Caribbean Hustle (A Nick Teffinger Thriller / Read in Any Order)
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“Where do I meet you?”
“Right here.”
“I’ll be back, one way or the other.”
“Until darkness comes,” she said. “That’s how long you have. Until darkness comes. Not a minute more.”
“Like I said, I’ll be back.”
The woman grabbed him by the arm and jerked him to a stop as he turned for the Whaler.
“You need to learn how to kill,” she said. “It’s your only weakness.”
“Maybe you can teach me someday.”
“Maybe I will.”
50
Day Seven
June 10
Tuesday Afternoon
Rhythmically cutting through calm blue seas away from the island, totally and wonderfully free of Janjak, Teffinger let himself take a deep breath and savor the moment.
The sun was a taste of love on his face.
The wind in his hair was a woman’s touch.
The vessel gently lifted and fell with a playful rhythm.
Modeste was fine.
She was safe, right there next to him.
Teffinger filled her in on the last few days.
She remembered being captured and beaten in an effort to force her to disclose what she’d done with the diamonds and gold, and then falling into an eerie, ghostly world of shadows and fears, where she stayed until she suddenly awoke just a short time ago.
“If I were you, I’d get on the first airplane out of here and never come back,” Teffinger said.
The woman shook her head.
“No!”
“Look—”
“We need to give her what she wants,” she said. “I can’t go back to that place!”
“It’s not real,” Teffinger said. “You were drugged or something.”
“It’s not real? It’s as real as the sky over our heads.”
Teffinger frowned.
“I’ll make a deal with you,” he said. “You get on the first plane out of here so I don’t have to worry about you any more, and I’ll take care of Janjak.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, but I will.”
Her face wrinkled with stress.
“She’s inside me. I can feel her. She’s like a worm slithering around in my soul. Going somewhere isn’t going to help.”
“You haven’t eaten for days,” he said. “Your mind’s playing tricks. Just do what I say. I’m going to put you on a plane, you’re going to get out of here, and I’m going to take care of everything.”
The woman looked doubtful.
“Are you going to kill her?”
“No.”
“Then you won’t be taking care of her.”
“Just let me handle it.”
“She has to die. That’s the only way this can end. She has to die.”
51
Day Seven
June 10
Tuesday Afternoon
There was a good chance Rail would kill Modeste for stealing his stuff and setting all the ugliness in motion. She knew it all too well and didn’t argue when Teffinger holed her up in a seedy hotel in Port-au-Prince to await further instructions.
Back at the villa Rail and Angel were alive and well but that was where the good news ended. After hearing everything that had transpired, they quickly reached the same conclusion as Modeste.
“Janjak needs to die.”
They weren’t interested in letting her keep what she already had, much less giving her more.
“Screw her and her stupid voodoo,” Rail said. “If I don’t get those diamonds back, I’m a dead man.”
“Count me out,” Teffinger said.
Rail hardened his face.
“Fine, you’re out,” he said. “You know what? In hindsight I’m sorry I ever pulled your sorry ass out of the ocean. I can’t believe you were sitting on my diamonds the whole time and never told me. What were you going to do? Retire on them?”
“No.”
“No?”
“No. I was saving them as a bargaining chip to get Modeste back if everything else failed. I was hoping to get her back without having to use them and then give them back to you. Everyone would have won.”
“Well, that’s not the way it worked out, is it?”
“Apparently not.”
“You know what? Get out of here.”
Teffinger looked at Angel.
Her face was as defiant as Rail’s.
“You heard him,” she said. “Get out.”
Rail called a guard and said, “Give him a ride to town.” Then to Teffinger, “Have a nice trip. You know what? As long as we’re talking about hindsight, in hindsight I wouldn’t have shot that guy back at Janjak’s place. You know the one I’m talking about, right? The one who was beating you to death? In hindsight, I should have just let him do his thing.” He shook his head with disgust. “I save your sorry little ass—twice! And in return, what do you do? You give my diamonds—the diamonds I needed to stay alive—you give them to some screwed up voodoo witch, who by the way you end up banging, literally hours after Evil Angel gave you her heart and soul. Get out of here and piss back to Denver or wherever the hell it is that you came from.”
Angel spit at Teffinger’s feet.
It hit his shoe.
He didn’t wipe it off.
He turned and left.
52
Day Seven
June 10
Tuesday Afternoon
In Port-au-Prince, Modeste was gone when Teffinger checked on her. There was no sign of a struggle. The guy at the register confirmed she’d left of her own volition, “more than two hours ago, in a hurry, man, in a big old hurry.” The words were a punch to Teffinger’s gut. After all he went through to save her, when she probably didn’t even deserve it to start with, now she was out there somewhere throwing it all away, probably chasing down some stupid plan to kill Janjak.
So be it.
Ten minutes down the street he found a place that sold cell phones, bought two, and called Sydney as he walked towards the ocean side of the city.
