Allies

by Wolf Riedel

  “I also talked with our guy at Polk and he’s sending some stuff down to us tomorrow.”

  Mark nodded and motioned Sal into a chair.

  “Bernie said the same. He’s gonna have the int guys send us some background stuff later today,” Mark said. “How are we on taking our guns into Mexico?”

  “Don’t know yet. Might not know for sure until we pin down the right federale to talk to and get his blessing.”

  Mark shook his head. “Man,” he said. “This whole thing’s got me spooked.”

  “Still not as weird as that Russian shit last fall,” said Sid.

  “Ya think?” said Mark. “I don’t remember looking at any burned children the last time.”

  “Yeah. Well there’s that. There were spetsnaz snipers though.”

  “Did you tell Tony that he’s got two more bodies coming in.”

  “Oh yeah,” laughed Sal. “Happier than a pig in shit he was. He called Benning right away to make the arrangements. Then he got onto Paul to work out how best to use them. The two of them will have a workable plan by the end of the day.”

  “That’s good. We’ll leave them on that. We can deal with the Ocala bunch by phone while we’re gone. They’re on different tracks anyway.”

  “You know it just struck me,” said Sal. “If this really is a cartel war and if there’s more guys besides Lewis involved—and I admit it looks like there probably is—then we may have other folks on base that could be targeted.”

  “Not like I’m about to put out a notice on base telling all drug dealers and gun runners to be careful out there,” said Mark.

  “Just saying,” said Sal. “There might be more dependents out there that could end up in the shit.”

  I know. I know, thought Mark. “Okay,” he said. “Pass your concerns on to Tony. As he identifies targets, have him do a risk assessment for collaterals. We’ll deal with it if and when we identify them.”

  Mark looked at his watch; eleven fifty-five.

  “You’ve got five minutes to do that and still get out of here by noon.”

  A thought struck Mark like a thunder clap and he slapped his forehead.

  “Crap. I forgot. Mabel’s coming tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER 27

  Le Placa de Plata, NE MacFarlane, Tampa, Florida

  Monday 12 Mar 07 1820 hrs EDT

  Tuffy sat back and looked at the empty plate that a few minutes before had been a generous helping of Carne con Papas, a hearty and succulent beef and potatoes stew in a thick tomato, garlic, onion and spices sauce served with white rice. He was stuffed and it showed. He reached for the fruit shake on the table and took a sip to try to settle the meal.

  Having to order a shake had rankled him at first as Hernandez and Meraz had ordered the Modelo Especial. Tuffy at seventeen wasn’t only under the legal drinking age of twenty-one but was noticeably under it. He briefly flirted pushing the issue with the waiter but common sense had prevailed. His role was to be inconspicuous. A teenager throwing a temper tantrum about not getting a cerveza in a public restaurant would not have been inconspicuous.

  “Did you enjoy your meal?” asked Hernandez.

  “Very much, Jefe,” he replied. “My mother makes this too but, much as I love her and her cooking, I have to admit, this was better.”

  Hernandez and Meraz both laughed.

  “If you think this was nice, you should come on Fridays. They have a Ropa Vieja that’s outstanding. The meat is cooked down in tomatoes and spices until it just falls apart. Outstanding.”

  “Hopefully you’ve left a little room for dessert,” said Meraz. “They have some excellent pastries here.”

  The waiter came and took their dessert and espresso orders and went away.

  “The job went well,” said Hernandez. “Other than the fact that you don’t have the girl yet.”

  Tuffy wasn’t quite sure how to take that; as a compliment or a criticism. He said nothing and waited for more.

  Meraz passed him an envelope. A thick one.

  Tuffy didn’t open it but just slid it surreptitiously into his shirt and tucked it into his boxers’ waistband.

  “That’s two things; the smaller bundle inside is your new monthly pay and the bigger one is a performance bonus,” Hernandez said.

  “Thank you, Jefe,” Tuffy said quietly.

  “You did well for your first time out, Tuffy,” said Meraz. “The girl is still an issue but we both figured you’d have to get really lucky to get her at the same time as Alfonso.”

  “You’re on the payroll full-time now as our number one go-to sicario,” said Hernandez. “The fact that you’re on salary means that you don’t work on anything else other than the jobs either Gordo or I give you. Basically you do the research, do the reconnaissance, plan the job and execute it. You need any extra money for expenses to do a job, you see Gordo and he’ll look after it.”

  Tuffy nodded.

  “It goes without saying that you don’t talk to anyone else about what you’re doing. Not just outside, but not inside MQ-27 either. If anyone gets too interested let Gordo know and he’ll make them lose their interest. Understood?”

  “Yes.”

  “You got a girl, Tuffy?” asked Meraz.

  “”I do. She’s studying to be a health care worker, maybe a nurse,” he shrugged his shoulders.

  “No sweat with that,” said Meraz. “Gives you a bit of a look of respectability. Give me a few days and I’ll set up a cover job for you so that there’s a story to tell if you’re asked. You’ll need to put a bit of time in there too so that the cover becomes better. She should know nothing about what you really do, though.”

