Buzzard Bay (49 page)

Julio definitely did not like that idea, “Okay, okay.” Then he began laughing uncontrollably. “The plan is fucking brilliant, you gotta hear this.”

Henekie put the knife to Julio’s throat and cut the skin just enough to get his attention. “So tell me this brilliant plan of yours.”

Julio stopped laughing. “I’ve been running with a guy from Andros. His father owns most of the island. In fact, he owns a good chunk of Nassau, but his old man’s like my brother. He won’t give him nothing either. One night my brother phones me and says I have to go downtown and entertain some business people from Miami, so me and my friend go and meet these guys. They invite us to Miami, take us, you know, gambling, we do lots of shit, fuck some women, the usual, and then they send us a fucking bill. I complained to my brother Jon, and he says nothing’s free in this world, and I’d better come up with the cash. The Miami guys know fucking well I’ve got no cash, so they come up with this proposition. They tell me they think there’s a whole shitload of coke on board a barge sunk in the marina at Buzzard Bay, but they don’t know how to go about getting to it without everyone knowing what’s going on. So my buddy and I go and get the shit, but then we start to think why in hell should we give it all to the Miami fucks. At first we were going to cut just a little bit, then we found a market in Mexico, and my friend’s old man came up with a plan that made it possible for us to sell all of it. We set up a lab right here in the garage, and we’re selling everything we can produce to a dealer in Mexico. Fuck, we’re making millions,” Julio announced proudly.

“I still don’t understand how you plan to get away with this,” Henekie told him.

“A few years ago the government forced my friend’s old man to sell a hotel over on Andros. Now it’s worth a bloody fortune, and he wants it back. We told the Miami guys that we didn’t find any coke on the old barge, but we found out that it had been there. We told them that this Green guy who owns the hotel has been stealing it a little bit at a time. He hired a young guy over there to set up a lab, and they’ve been quietly selling the shit off until lately, when the kid running the lab decided he wanted more of the action and flooded the local market.”

The name Green instantly grabbed Henekie’s attention. “Have you seen this Green?” Henekie wanted to know.

“Yeah, my friend took me over to the hotel one night last week. It’s the place to be in the Bahamas.”

“Did he look like he had anything wrong with him?”

“Hell no,” was Julio’s response. “You don’t keep a wife like his around if you’re fucked up. She’s a movie star here in the islands. My friend was going off in his pants just looking at her.”

“I think that might be another reason your friend wants the hotel. She comes with it,” Henekie suggested.

“Could be. I know they’re only after Green. He pretty well cut his own throat when he helped hide the rest of the shit the kid stole from us.”

“So you sent your guys over to Andros to pop this Green?” Henekie asked.

“Nope, they went over to pop the kid who stole our shit. We got rid of him and then told the Miami guys we found the lab and what was left of their coke. We told them it’s had the shit cut out of it, but we have what’s left.”

“So then you give up Green for the Miami guys to hack up?”

Julio pointed at his head. “You’re not too smart, man. We don’t want him talking too much. We’ll set him up to get caught with the shit. The DEA boys will take care of him.”

“Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out, Julio, so where’s the millions you’re making?” Henekie wanted to know.

“You think I’m stupid enough to leave it where you can get it. My friend’s old man invested it for me.”

Henekie looked at Lena; they both shook their heads. “No doubt about it, Julio, you’re a brilliant strategist.”

“Wait till my man Benito gets back to see what I’ve got planned for you,” Julio blurted out.

“Well, maybe we better clean you up before he gets here,” Henekie told Julio as he lifted him from the chair and guided him into the garage. Henekie pulled his shirt up over his nose and put on sunglasses before he undid Julio’s blindfold. “Okay, Julio, get in there.” He pointed to the huge shower built into the garage.

Julio immediately began to blubber, “What are you going to do to me?”

“You know what that shower is for, don’t you, Julio? You’ve probably enjoyed hanging some poor bastard up in there and gutting him, you perverted little prick. Get your clothes off and wash the shit off your ass before I change my mind and hang you up in there.”

Julio did as he was told then turned on the shower and began cleaning himself up.

“I just thought that was a party shower,” Lena said to Henekie. “Is that really for torturing people?”

“Yep, what did you think the hooks built into the tiles were for?”

Lena looked very pale.

“I’m going after Julio’s men,” he told her. “My best chance is to surprise them before they get back. Do you want me to hang Julio up in the shower? He’ll be easy to look after in there.”

