Havana Hustle (Coastal Fury Book 6)

by Matt Lincoln

  “We’ll figure it out,” I said. “Let’s get back to the hotel and cool off so we can think.”

  Holm went back to the Emgrand. Birn and Arturo walked toward the car they’d shared, but Philippe headed over toward Yoani. She saw everyone piling into the vehicles and walked toward us. Philippe stopped her. They had a whispered conversation, and then he got a sour look and went to Birn’s car.

  We were down the road a space when I asked Yoani about him.

  “Philippe looked pretty pissed back there.” I looked over to the front seat which she’d retaken. “Anything we need to worry about?”

  It was the best I could do to give her an out for privacy’s sake.

  “He wanted to ride with us.” She leaned her seat back a quarter of the way. “I need to tell you what I remembered, but I don’t want him to know about it. At least not yet.”

  Holm passed the tissue box up to her. “Just in case.”

  “You don’t need to tell us,” I said.

  “Actually, I do.” She took a deep breath. “I remember where I saw González. Something he said triggered the memory…”

  After a few moments, I pulled off the side of the road and turned toward her. She twisted a tissue in her fists, and I thought I saw the glimmer of a tear behind the large lenses of her shades.

  “Go on,” I said in a gentle voice. “Whatever happened, you’re safe now.”

  Yoani nodded and took a few more breaths. A few more tissues landed, wadded up, on the Emgrand’s floor.

  “My mother tried to get us out of Cuba in the late nineties.” Her eyes widened. “This is something my government cannot know. My mother is ill, but if they learn about this, she’ll go to prison.”

  “We won’t breathe a word, right, Robbie?”

  “I swear.”

  Yoani relaxed her shoulders. “Mami got into an argument with the man who ran the boat. He told her, ‘You want to leave, you take your chances,’ and he hit her. A little boy tried to stop him. That was González.”

  Fire lit in my chest and belly. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. When he spoke to me away from you and Robbie, he suggested he could help someone leave. Then he said the same thing his father did. ‘You want to leave, you take your chances.’ Besides that, González looks like that man, but not mean.”

  She shuddered, and I wished I could hold her against the chill.

  Someone knocked on the window. It was Arturo. I rolled the window down.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked as soon as we could hear.

  “Yeah.” I tapped the steering wheel. “I wanted to focus on what we were talking about. We’re ready to get back on the road.”

  He studied Yoani for a long moment. She still had on her sunglasses, which prevented him from seeing that she’d been crying. He didn’t move until she smiled a little.

  “Thank you for checking on us, Arturo.” Her smile got warmer. “I appreciate working with you this week.”

  His neck and shoulder muscles relaxed. The longer we knew him, the more I respected the guy. Yoani’s department had chosen her protectors well.

  CHAPTER 26

  Clyde wasn’t at the hotel when we returned from viewing the cars. My initial heart attack at his absence faded into severe annoyance when Holm found the scrawled note on the dresser next to the television.

  “It says they found something at their lab,” Holm told me. “He left a number where to reach him.”

  “He could’ve called us,” I grumbled.

  “One would think,” Holm agreed as he scanned the note again. “Apparently, he worried that he’d interrupt us with González.”

  Yoani sat on the bed and kicked off her dusty flats. She crossed one leg over her knee and rubbed her foot.

  “There isn’t good mobile coverage out there,” she said. “He did the right thing.”

  That remained to be seen.

  “They found traces of cocaine on the man who broke into the house.” Clyde clacked on a keyboard as he spoke, something he frequently did. Multitasking was one of his superpowers. “It’s the same as what they found in the boat’s wheelhouse.”

  “Talmadge’s boat?” I stared at Holm.

  “Right.” The phone line crackled a little. “It may have been the same batch. Bonnie compared the chemical structure with this one.”

  “So our guy was using, and he might’ve been on that boat where the blast originated.” I could see that someone might want a hit before dirty work, but at sea? “I thought we believed one of our vics used.”

