Smugglers 1: Nikki (24 page)

CHAPTER 26

“When you get dressed, can we talk over at my office for a few moments?” Nikki asked.

“I’ll be there,” Rita answered.

Nikki left, but not before telling Isabelle, “I hope I’ll see you again.”

When Rita got to Nikki’s apartment, Nikki said that she hadn’t told Joe that John was gone. If they wanted to keep the money they had and stay alive,  Rita had to make the next trip with her.

Rita put up a fight at first because she would miss work. Nikki likened it to Rita jumping over dollars to pick up dimes. “So you would forego making a million dollars in four or five hours, to keep a titty bar job that pays twenty-five dollars an hour? Is that what you’re telling me?” asked Nikki.

“No, I’m just worried about getting caught and not having a job to count on,” Rita answered.

“Believe me, if we get caught, a job will be the least of your worries.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll go. I guess at this point with what we’ve done it doesn’t matter, but at five million I’m out. Three more trips max,” said Rita.

“Okay, that’s a deal,” Nikki agreed.

“How long until the next trip,” Rita asked.

“Two or three weeks. So how long have you been keeping Isabelle for yourself? God, she’s pretty. Is she interesting? Are you going to share?”

When Nikki got no answer, she pulled on Rita’s arm. “Are you going to be piggy or share? Don’t just stare down the dock, answer my question.”

Then Nikki saw what Rita was looking at. The Chief with two of his men were walking down the dock straight for them.

“Rita,” the Chief said without introduction, “we need to take you in for some questions.”

“About what? Rita asked.

“The guy who turned up missing told one of the other dancers he was meeting you the night he vanished, so we would just like to ask you some questions. Can you come downtown for a couple of hours?”

“I have to think about it,” Rita said.

“Rita, don’t make me change your status from a person of interest to a suspect,” said the Chief.

“If I’m a person of interest, what are the two bodyguards for?” asked Rita.

“They are here to guard your body, of course, and to keep me out of trouble. Rita, get what you need and then hop in the back seat of my car,” the Chief instructed her before heading to the cop cars.

Nikki waited for Rita to get her purse, then walked to the cop car, reassuring Rita that things would be okay. “I’ll pick you up in two hours.”

As she turned to go back to the dock, the Chief caught up to her. He spoke under his breath. “She told that asshole, and he told his stripper girlfriend that he was going with Rita to pick up a load of coke, and he would have big money from now on. Luckily, he told her no more, and I got the word first. Believe me, Rita must go before she gets picked up for real by the DEA. I’ll take care of this, and you can pick her up in two hours. But Nikki, I never want to see her again.”

Nikki started to argue when the Chief interrupted her. “Nikki, act like your life depends on it, because it does.”

Nikki went back to her apartment and tried to grasp this new turn of events. She was beside herself about Rita; she was really fond of her, perhaps more than fond. So what was she going to do?

Then she thought of her two million dollars under the dock, plus the half million she just made on the run. The answer was clear. She could survive, plus pick up two and a half million dollars, which was rightly hers, anyway.

The more she sat and thought about Rita, the angrier she got at her friend for telling that asshole from the titty bar about their deal. She’d gotten them both in this fix. The Chief was right; Rita had to go! She would go now, or down the road, but she had to go before she told anyone else.

Nikki had an hour before she had to pick up Rita, so she sat at her desk and thought. When she came up with an idea, she got everything ready and in place for Rita. She remembered that Sam liked to shark fish, so Nikki found his stuff and took out the biggest shark hook and a three meter wire leader.

A big shark hook is about eight inches long and made from solid iron, which meant that it will eventually rust and fall out. The wire leader is a one hundred pound test, strong enough that shark can’t bite through it.

Nikki drove to the Chief’s office, where she found Rita waiting at the curb.

“Boy, what a nightmare!” Rita said after she got into the car.

“So did they grill you?” Nikki asked.

“There wasn’t an interrogation. Just me and the Chief in his office, and he knows all. Luckily that jack-off didn’t tell Candy, the dancer, everything. Thank God he’s gone, too, but the Chief doesn’t know how far gone he is. He thinks he ran off.”

“Are there any more surprises? Are you sure you didn’t say anything to anybody else? You’re sure?” asked Nikki.

