Buzzard Bay (42 page)

“Our people were looking for drugs, not illegal weapons. Her point of destination was Savannah. He thought we’d wait until she got into American waters before we stopped her again. Gentlemen, the point is that we are going to treat this incident as if it never happened. The report will read that the freighter caught fire and sank with all hands on board. There will be no mention of Ansly’s ship or that she even existed. As for El Presidente, he was last seen going into his place in Nassau and never came out. If he is dead, someone did him in at his own place or is holding him there.”

“My god, that is preposterous,” July blurted out. “How will you explain all the dead bodies that were picked up or floated to shore? I’m sure there were lots of people who saw two ships burning on the water. Word will get around, and your story will never wash.”

“It has already been filed, Mrs. Green. A boat was sent out from the base on Andros to rescue the survivors. It must have gotten too close to the burning freighter and exploded. That is how we are explaining the dead Americans. There are very few people who actually know what happened at Andros, Mrs. Green. It would certainly be in the best interest for yourself and your husband to keep quiet. No one knows you were there, that is the best way to keep it. If you do tell people your story it will be the Colombians not us who will be interested. I’ve seen what they can do to a person before they kill them. I strongly suggest that you forget about the whole thing.”

July was stunned

; she looked at Captain Norton whose eyes were drooped. “He’s right, July, you’ll never have a moment’s peace in your life again unless you let this pass.”

July’s mind flashed back over all that she and Bob had been through; because of all this, Bob might never come back to her. She had to think of the family they needed to get back to a normal life. “All right,” she told them, “I’m done fighting with you people or anyone else. I’m tired, gentlemen, I just want to go home.” She gave Mrs. Norton a hug and left the room. A strange sensation of loneliness hit at her stomach as she realized she had no home to go to.

Lena had never seen Henekie lose his cool until she told him that Green was still alive. “All I know is that he’s in the hospital,” she told him.

Green was the nemesis of Henekie’s life. Not only did he not get his money, now both the cartel and the CIA were after him. He had to get out of these islands quickly, but not before he took care of Mr. Green. The son of a bitch had fucked him up at every turn. How he was still alive, Henekie had no idea. Well, not for much longer, he thought and immediately went to work finding exactly where Green was located.

It took a while, but he found him. Henekie cased the section of the hospital that Green was in. He was surprised to find no guards in the hallway. During visiting hours, he walked by Green’s room and peered in the door; no guards in there either. The other bed in his room was empty. Henekie was tempted to go in right then and there, but there were too many people around.

Tonight, he thought, would be better. Just before visiting hours were over, he entered the hospital and slipped into a closet he had found near Green’s room earlier on.

He waited until everything was quiet then hurried down the hall to Green’s room. Just as he opened the door, he ran smack into a nurse.

“What are you doing here?” said an intimidating big black woman.

Henekie thought fast as his mind raced as what to do next.

He’d seen a car pick Green’s wife up early in the afternoon. Henekie decided to go with that.

“Mrs. Green won’t be back tonight,” he lied to the nurse. “She asked me to look in on him.”

The nurse told him there was no use going in. “He’s just a vegetable in there.”

Bob began to grow restless; he sensed that July wasn’t there with him. He tried to call her, but she did not answer. The faraway light had disappeared; he was in total darkness. Maybe this world wasn’t so nice after all. “What was that?” The skin on his flesh turned to goose bumps; every nerve came alive. Listen, that voice, he had heard it before, but where. I know on the ship, he had Mindy! Bob’s mind began to function.

“He’s going to kill me. It’s Henekie. Someone help me!” But he realized he was alone. He hated this world; it wasn’t safe at all. They were talking about him; he strained his ears trying to hear.

It was a woman’s voice; she was telling this Henekie that he couldn’t go in the room. “I don’t care who you are,” she told him. “It won’t do you any good anyway, he ain’t gonna get no better, just gonna lie there till he die,” the lady’s voice explained.

A vegetable. “I’m no vegetable,” Bob thought. “I’ve got to tell July to get me out of here. Who the hell does she think she is, calling me a vegetable?”