“What’s the status on your end?”
“Teffinger?”
“Yeah.”
“We’ve had three homicides in the last 24 hours,” she said. “Your being AWOL was the breaking point for the chief. He wanted me to tell you if you called that there’s no need to rush back.”
“I’m coming back tomorrow. I have one more thing to wrap up tonight and then I’m done here.”
“Teff, listen to what I’m saying. We’re all reporting to Richardson now. The email went out to everyone yesterday. Have you checked your messages?”
“No.”
“Well, do it, because it’s there.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll check. Have you had any luck finding Kovi-Ke?”
“No. The earth swallowed her.”
“Figures. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“I have your personal things in my office,” she said.
“Robertson’s already moved into mine?”
“Yes.”
“He sure didn’t waste any time, did he?”
“Nick, you need to take this seriously. You’re not going to walk back into the chief’s office and smooth it all out like you’ve done before. This time is different. It’s real this time.”
“Well, maybe I won’t come back, then. Maybe I’ll just stay down here.”
The woman sighed.
“I tried to warn you ten different times.”
“I got to go.”
He hung up, dialed Kovi-Ke’s dive shop in Jamaica and got greeted by a deep, male voice.
“Is Kovi-Ke there?”
“No.”
“Do you know when she’ll be back?”
“Not really. Can I take a message?”
“Tell her Teffinger called,” he said.
“Teffinger?”
“Right, Teffinger. Nick Teffinger.”
“I’ll tell her.”
“Wait, let me give you my num
ber. Have her call me as soon as she shows up. You got a pencil?”
“Yeah, give it to me.”
Five minutes down the street something happened he didn’t expect—Rail’s lawyer was across the street talking to a flirty woman in a short red dress, obviously for sale. They looked like they were negotiating price. By her smile and constant touch, she was convincing him she’d be worth it.
What was the guy’s name?
Stephen something.
Blake, that was it; Stephen Blake, out of New York.
Teffinger headed over and pulled the man to the side.
“Your client Johnnie Rail is planning on killing someone.”
“Who?”
“A voodoo woman. Her name’s Janjak.”
“How do you know?”
“He told me.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“Talk him out of it.”
“You’re kidding, right? You don’t talk Johnnie out of anything.”
Teffinger frowned.
“What are you still doing in town?”
The man nodded towards the woman.
“What’s it look like?”
“Well, have fun.”
“I intend to.”
Teffinger left.
Two steps later he turned and said, “Do you have a pencil?”
“A pen.”
“Write down my number,” he said. “Give it to Rail when you talk to him. Tell him to call me.”
He rented a 30-foot Baja go-fast with twin big-blocks and made a beeline for the islands. The money was insane but the vessel was twice as fast as the Whaler, should that ever become an issue.
The engines spit rumble for two miles so it wasn’t a surprise to spot Janjak waiting for him on the beach as he motored up and let the bow kiss the sand.
The sun was losing its heat.
The shadows were long.
The woman was the same as when he’d left her, topless up above and barefoot down below, with a wrap-around skirt separating the two.
“You’re early,” she said.
“Johnnie Rail’s coming to kill you,” he said. “I came to get you out of here.”
“I thought you and Rail were working together.”
“We parted ways,” Teffinger said. “Those diamonds you dug up, Rail stole them from some guy in Hong Kong. The guy’s closing in on him and he needs to be in a position to give them back. Getting them back starts with killing you.”
The woman put her arms around Teffinger’s neck and pressed her stomach to his.
“So, why don’t you just let him?”
“Because I want you to leave Modeste alone,” he said. “Whatever you owe me for getting you out of here, I want you to pay it to Modeste by leaving her alone. Whatever you and Rail end up doing to each other, I just don’t want Modeste dragged into it.”
The woman kissed him.
“Modeste wants to kill me too,” she said.
Teffinger shifted his feet, not knowing how the woman knew that but convinced that somehow she did.
“She just wants to be alive and not have to worry about being pulled into some nether world,” he said. “It’s a self-defense thing. Once she knows you’re going to leave her alone, it’ll all be over. Rail wants to kill her too for stealing his stuff in the first place, so she’ll be leaving Haiti, she’ll have no choice. You’ll never hear from her again.”
“Are you in love with her?”
He shook his head.
“Anything but,” he said. “In fact she played me from the start.”
“So why do you want to help her?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Look, this Hong Kong guy is eventually going to hone in on Rail. From there it won’t be too hard to figure out where the diamonds went next, to you. So even if you kill Rail, you’ll still have the Hong Kong guy to worry about. This thing is never going to end. You got the coins. Keep them and cut your losses.”
“Give the diamonds back to Rail?”
