J.D. Trafford - Michael Collins 02 - No Time to Die (26 page)

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

The day after the verdict, the sun peeked up over the horizon at 6:14. It was time to start working the fields. Some of the fields needed to be weeded where the machines couldn’t reach. Other fields had crops that were ready to be picked.

The Jolly Boy van arrived at the trailer park just outside
Jesser. Usually there were 15 men standing at the side of the road, waiting for the van to arrive.

The driver stopped the van. He looked out the window at the trailers. The trailers were silent. There was no movement. The driver checked his watch to see if he was early, but he wasn’t early. He was right on time.

He honked the horn once, and then waited.

Then he honked the horn again, but nobody came.

This made him nervous, but he didn’t know what to do. So he continued to drive to the next set of trailers, but it was the same thing.

No workers were waiting. Nobody came when he honked his horn.

He took out his cell phone and he called his supervisor. He was instructed to go to the Home Depot. There were usually 50 Mexicans waiting to be picked up to do gardening, roofing, and other odd jobs in the area.

The driver started the engine and drove away. He got onto the highway, and then drove to the Home Depot as instructed.

When he arrived, the driver was relieved to see that there were still about two dozen men waiting there for work.

He pulled into the parking lot and stopped near the group of men. A few of them stepped forward. They started to get into the back of the van, when one of them stopped and asked where they were going and what they were going to do.

The driver told them that they were going to weed and pick.

“
For who?” one of the men asked. The driver told him that they were going to work for Jolly Boy.

The men shook their heads, and then they all walked away.

The driver yelled, “What’s going on?”

One of the older workers looked at him with a hard stare.

“Nobody’s going to work for Jolly Boy today.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

The party started in the afternoon, but it was clear that the odd collection of characters that resided at or near the Sunset Resort were going to stay at the bar all night.

Michael watched as Pace and the other kids on his soccer team took turns whacking a piñata. Then after the piñata cracked and candy spilled all over the floor, Michael walked over to
Elana and he put his arm around her.

Kermit shouted, “Speech! Speech!” And the room grew quiet.

Michael raised his glass.

“I just want to say that I missed you all while I was gone, and I’m glad to see that our little slice of paradise is as weird and as unprofitable as ever.”

Cheers erupted from the crowd that had gathered.

“We left to fight for Tommy Estrada and his family. We filed a lawsuit to get justice.” Michael looked at
Elana, and she smiled back at him.

“We won.
Elana and her family are going to have a better life, and I couldn’t be prouder to have played a little role in that. So cheers.”

Glasses throughout the bar raised in congratulations, and then the music was turned back on. Michael gave
Elana another hug, and as he let her go, Michael saw a familiar face standing in the back corner. It had been well over a year.

His heart started to pound. He wasn’t prepared. He wanted to pretend that he hadn’t seen her and leave, but, they had made direct eye contact. He couldn’t ignore her.

Michael walked over to Andie Larone.

He looked down at his feet like a school boy with a crush.

“Hey,” he said. It was all that he could manage.

“
Hey,” she said.

Michael looked up. She was still as beautiful as ever.

“It’s been awhile.”

Andie
nodded.

“I know.”

“You here for a few days or. …” Michael’s voice trailed.

“
I don’t know,” Andie said. “Depends a lot on you.”

THANK YOU FOR READING “NO TIME TO DIE”

LOOK FOR THE THIRD BOOK IN THE SERIES

“NO TIME TO HIDE”

COMING THIS WINTER

Contact J.D. TRAFFORD at
[email protected]

Follow J.D. Trafford on Twitter:
@jdtrafford

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I know that acknowledgments can be a little like reading the transcript of a bad Oscar acceptance speech, so I’ll keep this short. This is a book of fiction. Jolly Boy and the town of Jesser only exist in my head, but the issues related to immigration and how food goes from farm to table are real. I did research and drew upon the research of others in creating this fictional story, but in the end, this is fiction and I changed geography, science, law, and anything else necessary to further this story. As an attorney, I constantly feel compelled to create disclaimers on everything I do or say. This was my attempt at a disclaimer.

If you’re interested in immigration and food issues, I recommend that you read
Fast Food Nation
by Eric Schlosser;
Tomatoland
by Barry Eastabrook; and
The Omnivore’s Dilemma
by Michael Pollan. Although I recommend reading these books, it doesn’t mean that I adopt any viewpoint expressed in them so don’t write me hate letters one way or the other.

I also thank all the readers who contacted me about the first book in this series and wanted to read more about the Sunset Resort, Michael Collins, and Kermit. A big thanks goes out to Amy and Judith for being beta-readers and making this story stronger. I will call upon you again in the future. Have no doubt.