Lena thought for a moment. “No, I want you to take him over to my garage and spread-eagle him over the hood of my car.”

“Jeez, Lena, it makes me kind of queasy thinking of what you have in mind for him, but I think you’re right. If his men come back, that means I probably won’t. You’ll have a better chance of getting away from over there.”

“I’ll get away all right. If I see his men come back, I’ll drive my car right down Nassau’s high street with Julio spread out on the hood. They can follow me if they want,” she told Henekie as they herded Julio across the yard to her garage.

Henekie whacked Julio on the head with Lena’s gun, stunning him and then laid him over the hood of Lena’s car. She brought him some straps which he used to fasten Julio down and then tied his ankles to each end of the bumper.

“Okay,” Henekie told her, “he’s all yours, just don’t kill him. You’re in enough trouble already.”

“Don’t worry, Henekie, you go do what you have to do. I’ll be all right, just get out of here. Men seem to get a little squeamish when they see what I’m about to do.”

Henekie didn’t have to be asked twice. He went across to Julio’s house to enter the tunnel. He didn’t want Lena to know where he was going.

Lena had already turned her attention on Julio. She took a broom from a corner of the garage and showed the handle to Julio. “You remember how much you enjoyed hearing me scream when you shoved that big thing of yours up my ass? Let’s see how much of this you can take before you start screaming, Julio.”

“You bitch, Lena.”

“You’re my bitch now,” Lena told him as she rammed the broom handle up his ass.

TWENTY-EIGHT

T
OMMY’S SKIFF WAS
pretty small so he had to keep it close to shore out of the rough water. This was a long trip for such a small boat. He’d taken his brother down to the south end of Andros to sell some weed to his friends. As usual his brother’s friends had no money, so they smoked the weed, and Tommy ended up borrowing enough petrol to get back home. His brother sat sullenly in the front of the boat not caring that it was pitch black out. Tommy had been hauling him around for a long time now, and he knew that Tommy knew these islands like the back of his hand.

Tommy’s brother was a throwback to the heady days when Andros was the port of choice for drugs to enter the United States, and there was money to be made. He was one of the best boatmen around, and his services were in demand, but even back then he had one major flaw. His nickname ‘Sniff’ told it all; his nose was always stuck in a bag of coke.

He had built a house on a hill overlooking the sea; he had two sports cars and the fastest boat in the islands. Then as quickly as they came, the good times faded away. Sniff had never left the good old days; his habit quickly burned through whatever money he had. Now his house was falling down around his ears, the cars lay rusting in the front yard, no one knew why he hadn’t sold them except for the fact that while he had been going through his withdrawal period, he’d go out and sit in them for hours at a time. The only thing he had of value was this small boat which he’d taken in trade when he’d sold his speedboat. Thanks to Tommy, it was still running, and this was now their only source of income.

Tommy was only ten when he first moved in with his brother. His father had too many kids and too small a house. Some of his brothers slept outside, but Tommy could see no future in that. Sniff was at least ten years older than Tommy, but it was pretty obvious that he needed looking after and he had an empty house, so Tommy moved in and did his best to keep things going. He only went to school because the government made him, but most of the time Tommy snuck away, spending his time fishing or working in the small garden in the backyard. This was the only place where his brother would come out and help him, mainly because of the weed he grew among the vegetables. Tommy had been looking after his brother for at least five years now, and he was tired of it. Tonight was just about all he could take; Sniff was getting worse instead of better. He’d been working with his father down at the hotel, and Mr. Green had offered him a full-time job with a place to stay.

“Maybe it was time his brother looked after himself,” Tommy thought. The shoreline disappeared in front of them, and Tommy turned the boat into Buzzard Bay.

uddenly, they found themselves surrounded by bright lights. Just to their left was a large ship which was throwing off most of the light, but there were also two smaller spotlights floating over the water. Tommy had never seen his brother so animated. He crouched in the front of the boat and began waving Tommy ahead.

“I’m getting out of here,” Tommy shouted at him.

His brother turned and pointed a pistol at him. “Are you coming or not?” For the first time, Tommy realized just how unstable his brother was. He followed his brother’s directions as he pointed him to what seemed right into the light.

Then Tommy saw what his brother was after; two black objects appeared beside their boat.

“Help me load these, Tommy.”

They rolled the two bags on board; Tommy was scared skinny, but his brother seemed to be loving it.

“Over there,” he pointed, “we’ll get that one.” Tommy’s heart was in his mouth as they loaded the third bag. Their boat lit up as one of the spotlights pointed directly at them.