“Yes, either him or directly back to the Hong Kong guy. I’ll help you find out who he is if you want to go in that direction. Maybe Rail can convince Angel to hand her coins over to you as a gesture of good will. Whether that happens or not, you’ll still be in a position where you won’t have to look over your shoulder for the rest of your life.”
A seagull swept low over the water, silently hunting for unsuspecting prey.
Two more followed.
“Let’s get out of here,” Teffinger said. “Rail could be showing up at any minute.”
The woman raised her arms above her head and twirled in an erotic dance.
Then she suddenly stopped and looked hard at Teffinger.
“Modeste’s destiny lies in her own hands,” she said. “I want that final diamond. I want it by tonight. She can get it. That’s how she gets away from me. That’s the only way she gets away from me. So, either kill me yourself, right here right now, or go tell her.”
“I don’t know where she is. She took off.”
“Then she dies at midnight.”
She ripped her skirt off, threw it to the side and waded into the water. Waist deep she turned and said, “The clock’s ticking.”
Then she dived in and went into an overhand stroke in the direction of the other island.
Teffinger watched her for a minute, then fired up the Baja and got the hell out of there.
53
Day Seven
June 10
Tuesday Evening
Back in the city, Teffinger’s initial plan was to step aside from all the craziness, go to a bar, get drunk, pick up a woman and screw her all the way to morning. The specter of Station’s murder, though, wouldn’t leave him alone. She’d died because Teffinger hadn’t been smart enough to stay in town.
He’d made a promise to himself to not let the same thing happen to Modeste.
Station had deserved his help.
Modeste didn’t, not really, at least not more than Teffinger had already given her. Technically, he’d fulfilled any promise he’d made to her, or to himself.
But, still.
He dialed the Like a Virgin pretty, Constance.
“It’s me, Teffinger,” he said. “Are you in Haiti?”
“No, New York.”
“Where’s the diamond?”
A pause, then, “I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“Because Modeste told me not to.”
“When?”
“An hour ago,” she said.
“Modeste isn’t thinking clearly,” he said. “I need that diamond and I need it now. Tomorrow’s too late.”
“Sorry, she gave me instructions.”
“If you don’t tell me, she’s going to be dead by midnight.”
“I’m sorry.”
The line died.
He dialed back.
She didn’t answer.
He stomped off blindly, not caring where he was going, simply feeding the need to be in motion.
The street buzzed with traffic.
Buildings passed.
“Where’s the diamond?”
A pause, then, “I can’t tell you.”
The words kept playing in his head.
“Where’s the diamond?”
A pause, then, “I can’t tell you.”
There was something wrong with them. Two blocks passed before he figured out what it was. If the diamond was with Constance she would have said, “I have it,” or “It’s with me,” or words to that effect.
She didn’t say she had it though. She said, “I can’t tell you.”
She didn’t have it, not with her, anyway.
She must have stashed it somewhere before she left Haiti.
Where? Her apartment?
Teffinger called her again, this time from his other phone. “Don’t hang up, don’t hang up,” he said. “Just listen. Give me one minute. Don’t hang up.”
“There’s nothing you can say.”
; “Consider this,” he said. “Do you remember when you gave me all the other diamonds but held onto Marilyn? Do you remember what you told me about why you wanted to hang onto her?”
“No.”
“You said, “She’s a final bargaining chip, in case you get killed or taken. Do you remember that?”
A pause, then, “Yes, but that’s not valid anymore. You got Modeste. She’s free. You don’t need anything as a bargaining chip.”
“Listen to what I say and listen carefully,” he said. “Modeste is going to die tonight. She doesn’t know it yet, because I haven’t been able to find her and tell her, but that’s what’s going to happen. I need that diamond to keep her alive. If she knew she was going to die, she’d tell you to tell me where it is. If you don’t believe me, call her and then call me back.”
An hour later he was in the Baja with the diamond in his pocket, storming through choppy waters with the throttle at redline and the go-fast’s bow jarring up and down to a demonic beat.
His gut churned.
This could all be a setup.
Janjak might kill everyone as soon as she had the diamond, first Teffinger, right then and there, and then Modeste.
He had to keep his guard up.
He had to do this right.
He had to watch her every move.
She was a she-devil, one with hypnotic moments, but a she-devil nonetheless, and that was true based only on the things she’d admitted to—Kovi-Ke, Station, and all the rest.
She was evil.
He couldn’t forget that, not for a second.
He couldn’t let her get her spell on him, not again.
54
Day Seven
June 10
Tuesday Evening
An evil twilight thickened quickly over the Haitian waters. The Baja was a wild beast, deafening in its roar and frantic in its motions. It didn’t slow until the islands appeared up ahead as black silhouettes against an almost-black sky. Teffinger motored into the thick of it to find something he didn’t expect. Three boats were at the beach. One was the Whaler. The others were similar in size.
Teffinger hung back in neutral, eyeing the situation.
No one shot at him.
He killed the engines so he could hear.