Four Months in Cuba

by Luana Ehrlich

Maybe.

  * * * *

  Instead of taking the sidewalk back up to the patio, Juliana and I followed it only as far as the banana plants. Then, we took the walkway around the back of the house to the garage where the van was located.

  As we came around the corner of the building, I saw a familiar vehicle parked alongside the van.

  Juliana asked, “Isn’t that Mateo’s car?”

  “Yes, and there’s Mateo.”

  I pointed over to one of the bays in Lorenzo’s garage, where Mateo was leaning against a black Mercedes talking with a guy smoking a cigarette.

  “That must be Emilio, Lorenzo’s driver,” Juliana said. “Mateo mentioned they were friends when you questioned him at the safe house.”

  I nodded. “Too bad he fell asleep before I could ask him more about Emilio.”

  After Juliana and I got inside the van, I pulled out my sat phone and snapped a couple of pictures of the two men.

  As I watched them joking with each other, I thought back to what Mateo had told me the night I’d given him the truth serum. “You’re a good friend, Nacio, but Emilio’s a better friend than you are. He tells me secrets.”

  Had Emilio told Mateo where Lorenzo had taken Mitchell?

  Had he taken him to a farmhouse in El Cobre?

  Was that why Mateo knew Mitchell was no longer in Santiago?

  I decided it was time to find out.

  * * * *

  When I told Juliana what I wanted to do, she agreed to help me. After a few minutes, the two of us got out of the van, slipped behind a row of cars in front of Lorenzo’s house, and walked up to the garage as if we were just leaving Lorenzo’s party.

  Mateo spotted us immediately and came out of the garage to greet us. “Señorita De Santos, are you okay?” he asked.

  My arm was around Juliana’s waist, and she was leaning on me as if she didn’t feel well. When she saw Mateo, she gave him a weak smile and said, “I’m sure I’ll be fine, Mateo. I’m probably just dehydrated.”

  Mateo gestured toward his car. “Come with me. I have a cooler full of bottled water in my car.”

  We followed Mateo over to the Bel Air.

  After grabbing a plastic bottle from the insulated cooler on the floorboard, he twisted the cap off and handed the bottle to Juliana.

  Juliana took a few swallows and said, “Thanks, Mateo. This is just what I needed.”

  I pointed over to Emilio who was standing beside the Mercedes observing us. “Is that Emilio?”

  Mateo gave me a puzzled look. “How do you know Emilio?”

  “The night you gave me a tour of Santiago, you mentioned you knew Rafael Lorenzo’s driver. In fact, you told me you and Emilio were good friends.”

  He looked at me as if he might be embarrassed. “To be truthful, Nacio, I still don’t remember much about that night.”

  “Then you probably don’t remember what you told me about Luis Torres and Emilio.”

  Mateo lowered his voice. “What about Señor Torres?”

  “When I told you I wanted Luis to take some photographs of Santiago’s museums, you said he was no longer in Santiago. You told me Emilio had driven him up to El Cobre.”

  Mateo shook his head. “No, I didn’t say that, or if I did, I didn’t know what I was talking about. I had too much to drink that night. You shouldn’t pay any attention to what I told you.”

  Juliana asked, “Where’s El Cobre?”

  I said, “It’s west of Santiago. There’s a famous shrine there called Nuestra Señora de la Caridad.”

  Juliana said, “Luis probably hired Emilio to take him up there so he could photograph it.”

  “No,” Mateo said sharply, “he didn’t take Señor Torres anywhere. I’m sure of it.”

  He looked flustered as he glanced over at the garage. “Emilio is Lorenzo’s personal driver. He doesn’t run a taxi service.”

  His agitated behavior reminded me of the way he’d acted the night I found Gonzalez holding a gun to his head outside the Velazquez Museum.

  I wasn’t holding a gun to Mateo’s head, but I still wanted him to feel threatened.

  “Emilio may not run a taxi service,” I said, “but I know you told me he drove Luis up to El Cobre.”

  Mateo looked alarmed. “I’m telling you. You’re wrong about that.”

  Juliana pointed over at Emilio. “Why don’t we end this argument by just asking Emilio if he drove Luis up to El Cobre?”

  “No. No,” Mateo said, shaking his head. “you can’t do that.”

  “Why not?” Juliana asked.

  He stared down at his feet for a second. “I’m begging you not to say anything to Emilio about Señor Torres. If you do, I might be in serious trouble with Señor Lorenzo.”

  I tried to look surprised at this statement. “Why?”

  Mateo turned and addressed Juliana. “I’m ashamed to say this, but I lied to you when I followed you to Café de Isabella a few weeks ago. I already knew Señor Torres wasn’t in Santiago when I saw you at the airport, but I needed money to fix the Bel Air, and I thought you might be willing to help me.”

  She nodded. “That’s okay. I understand about the money.”

  “I understand about the money too,” I said, “but what I don’t understand is why you thought you’d be in trouble with Rafael Lorenzo. Why would he care if you knew Emilio had taken Luis up to El Cobre?”

  “Look, you may not know this, but, even though Rafael Lorenzo is friends with the governor of Santiago, most of Lorenzo’s business enterprises here in Cuba are illegal. Emilio told me his boss was furious when Señor Torres interfered in one of his businesses and to teach him a lesson, he had Emilio drive him up to El Cobre and leave him there.”

  “What do you mean leave him there?” I asked. “Where did he leave him?”

  “He didn’t say. He just said he left Señor Torres in El Cobre, and he wouldn’t be coming back to Santiago anytime soon.”

  Juliana said, “Señor Lorenzo doesn’t sound like a very nice man.”