  “Tox screens are pending,” Clyde said. “It’s possible that both purchased from the same source, especially if their bosses also smuggle drugs.”

  “Good catch over there. Hightail it back when you’re done.”

  “I’m almost done.” The keyboarding didn’t slow down on Clyde’s end of the line. “Once I file this and email to Bonnie, I’ll be out of here.”

  “Save and quit, Joe,” I told him. “I know how you operate.”

  “But—”

  “That’s an order.”

  Clyde’s dramatic sigh made it hard for me to suppress a chuckle.

  “Fine. See you soon.”

  He ended the call before I said anything more to burst his bubble. The poor guy lived for lab time. If I hadn’t given him a push, he could have stayed until the middle of the night and not noticed, especially if there was anyone he could talk to who was more interesting than an acorn.

  CHAPTER 27

  The next morning, we held a conference call from the hotel room. Both Yoani’s boss and Diane at MBLIS were on the line.

  “The investigation is going in two directions now,” I announced. “In two weeks or so, the cars will be delivered in Florida. During that time, we need to connect Manuel Delgado to the operation by more than word of mouth. For a start, this list he supposedly has needs to match what we’ve already seen.”

  “We haven’t been able to locate him,” Diane said. “Birch’s contact was either full of shit or didn’t have the name right. For all we know, there might not be a list as suggested.”

  “Maybe ‘Delgado’ isn’t his real name.” Birn shifted in his seat, a desk chair about a size too small for the tank of a man. “Think about it. If this man’s grandfather was involved with the Batista regime, he wouldn’t be using the family name to do business here.” He turned to Yoani. “Would he?”

  The space between her brows creased in a fetching way that I knew I was going to miss when we inevitably went separate ways.

  “The name ‘Delgado’ is not uncommon.” She crossed her arms across her chest. “Even so, it is a good idea to avoid anything that would connect him and his associates to the people who left.”

  “Why would this matter?” The tinny voice over the speakerphone belonged to Rafael Sanchez, Yahoni’s boss. “What they are doing is illegal. Whoever is involved will be punished.”

  “Señorita Nuñez is right.” I caught her eye. “This Delgado fellow has to have some sort of presence here in order to conduct his business. He may never step foot on the island, but there’ll be a trail somewhere to connect him to González and anyone else involved.”

  “Like the perp who broke into the safehouse,” Diane suggested. “You still don’t know whether he worked with the organization or against it.”

  “Or whether González’s people blew the boat.” I shook my head. “I have a hard time believing they’d blow their own goods.”

  “What if…” Arturo started speaking and trailed off. He looked around the room as though worried about saying something wrong. “What if someone sank the boat to cover up a drug theft?”

  Clyde popped his head in the door from the other suite. I hadn’t expected that he’d be listening yet, but he burst through with a book dangling in his hand.

  “The cocaine residue in both places!” He shoved the book onto a dresser and grabbed at the sole laptop we possessed in the rooms. “We thought it strange to have traces without bricks.” He paus
ed to mumble at the slow internet speed. “Maybe our dead suspect was there. There were no packages found, but the traces were in the cargo hold.”

  “You think someone stole cocaine before blowing out the side of the boat.” I tapped the narrow desk. “That could explain it. If our perp was there, the dust would’ve gotten onto his clothes.”

  Clyde held up a finger. “We don’t know for sure until the tox screen comes back, but I say it’s a good possibility.”

  “It almost doesn’t matter how his tox screen looks.” I paced over to the window and back. “He could’ve been high off product he took.”

  “Why would they have coke going away from Cuba?” Yoani asked. “The smugglers, they want to bring it in and sell it here.”

  “It might not have been meant for Cuba.” I gestured out the window to indicate the world at large. “Product moves through the Caribbean all the time. Cuba could’ve been a stop on the way to Florida. Drop stuff off on the island, pick up a car or two, and beat it toward the States.”

