Jadie laughed. “Hooterville, huh? Yeah, I have to be on hand for Lo’s story for sure.” Jadie waved and moved on as we launched into the last set.
“Jadie seems a lot better,” Karen said as we did the winding down set. “What the hell was that Ken got clocked by Rick thing?”
Lois handled it like I wish she handled many things. “Let it go, Sis. It all worked out for the best, and no one got seriously injured. Ken’s still up at the front, and that’s a good thing.”
Karen chuckled. “Yeah, it is. I admit I can’t wait to hear this latest Cantelli tale.”
Lo cackled. “It is one for the ages. It may be my best work ever.”
Oh God. I may have underestimated the storytelling expertise of my partner, as flashes of the scene buzzed through my head. Cartel hitmen or not, I’m going to need a designated driver tonight. The only thing I wanted to do at Casablanca Night was walk around schmoozing with our regulars, listening to my piano playing ‘Sam’, and eventually eating some steak and lobster. Then the improbable… more like the impossible happened. As we ended the last segment, I stood up, giving Temple a boost too. She’s usually so bored to tears we have trouble getting her through the work out short of Lo threatening her. I glanced back as is my habit every few minutes at the room entrance.
A man walked in I knew from long ago, and in numerous references by poolside in LA with Lo’s storytelling. It was Yuri… Adina’s partner. I grabbed Lois. “Good God, Lois, something’s going on we sure as hell have no clue of. You’ve conjured something from the depths of the dismal.”
Lois looked back at the entrance with recognition. She smiled at me, and patted my hand. “We’re in the soup now, Hooterville. My take is full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes!”
“You just had to have your storytelling day… didn’t you?”
Lo stared at Yuri as he walked inside the entrance and stood with hands clasped in front of him. “We should have killed that prick when we had the chance, but I’m liking him now for a boost into God knows what.”
Lo actually hugged me. “You are without doubt the weirdest lightning rod of all time. Putting up with you over the decades is finally paying off.”
I laughed like hell. Game on. I have Lois and Trish for the moment as weapons. I maybe didn’t care for the fact Trish didn’t have a long life, but I knew she wouldn’t back away anyhow, so what’s the point of wringing my hands about it. The class ended. I shook Lois gently. “Tell the Doc Stuart tale, my friend. Make it the laugh of the century. I’ll go shoot the dice with Yuri. It is a rush though partner.”
Lois grabbed my arm before I could head toward Yuri. “We are what we are, Rick. Today proved it. Don’t let this Mossad weasel screw with your head. He ain’t shit. A quick burst long ago when the blighter was restrained on the ground, and we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”
I hugged her back. “Take care of the crew with your Doc Stuart tale. It’ll be good, I’m sure. I’ll front Yuri. Your storytelling will distract our audience.”
As I walked toward Yuri, Temple moved up, gripping my arm. “Where’re you going, Pop?”
Lo was there in a split second. “C’mon Shortcake, this isn’t in your domain.”
I reached Yuri seconds later. He was older, grayer, and by the look on his face, even more of a one note wonder than before. I had to remember it’s a good thing to have guys like him on the same side in a war. “Hi, Yuri. It’s been a long time.”
“Not long enough, Rick.” Yuri spoke in French. He didn’t go on for a few moments which was an exclamation point for me.
I answered in the same language. “Look, Yuri, lay it out in plain language for me. I need to know why the hell you’re here, and what part of it your friends overseas think old geezers like me and Lois could help you with.”
Yuri grinned. “My friends overseas never forget when someone helps us. We knew you and Lois helped us retrieve the Stingers off book. For me, I would have considered it professional courtesy, and never crossed paths with you again. My superiors had other ideas. We were too late to save those two FBI agents, but I was sent to warn you about the two men you, Lois, and the other woman killed already. That was sloppy being observed, but high tech with whatever it was you disrupted the video with.”
No need to play coy. “We were ducking cartel thugs. I would have been more careful if I’d known you were involved.”
“I should have killed you in France.”
