.”

  “Let me say this, Charlie my boy, if you’re lying you won’t have to worry about Fat Baby. A guy showed me something once. He said there’s a part of the brain you can fire a bullet into. And it won’t kill the person. It will make the person a vegetable for the rest of his life. You want to be that person, Charlie? You want to be a vegetable, huh, do you, Charlie?”

  Charlie could hardly catch his breath. He tried to speak. He mumbled. “Oh, shit. You got to believe me.”

  “We’ll see, pal. Now, where’s your cell phone?”

  “On my desk in my office.”

  “Sue, go get it.”

  Sue left and came back in a few minutes. “I took his laptop, too. And this thing here…his hand held…something.”

  “Okay, Charlie, hang tight. We’ll be back when we figure this out.”

  “At least let me have drink of water. There’s a bottle in the fridge.”

  Sue opened the door and took out a bottle of water. She turned the cap and walked over to Charlie. He opened his mouth and she squirted the water deep into his mouth.

  “Thanks…and by the way, nice tits. They seemed real. Are they?”

  Mat closed his eyes and shook his head. Sue laughed, “Stop by The Pink Lady and I’ll give you a special show. And, yes, they are real.”

  Mat and Sue walked to the door. Mat said, “Would you have fucked him?”

  “For two mil, I’d fuck the Pope.”

  “Would you have taken the money and run?”

  “Trust…remember?”

  Mat shook his head again and headed toward the car.

  Thirty-four

  “I have to call Fat Baby.” Mat fumbled for his phone.

  “So, Charlie was right.”

  “Not important.”

  “Fat Baby is a drug dealer. Everybody knows who his is. What’s going on, Mat? That’s bad shit. You’re a cop. Wait…wait…it’s a sting. Oh God, how cool. I’m part of a sting. You deliver the money to the fat man and bam, the SWAT team moves in.”

  Mat looked over at Sue and smiled. He would let her believe her story.

  Mat punched in Fat Baby’s number. He answered on the first ring. “Talk to me, Mat. Better be important. I asked you not to call unless—”

  “We just left the pickup house. The money never arrived.”

  There was dead silence. Mat continued, “Before you go ballistic. I believe your man. The money wasn’t there.”

  “Mat, don’t be doing this. I have to believe my man dropped off the money.”

  “Fat Baby…trust, remember? I know what you’re thinking already. But don’t. I would gain nothing by taking the money. It would only cause me to be dead. And
I have fifty good reasons to play it straight. I wouldn’t be calling you if I had the money. I would be long gone by now.”

  “Okay…trust. I trust you and you believe the man and the money never got to him.”

  “I do. If he took it, he’s would have been gone long before we got there. And holding a gun to someone’s head usually works. Plus, he’s a little tied up now. If he’s that good of a liar and the money is there, then he won’t be going anywhere. And if we find out the money, if fact, was delivered, I’ll come back and deal with him.”

  “I believe the money never came. He can be trusted as I trust you. I hope my trusting isn’t going to cost me two million. You know it’s not about the money. It’s about this whole thing with my new partners and, of course, trust. Do you have any ideas?”

  “I am on way to the place where Hector works.”

  “Just can’t believe he would take a chance on keeping the money.”

  “He is Mexican. And who knows how deep he can hide out in the desert? You know, lay low for a while.”

  “Yeah, but he also knows I would do whatever it took or how long it took to cut off his nuts.”

  “I’ll find him and get back to you.”

  Sue looked over at Mat. “You and Fat Baby; best buddies. You got him believing you’re going to hand over the money. He’ll be in for some surprise.”

  “We got to find it first.”

  “I got a feeling you’re not going to rest until you find it, all right. And I’m going to be right by your side.”

  “I think it’s best I take you back to your place, but you know, it would take some time to do that and we don’t have much.”

  “I’m in. Get it?”

  “We’ll see. It could be dangerous. I might not have a choice. I can’t risk a civilian in this type of operation.”

  She reached in her purse, pulled out her weapon and shouted, “Bang. Bang.”

  ~ * ~

  “I guess we need to follow them,” the Mexican said.

  “For sure. Nothing seems to be going according to plan. They should have walked out with a large case full of money.”

  The car slowly drove out of the parking space and into the flow of traffic. The American said, “I’m going to call The Captain.”

  “He doesn’t like to be called.”

  “I know. But we got to know what to do.”

  “I would suggest we keep up the observation like we’ve been told. No use causing a problem before we know if there is one.”

  ~ * ~

  Fat Baby called Bones. “Get a partner and go over to the address we talked about. There’s a guy there tied up. He says our delivery boy never showed up. Make sure he’s telling the truth. And remember, trust.”

  Thirty-five

  Mat drove to West End Nursery and Landscaping. He pulled up and said, “I’m going inside. Wait here.”

  “No way. I said I’m in.”

  Mat scratched his head. “Come on. Jesus.”

  They walked into the office. A man was standing behind a long high counter studying a stack of papers. He looked up. “Hey. Can I help you?”

  “Looking for Hector Morales.”

  “Never heard of him.”

  “Right. He works here.”

  “Who’s looking for him?”

  Mat snapped, “A friend.”

  “He doesn’t have any friends.”

  “Who are you?” Mat snapped.

  “Who the hell are you?” the man snapped back.

  “You know, I wanted to make this easy. Just tell me where he’s working today, and I’ll be on my way.”

  “We don’t give out information about our employees to strangers.”

