He reached over grasped her behind the neck and kissed her passionately on the mouth and strode out into the hall. Shirley took a deep breath and smelled him on her. She touched her lips with her fingers as she pressed her eye to the crack in the door to watch. It was nice to have a real kiss for a change but what bad circumstances for it.
She thought if this thing worked, to expose RCCC and their fraudulent practices, it would end her servitude to Carlos and Bruce. They needed to be brought down. Crushed. She squeezed her hands into fists thinking of the wallowing Carlos gave her so often. This better be more dramatic than one lousy newspaper exposé and a governmental hand slap. She touched her damaged left eye.
She knew she’d been guilty in contributing to this, but she knew now it wasn’t worth it. She suffered more than most for her vain folly. Maybe Blanche was right about making do and getting by and all that jazz.
Antonio came back down the hall and she imagined it was too soon to all be done. No one was behind him though.
“Blanche was right. Mr. Smith332. But look,” He pulled a remarkably slim file out from the white jacket. “A date but no photos, hardly any information. A room number...” He glanced out with a terrifying look on his face.
Shirley knew what he was thinking. “No, let’s not take drastic action yet. There’s more. There’s no surgical records here.” She thought fast. “Maybe it’s inside the computer?”
“Madre de Dios. I don’t know computers.”
“Someone is bound to work at the station and walk off. We just have to wait. It will still be on when they walk away.”
They stood by the crack in the door and watched the nurse’s station as best they could. Shirley-Veda could feel Antonio’s breath on the back of her neck.
They heard the door from the dementia ward and saw a very muscular security uniformed man come down the hall stuffing cigarettes in his pocket.
Shirley felt Antonio tense. She grabbed his arm. “Don’t give us away,” she whispered.
The big man stood guard outside a room for a few minutes and when a nurse came out with bandages and a clip board, he went inside. They watched her go to the computer on the desk. Then she moved down the hall to another room.
“Quick, go down there. I bet he’s still on the screen. Find a way to print.”
Shirley swallowed hard looking at the stiff back of Antonio marching determinedly down the hall. She hoped this would be a class act.
Chapter Seventy-Five
Edna had her magazine pressed to her nose but listened to the conversation in the next room as best as her hearing aids allowed. She’d put fresh batteries in both before she came up.
She knew they were about to throw her out of the office waiting area to close for the evening. They didn’t usually stay this late anyway. She wondered what was up. No one had mentioned Janice, Shirley, or Blanche yet.
Benita seemed to be gathering her things to leave. “I’ll clear the waiting lounge and lock it. I don’t know what the deal is with all these people hanging around here lately.”
“What?”
Edna heard Bruce’s tone reserved for chastisement of staff. He didn’t usually take that attitude with Benita.
A pool was running among residents what their connection was. Clearly it was not a standard staff hire. Weird May-September romance? Aunt? Mommy dearest? But then she thought Bruce didn’t seem the type to ever have been married. Edna thought she should get in the pool. His snide tone reminded her of the Dragon. This had to be his mother.
Benita tried to talk more softly, but Edna still heard. “It’s just been a weird day with new employees and then residents hanging around out here. Like we’re going to have a party or some event in the office.” She gave a dry nervous laugh that Edna also recognized as the mother of a high maintenance child trying to keep peace. “Are you staying longer? Or are you ready to go?”
“Who has been out there?”
“Frank Sabitini, Antonio what’s his name.”
He interrupted her, “What new employee?”
“Just a cleaning lady. Didn’t you hire one?”
“No. What other residents?”
“You know the usual.” She whispered Edna’s name.
A pause. “Shirley? Did you see Shirley?”
“No, I haven’t seen her for a couple days.”
A pause and some rustling.
“Carlos, get up here now. Shirley has got to be in Unit 2. Something’s going on.”
He must be on the staff communications. Edna decided she needed to get ready to make an escape too. She heaved herself to a standing position and got her walker square under her weight.
She heard Bruce say to Benita, “Go home. Go home and lock the door. Don’t let anyone in. I have my keys. I will not knock or ring. Don’t open the door. I’m going to find us a boat.”
“Why? What do you mean? What’s going on? You can’t do all this with your foot.” Fear crescendoed in Benita’s voice as Edna reached the door to the offices.
Bruce’s phone started ringing. He said, “It’s not safe. Go!” to Benita.
Not safe? Edna pushed her walker forward wondering how Bruce got a broken foot and why safety suddenly was an issue? This wasn’t about Antonio and Blanche that’s for sure. She had to find somebody.
Chapter Seventy-Six
Antonio sat in front of the computer screen. He knew a few basics from the lounge computer at RCCC but he’d never bothered to make much effort. It had to work. Rafael couldn’t get away with so much killing by putting a new face on for the world.
He looked at the clipboard on the desk. He didn’t bother to read anything just scanned for photos. Nothing. He could feel his pulse pound in his temple as he always did when he did a job. His senses became hyper.
He glanced around casually. A few nurse voices at the station further down the hall drifted up to him. If they noticed him, it was over. Someone else in a patient room had a television going, but it seemed the unit was bedding down for the night.