“Lois said the exact same thing about you. I’m more of a live and let live kind of guy. Here are the facts, Yuri. We took the two down in order to question them. They bit on cyanide or something, and decided whoever they were working for was a hell of a lot more scary. I take it you already know that.”
“Then you did not get the information you sought. The new cartel trying to start a nationwide operation tortured and killed two of our agents in Columbia. One of the perpetrators was the dark one in the hotel room today. Because we have been interested in the same entity, we found out it was you and Lois who stumbled on the West Coast links in San Diego and LA. When we monitored orders to shut the FBI Agent Conus up, we sent the information on, but it was not in time.”
“The FBI didn’t like the late warning?”
Yuri smiled. “They know it is illegal for any foreign operative to be working in the United States, but are very unhappy when we must pass sensitive information through proper diplomatic channels. In Israel, we take help any way we can get it.”
Yuri looked up as the huge group laughed loudly around Lois, glancing our way. “What is that?”
“Lois roasting me over a case incident I won’t be around long enough to live down.”
“I would like to hear of it.”
“I’ll bet. So back to our discussion, why did you deliver the warning instead of sending it through proper diplomatic channels?”
“Adina is head of section now.”
Oh boy, is Lo going to eat this up like rice pudding. Trish will probably stick an ice pick through my head. “Tell her Lo and I appreciated the warning. I know you didn’t come in here like this just to tell me you were going to tell us we had two hitmen on our trail.”
“We know who ordered the hits on the FBI and you two. He and the dark one in the hotel room were the ones who tortured and killed our agents. Mossad is being watched closely by your authorities. We cannot afford to have any more incidents where our agents are tried on USA soil. This man, responsible for the ordered killings is also the cartel leader. He knows we are after him. He is trying to run his operation from a place in Arizona where he thinks he is safe. His operation is as high tech as we have ever seen, with daily conferences, and deadly sanctions.”
I’m getting confused as to where this is headed. “Turn it over to the FBI. They have two downed agents. They want blood.”
“They are good at low level criminals. The high profile ones like this Chas Velez either go free, or get minor convictions, and run their business right out of your prisons until released. We want him to feel pain, and then death.”
He can’t be serious. “Yuri… you aren’t requesting a hit, are you? Lo and I retired from that stuff decades ago.”
“We know you took out Teddy Alvarez, Rick.”
Is there anyone that doesn’t know? “How in hell would you know that?”
“One of the girls in his beach house was a Mossad agent. We were keeping track of his arms shipments to Syria. In a way, you have already done work for us. Our agent had learned about your firm being responsible for setbacks in Alvarez taking over the rackets in San Diego, and him showing up on you twice. We figured the third time would be your deaths. Instead, Alvarez and his men end up dead, shot from the beach with an M107. You have moved up from the Draganov… yes?”
I’m not that easy, Yuri. “I still have the Draganov. Want to kiss it for luck. It did save your life.”
“It saved Adina’s life. Lois would have killed me. You said so yourself. Velez will send people after
you until he gets you. Talk it over with your partner. Think it through. All intel we can gather, and logistics will be yours. We will pay five hundred thousand for his death, one million if you make him scream before he dies for an hour.”
“I hate to say this, Yuri, but I smell a setup where Lois and I do the deed, and we end up thrown under the bus.”
“I knew you would feel that way. Adina gave me this to give to you.” Yuri handed me a manila envelope.
I took out the file documents. They were righteous intel on everything we had discussed. It was stuff Lo would kill for just to be able to read. “I will discuss this with Lo. I’m sorry about knocking you out that day long ago.”
I held out my hand, and Yuri shook it. “Thank you for saving my life, no matter the reason. Please destroy that file after you are done.”
“Hey! You speak French?” Temple had ran up after the Lois’s comedy sketch at my expense to grab my arm. She held out her hand to Yuri. “I’m Temple… a friend of Rick’s.”
Yuri shook her hand with solemn countenance. “I am Yuri. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“Hey Yuri, long time, no see.” Lois shook hands with him. “Are you two done? Your fans await the final admission from the instigator.”