“Only him, no one else, but I still want to leave here, tonight. I need my money,” she said. “I’ll pack and see if my old car starts. I haven’t driven it in five or six months. As soon as I get to Miami, I’ll get a new one and keep going.”

“Okay,” Nikki agreed. “You pack and I’ll get the money.” They parted on the dock.

Nikki went to her office to think.  She was sad about having to get rid of her good friend. She wondered how to proceed.

Luckily it was getting dark on the dock. Nikki put on her wetsuit for cover and went across to Rita’s apartment. When she went in, Rita was still packing.

“Did you get the money?” Rita asked, seeing Nikki’s wetsuit.

“I was about to, but I need your help to get it when you get done packing. I’ll get the rest of my stuff and be back in five,” Nikki said. She went to the dock where she connected the shark hook to two concrete blocks.

When Rita joined her on the dock, Nikki said, “Set down your suitcases and help me get into this.”

When Rita bent over to pick up the BC, the buoyancy compensator, a vest, and tank, déjà vu came over her at the sight of the concrete blocks. With fear widening her eyes, she looked over her shoulder to see Nikki stepping closer, holding the shark hook over her head. Rita had no time to react as Nikki plunged it into the back of Rita’s shoulder blades. In a flash, Nikki kicked the blocks in the water. Before Rita could even yell out or feel the pain of the hook, she was pulled from the dock and into the water, following the blocks to the bottom.

Nikki just stood staring down into the water. She was mesmerized by the big bubbles that soon turned to smaller ones. Then she turned to the two soft side suitcases Rita had set down and picked them up, taking them to her office. As she emptied them out on her bed, she noted that the shoes were all stiletto types for dancing, with four inch heels. She sorted them and stashed them with Rita’s makeup in an empty suitcase. She then started trying on the dresses. The ones that fit her, she kept, and the ones she didn’t like or that didn’t fit, she put in the suitcase with the shoes.

Nikki only stopped because there was a knock at the door. She knew it was the Chief because he knocked, he never rang the bell.

“Where’s Rita?” he demanded when he was inside. “I’m here to get her!”

“You don’t have to. I’ve taken care of our problem.”

“What do you mean?”

“She sleeps in the ocean.”

The Chief looked at her for the longest time, then asked, “You took care of it permanently?”

Nikki nodded.

“I’ll be back looking for her, from time to time. So let me in her apartment now, to look for her, and you can tell me she left for parts unknown.”

After she and the Chief were done with the rules, he left. Back inside her apartment, Nikki decided to keep the two suitcases, but took out all Rita’s titty bar and hooker things, which she took to the dumpster in cardboard boxes. After putting everything away she poured some vodka and went out on the dock to look for Mark. He was on Don’s boat having drinks.

“Mark, would you please bring your drink and come talk to me in private for a minute?”

“Well, good evening to you too, Nikki,” Don said.

“Oh, I’m sorry Don, good evening,” Nikki said.

“Well, if you want to talk to Mark in private I could always dive in the water, and go to the bottom,” Don replied.

“Would you?,” Nikki joked, “it would save me the walk.” They  had a good laugh, and Mark and Nikki took a walk.

At Nikki’s office they went inside and she told Mark the Chief’s version of looking for Rita.

Nikki knew she was taking a chance, but she felt fairly safe and sure that Mark would not rat on her if she broached him with a deal. So she pitched Mark on coming into the running business with her for a half million a trip.

“Whew!” Mark took a long moment to think about Nikki’s offer. “Nikki, you know I love you, and I’d do anything you want me to do. What you’re talking about sounds risky.”

“Life is risky,” Nikki said with a shrug of her shoulders. “But I trust you, Mark, with my life.” She went on to tell him about the rest the smuggling trips, and who she worked for. “Next trip is in about a week.”

“Okay, count me in,” Mark said and went back to Don’s to finish his drink.

Nikki had the partner piece taken care of once again; the next step was to let the Chief know about Mark. She returned to her apartment to have dinner and drinks. When it got dark she went to Rita’s apartment to go through everything to make sure nothing incriminating was there. She took a few things, but found nothing of importance except Isabelle’s phone number, which she put in her pocket before she left for the night.