Antonio touched a key on the keyboard and the screen jumped to life. The program didn’t seem like anything he’d ever seen. Perhaps some proprietary hospital system? He could barely get on the internet computer station in the public salons downstairs.
He cursed himself for becoming weak in his old age. El Tigre ya esta muriendo. He should be on top of these details if he thought he could still make a difference. He felt sweat run down the sides of his body despite the arctic level of air conditioning on this hall.
He leaned closer to the screen. On closer inspection, he saw each box had information and one said Mr. Smith332. Triumph flooded him and he felt a surge of adrenaline.
He clicked and saw an icon at the top that looked like a printer. He scooted the mouse around until he could poke the printer. Then the okay. He wasn’t completely sure what he’d okayed. A printer behind him started purring.
He studied the screen. It had what looked like old fashioned file folder tabs across the top. He clicked one and photos of El Señor popped up with magic marker slashes all over them.
Antonio grinned. The marks for a new face. He found the printer button and clicked it again.
He clicked all the other tabs. Just boxes of medical information. What he really wanted was a photo of the new face. He wanted no escape for the cabron.
He heard a doorknob rattle. He turned quickly and studied the printer. He reached for a pencil on the desk beside it. He was the image of a busy medical person white coat and all.
Chapter Seventy-Seven
Bruce locked his office door after he made sure Benita got out. He triggered the alarm for the dementia ward. He knew this put the red light on the other side and restrict the door access further. The staff of clients in Unit 2 passed through the Dementia Unit where a guest card helped them exit into the offices. Here they could use phones, printers, and get snacks while their charges lay in pain killer stupors. Once the alarm kicked in only staff cards worked.
The missed call o
n Bruce’s cell was the Purple Passion. He contemplated the number on the screen. They would need to call for security to open up from the dementia side. It was part of their guaranteed security. Once the alarm activated only personnel could come through. The guards of the celebrities could still use their personal codes for the security exit that came out in the wing below, not in the offices. Bruce wanted to force them to exit below.
As far as he knew, they were only coming to claim a woman for the disturbingly creepy sexual predilections of Señor. But Bruce knew he had no Shirley to give. He knew that for whatever reason the residents were up to something. If, Muscles and Purple Passion realized there was more than a missing woman involved, well, he didn’t, couldn’t think about it.
Maybe he could tell them Señor was clear to relocate but it had to be now because...he’d think of something. Bruce called for the helicopter to come in thirty minutes. This had to work. If he gave them a way out maybe they would just leave. Really Bruce was imagining the residents hunting.
Benita had said “people” were hanging around the office suite. She said new employees and he knew there weren’t any. He bit his lip. Maybe that ignorant Scrabble table conspiracy was only to keep Veda away from Señor. Carlos and Veda were expendable. Royale Cove had to remain.
His broken foot throbbed betraying the true violence of the Señor’s people. Bruce rubbed a shaky hand over his head. He knew paranoia could eat you alive. In all the years of changing people’s identities and faces, nothing remotely dramatic like this had ever happened. He’d occasionally had cause to be nervous but most of the clients had simply been grateful and disappeared into the sunset. None of the residents noticed anything and everything continued on as before but with more money in the bank. No one had ever injured him. He looked at the awkward boot on his left foot feeling the strike and the break again in his mind.
He and his mother had bought a modest house on the island. It was a good life. Benita kept her watch over him and no one knew their connection until now.
What was it about this new alliance around a Scrabble board that made him worry? He jumped as his cellphone rang again and he saw it was Señor’s handler again.
He pressed the message button to hear if he left any clues about the sudden urgency. A woman? Maybe Carlos would find Veda in the Dementia Unit.
Were the stupid, ignorant residents trying to discover something? Frank or Antonio? They would have no way of knowing about Señor, so what were they up to? Was he dealing with two matters or one?
He longed for a pain pill and the cozy home down the road. Escape. Paradise.
The voice in the message was the Purple Passion of course. “Someone is snooping around Unit 2 looking for Señor Rafael. We are going to kill you first. You cannot hide on an island.”
He didn’t need to hear more. Bruce’s hand shook as he clicked off the messages.
He jumped as he heard the glass door to the resident halls click open even though he knew it had to be staff with a key. Carlos voice came through the outer door to the admin suite. Bruce in this rare moment of desperation had locked them both.
He got the keys and his cane and worked his way out locking things behind him. Without preamble, he explained. “I think Shirley is over in the dementia wing. Those crazies who were playing Scrabble with her were around. Now Señor Rafael’s people think they are tracking him. His security has lost their minds threatening to kill people.”
“How do you want to do this, boss?” Carlos reached back and tightened his ponytail.
Find Señor’s people and tell them the helicopter is coming in a half hour. The rest of the fee is waived and they can go to a more secure location since they are so concerned about security. Don’t confirm anything. If you can find Shirley and Señor wants the helicopter instead of her, lock her up somewhere till we figure out what to do. I gotta get out of here.”
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Antonio watched with satisfaction as the pages came out of the printer. Finally! He shoved the first page of photos inside his white doctor coat as more pages hummed out.