  Tuffy nodded. That’s gonna be a hard one, he thought and struggled to keep his eyes neutral.

  The waiter came with their coffees and dessert. Tuffy eyed his Torta de Tres Leche and started to think that there just might be room for dessert after all.

  Hernandez waited for the waiter to get out of earshot and then said, “Your primary job right now is to find the girl and finish off that part of the problem.”

  Tuffy nodded his understanding.

  “Did you get anything out of Alfonso?” asked Meraz.

  “No,” said Tuffy. “He lied to me. He knew that there would be pain but he also knew that in the end it was going to be over so he lied to me.”

  “So we got nothing?” said Meraz.

  “Not exactly,” said Tuffy. “He said a few things before he went and I’ve got his computers. I’m going through them now.”

  “Computers?” said Meraz. You’re a a computer expert too?”

  “Not yet, but I’m learning,” he said. In fact Sandy was teaching him. She’d taken a number of classes and was well ahead of him in the field. The computers were password protected but Alfonso had left the usernames and passwords on a slip of paper in his wallet.

  “You need any help?” asked Meraz. “We’ve got some guys . . .”

  “I’d like to keep it just with me for the time being,” said Tuffy. “The less guys that know about this the better, I think.”

  Hernandez looked at the boy for a moment.

  “You’re right,” he said at last. “The fewer in the loop the better. Let us know if you do need a hand.”

  Tuffy nodded once again.

  “Try to wrap this up sooner rather than later, if you can,” Hernandez continued. “We’ve got more work coming down from back home. This time they don’t just want us to shut down the competition so that no guns are going to Los Zumas but to take over the operation completely. Our people think that their relationship with the Zetas may not be as strong as we once thought. They will need their own supply and are looking to us to help with that. Do you understand?”

  Tuffy nodded. He understood very well indeed. The first hit had been aimed at terrifying the opposition to get out of the business. In future they would aim to take it over. The hits now would concentrate on the leaders while they preserved the structure of the organization.

 
; “I’ll need to have better information,” he said. “Do you have a suggestion where we can find it, Jefe?”

  “Let’s finish our meal first,” Hernandez said.

  They had finished with dinner and their discussions and had gone their separate ways as the sun had set. Now, nearly an hour later, Tuffy sat in his car and contemplated the house at the end of the street.

  He hadn’t been fully up-front with Loco or Gordo. Not because he wanted to deceive them but simply because the information wasn’t complete yet. The old man’s computer held much information, none of it encrypted once you got beyond the main password. Once again the old man had surprised and disappointed him; surprise in that he didn’t think that the old man had the intelligence to use a computer in the first place and disappointment in the fact that he had made so little effort in protecting the information on his system. It made him wonder if within Loco’s or Gordo’s computers there were unprotected files which identified him as being on the payroll and for what purpose.

  Sandy had run the computer and had found the files; there were a number of them but the most comprehensive was an Excel Workbook with dozens of linked Worksheets that provided minute details of the old man’s operations. Sandy was of the view that these had been expertly prepared. There were locations, workers, weekly expense and income statements, summary pages and pivot tables that provided a week-by-week view. The smallest number of workers at any location was three; the largest had ten. There were seventeen working locations in total; with just short of a hundred workers and twenty-five staff.

  She had told him that it appeared that there were emails which showed that the weekly statistics were forwarded to the old man at the end of business every Friday night-Saturday morning. The latest entries into the books had been made around midday last Saturday. Tuffy had resolved to hand the files over to Gordo on Tuesday. Whoever had been assigned to take over the old man’s operation would need all of this. On reflection Tuffy was surprised that Gordo hadn’t asked more about the files when Tuffy had mentioned to them that he had the computers. Maybe they had no idea the old man was so organized or maybe he regularly sent a copy of the books to Gordo. He’d have to have Sandy check into that.

  Two locations had been of interest to Tuffy primarily because the records showed that only at these two locations could girls be found who were as young as the missing Lewis girl. He suspected that these were locations where the youngest were groomed for their future roles in the old man’s business. Once they reached the age of fifteen they were often sold to another location.

  Tuffy had hopes that this somewhat isolated fourplex near the airport was the one where he would find her. He knew for certain that it wasn’t the other location; that’s the one that the old man had sent him to on the night of his death.

  By midnight he had his information and had returned to meet with Sandy at her home. Her father wasn’t there and she had no idea where he had gone to that night; a not unusual circumstance..

  He sat down on the couch with her and started things off by showing her the contents of the envelope given to him at dinner.

  “This,” he said handing her the smaller packet, “is my new salary.” He handed her the other. “And this is the bonus for the last job.”

  She didn’t count the cash but a glance told her the money was not inconsequential. It didn’t take her more than a few seconds to put it together. Gangs could cheaply kill whoever they wanted at relatively low labor costs. There were any number of soldiers out there with guns who could do a drive-by or whatever at virtually no pay. For Tuffy to get a regular salary and bonuses he had to be high in the organization and trusted to do some of the more complex and clandestine jobs. Her boy was becoming a big shot. And in a hurry. A surge of pride went through her as she handed back the packets.

