Say Your Goodbyes

by Linda Ladd

  Once they reached what turned out to be a big library, they shoved him down into a chair sitting in front of a wide Spanish desk, both made from teak and brass-studded leather. Not so polite anymore. Great mullioned windows rose up behind the desk, floor to ceiling and dwarfing everything else in the room. Novak could see the night sky, stars sparkling, but the hint of dawn was peeking over the distant horizon. The sky was slowly lightening to gray. They had come a long way from the city. Ruiz followed them inside, rounded the desk, and sat down in a crimson-cushioned chair that looked like something found in the royal throne room of the British monarchy. Then he stared at Novak, still smiling. Maybe he was a friendly guy.

  “Welcome, Mr. Novak.” His gracious greeting was spoken in English and in a deep, impressive voice that was very heavily accented.

  “Somehow I don’t feel so welcome. Maybe it’s all these guns your guys keep jabbing into my back. And that hangman’s hood they forced me to wear all the way up here.”

  “Your reputation precedes you, Mr. Novak.” After that was said in English, he lapsed back into Spanish, obviously more comfortable in his native tongue. “We have taken the proper precautions for our safety and will continue to do so while you are a guest in my home. You have earned a reputation for killing people who annoy you. You have single-handedly injured three officers and put them all in the hospital this very day. Who could blame me for my caution?”

  “I blame you for that, and for just about everything else that has happened to me since your friends in that gunboat accused me of murder.”

  “It was an unfortunate incident, but something that had to be done. You are a persistent man.”

  “Yeah, it seemed unfortunate to me.”

  “But then again, the Calakmul is not your boat. It is the boat of my dear friend.”

  “The Mayan, you mean? He sank my boat so I meant to return the favor. Didn’t have time to sink it before your goons got to me.”

  Ruiz contemplated him. He lifted his face and blew a couple of excellent smoke rings. Novak hadn’t seen anybody do that since he and his friends had sneaked behind the bleachers back in high school. He watched the smoke drift in little circles up to the big rafters. Then Ruiz waved his hand, and the guards backed off and retreated. They stopped at the door, rifles propped on their right shoulders like sentries in front of Buckingham Palace. This guy definitely had royal aspirations.

  “Do you know what Calakmul refers to, señor?”

  “It’s been on my mind a lot lately.”

  Ruiz smiled. “It was the name of one of the greatest cities of the Mayan empire.”

  Novak just stared at him, trying to gauge what was coming next. He was not here for a geography lesson on the Mayans, or a meal of tamales and tacos. So he sat still and stared unblinkingly at the notorious crime boss. He didn’t look so intimidating in that red velvet bathrobe and matching scuffs, but what man would?

  “So, here we are, Ruiz. You went to a hell of a lot of trouble to get me here. I guess I should thank you for that. Never have liked cattle prods. So? What do you want with me?”

  “I think we both know what I want.”

  “Maybe you know. Me? Not so sure. Maybe you should fill in the particulars so we can straighten all these misunderstandings out and I can get back home to Louisiana.”

  “You have been traveling with my daughter, Marisol, no? You have been helping her escape from me.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know anybody named Marisol.”

  “I want to know why you took her and kept her from me. Why you tried to hide her so that I could not find her? She is my only child and very dear to me. You had no right to do that. You have caused me a great deal of grief and worry.”

  “Good luck with keeping your kid happy, but don’t look at me. I don’t know anybody named Marisol. I just got caught up in something out on the Gulf. Believe me, I’m sorry I did. Pirate types hijacked my boat and then all of them ended up dead with the tops of their heads sliced off. Maybe you’ve got the wrong man here. Maybe you need to talk to the Mayan.”

  “I have heard that you are ruthless, a man to be reckoned with. That you kill whenever it pleases you.”

  “Ditto. Hey, maybe you need to talk to that personal assassin of yours. See what he’s been up to lately. Me, I just try to defend myself when necessary. Never go looking for trouble. Never have.”