Back at her apartment, Nikki made a drink and twirled Isabelle’s number in her fingers but decided not to call her tonight. In the morning she went to join the men on Don’s boat for coffee. The conversation turned to Rick and Chris and their fifty foot Hatteras. It had been found adrift at sea with no one on board.

“Our Rick and Chris?” Nikki exclaimed. “Where did you hear that?” They said it was on local TV, where a reporter surmised that Rick and Chris must have stopped for a swim and perhaps the boat had drifted away from them. A search for them was in progress.

Nikki’s thoughts turned to Rita. She’d have to take care of her body tonight.

The day passed quickly and soon it started to get dark, so Nikki put on her mask, wetsuit, and small tank. It was the gear she used to fix or inspect the houseboats. It was about half the size of regular tanks. Once outside she slipped into the water. It was almost dark when she turned on her underwater light. She saw Rita four or five feet from her and upside down, because the shark hook was buried in her shoulder. The fish had already eaten her eyes and most of her lips. Her mouth was open, as if she were screaming for some kind of help. Help that would never come.

Nikki turned her body right side up and tied her under Chris, but left the blocks and shark hooks. She backed up as far as she could with the flashlight. All three bodies tied to the dock post formed a totem pole, growing taller with each person added.

Nikki swam to John and cut his hands free, so they would float to the heavens. The fish had eaten all of John and Chris’ eyes and lips; most of their arms, hands, and skin had been eaten by fish.

As she left she saw a small fish exit John’s stomach from a hole in his intestines. She quietly exited the water, so as not to be heard by renters, and went straight to her shower, taking a double vodka with her.

CHAPTER 27

In the morning Nikki took her coffee and went to Rita’s old apartment once again to see if she had forgotten or overlooked anything. She felt her story would hold up. She had ten or twelve days to go before the end of the month for collecting rent.

Back at her place, she refilled her coffee and went to Don’s boat to join the guys for the morning get together over coffee. Jay from Dave’s old apartment was there, too.

Nikki said hi to everyone and asked Jay, “Is today your day off?”

“No, I lost my job because of the economy. They laid off four of us because of the decreased sales.”

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

“Look for work. In fact I better go shower and change and start pounding the pavement,” he said and left, coffee in hand.

“That’s too bad,” Mark said. “I hope he finds work. They’re nice people, almost as nice as you, Nikki. Okay,” Mark added as they all chuckled, “you can give me the ten now.” After more small talk, Nikki started her day.

Late in the afternoon the Chief appeared on the dock and took Nikki aside to ask her if she had a new partner yet, because the next trip was less than a week away.

“We’re going back to the drops from the planes,” he elaborated, “we have to change because the DEA is looking for surface runners now. The plane will fly fifty feet over the water at night from a base in the Bahamas until they hit the Florida Coast.
For twenty miles or so they’ll travel south and then drop the bundles. Each one is tied to a salt lick, which will take the bundles straight to the bottom where they’ll dissolve, releasing the bundles. Nikki, you have to be at the coordinates I give you hours later as the bales pop to the surface. This will put you out there at first light. That will be at shift change for the cops or DEA, plus you’ll look like you’re fishing.

He must have detected a bit of anxiety in her expression. “Don’t worry,” he added, “it’s a cake walk, at least the first trip or two will be. You are all set, aren’t you? I’ll stop by with the time and place in the next two days. Meanwhile, get ready, and Nikki, I don’t need to tell you that this is your last chance.”  With that he left and Nikki went to tell Mark of the new plans and new place.

Mark stopped at Nikki’s after he changed for dinner and drinks. She greeted him at the door with a drink and a kiss. They were having lobster, as it was in season and everyone in the Keys was on the hunt for lobster and in the spirit for the next two weeks. There would be fresh lobster and lots and lots of Absolute on the rocks with toasts, of course.

After lobster and a few drinks, Nikki broke out some of John’s toot and they both did several lines in the spirit of their new love and new deal and the money they stood to make on each trip. Nikki started to dance for Mark, and the more she danced, the more she tooted, and the more Mark got turned on. After several lines and several dances she was down to her panties when Mark got up to kiss her. Acting coy, she danced around him just out of reach, keeping a piece of furniture between them. Mark pursued her nevertheless, even with his clothes on the floor and the tables or sofas between them.