  “What about the patrols between our countries?” Sanchez demanded. “They should not get past our patrols.”

  The man was lucky he wasn’t in the room, as I would have pinned him with the drollest of droll glares.

  “I hear you rolling your eyes, Marston,” Diane accused.

  I wasn’t. I stopped a microsecond before she spoke. Holm jabbed me with his elbow and an eye roll of his own.

  “Señor Sanchez, it’s a big ocean,” I told him. “The patrols are fantastic at what they do, but they can’t catch every boat that goes where it shouldn’t. Besides, we’ve known from the beginning of this case that it was a smuggling situation.”

  “We… I had hoped this was a singular situation.” Sanchez made a sound halfway between clearing his throat and coughing. “My superiors inform me that our narcotics investigators will work this angle here. You MBLIS agents may return to Florida. Find this man Delgado. Take your car delivery. Directory Ramsey, you have our approval to track the boat back to Cuba. Your team will return to work with ours.”

  I felt like doing an arm-pump but refrained. Arturo and Yoani had pleased smiles, but their third frowned.

  “Is something wrong, Philippe?” I asked him.

  He shook his head. “No, not exactly.” A smile graced his lips. “I am certain you will plan this well. My concern is for Señorita Nuñez’s safety during this time.”

  I raised a brow. “Explain.”

  “Yes, please explain,” Yoani said.

  “We do not know how many people work for González.” Philippe spread his hands wide and shrugged. “It’s possible that they know what you look like, mi amiga. What if they follow and see that you work for the government?”

  Yoani scoffed. “These agents work cases all the time. They go to work, they go home, and the criminals don’t find them. I’m not worried.”

  I decided it was not a good time to bring up the fact that Holm’s parents had moved to be near us due to a threat to their family. Or the fact that I used my address from out in the country for my records rather than from the houseboat where I actually lived.

  “He has a point,” I acknowledge. “It’s unlikely, but still a point.”

  Sanchez chuckled on one line, and Diane made a similar sound on her line.

  “About that…” Diane started.

  “My people are going to Florida with you,” Sanchez finished. “We feel it necessary to keep your liaison informed of the situation by accompanying you.”

  “González knows that Yoani lives in Havana,” I protested. “Besides, how many people work in your building, or in other government positions? Keep Molina and Renteria as bodyguards until we’re back. They’re both capable.”

  “They are going with her.” Sanchez paused for a beat. “Respectfully, we want our people to go with you and be sure that you do not hide anything from us.”

  “I can’t guarantee that,” Diane said. “They can’t receive the clearance needed to go beyond the public areas of our secure facility.”

  Yoani’s face paled, and she shook her head at me.

  “My understanding is that Señorita Nuñez has a long-standing commitment at her home,” I pointed out.

  “This is not her first assignment away from home,” Sanchez huffed. “Yoani, your mother will be fine. I have already spoken with your cousin. The department will pay for her time.”

  Yoani’s shoulders relaxed, but that crease between her brows returned.

  “I shouldn’t leave.” She turned toward the rest of our group. “My mother is very ill. I am her only caretaker. My cousin stays with her when I can’t be home.”

  Philippe nodded, but Arturo’s eyes widened. So one of them knew, and the other did not. Arturo walked over and sat on the bed next to her.

  “My cousin, the one who drives a taxi, his wife can also help.” He smiled. “She was a nurse before having his children. The youngest is in school now. I’m sure they will be happy to help.”

  “That’s nice of you to volunteer her without asking.” Holm chuckled. He spoke louder for the phone. “Would the department pay for this woman to also help?”

  Sanchez grumbled in the background for a moment. Then, he returned.

  “They will.”

  Yoani put her hand to her mouth and stared at the phone.

  “I need to see her before I leave.”

  “Por supuesto que sí.” Sanchez kept a firm tone now. “We are a civilized people, Director Ramsey. It is by working with your government in small ways that we can gain small amounts of trust.”