  Ruiz took a drag on the cigar, blew more smoke, no rings this time. He sighed. Poor guy just couldn’t catch a break with that crazy daughter of his. But he kept his eyes fixed on Novak’s features. His expression had grown rock hard and unmoved.

  “Look, Ruiz, I don’t know what you’re talking about. How about just letting me go and we’ll call this thing even. I’ve never seen your daughter in my life. Like I just told you, I was out on my sailboat, minding my own business, when I was hijacked and taken to some jungle camp south of Chetumal.”

  “I have it on good authority that you have been traveling with my daughter, and I suspect that you have been trying to turn her against me. I want her back in this house, safe and sound. You have been interfering with my family, and I do not like it. I would prefer to kill you right now where you sit, stab you in the jugular and watch you bleed out. I’d do it if I thought that would get my Marisol to come back home and live with me.”

  “Man, you are not listening to a word I’m saying. You got the wrong guy this time. I was just fishing out there when those pirates showed up and took my boat. Then your own personal little ninja assassin killed those guys and tried to kill me. Guess I owe him a debt of gratitude for screwing that up, except he keeps following me around and trying to finish the job. Doesn’t seem friendly of him, but I’ve always been a sensitive guy.”

  “Yes, my dear boy is quite thorough.” Ruiz coughed into the back of his hand. Too many cigars, too many smoke rings. Novak just stared a hole through him. “I was told that you stole his boats from him. Not once, but twice.”

  Novak smiled. “Yeah, but I had to. I needed some transportation after he sank my sailboat. But look, Ruiz, I’m just a beach bum. That’s it. I’m not interested in working anywhere for anybody. Hard work disagrees with me. So does killing, despite what you’ve heard. I like the peaceful life, doing nothing and enjoying it.”

  “You are tiresome. Tell me why you had my daughter with you. Were you paid to help her get away from me? If so, I need the name of the person responsible for this affront to my family. Please tell me so this does not become difficult.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Tell me what you and Marisol were planning to do. I know she’s been on your boat, as well as in Chetumal with you. Were the two of you trying to run away together? Elope? Is that what this is all about?”

  “Why don’t you tell me this? Why’d she run away from you if you have such a great relationship with her? Ever ask yourself the hard questions?”

  “Because she is young and headstrong and immature. I refuse to let her do dangerous things or associate with undesirable people such as yourself. She resents my interference.”

  “Maybe you should just let her go off and do her thing. She’s an adult now, isn’t she? Maybe you’d both be better off.”

  Ruiz heaved a deep breath that lifted his massive chest. It fell again, a heavy, heartfelt sigh. “I want her safe. Here with me where I can protect her from herself. Not out on her own where she gets herself into trouble.”

  “Well, wish I could help you, but I don’t have a clue where she is.”

  “My daughter is not much more than a child. I have enemies who might wish to harm her or use her against me. I cannot allow that to happen, my friend.”

  “I’m not your friend. And I’ll say it again, I don’t know her, I don’t know where she is, and I don’t know how to find her. I sure as hell never eloped with her. You are wasting your time hassling me.”

  “I know that you are lying.”

  About that moment,
Novak picked up a tiny little blip in the night sky behind Ruiz. It was blinking and moving fast over the tree line at the bottom of the hill. He watched it approach the estate, pretty damn sure it was a helicopter coming straight at them and at a high rate of speed. Ruiz seemed unaware. He didn’t turn around. He just watched Novak watch it. Novak frowned, not quite sure what was going on.

  “You don’t understand what happened to Marisol, do you, Mr. Novak?”

  Since the man already seemed to know, Novak dropped the subterfuge. “I understand she’s scared of you and thinks you’re going to kill her the minute she steps foot back in this little Spanish palace of yours.”