They laughed as they played cat and mouse. When he finally caught her, they wrestled to the floor and Mark tried to get a kiss, but Nikki was playing hard to get and even harder to keep. Nikki broke free and ran to the mirror, followed by Mark. Soon they were locked in an embrace, kissing all the way to her room where she fell back onto the bed with Mark. He spent a lot of time kissing and fondling her breasts, before he began to kiss and caress her stomach and thighs.

They awoke entangled in each other’s arms. It was late in the morning for them, but they spent a long time in bed kissing and making love. Later over coffee, they both got that feeling again and went back to bed until noon.

It was later that day when Nikki went out on the dock. Most people had been up earlier and had gone out to dive for lobster. The remaining residents were drinking or working on the boats, and Mark was working on the dock. Tonight would be the first trip with Mark and the new boat. She had to pick up a full auto AK47 and four thirty round clips. The best part or maybe the worst part is a throw down with no serial numbers.

The day was a typical day on the dock, and as the sun set and dark settled in, she and Mark went to her apartment for dinner, then split up to shower and change. Mark came back to her place about nine, and they went over the plan for the evening’s work.

Just as they were about to walk out the door the phone rang, Nikki picked it up and started to smile from ear to ear. It was Isabelle asking about Rita. Nikki told her that she had left for parts unknown right after the cops were here. Nikki promised to call her back in the morning.

Mark and Nikki continued down the dock to get on their new boat, a cutty
c
abin this time with three outboards so they could put the bundles inside out of sight. They headed out to the GPS way points and everything went well.

Mark kept combing the horizon with the night vision binoculars to see if he could pick up any heat signals. When they got to the coordinates, the first half dozen bundles were on the surface. Nikki kept putting them in the boat, and after an hour they had a dozen stowed and in the boat.

Suddenly Mark screamed at Nikki, “Don’t look up, there’s a plane coming.” When the plane was overhead, it made several tight circles above them. “We’re getting out of here! Hold on and chuck the bundles overboard!” Mark yelled.

As Mark sped off, Nikki started throwing the bundles overboard when several pairs of lights hit them from the DEA boats that were in pursuit of them. She still had seven or eight bundles to go when everyone went to full throttle. The go-fast DEA boats were much faster and were chasing their boat containing three or four hundred pounds of cocaine which translated to forty years in the slammer if they were caught.

Nikki spread a full clip of AK-47 just in front of the DEA boats to slow them down. It didn’t work; they fired back and kept coming at full throttle. Mark pointed the boat for the bridge, and Nikki fired two more clips at the pursuing boats. Without warning the boat took a sharp right hand turn, throwing Nikki and her AK-47 in the water. Mack kept the boat going full speed into the weeds and mangroves.

They were followed closely by the three DEA boats. She could hear their boats’ engines roaring and hear all the DEA agents yelling at each other.

Five or six DEA agents got in the water with flash lights and headed for the smuggler’s boat. Nikki treaded water, making her way for the Seven Mile Bridge when she heard engines slow down. She heard a voice yell, “He’s been hit several times; he’s dead! It looks like there’s four or five hundred pounds of coke on board.”

“Was he by himself?” another man yelled.

“I think so,” was the response.

Nikki checked her shoulder several times because it hurt every time she moved. The bridge was close to a mile away, but the tide was in her favor, so she kept doing the breast stroke. A few minutes later she saw two boats coming toward her with all their lights and sirens on. When they got close she dove under water and went deep until they passed over. When she was sure they were gone, she surfaced and continued toward the bridge.

After what seemed like hours, she got to the bridge, pulling herself onto the bank to dry off. She had twenty miles to get home without being seen. Her shirt was torn but she was not cut and had no broken bones to her knowledge. After she dried off somewhat and tried to straighten out her hair as best she could, she went to the road to hitch a ride.

Several cars went past her, and then a couple in an old pick up pulled over. When she got in, the man asked, “What happened to you and what are you doing hitch hiking at four o’clock in the morning?”

“Yeah, honey, are you okay”? the girl with him asked.

Nikki said she chose to go out with the wrong guy in his boat and that he had gotten drunk and wanted to go out to sea instead of going home, so she got out of the boat at seven mile and went for a swim.

“No shit,” the girl said, “what happened to the guy?”

“He just kept going,” said Nikki. “I don’t know if he even knew I was gone; all I want to do now is get home”.