Bob felt relieved, but he felt the sweat running down his face as he heard Henekie’s voice answer the nurse. “Okay, thank you very much, I’ll come back another time.”

The information seemed satisfying to Henekie. “A vegetable,” he thought, “that’s much more punishing than death.” Why put the man out of his misery?

Henekie told the nurse, “I’ll tell Mrs. Green there is no change then, thank you.” He turned away and began walking down the hall. He walked out of the hospital with a lighter step. It was only fitting, he thought, that Green should suffer as he himself had. There was a charter waiting for him at the airport. By noon tomorrow, he would be in Germany, far from here.

The plane had cost him a lot of money. He knew the airport was being watched. Even his brilliant disguise and passport might not get him through this time. He waited on the runway until the charter pulled up beside him then jumped on board as the plane taxied down the runway. Not until he saw the lights of Nassau fading behind him did he let out a sigh of relief.

Henekie thought back to all the work he had done in those islands. He had been so close to reaching his goal. Just a few minutes more and El Presidente would have escaped on his speedboat as planned. Why had El Presidente’s ship blown up so early? He remembered the flares exploding above the freighter at the time he thought the men on board were just celebrating. Now he wasn’t so sure.

Green had survived which meant he wasn’t on the ship as he had first thought. Somehow through it all Green must have been involved, because he now lay dying in a hospital bed. Henekie didn’t know how, but he felt Green was responsible for El Presidente’s ship blowing up.

Well, nothing he could do now, he thought. Green got what he deserved and as for himself, he had survived which was more than most of them, but he had a taste of bitterness in his mouth that he would never forget. Never!

July had not gone back to Bob’s room that night. She had decided to spend the night with Mindy and Rikker who had rented a small apartment nearby. They sat up the rest of the night discussing what had taken place at the meeting. Rikker was upset that his mother had agreed to remain quiet about her involvement in the past events.

“Because of these people, Dad’s lying in a hospital bed unconscious, and you’re willing to say, ‘That’s okay, you guys fucked up.’ The druggies won, let’s not make any waves, go home, and keep your mouth shut.”

July was impressed with Mindy’s more mature grasp of the situation. “That’s not going to bring Dad back, Rikker. We have to face the fact that he might not be able to be with us anymore. That’s all we need is Mother running around telling stories that people may or may not believe. Even if they do believe her, so what? No one will protect her. One day, she’ll just end up dead like so many others.”

Rikker finally had to concede that for his mother’s sake, they should let it go. He shook his head, “I just can’t believe that after all we’ve been through, they can throw us to the wolves.”

“I told them our story,” July told him. “They know what happened, but we are only pieces of paper in a windstorm. If we blow away, no one will find us, but if we land in someone’s yard, these people might raise a lot of shit trying to find out who is polluting their property. It is best that we blow out to sea and be forgotten.”

They laughed at her quasi quote, but July became serious again. “Mindy’s right, we have to contemplate our future without your father. It will be tough enough making it. We don’t need someone threatening to kill us on top of it all.”

July had not slept at all, but she decided to go to the hospital anyway. It was going to be a beautiful day; a rain shower overnight had freshened the air, and a soft breeze rustled through the palms. If only Bob was here with me, she thought. He loved the early morning, especially the sunrise. “It’s when the whole world comes alive,” he always said.

he entered the hospital to find the nurses changing shifts. The nurse gave July a hug, “Sorry, he is still the same.” July was not really disappointed; she had not expected Bob to be any better; in fact, she was beginning to accept that he might not come back to her.

he entered his room and saw him lying quietly on the bed. Her intention was to get some sleep before the hospital became too busy. She went over to the other bed and took her shoes off. Just as she pulled the covers back, she heard a rasping sound. July looked around the room but saw nothing. She heard the sound again. Someone was whispering her name.

“Bob!” No, it couldn’t be; she froze, afraid to believe it was him for fear she might be just tired and hearing things. “I must not get my hopes up,” she said to herself, slowly walking to Bob’s bed. She picked up his hand and to her amazement, he was looking at her. She began to cry uncontrollably. This time, she unmistakably heard him say “July.”