  She went to the fridge and came back with two Millers; handed one to Tuffy and pulled the tab on the one in her hand. Tuffy pulled his as well and walked out the door to take a seat on the front porch. Sandy followed.

  For almost five minutes they sat quietly on the porch taking occasional pulls from their beers. Above them the sky glowed orange with the reflected light of the city’s dim street lighting. A gentle warm breeze blew steadily. The cooler winter months were almost at an end. In another month the temperatures, both day and night, would start to climb. In the background the steady hum of the traffic competed with the sounds of chirping crickets.

  “I found the girl,” he said matter of factly.

  “At the second house?”

  “Yup,” he replied. “It’s a fourplex. One unit is for the staff, two are for the working girls and the fourth is where they keep the young ones.”

  “And you’re sure it’s her?” she had to ask.

  “It’s her.”

  The hum of the traffic again dominated as they sat quietly.

  “What are you going to do?” she finally asked.

  “My job.”

  “Don’t,” she said.

  “Why not?” He turned to her, the confusion on his face apparent in the dim light.

  “Because she’s a little kid and so far you haven’t killed any little kids. Once you do you’ll be a different guy. You can’t ever go back.”

  “She can identify me. I can’t let her go. Besides if she goes back then the bosses will know I fucked up.”

  “Think hard. Can she really identify you? Do you really know if she saw you or not?”

  Tuffy closed his eyes and ran the whole thing through his head. When he shot Lewis he did it in the laundry room and the girls were still in the garage with their mom. As soon as that went down, the old man had rushed into the garage. Tuffy replayed the image. Mrs Lewis had come up to the front of the car close to the laundry door as the old man pushed past her into the garage. The old man’s job was to cut-off any attempt to escape through the now descending garage door. Mrs Lewis had turned and run when Tuffy shot her in the back. She went down flat on her face.

  Where were the girls at that point? He asked himself.

  He scrunched up his eyes hard and concentrated; walked through every element of that scene.

  They were still in the car. Doing what? I don’t know what. What he was sure of was that they were still in the back seat of the car when Herrera got to it.

  Where was I? He asked himself and then pictured himself as he had gone back into the laundry room to check on Lewis to make sure that the job was done. The first time that he had really seen the girls was when he had gone back to the garage to check on the wife and to put one more in her head. He clearly remembered that at this time he saw the girls being bundled into the trunk of the car by Herrera, their eyes, mouth, hands and feet secured by tape.

  Where the hell did the old man get the tape from? He asked himself. As far as he knew there was never anything discussed about tying anyone up but then the old man’s plan was a piece of shit to start with. Although maybe not so stupid after all if the old man’s intent all along had been to grab the girls as well.

  He tried hard to think but everywhere else along the way there was no interaction between himself and the girls.

  “Maybe they didn’t see me,” he said at last. “If they did it may have only been for a moment.”

  She sat upright in her seat and he could feel her looking seriously at him.

  “Don’t kill this kid, baby. Please don’t. She probably can’t harm you.”

  “I can’t just let her go,” he said resolutely. “I can’t let her stay there. Eventually it’ll get out.”

  Sandy thought hard and long and finally said, “I’ll take care of her. She can live with me.”

  “Jesus Christ,” he exploded. “How the hell can she live with you and your dad? What are you gonna tell him; that she’s your long lost sister?”

  Sandy reached across and gently placed her hand on Tuffy’s arm. The touch made him look into her face; her white-blonde hair shone in the dim street lights like a golden halo, her eyes blue and sparkling.


  “I think,” she said quietly, “that it’s time that there was one less man in my bed.”

  — § —

  PART 3

  CHAPTER 28

  Edgewater Beach Dr, Lakeland, Florida

  Tuesday 13 Mar 07 0720 hrs EDT

  Kristin smiled up at Mark as he took her plate from the table and, together with his own, took it to the dishwasher.

  He leaned back with his butt against the kitchen counter swirling the last of his coffee in his mug and looked at his wife as she helped Max finish off the last piece of his breakfast of soft-boiled egg on toast.

  As pretty as the day I met her, he thought. His mind started to wander thinking back to the good times over the years but the reverie came to a sudden crash when an image of Mabel popped up. Mabel! Coming for a visit! Shit!

  “What?”

  Mark snapped out of it and saw Kristin staring at him.

  “What?” she asked again.

  Mark came away from the counter gave her a peck on the top of her head and put his now empty cup into the dishwasher.

  “Nothing, Babe. Nothing,” he said. “Just thinking.”

  She looked at him askance.

  “Thinking about mom, right?”

  “Shit, no,” he said then glanced at Max. “Sorry.”

  “Look,” she said. “I know that . . .”

  His phone buzzed loudly in his pocket.

  Saved.

  He held up a finger only remembering at the last second that she hated when he did that and quickly dropped it again. Mark tapped Send.

  “Yeah. Winters here,” he said.

  “Chief Winters? It’s Detective Anderson.”

  “Morning, Tyron,” said Mark. “What can I do for you?”

  “Sorry if I’m bothering you at home. Your guy at the office said you’d probably still be there.”