“What were all the water cops doing at the point?”

“All I know is they went past me at one hundred miles per hour, and I'm lucky I wasn’t hit. They didn’t stop or even slow down for me, they just kept going like they were on fire.”

The man asked where she lived and drove her home. She never told them her name and she hoped that that would be the end of it. Nikki had just taken a shower and put her clothes in the washer, when she heard a knock at the door. When she opened it, she came face to face with four cops including the Chief who said, “Good morning, Nikki, have you been home all night?”

“Yes, I just got up and started the coffee.”

“I hate to tell you this, but Mark is dead;, he got caught making a run and got into a fight with the DEA and lost.”

“My Mark?” she asked. “He’s dead? Oh, my God. Come in.”

She fell onto the sofa and started to cry real tears as the reality of losing Mark hit her. He had saved her from the same fate, giving his life so she could live.

The Chief and his cohorts stayed with her for a couple of hours. He instructed her not to enter Mark’s boat under any circumstances, saying they would be back to search it.

After they left, Nikki tried to remember if there was anything in his boat that would tie her to the deal. She could not think of anything, so she decided not to take the chance on going aboard Mark’s boat. When all the cops came back with the search dog to check the boat, a crowd gathered on the dock. Most of the people on the dock couldn’t believe that Mark was in the running business as he didn’t fit the part.

The next day as she was walking down the dock a stranger walked toward her. When they were face to face, he introduced himself as Chuck. He said he would be a long term customer and had three boats to slip. A seventy-five footer, a forty-two and a thirty-eight, but if he could slip the seventy-five here he would slip the forty next door and raft the thirty-eight off his seventy-five footer.

Nikki said if she moved a few boats around she could take the seventy-five footer and let him raft the thirty-eight, but as soon as she got room for the forty-two, he had to move it to her dock. He agreed and asked where he should have the seventy-five put when it arrived in the morning. After getting the proper paperwork filled out and the deposit and first month’s rent, Nikki took him to the neighbors to see about a slip for the forty-two foot sport fisher.

When that was done he asked if she wanted to grab a quick dinner and a few drinks.

“Okay, let’s stop by my place so I can wash up and change.” After she had done this they went to his car which she saw was a new Eldorado.

“Nice car,” Nikki said.

“Thank you,” he replied, “I may leave this for the boat Captain's use from time to time after the seventy-five footer gets here. I have my own plane, and I'm from Houston.”

“So, what does Chuck do?” Nikki asked.

“Well, I have my own business.”

“And what would that be?” asked Nikki.

“I am in the import-export business, antiques mostly, but we found that Florida is rich with opportunities, much richer than Europe. Do you know where the best fish restaurant is here?” he said.

“You do like fish, don’t you?” Nikki said. “Take a U-turn when you can. The restaurant is called ’the Wave’ and it’s in the other direction. They have a great menu and wine list if you like that sort of thing.”

“I drink nothing but Jack Daniels and have since I was sixteen.”

When they got to ‘The Wave’ they chose a table with an ocean view and ordered drinks. After a four hour lunch that consisted mostly of doubles and cost three fifty with the tip, they stumbled out to the car.

When seated, Chuck pulled Nikki close and kissed her. After the kiss, Nikki said, “You mentioned you were married at lunch and have been for nineteen years; what about that? And don’t tell me she doesn’t understand you.”

“Well, she does understand me very well; she has her life in Houston and I have mine,” he replied.

“Do you mean she knows that you have lovers outside the marriage?” asked Nikki.

“We don’t talk about it, but she knows,” he replied.

“What about her when you are away?” asked Nikki, “Does she have anyone?”

“She doesn’t have anyone, she’s not sexual.”

“Sure she is. God, all men are alike around the world, Chuck! I really don’t care if you’re married or not I just want to know where I stand and what I can expect to happen. Not to break your heart or stride, I love sex of all kinds, but I have one rule; I never go to bed with someone on the first date, and that’s never.”

He just looked at her and said, “you know what they say about rules,” and like a knock-knock joke, he waited for her answer.

“No, what do they say about rules?” she asked laughing.

“Rules were made to be broken.”

They both laughed, and she gave him a kiss and said, “You are quite fast on your feet and three boats rich.”