“Head back to the shoreline,” Sniff told him. “We’ll blend in there.”

Their boat was so overloaded that Tommy couldn’t get any speed out of it. He looked back to see the light closing in on them at an alarming rate. He was ready to go over the side when all of a sudden the light stopped and turned the other way.

His brother laughed in glee. “They found some more bags. They’re more important than us.”

Tommy saw his brother put the pistol in his belt; there was no way he would have given up the bags without a fight.

They continued around the edge of the bay until they arrived at the dock below their house. Tommy was amazed at the energy his brother displayed as they spent the rest of the night dragging the bags up the hill. Tommy had no idea what they were going to do with these big bags, but Sniff had this under control too. He showed Tommy an old cellar buried along the edge of the rock bluff not far from the house which was almost impossible to find.

“This is our secret, Tommy, I’ll know who talked if anyone finds this place.”

Tommy nodded; he knew exactly what would happen if Sniff was separated from his stash.

For a while, everything went all right. Sniff sold a little bit, and for a change they had some money. He even talked about fixing up the old house and maybe getting the cars running again. Thing began to go wrong when Sniff moved his old girlfriend into the house. She was a bad influence, wanting to lie around all day smoking dope, and now she had coke to add to her diet. Her friends started showing up from all over, and then Sniff’s old buddies began hanging around. The allure of free coke brought the dregs of society to their door; soon, no one left. It was just one big party every day. Then what Tommy feared happened.

A girl came running up the hill. “They’re coming, the police are coming.”

The eyes and ears of the island made it almost impossible for the local police to keep anything secret. By the time they got there, everyone had scattered, and Sniff was waiting quietly for them in the front door. There was nothing to be found, so the police left, but not before they gave Sniff a stern warning to clean up his act.

Tommy pleaded with his brother to get rid of his so-called friends, but he told Tommy that his girlfriend liked to party, and she wanted them to stay. He did tell Tommy that he was going to start charging for the coke they used, but Tommy never saw that threat materialize.

It was the next week that all hell broke loose. Out of the blue, choppers appeared overhead. This was a DEA raid, and it happened so fast no one escaped. Tommy was out working in the garden. He was happy now that there were no marijuana plants left growing; people had tried to smoke them green. He wasn’t entirely innocent though. There were two naked girls sitting smoking grass watching him work. They were both in their late twenties, and their main goal in life was to party. Tommy had been pretty innocent until this last month; he didn’t touch the white powder, but the girls, well that was another story. These two looked after him most of the time probably because they thought he had an inside track on the coke.

“I think I’d get rid of the grass,” he told the girls as they watched the cops round everyone up.

“Fuck that,” one of the girls stated. “I’m not going to waste anything.”

Two cops walked over to them. One had a camera and smiled when the girls posed for the picture. “Are you Tommy?” one asked.

“Yes, he’s Tommy,” one of the girls told them. “If I suck your cock, will you let us go?”

“I don’t think I want my cock anywhere near either of you,” the cop smiled back. “I suggest you both get some clothes on and get to fuck out of here.”

He nodded toward Tommy, “It’s him we want.”

They grilled Tommy for a long time by himself and then took him into the house where he saw Sniff and his girlfriend naked on the bed surrounded by cops. “Tommy here told us everything, Sniff, so you might as well tell us what you did with the coke.”

Tommy was amazed; somehow Sniff must have known the police were coming because obviously they hadn’t found anything. The cops looked for two days but found nothing. Finally, they gave up and left, but Sniff knew it wouldn’t take much to get them back. The next day people started to return; Sniff made it quite plain that the party was over, but no one believed him.

It wasn’t long though, and everyone realized there was no more coke floating around. Some people left, but a lot of them decided to find the coke for themselves and began rooting through everything. Sniff seemed to be oblivious to this for a while; he and his girlfriend never left the bed. They just stayed there snorting coke and fucking. It wasn’t until he looked out the window and saw some guys tearing the inside out of his cars that he became violent. He came out of the house yelling and firing his pistol at them. People scattered running for their lives; this time they didn’t come back. Sniff walked back to Tommy and held the gun to his head. “I thought I told you to look after my stuff.”

“Come back inside here, Sniff, and leave Tommy alone. He ain’t done nothin’,” Tommy heard Sniff’s girlfriend say. Sniff uncocked his gun and went inside, leaving Tommy knowing he had to do something.