“We’re done, Lo, but Yuri wants to hear about my Doc Stuart escapade.”
“Well damn, Yuri, you’re in for a treat. Go on, Rick.”
Temple and I walked away while Lo took Yuri’s arm. My fellow work out people swarmed me, laughing and making inappropriate comments as to my private investigator bedside manner. I smiled, nodding, and taking the roast as it flowed over me. Ken was smiling and holding on to a very entertained Jadie. I saw Trish enjoying it, so it was all good.
“Trish told us you claimed to be the victim of a sexual predator when they caught you, Rick,” a secretary named Nancy called out to much laughter.
I held up my hand. “I was indeed the victim, but hung out to dry anyway.”
“I think you showed admirable restraint, Rick,” Karen said. “You restrained yourself for ten minutes while ending up with a doctor in heat draped over your lap without her panties.”
“Gee… thanks for the backup, Karen.” I heard Yuri laughing uncontrollably over with Lois, which was a little disturbing as I wondered if she had thrown in a few imaginative tidbits for fiction’s sake. “Let’s hit the showers. I still have a performance later, and another all new retelling of the Doc Stuart episode by my compassionate partner, and her acolyte Trish here.”
We adjourned to our separate locker rooms in good spirits. Lois caught up with me as Yuri had vanished without a trace. Trish and Temple had already gone ahead. “He’s not the same old Yuri, and he trusted you with a hard copy file that would have been treason back in the day for them. Your sweetheart is in charge of section with Yuri under her. That in itself was delicious.”
I handed her the file. “This is yours, Lo. I trust you implicitly on this. Whatever you say goes.”
“I’ll give the file my undivided attention. The fact is Yuri’s right about one thing for certain: Velez will keep sending people until he gets us.”
“Agreed. Think we can toast a few tonight, and put Yuri behind us for a while?”
“We will or Frank will kick me to the curb. If Trish doesn’t get to be the girlfriend of Rick in there tonight, the Hooterville Station will be closed down for repairs.”
“Small doubt about that. You certainly cemented my Doc Stuart office call into legend.”
“Oh hell yeah, I did. I also made sure Trish knew what an interest your old flame Adina has in our business.” Lois marched off to the showers, leaving only a vapor trail of angst behind.
* * *
Trish was quiet all the way to my house, which did not bode well in my thinking. I don’t play the ‘oh what’s the matter’ or ‘what have I done now’ record when someone I’m with indulges in the sounds of silence. Her body language didn’t project any real anger I could detect. We reached home safely, and we did a quick check of the neighborhood, hands on weapons – a new wrinkle I added to my routine thanks to Neil Garibaldi trying to ambush me, and even Trish with her partner Chet coming to my house to get Stacy. Sometimes we have to revert back to old ways and old attitudes. I think of it as geezer survival instinct.
Inside, the sounds of silence ended. Trish turned on me at the door. It was a casual faceoff. She wanted to look me in the eye when she talked to me. I’m partial to that style of communication myself. “Were you going to tell me about Adina’s interest in you over the decades, and taking a chance on being canned as section chief to warn you about the hitmen?”
Maybe. “Absolutely. Lois can’t keep her big mouth shut long enough to allow me an opportunity to reveal news in my own life. You should be more upset over the fact she conjured Yuri and Adina up from hell for all I know. Didn’t I tell you it was dangerous namedropping gangsters and Mossad agents?”
Trish nodded with a grin. “Yeah, you did. Lois is starting to scare me. First, Lo decides to lay out an affair and killing binge from long ago, and the damn Mossad characters from the story show up days later. Then she plucks me right out my office chair on a confrontational interlude with you and the Doc, only a practicing psychic could have hoped to pull off. How in the hell is that possible?”
“As I’ve tried to explain to Bone, Lo’s intuitive, not magical. The one at the Doc’s office was a leap just as she described. After getting a gut feeling about the Doc, she rambles over with you, hoping to be in time, but covering her ass if she’s not. She aced it.”
“What about Adina and Yuri?”