  Ruiz compressed his lips in a tight line and then he shook his head. “All wrong. All lies. Marisol is headstrong and easily influenced. I have punished her, as any father punishes his child. I have been harsh with her at times, I readily admit it. I had no choice. Most of her life, I have been much too generous. I would never hurt her or any other member of my family. She is all I have now. She means everything to me.”

  “So what then? You order your little Mayan buddy to teach her a lesson or just get rid of her for you?”

  Ruiz frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Come on, Ruiz. You remember him? The guy who slits throats and takes scalps? Real nice guy. The one with the boats. The one you sent to murder your own daughter.”

  “He was sent to find her. He would never hurt her.”

  “Yeah? Think again.”

  “He’s like a son to me and a brother to Marisol. He would never hurt her.”

  Novak just stared at him. Okay, this whole conversation was more than a bit off-kilter. Ruiz seemed genuinely puzzled now. Novak halfway believed him, but not all the way. But it could be that Papi was clueless. He didn’t know squat about what was going on. The Mayan was playing Ruiz for a fool.

  The helicopter had arrived outside and was hovering over the long expanse of grassy lawn, its rotors beating hard. The sky was getting blue now, the sun peeking over the horizon. Novak said nothing else, just watched the chopper. It was white. The racket was deafening. Thut, thut, thut. It hovered for a time and then it set down, slowly and expertly, a good way behind the house in an open field of grass. The rotors continued to turn. Nobody got out.

  “Looks like you’ve got company back there. Maybe the authorities coming in to arrest you.”

  “That is not possible.”

  “Paid off, huh?”

  Ruiz smiled, damn indulgent where Novak was concerned, it seemed. “Actually, the chopper is here to pick you up.”

  Novak went immediately wary. Didn’t sound right to him. Didn’t sound good, either. They probably intended to take him up to ten thousand feet and push him out the door. That sounded more within the realm of Ruiz law.

  “Come, Mr. Novak, we don’t want to make them wait.”

  Ruiz stood up and gestured expansively for Novak to step through the French doors that opened to the outside terrace. Novak walked out into the cool, fresh air. He was on edge now, big-time, and for good reason. Maybe they were going to shoot him and let the chopper act as a flying garbage disposal. On the other hand, he’d been in their custody a long time now. If they wanted him dead, they would’ve killed him already. Also strange was the fact that he still was not bound, not in any way. Maybe they considered escape impossible, given the compound walls and rugged mountainous terrain, miles from the city.

  Outside, there was a long flight of concrete steps that led down to a rectangular swimming pool and large pool house, also built in the same elegant Spanish architectural style. Lots of statues of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus down there, along with other religious icons along the pathways. Ruiz stood at the top of the stairs and gazed out over his kingly domain.

  “I never have understood why Marisol fights me so. I have given her everything she ever wanted. She has been my whole life, my only family, since my wife died giving birth to her. And yet she flees from me and worries me to distraction.”

  “Could be your tendency to, you know, murder people and traffic drugs and send assassins to kill her.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I keep my business dealings away from her. It is her young friends who have corrupted her. She was a sweet child, just a little angel, until she went off to college in your country.”

  “Yeah, college is always a bitch for mafioso kids.”

  Ruiz ignored him after that, his eyes latched on the helicopter. He started down the steps. Novak walked a little behind him. He felt like a prisoner heading to the scaffold, one who thought he had been reprieved but was instead the subject of a cruel joke. In any case, he wasn’t going down easy. They had made a mistake keeping him unfettered.

  Muscles tense but ready to move, he stepped a few feet away from Ruiz when they reached the long patio at the bottom of the steps. The pool lay on a separate terrace below them. The helicopter was still out in the vast yard at ground level, rotors spinning. Ruiz started down to the pool. Novak followed again, wary as hell. Something was about to happen. He just wasn’t sure what.