How the logical mind of a fifteen-year-old works is unpredictable at the best of times, but Tommy came up with the idea that if he hid the bags, then Sniff wouldn’t kill him. “He would have to depend on me,” Tommy rationalized. He would have control of Sniff’s supply, and that way maybe he could wean his brother off the coke. He couldn’t do it by himself, so he went to his father for help.

At first, Old Joe was dead against it. He had lived and worked on the island since he’d been born. Some people had done very well back when the drug trade was the main industry on Andros, but all he saw was the devastation it caused to ordinary families including his own. He also understood the predicament Tommy was in and finally agreed to help him.

It was hard work, especially when it had to be done at night, but they managed to get the bags down the hill and into Tommy’s boat. Then they traveled around to the east side of the island which consisted of mangrove trees and mud. This was also the side of the island that most of the hurricanes passed by, never giving anything a chance to get established for any length of time. Old Joe knew the hiding place, but even he couldn’t find his way in there till daybreak. They waited offshore until he could find the small stream that took them into the mangrove swamps and eventually to a small hummock with a grove of larger-than-normal trees growing on it. There under a bunch of exposed roots, they hid the bags. Old Joe knew no one would find them there, and he hoped he didn’t have to find them again either.

Old Joe’s main concern now was for Tommy. “We’ve got to get you off this island,” he told Tommy.

“No, I don’t think that will work right now. If I run and Sniff finds out the coke’s gone, he’ll come after you and the family. I kept some of the coke back in the cellar. If I can stash it in the house and then have the cops make another raid, they’ll put him away for a while. It’s the only way I can see us saving Sniff and keep him from hurting us.”

“Okay,” Old Joe told him, “but don’t hang around there too long. There’s no telling when he might fly off the handle.”

Tommy’s main fear was that Sniff had checked on the cellar while he was away. He was relieved to find him and his girlfriend sleeping on the bed.

niff lifted his head, “Where you been, man?”

Tommy told him he’d been working at the hotel.

“You don’t have to work,” Sniff told him. “You’re rich.”

niff sat up on the bed. “I saw some more people nosing around here. If you see them, bring them in here, and I’ll blow them away.” He picked up his pistol and waved it around in the air then pointed it at Tommy, “You haven’t been stealing from me have you, Tommy?”

“Nope,” was Tommy’s answer, hoping he sounded convincing. Sniff looked over at his girlfriend sleeping on the bed.

“You been fucking her?”

“Jeez, Sniff, she’s your girl,” Tommy was starting to panic.

“Okay,” he put the gun down and started to play with the girl’s tits.

“I think you better hang around the house here for a few days,” Sniff told him. “I’m thinking we’re going to have company, and I may need your help.” His brother turned his attention back to playing with his girlfriend, and Tommy didn’t ask what he meant, but he was sure Sniff was on to him.

The two customs agents hardly looked up when they saw the small aircraft land on the runway. They knew who it was; he came in all the time hauling people back and forth to the hotel. The daily flight from Nassau had just come in, and they were busy processing people, so they didn’t see the three men get out of the plane and head into the trees at the far end of the runway. The pilot taxied back and parked near the small customs building. He waved to the agents as he passed through.

“Just here to pick up some people at the hotel.”

“That’s what we figured,” one of the agents answered him. “The hotel’s moving everyone out because of the hurricane coming our way. We’re going to have a busy day.”

The three men made their way through the trees and into a waiting car. The driver knew them and where they were going. He took them up the road to Sniff’s as far as he could.

“This is as close as I can get,” he told them. “The house is just a ways up that path. I’ll wait here for you.”

“What, you want to miss out on all the fun?” Benito, the big one, laughed as they got out of the car.

“We won’t be long. It’s too fucking hot out here.” All three men were sweating profusely by the time they found their way up to the house.

“Won’t be any air con in that dump,” Benito mumbled, gesturing to the other guys with his hand to move in around the trees and check out the house. The man who reached the house first looked in the window then waved to Benito. They all met at the doorway.

“Doesn’t seem to be anyone outside,” one of the men whispered. “What’s going on inside?”

The man looking in the window laughed, “He’s on the bed fucking with his lady.” Benito pulled out his gun and entered the house followed by the other two. They checked out the house; all they saw was a black man and woman lying naked on a bed, neither of them seemed to pay any attention to the men as they approached the bed.

“Damn, it stinks in here.”

“Yeah, smells like rotten pussy,” one of the men remarked.