“Lo has files on people dating back to forever. She owns people in high up places: people who will do small favors without questions. I believe Lo has had Adina and Yuri on her special list for a long time. I’d bet money she knew what position Adina had when she told her story in LA. I heard her on the phone the other day with someone I suspect tipped her off as to interest in the cartel from the Mossad. The intelligence business has always been her meat. She’s the best of the best at it. When you tricked her into acknowledging the Teddy Alvarez hit that first morning, you hit her where it hurt. She respects that. As to all aspects of her mind munching, Spock-ella powers, I don’t like to think about them too deeply. It’s damn disturbing.”
“It surely is. Thanks for being honest with me. It’s not like I think you’d lie about Adina. I saw the look on your face when you turned and found Yuri at the class entrance. It’s just I can’t keep my hands off your Lo supplied photo book. Now, here we are, and she’s not only still alive, but watching you from a distance.”
“Let’s not get too romantic about the Mossad, kid. They didn’t get a warning to the FBI in time to save Rita and her partner, or Conus. Then, Yuri shows up like he has a gift, because he was going to warn us, but we dealt with it before he delivered. Yeah, right. My guess is Adina or no Adina, Lo and I would have been waffle burgers if we’d been waiting for a Mossad warning. I believe they want this Velez bad because of just what they told me. What I don’t believe is they have any intention of paying us to get him. They’re offering five hundred grand dead, and one million if we make him scream for an hour before he dies.”
Those figures got Trish’s attention. “I never took that kind of hit. I always wanted a clean in and out. If I was offered one like that, I would have told them up front it would be the five hundred thousand. I would have probably tuned up Stacy though. I remember getting in through your door, and thinking I was going to fillet her. Then, the needles hit.”
That struck the right cord. I had never told her how Stacy ended up with me that day. I described it in true Cantelli form for her. By the time I finished sharing how, Trish was howling, stamping her feet, and begging me to stop. Then I took her in my arms, and made her forget all about Lo, Yuri, Adina and Stacy.
Chapter Sixteen
Yuri
My arranged Limo picked up Bone in front of his new place. The limo driver rushed aro
und to open the door for Timothy ‘T-bone’ Griffin. Bone dressed conservatively with a black pin stripped suit. He looked great. When he was seated next to Trish, Bone gave us a small salute.
“I see we’re going to Casablanca Night, so I’m thinkin’ operations against our executions went well today? Being the info whore in training for Lo, I spent the day after getting my lovely ladies off to Hawaii scanning the news.” Bone made sure the driver’s separator was in place, but leaned into us with a whisper anyway. “Can I assume the two dudes found sitting face to face with each other at a motel table with their guns near at hand may have been interested in us?”
I nodded. “It won’t be time to bring home the vacationers for a while anyway. Some things went well today, and others found the shadowed Cantelli Land.”
“Got it. The limo’s usually for special nights, and you do look special tonight, Ms. Rocha.”
Trish blushed. She was wearing a black, one shoulder, thigh high number that made my heart skip beats every time I glanced at her. “I…I’m the girlfriend who has Rick tonight.”
Bone laughed, patting her hand with one of those catcher’s mitts he has for hands. “You do, and you are. Very nice! I guess you two aren’t worried about a hit at the restaurant, huh?”
“From the way Lo tells it, Rick put holes in two hitters’ heads while three sheets into the wind without blinking an eye at the restaurant when they showed up with their pieces already pulled,” Trish said.
“That’s right!” Bone chuckled through a few moments of memory analysis on that one. “I guess we’ll have to keep Rick between the two and three sheets to the wind limit, Trish.”
Trish hugged him, laughing. “Yeah, that would be my plan. I think he has so much on his mind, he’s not only giving us the silent treatment, but it’s going to be difficult to keep him within your parameters.”
Bone sat up straight. “It is our duty! Besides, I want that steak and lobster promised to me… hopefully without gunshots.”
Rick Cantelli, P.I. Deadly Liaisons (Rick Cantelli, P.I. Detectives Book 2) Page 21