  “I like that. But, in this case you’ll have to make an exception. Name’s Mat…”

  “Wait. I know who you are. I just needed a few minutes to remember. You’re a cop. You busted in here a few years ago, thinking you were going to make a big-time arrest. And you couldn’t find one illegal Mexican.”

  “Good for you. Now, where’s Hector?”

  “He’s legal. Good-bye.”

  “Okay, here’s the deal. This is official police business. Don’t be playing games with me. Legal or illegal, I’ll make your life miserable.”

  The man didn’t respond. Mat snapped, “You know, I’m running out of time. Where is he working?”

  The man turned and looked at Sue. “You can’t be a cop. You must be a friend of Hector’s, too?”

  “I can’t be. You said he didn’t have any.”

  “Funny. Real funny.”

  “Come on, man. Just give me the information,” Mat said.

  “He’s in trouble, I know. What'd he do?”

  Mat closed his eyes and shook his head. “Tell me, what’s your name and what is your job here?”

  “Andy. I manage the company.”

  “Good. Now Andy, where is the owner?”

  “We are owned by a large company out of Houston. Be honest, I don’t even know the executives. I just get a paycheck like everyone else.”

  “Okay, Andy, we’re getting somewhere.” Mat leaned over the counter and raised his voice, “Where the fuck is he?”

  “He called in sick. He hasn’t missed a day in years and today he called in sick.”

  Mat turned toward Sue. He gave her a funny look. He turned back to Andy. “Give me his address in Juarez.”

  Mat grabbed the slip of paper from Andy and they left and drove hard toward the border. “It doesn’t look good for Hector.”

  “You’re thinking he never showed up and took the money and ran.”

  “I just can’t believe he would do that. But, shit, it looks that way.”

  “Maybe he was followed, and someone took the money. Maybe he’s already dead.”

  “Too many maybes. Let’s hope we find him…alive.”

  Mat stopped at the border and talked to one of the guards he knew. He was told Hector had passed through early that morning as usual. He thanked the officer and got directions to Hector’s house. He got back into the car. He looked over at Sue. “We’re being tagged. I’m going to stop at the little store over there. I want you to come inside with me.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Just do it.”

  They walked into the store. Mat found the back door and worked his way to the back of the car. He approached the driver side and tapped on the window. The man inside jerked his head back. Mat motioned for him to put his window down. The window came down. Mat said, “Hi there. Seems like you’re following me. And you know what, I don’t like that.”

  “And what the fuck would make you think we’re following you?”

  “Because I’m not stupid. You are. Now, here’s the deal. I don’t care why. Really, I don’t.” Mat pulled his sport coat back revealing his weapon hanging from its holster. He continued, “But, when I drive out of here and you follow me, I am going to pull next to you and empty my magazine in your fucking heads. And you know what, when the Mexican police come, they’ll say it was just another drug gang war. And you’ll be dead, and they won’t give a shit. Now, have a nice day…and go home…alive.”

  Mat walked back to his car, opened the door and got in. Sue had found her way back to the car. “I don’t think they work for Fat Baby. I think the Mexicans are planning something. Like getting their money back and screwing him. You know what, that’s not my concern. We need to find Hector.”

  “Are they going to follow us anymore?”

  “I think I shook them up a little. They’ll be heading back across the border.”

  ~ * ~

  The American turned to his partner. “Make the call. We need to know what to do. Jesus, who is that dude?”

  “I can’t get a signal. Try your cell.”

  “I don’t have it with me. I left it on the kitchen table. Keep trying.”

  “It’s no use. Turn around and drive back into El Paso. We can call from there.”

  They drove through the border. The Mexican s
aid, “You really left your cell at home? I sleep with this thing. Jesus, you left it at home. That’s funny. You know how much we rely on these things.”

  “Just drop it, okay. Make the call.”

  “Sir, this is Raul. We were spotted by the pickup man. He said if we continue to follow him, he would blow us away. He had a Glock hanging from a shoulder holster.”

  “Where are you?”

  In El Paso. Just inside the border. We couldn’t get a signal down there.”

  The man thought for a minute. He said, “What kind of car does he drive?”

  “A red Mustang convertible with a black top. An older model. It has a dent in the driver’s side. In the back.”

  “Come on in. I’ll take it from here.”

  The man made a call, instructed two very good Mexicans in Juarez and gave them a description of the car. He told them to locate the car and continue to observe but not to be noticed.

  Thirty-six

  Sue sat quietly, running different ideas through her head as Mat drove to Hector’s house. Something seemed out of sorts. She looked over at Mat and said, “This is getting very exciting. I think I’m getting turned on. What kind of deal did you make with Fat Baby?”

  Mat continued the charade. “I worked my way into his operation through Jamar. He liked the fact I was a cop. To him, a bad cop. He offered me fifty thou to do this.”

  “So, Fat Baby’s giving you fifty grand for this. In my mind that’s way, way too much money just for picking it up. And if you do this and he gets arrested, he could come after you, you know.”

  “That’s the life of a cop. What can I say? If I worried about all the people I’ve arrested coming after me, I’d be bald by now.”

  Sue smiled, “You know I did notice a few thin spots.”

  Mat looked over at her. He thought for a second. What she didn’t know was Baby was paying him for more than just picking up the money. He wanted to own him. He knew then he was in too deep. It was time to get out. Get out with two million.

  Mat decided it was time to tell her what was going to happen. “What would you think about coming with me to a little town in Mexico right on the Gulf? A place called LaPaz?”