Hard Luck

by Pascal Scott

  “Do you need that? Because I’d like to remain anonymous.”

  “That’s fine. How can I help you today?”

  “It’s about the Brink’s money. The money that was stolen from the Brink’s truck in San Francisco last month. I know where it is.”

  “May I have that address, please? Of the stolen money.”

  “It’s in a cabin in the Cayamuca Mountains. That’s in Southern California. Eighteen Rattlesnake Road, that’s the address.”

  “Thank you. Do you have any other information you wish to share?”

  “No.”

  “I see that there’s a reward of a hundred thousand dollars offered in that case. Are you interested in applying for that reward?”

  “No, but I do have a question about that.”

  “What is your question?”

  “Can I designate someone else to receive the reward?”

  “I’ve never had that request before. I would have to investigate. If it can be designated elsewhere, where would that be?”

  Elizabeth gave her the name and location.

  “I’ll look into that for you,” the woman promised. “Is there anything else you wish to add?”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “What happens next is that your tip will be passed along to an analyst for review. The FBI wants you to know that every single piece of information we receive is given its due diligence. Do you have any other questions I can answer for you today?”

  “No.”

  “Then thank you for calling the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

  “No, thank you. Seriously. Thank you.”

  Chapter Forty-nine

  On the morning of July 19, 1996, the FBI used an armored truck to make a special delivery to a fort-like building at the northeastern end of Market Street. At the Federal Reserve, a Cash Operations Specialist signed for five-point-four million dollars of recovered banknotes from what was being called The Great San Francisco Brink’s Heist. The notes were found after an anonymous tipster led FBI agents to the currency’s location in the Cuyamaca Mountains of Southern California. More than two million dollars of the original haul, still unaccounted for, was written off as a loss by Brink’s insurer, Lloyds of London. It was a small amount to Lloyds, which covered every Brink’s claim up to one billion dollars.

  Although Michelle Forrest had not yet been located, Denise Holland was apprehended after an anonymous tip led agents to the location of the stolen money, hidden in a cabin owned by Richard Holland of Bern, California. Mr. Holland’s daughter was transferred to San Francisco, where she was taken into custody by FBI Agent John Clegg. After consulting with an attorney, Ms. Holland agreed to a plea deal on the charge of accessory to bank larceny. She was sentenced and began serving a six-year term in the Women’s Correctional Facility at Diablo.

  The hundred thousand-dollar reward on the theft was delivered in person by an FBI agent already in Mexico City. A youngish white guy with squared shoulders and steady blue eyes handed the check to the director of El Centro Comunitario para la Diversidad Sexual.

  After he had done that, the agent drove to Sonora, where he visited Dr. Fernando Paz at the Hospital General. Confidentially, on behalf of the agency, he offered Dr. Paz the chance to disappear into protective custody in exchange for providing information on La Familia. That offer would apply to the doctor’s wife, he said, and to his adult daughter Gabriella, a private tutor working in Mexico City.

  Dr. Paz told the agent he would need more time to decide. “Fine,” the agent said, “but don’t wait too long.” Don Emilio’s days as a cocaine lord were coming to an end. A joint effort by the FBI and DEA called Operation Kingmaker was reaching a juncture, and the Barrera empire was about to fall.

  Other kingpins would rise to fill the void, and their operations would be dismantled in due time. But for now, the U.S. agencies were satisfied to be able to bring down the most powerful narcotrafficker in Mexico.

  Chapter Fifty

  Elizabeth was early for the arriving flight. American Airlines Flight 5294 was due to touch down at 9:10 a.m. It was on time, according to the schedule posted for Monday, July 1, 1996, in Terminal A of El Prat, the Barcelona Airport. It was a fourteen-hour flight, and she would be tired, Elizabeth knew. If she were on it.

  Elizabeth sat in an airport chair in the waiting area of Gate 5, listening to the babble of competing languages: Spanish, English, and something she couldn’t immediately identify, but a sign told her was Catalan.

  At last, the door to the ramp opened. A flight attendant in a black uniform with a blue scarf stepped to the side, and the steady trail of disembarking passengers began. She was one of the first off the plane. Elizabeth’s gaze met hers as she searched the crowd. She did look tired, especially around her eyes, but they brightened when she saw Elizabeth.

  “Gabriella. You came.”

  “I did.”

  For the first time, the two women held each other in a tight embrace.

  “I didn’t know if you would,” Elizabeth said when they separated. “How was your flight?”

  “Long.”

  “It’s so good to see you again.”

  “It’s good to see you, Elizabeth.”

  “Do you have bags?”

  “I do.”

  They walked down the polished concrete floor toward a sign pointing downward to the baggage claim area, then they stepped onto a descending escalator.

  “I’ve leased a cottage on the beach,” Elizabeth said. “It’s small, but it’s nice. I was surprised at how affordable houses are here in Barcelona, even to buy. I’m thinking of buying one.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah. I plan on staying, at least for a while. I’m applying for a residence visa. It’s good for five years. And I’ve looked into it for you.”