  They strode along the edge of the pool that shone now under the slanted rays of the morning sun peaking over the mountains in the distance. More steps took them down to the grassy lawn, lots of flower gardens and low stucco walls all around them. Deadly drug lords lived high on the hog in Mexico. Ruiz didn’t stop walking until they were about twenty feet out onto the grass. That put somewhere around fifty yards between them and the helicopter. It was just sitting there, ready to take off at a moment’s notice. Ruiz stopped at the spot where about twelve of his armed men stood, spread out on either side of him and Novak. They all had rifles pointed at the helicopter instead of at Novak. So that meant the chopper was not friendly to Ruiz. First good news all night.

  Not sure yet what was going to happen, Novak focused his eyes on the helicopter, just like everyone else. The rotors were moving faster now, the light still flashing on top, all in all making one hell of a racket. Ruiz raised his arm in a sort of wave. A few minutes passed, and then the passenger-side door of the chopper swung open. A woman got out and stood beside the door.

  Novak’s heart nearly stopped. It was Claire Morgan. God bless every hair on her head, it was his partner. She had come through big-time. She was carrying a semiautomatic rifle and had it zeroed in on Ruiz’s massive chest. Along the line of armed men beside Novak, all their rifle barrels moved a fraction of an inch and beaded on Claire. Claire’s odds weren’t so good at the moment. But that was Claire. She had guts like nobody he’d ever seen. He just hoped she hadn’t walked into a trap, because that’s what it looked like to Novak.

  Novak kept his eyes riveted on her. Somebody else climbed down out of the chopper, another woman. He didn’t recognize her at first. A tall blonde. Thin, tan, dressed in white shorts and an orange tank top. She had a white bandage on her upper arm. She stepped out beside Claire, and she looked a lot like the woman Novak had seen the day he was chasing Marisol through the streets of Chetumal. What the hell was going on? He couldn’t see the pilot because of the glare of the sun behind the chopper, but it had to be Nicholas Black. Novak was glad to see some friendly faces for a change.

  “You see, I am a fair man, Mr. Novak. You are free to leave with your friends,” Ruiz was telling him. “We negotiated a trade last night. My daughter for you. The terms were that simple. I do hope your friends in that helicopter don’t renege on the deal, because you are totally outnumbered, both in men and firepower.”

  “Wouldn’t be wise to underestimate us,” Novak told him.

  “Oh, I am not. I’ve read newspaper accounts of your friends out there. But Nicky Black is the one that I know personally. He and his brother, Jacques Montenegro. They must think a great deal of you, because Jacques and his people intervened quite forcefully for your release.”

  Novak frowned. Maybe so. Maybe all that was true. But the unknown woman, whoever the hell she was, would be the sacrificial lamb, once Ruiz realized she wasn’t his daughter. Her
father hadn’t seemed to notice that yet, but all hell was going to break loose when he did.

  Ruiz was smiling and shielding his eyes from the blinding rays of the sun. “I love my daughter, Mr. Novak. She has caused me more grief than you could ever imagine, but she is my only child. I want her here with me.”

  Novak said nothing. Then Ruiz got personal. “Are you blessed with children, Mr. Novak?”

  Novak felt himself stiffen. He didn’t talk about his children to anybody, not since they died when the south tower came down. Not ever. He didn’t answer Ruiz’s question. Ruiz didn’t seem to notice.

  “If and when you do, you will understand a father’s love for his daughter. The protective instincts are embedded inside us at the very moment they come into the world. Marisol is vulnerable, being my daughter and very much an easy target for my enemies to exploit. Others wish to use her to extort money from me. She is not safe from harm anywhere in this world except here on my compound. That’s the reason I always bring her back.”

  Novak could understand that. “Well, good for you. You captured her again.”

  “It would be unwise for you to return here.”

  “I get that.”

  Novak watched the blonde start walking slowly toward them. He knew how hostage exchanges went down, so he headed out across the grass to meet her. He moved a lot faster than she did, because he expected bullets to punch into his back at any minute. No reason for them not to finish him off. They were holding all the cards. If it hadn’t been for Ruiz’s fear of Jacques Montenegro, Novak would probably already be dead on the ground.