“Yes, darling, I’m here.” She kissed him tenderly.

He was trying to say something at first; she did not pay any attention until she felt his hand tighten on hers. “July, he was here. He was going to kill me.” Bob thought he was yelling the words, but his voice was only a whisper.

“Who?” she asked, thinking he was hallucinating.

“It was the same voice, the one that had Mindy, Henekie.”

Instantly, July felt a shiver run up her spine.

“How do you know he was here?” July asked him.

“He was talking to the nurse over there.” His eyes looked toward the door. “I’m not a vegetable, am I, July?” His eyes looked at her pleadingly.

“Of course not, darling! I will phone Captain Norton right away and see if he can get to the bottom of this.”

Bob squeezed her hand and seemed to fall back to sleep.

It was only minutes until Norton showed up in person; ten minutes after that, Novak showed up. They were a little suspicious when they saw Bob lying sleeping like usual.

“He told me he heard Henekie’s voice talking to the nurse last night.”

“I’ll see if I can confirm it with the night nurse. I shall give her a call,” Norton said, leaving the room.

“Maybe we should have a look around,” Novak told July, not wanting to leave her alone. They went up and down the hallway checking every room. When they got back to Bob’s room, July gave out a gasp. Bob was sitting up on the bed.

“I know they didn’t believe you,” Bob told her, his voice sounding stronger now.

A nurse rushed by July pushing Novak out of the way. “You are back from the dead, Mr. Green. You had better lay down, or you will be dead for good this time.”

The three of them helped Bob to lie down.

“How long have I been like this?” Bob asked.

“A little over two weeks,” July smiled at him.

“I’m sorry, I’m so tired,” he told her. “When I heard Henekie’s voice, I was scared he’d come after me. My mind was working, but nothing would move. You have no idea how hard it was to get my fingers to move. I worked until I heard you come in this morning. Now I know everything’s all right. I’m not a vegetable. The nurse said I was a vegetable.”

Both Novak and July assured him that he was all right. The most important thing to July was that Bob was his old fighting self. She knew he would be all right now.

Captain Norton hurried back into the room. “The nurse said there was a man here last night. He told her you had sent him around, July, to see how Mr. Green was doing.”

“I certainly didn’t send anyone around,” July told him.

Norton nodded, “I put a call in. If he’s on this island, we shall find him.”

Bob recovered quickly once he had made up his mind to. An armed policeman sat outside Bob’s room day and night until one day Norton came to see them.

“The airport security people reported that a car had been parked near the runway for a few days. We found out when it had been left there. A plane loaded with freight left early that morning. The pilot confessed to picking up a man and hauling him to Havana. We checked, but he seems to have vanished from there on. I don’t think he’ll bother you again. We have a description of him now. He’s too smart to show his face around here.”

A week later, Novak showed up. He came right to the point. “Tomorrow, someone from the Canadian Embassy is going to visit you. They are considering extraditing you in connection with the murders committed there. If you are at all able, I suggest you not be here. I am trying to get it through their heads that you are innocent, but it takes time. Captain Norton is living in Nassau right now. His place on Andros is empty. Arthur’s brother will be in the harbor tonight.” Novak gave them a smile. “I’m sure you can find him.”

Arthur himself had no idea what had happened to Bob and July. He was as surprised as anyone when Norton had phoned asking him to help them. “It will be an honor,” he told Norton. “Leave the rest to me.”

Novak had no sooner left than Arthur showed up at the door with a big grin on his face. He embraced the both of them. “Whenever you’re ready, I’ll take you to my brother’s boat,” he told them.” I have to ask this Arthur, what is your brothers real name,” Bob wanted to know. Arthur smiled.” Our mother died while giving birth to him. He was never given a name and I was responsible for raising him so everyone just calls him Arthur’s brother.”

Arthur helped Bob to the car, and then they picked up the kids and headed for the harbour. “Just like old times,” Bob told him as they boarded the boat. “We’re on the run again.”