  “For me?”

  “Yeah. I don’t want to be presumptuous, but did you know that you could become a citizen any time you want? Your grandparents were Spanish, right?”

  “Yes, they were.”

  “So, you qualify for citizenship automatically because of them. You could have dual citizenship with Mexico. You could stay in Mexico and visit me in Spain, or you could even move here,” Elizabeth said.

  “I could?”

  “Well, if you wanted to, you could.”

  Gabriella’s lips remained fixed in a thin, straight line, but her eyes smiled.

  “You’re teasing me,” Elizabeth said.

  “I am.”

  “I can’t tell when you’re teasing me. I need to get to know you better.”

  Now Gabriella’s lips smiled. “I would like that, Elizabeth.”

  The luggage was arriving. Gabriella spotted two soft-sided suitcases rounding the carousel. She pulled one off by its handle while Elizabeth took the other. They started toward the sliding glass door.

  “You must be hungry,” Elizabeth said. “When we get to my house, I can make us breakfast. I’ve got eggs, tortillas, sausage—”

  “En español por favor,” Gabriella said. “Hay que hablar en español si queremos continuar nuestras lecciones.” In Spanish, please. We must speak Spanish if we are to continue our lessons.

  Epilogue

  On July 19, 1996, two hundred ten pounds of banknotes from The Great San Francisco Brink’s Heist were dumped into the four hundred fifty-one-degree furnace inside the Federal Building on Market Street. At 12:10 p.m., five-point-four million dollars in cash was burned as bad money. The bundled bills went up in flames, and when they had cooled, the remains were swept out and dumped into a metal container. In the end, nothing was left of it all but a pile of ash.

  In July 1996, a total of 84,579 people disappeared in the U.S. without a trace. Elizabeth Taylor Bundy was one of them.

  About the Author

  Pascal Scott is the pseudonym of Priscilla Scott Rhoades, a lifelong writer whose poetry, fiction, and feature articles have appeared in numerous publications. For many years she wrote for the gay and alternative press
while working as a clerk for the San Francisco Chronicle. Those publications included Plexus, the San Francisco Sentinel, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Her lesbian fiction has appeared in Harrington Lesbian Literary Quarterly; Thunder of War, Lightning of Desire: Lesbian Historical Military Erotica; Through the Hourglass: Lesbian Historical Romance; Order Up: A Menu of Lesbian Romance and Erotica; Unspeakably Erotic: Lesbian Kink; and Best Lesbian Erotica, Volumes 2 and 3. She has a B.A. in English from San Francisco State University and an M.A. in Liberal Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She studied creative writing with U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine, poets Glover Davis, Susan Griffin, and Mark Smith-Soto, and journalism with Rolling Stone editor John Burks.

  Happily retired from a career in academia, she lives these days in Decatur, GA. She is married to Sapphire author Josette Murray.

  Amazon’s Author Page is https://www.amazon.com/Pascal-Scott

  Twitter is @PascalScottwrit

  Facebook is Priscilla Scott Rhoades

  Check out Pascal’s other book

  Hard Fall: A McStoner & Martinelli Thriller - ISBN-978-1-948232-67-8

  Five days after the Loma Prieta earthquake strikes San Francisco, Emily Bryson, a young, everything-to-live-for lesbian SFSU student/part-time exotic dancer, is dead, her body washed up on a beach south of the Golden Gate Bridge. The medical examiner rules it a suicide, and the police close the missing person case filed by Emily’s lover, K. M. “Stone” McStone.

  Stone, the university’s graduate admissions officer, doesn’t believe it’s a suicide. The Emily she knew had too much going for her to take her own life. Through a series of fortunate circumstances, Stone is introduced to Zoe Martinelli, office manager of Coppola Investigations, amateur sleuth, and student psychic. Stone and Zoe team up to find out what really happened to Emily. Their investigation takes them into the private lives of San Francisco’s exotic dancers and into Emily’s dark past where they discover that some secrets can be deadly.

  Was it suicide, as everyone assumes? Or murder? Or something else?

  Other books by Sapphire Authors

  London - ISBN - 978-1-948232-34-0

  Bronwyn Charles had everything she’d always wanted; a handsome fiancée, a career she loved, and a brilliant group of friends she adored. That is until she ran into Jaq Bailey, her first love from boarding school, during a classmate’s wedding in the English countryside. Suddenly, her perfect life started to seem like it belonged to someone else. Jaq came from a trailer park in east Texas but attended Stratford Academy in London on a math scholarship, where she met and fell in love with Bronwyn. Despite being forced apart by Bronwyn’s wealthy family when their romance was discovered, Jaq never forgot the first girl she’d ever loved. After the wedding, they returned to the lives they once knew, but then are brought back together as dangerous secrets emerge and Bronwyn’s life starts to unravel. Are they strong enough to resist the forces still trying to keep them apart or will they lose each other again, this time forever?

  Highland Dew – ISBN – 978-1-948232-11-1

  Bryce Andrews, west coast sales director for Global Distillers and Distribution, is tired of the corporate hamster wheel. She needs a change.