A light went on the printer. Out of paper.
He wanted to grab it and run down to the Dementia Unit to his co-conspirators. Maybe they knew about loading paper. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t being observed, but he was.
“Excuse me,” a tiny man said. “My wife needs another sedative.” The little man had a Rolex that seemed would make it hard for someone of his stature to raise his arm but he pointed to a door.
Antonio, took the wad of pages off the printer. He would take these papers himself not wait for Blanche to come back.
He turned to the little man and saw a nurse walking toward the desk from the other station. The papers would not fit in his pocket at all. Too much. He tossed the papers in the trash below the desk swearing internally. He’d make sure Blanche got them out. He had no idea how to get the rest out of the printer.
He put on his best helpful face, pointed down the hall to the nurse, “She’ll get you taken care of, sir.”
He turned, but Antonio saw the door directly behind the man begin to open. The one where evil Señor Rafael lay in luxury recovering. Antonio didn’t know if any of the escorts knew him but he should not be seen.
He turned and walked toward Shirley’s hideout room. He heard the nurse reassure the man she’d take care of his wife. He heard a machine sound that he assumed was the nurse reloading the printer. Agh. He wanted those other pages in his pocket or the trash not where someone could see them.
He glanced back and saw the young Cuban man with a cocky mane of curly hair standing at the counter demanding attention. Antonio knew he was the one from Lolita’s room. In the dark room, Antonio watched the young man impatiently waiting for the nurse to return. He fidgeted with his collar and his cuffs below his purple suit sleeves.
Antonio confirmed his suspicions. This was Señor’s nephew or relative he forgot now the relations. He was not just a hired face. The young man must have ridden Señor’s coattails all the way out of Cuba and brought his ugly purple suit with him.
Antonio shook his head. He could hear the printer whirring. Dios, he hoped this young rooster would not notice.
Where was the nurse? He strained to see out. He could feel Shirley-Veda crouched in the dark looking out with him. Should he walk down and get the papers? Would the young man have any knowledge of an old Cuban or of El Tigre?
He started to open the door, but he saw the man stiffen, then walk around the desk. Antonio lost sight of him for a moment but heard him swear in Spanish.
He shouted and the beefy security guard came out of the room.
He made phone call then said, “Come with me. We need to kill some people,” in Spanish.
Antonio barely had time to pull Shirley deeper into the darkness in the room as they passed toward the Dementia Unit door.
Chapter Seventy-Nine
Bruce out in the parking area in his golf cart heard the alarm begin to buzz inside the building. Someone had forced the Dementia Unit door that had been specially alarmed. Carlos tucked the cane inside the golf cart beside Bruce
“Go, Carlos, go. Find the residents. Tell the Señor’s guys they are just resident trouble makers. Tell him you’ve taken care of it.”
“I think we need to take care of it permanently. We can’t lock up Shirley and Antonio. The situation will just be sitting there. I think there’s a woman from off site involved too,” Carlos said.
“What?” Bruce couldn’t believe this mess.
“Blanche, Edna’s friend, who visited.”
“Get Edna and her too then.” Bruce put his right foot on the accelerator. “Give them to Señor’s body guards. He can do the dirty work. We’d still be clean no matter what. Or do it the old folks home way. Just take care of it.”
Carlos said, “Okay, yes, maybe they just won’t wake up.”
Bruce hit the gas and screeched away from the RCCC bumping over a curb feeling a shot of p
ain in his bouncing left foot. He had to stop the cart to regain his composure.
Chapter Eighty
Edna rolled through the corridors as quickly as she could manage looking for Blanche or Frank. Someone needed to tell Shirley-Veda they were on to her before Carlos got there. She took the elevator listening to the grating music that normally she didn’t notice at all.
She pushed her walker cart up and down the halls looking for Frank. Looking for Blanche. Looking for anyone who could help. She felt sweat break out on her upper lip. She realized she’d wandered without a plan.
Edna shook her gray curls and made herself think. She went into the employee lunch room and got chased away. Then she systematically walked each hall.
All the excitement wore off as she marched. The walking began to take a toll on her energy. She turned the hall back toward where her room and Antonio’s room were. Maybe he would be back or Frank was hiding out there.
She realized how few people she felt connected to at RCCC and didn’t know who to turn to for help. She felt very alone. Edna saw an empty aid station and rested herself in the office chair. She glanced around and picked up the phone. She called her daughter, Diane the Dragon.
No answer. Of course.
She left a message, “All hell is breaking loose out here, thanks to your snooping. Send the cops!”
That should make her sit up and take notice. Maybe.
Her body longed for rest, but her friends needed to be warned.
Edna tapped her hearing aid. Seemed like she heard fire crackers and that didn’t seem right. Good grief was it gun shots?
She got her wheels under her and headed down the hall to find out.
Chapter Eighty-One
Blanche followed the RCCC security guards headed up to the Dementia Unit with her trash bag and her hand clutched to the keycard dangling around her neck. She didn’t know why the alarms had gone off. Was Antonio escaping without a disguise or had they been found out? She had to get back in.
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