  “We appreciate that over here,” Diane assured him. “By the time you all get here, we’ll have something worked to get the access you need, but only the access you need.”

  With that, plus a few unavoidable pleasantries, we ended the conference call. Everyone in the room showed varying degrees of surprise about the latest news, Yoani, most of all. I grinned at her.

  “Well, folks,” I said, “it looks like you’re going on the field trip of a lifetime.”

  CHAPTER 28

  It had been a long time since Yoani had so many guests into her and her mother’s apartment. She’d called ahead, which allowed Rosita to help get Mami dressed and made up.

  “These are the Americans I’m working with,” she told her mother and Rosita in Spanish. “You both know Philippe. He and Arturo are coming as part of this team.”

  Mami studied each man with her critical eye. That was something the disease had not yet stolen from her.

  “Tell them to bring you home safe,” Mami ordered. “If they do not, I have a friend who will curse you so your ba—”

  “Mami!” Yoani’s cheeks went hot. Her mother didn’t know that Ethan and Robbie understood Spanish, not that Ethan could speak it worth a damn. Then again, Mami might hope they did. “You don’t need to threaten them.”

  Mami reached for Yoani’s hands. Her skin felt thinner than parchment, and Yoani felt the pulse at the base of Mami’s frail wrist. Yoani took a sudden, deep breath to stop tears from cresting. She was far from a child, but she was reliant on her mother for many things, not the least of all, her unconditional love.

  “Whatever your assignment, do it well,” Mami told her. The faded words sounded ashy from Mami’s cracked lips. “Rosita and I will be fine. She brought cards.”

  Rosita chose that moment to bring fried plantains out to share with the men. The four Americans and two Cubano guards stood around and chatted with her mother and Rosita while Yoani interpreted for Ethan and Lamarr. It turned out that Robbie was passably fluent.

  The lack of space led Ethan to bump against a vintage radio Mami had kept from childhood.

  “Oh, don’t scratch that,” she called out in English.

  Robbie and Lamarr burst out laughing, and Ethan’s cheeks reddened.

  “You two can stop that,” Ethan told them.

  “What’s so funny?” she asked the men.

  Before Ethan could shush his partner, Robbie answer
ed.

  “Ethan has a history of destroying things in the line of duty. Now we tell him not to scratch things like cars, boats, and airplanes. I guess we need to add antiques to the list.”

  Lamarr’s deep laugh kept everyone at ease, even the subject of their inside joke. Ethan rolled his eyes, but he stepped to the middle of the room, anyway.

  “Yoani, come with me.” Mami rolled toward their room. When they entered, Yoani closed the door. “I cannot believe you are going to America.”

  Yoani rubbed her own upper arm. “It’s not the same as back then, when we tried to leave.”

  Mami’s bright eyes dimmed. “You do remember, then.”

  “Not until recently. Something happened, and then I… Yes, I remember.”

  “Did I ever tell you that Rosita was named after my sister's daughter?”

  Yoani shook her head. She didn't understand what that had to do with what they were discussing.

  “Tia Lucina had another girl?”

  Mami's eyes widened. “Tia Maria.”

  “I don't remember a Tia Maria.” Yoani frowned. Flashes of that terrible night came back, but more. Yoani went rigid. “My friend's mother was your sister? Rosa was my cousin?”

  “You said you remembered.” Mami's eyes shimmered. “I thought you meant everything.”

  “I did, too.”

  Yoani clenched her fists. She couldn't tell her mother, but justice was in sight for the deaths of her family members. Her resolve hardened. She would do whatever it took to help bring those smugglers down.

  CHAPTER 29

  The Cuban government put Yoani, Arturo, and Philippe on the same flight to Miami as the four of us from MBLIS. Yoani wore a minimal disguise in the form of a floppy hat and sunglasses in case anyone was watching us.

  Yoani just happened to be assigned to the window seat in my row on the left side of the plane. She took out her department smartphone and took pictures of the plane’s wing and the bustling tarmac crew.