  A craft whisky trade show offers her inspiration and a chance to revisit Scotland and the majestic scenery of the Speyside region—best known for the “Whisky Trail.” Bryce and her coworker, Reggie Ballard, need to find a wholly original whisky for their international distribution division by visiting a number of small distillers.

  A blind curve, a dangling sign, and weed-choked driveway draw Bryce directly into a truly unique opportunity. She discovers a struggling family, a shuttered distillery, and a spitfire of a daughter called home to care for her confused father.

  Fiona McDougall—the only child and heir to the MacDougall & Son legacy, had her career teaching in Edinburgh curtailed by fate…or serendipity.

  When the stars finally align, the two women work together to resurrect a dream for themselves and the family business—if they can weather the storms of unscrupulous business practices in the competitive whisky market.

  Silver Love – ISBN – 978-1-948232-51-7

  Jill, Dory, Robby, and Charlene are a fantastic foursome that embody the varying experiences that come with being Lesbians of a Certain Age. They are vibrant and vulnerable, wise and foolish, introspective and outgoing. The close-knit friends fight aging at every turn—or just ignore it altogether. These four will never go quietly into the night, redefining life after fifty. They are the new mature woman.

  But along with twenty-first-century attitudes come twenty-first-century problems. Public office candidate and retired judge Charlene is confronted by a wannabe blackmailer, Jill’s passions threaten to swamp her common sense, Dory’s best-selling book could turn out to be a national disaster, and Robby must confront the hard reality of learning that her wife may not be the woman she thought she was. Steadfast in their faith in themselves and each other, and bolstered by the rich history of their friendship, the four women struggle with twists and turns as they try to navigate a landscape generated by the actions of others as well as their own choices, proving that experience does not always pave a smooth road.

  In a world where everything increasingly seems relative, these women remind us that some things don’t change—like the bedrock of relationships. Silver Love is all about love; love among friends, love between lovers, and the unexpected role of love with acquaintances who may not always be what they seem.

  If you can keep up, join the ride and follow these ageless heroines as they pursue their adventures in the modern world.

  Twisted Deception - ISBN - 978-1-939062-47-5

  There are two types of people who can’t look you in the eyes: someone trying to hide a lie and someone trying to hide their love.

  Addie Blake’s life isn’t black and white—more like a series of short bursts of color that sustain her until the next eruption. She isn’t a ladder-climber in the corporate world. Instead, she works long hours at the office and even at home, something her mechanic girlfriend, Drake Hogan, can’t stand. If Addie can’t focus on Drake, then Drake finds arm candy that will. After a long week of late nights and a series of text-messaged demands, each one a bigger bomb than the last, Addie has had enough of her Motor Girl.

  Greyson Hollister inhabits a world where everything is either black and white, or money green. She’s a polished, certified workaholic. As head of Integrated Financial, she has built the ladder others want to climb. Now she intends to attend a business mixer to confront a rumormonger and kill merger rumors involving her company.

  Detective Nancy Hill, the lead detective on the Elevator Rapist task force, has just been called in to investigate an attack at Integrated Financial. She can’t quite put her finger on it, but something doesn’t add up with this latest assault, and Greyson Hollister isn’t exactly lending a helping hand.

  A storm’s brewing on the horizon. Can Addie and Greyson weather it, or will it blow them over?

  Bobbi and Soul – ISBN – 978-1-948232-41-8

  Bobbi Webster wants nothing more than to be the best family practice doctor for her home town in rural Oregon. To accomplish that, she’s enrolled in a two-year fellowship in rural medicine at Valley View Medical Center in Colorado. Sparks fly when Bobbi meets the Reverend Erin O’Rouke, a petite, feisty priest who meddles in the treatment of Bobbi’s patients. To make matters worse, Bobbi wants nothing to do with any religion, much less the woman she dubs, The Elf.

  Erin serves as vicar at a small church where a few parishioners have stipulated that she must be celibate, reflecting their “love the sinner, hate the sin” tactic. After she clashes with Erin, Bobbi recognizes how a recent breakup of an abusive relationship has falsely colored her perception of Erin’s world and work. Likewise, when Erin understands how Bobbi’s emotional wounds make her vulnerable, her natural empathy moves her closer to Bobbi.

  They find themselves drawn to each other, b
ut how can Bobbi and Erin overcome so many obstacles to find love?

  Hearts INN – ISBN – 978-1-948232-36-4

  Rosalie Campbell is bequeathed a rundown hotel in rural New Mexico in her grandmother’s will. She arrives to discover a dried-out shell of a place that barely makes enough money to stay afloat. In a state of limbo with her girlfriend and accounting job in Philadelphia, Rosalie is keen to sell the hotel and go back to the comfort of her urban life. When new information about her grandmother surfaces and the hotel proves difficult to sell, Rosalie tries to attract buyers by restoring the building to its former glory with the help of Alex Ecker, a local handywoman. In the process, Rosalie learns a few things about hotel management, hard work, and opening her heart.