  Mateo nodded. “It’s never a good idea to make Lorenzo angry, that’s for sure.”

  “Don’t worry, Mateo,” Juliana said, “your secret’s safe with me.”

  I nodded. “I guess I’m good with that.”

  Mateo looked relieved. “Thank you. Thank you both.”

  I pointed toward Lorenzo’s house, where a few guests were just beginning to trickle out the front door. “I think the party’s over. We better be going.”

  Mateo gestured at the Bel Air. “My taxi’s back in service now,” he said with a smile. “I’d be pleased if you’d allow me to show you more of the sights of Santiago. Some of the smaller towns in the area also have museums that might interest you.”

  “Juliana and I might like to take a trip up to El Cobre to see the shrine. Would you be willing to be our guide if we decided to do that?”

  “Oh, sure,” he said. “When do you want to go?”

  “I’ll check our schedule and give you a call later. What else is there to see in El Cobre besides the shrine?”

  “There’s an old copper mine that has a small museum next to it, and there’s also a sugarcane plantation outside the village. It gives tours in the afternoon, and I often take tourists to both locations on the same day.”

  “What about farms?”

  “Farms?” For a moment he looked puzzled. “Oh, you must mean the coffee plantations.”

  “Yeah, the coffee plantations.”

  “There are plenty of those around El Cobre, but they’re all owned by the government. As far as I know, they don’t give tours to anyone but foreign dignitaries.”

  I started to ask him more about the coffee plantations, but then I spotted Gabriel walking towards the van. “There’s Keith. We’ll call you later about the trip up to El Cobre.”

  Juliana said, “Thanks for the water, Mateo.”

  As we walked off, he shouted after us, “Call me anytime.”

  After Juliana and I got inside the van, Gabri
el put his trumpet case in the cargo compartment and slid behind the wheel.

  The moment he started the engine, he looked over at me and said, “I think I may have made Rafael Lorenzo angry.”

  Chapter 22

  I refused to listen to anything Gabriel had to say about Lorenzo until we were safely away from the compound and traveling down Paseo de Martí highway on our way to Maceo International Airport.

  Once Stevens had called to assure me no one had followed us out of the compound, I addressed Gabriel.

  “Listen, Keith. While I’m a little concerned about what you may have done to make Lorenzo mad, I’m more concerned about why Ben Mitchell isn’t in this vehicle right now, and why we found ten canisters of sarin gas stored in Lorenzo’s guesthouse.”

  “I’m concerned about that too, and that’s the reason I did what I did.”

  I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like his answer, but I asked the question anyway. “What did you do?”

  “When Douglas let me know Ben wasn’t in the guesthouse, I decided I might be able to find out what happened to him if I could have a little chat with Reina. Not long after we arrived at the party, she came over and talked to me for several minutes.”

  “Yeah, I saw that. What did you talk about?”

  “Mostly music. But it doesn’t matter what we talked about. Reina and I are able to connect with each other no matter what the subject is. Our relationship is a harmonious convergence of two old souls.”

  “What do two old souls have to do with Ben?”

  “Maybe nothing. Maybe everything.”

  “Explain the everything part.”

  “When I finished up my last set, Reina came up to the stage to tell me how much she had enjoyed my performance, and when she told me she was going to purchase one of my CDs, I told her I’d give her one if she’d drop by the Meliã tomorrow.”

  “Why would you tell her that?”

  Gabriel looked at me through the rearview mirror. “What do you mean why would I tell her that? I couldn’t very well ask her what she knew about Ben in front of everyone, could I? If she’s alone with me, she might tell me what she knows about where her husband has taken Ben or what the cartel plans to do with those canisters.”

  “Didn’t Douglas tell you the three of us are leaving Santiago tonight?”

  “Of course he did, but I decided I’m not getting on the plane with you and Juliana tonight. I’m staying here. Reina agreed to come by the hotel tomorrow, and when she does, there’s a good chance she’ll be able to tell me something about Ben.”

  Juliana said, “Not getting on the plane with us could cost you your job, Keith. Douglas has ordered the Peaceful Retrieval team back to Langley.”

  “That’s exactly why I don’t have to go with you and Titus. Technically, I don’t answer to Douglas any longer. As a member of a SOF unit, I only have to answer to the DDO.”

  “Have you cleared this with the deputy yet?” I asked.

  “Not yet. I plan to get in touch with him as soon as we get to the airport.”

  I was so desperate for any new intel about Mitchell, I tried to think of something I could do to help Gabriel convince the DDO to let him remain here long enough to meet with Reina. Nothing immediately came to mind, so I asked him about Lorenzo.

  “What about Lorenzo? What did you do to make him mad?”

  “First of all, when I announced my closing number, I dedicated it to Reina. He didn’t look too pleased about that, and then, when she came up on the stage at the end of my performance, I signed her program. That’s when I thought Lorenzo was about to have one of his thugs escort me out to my car.”

  “I think you’re overreacting. I can’t imagine why signing Reina’s program would be offensive to him.”

  “Maybe it’s because after I signed her program, I gave her some flowers.”

  “Where’d you get the flowers?”

  “The whole stage was surrounded by orchids.”

  Juliana laughed. “You gave her orchids from Lorenzo’s own garden?”

  He smiled. “She laughed about it, and then she told me she wanted to come by the hotel and buy one of my CD’s.”

  Juliana asked, “What was the name of your closing number, the one you dedicated to Reina?”

  “I closed with ‘My Funny Valentine.’ It was one of my best performances.”

  Juliana looked over at me and rolled her eyes.

  I said, “On second thought, Keith, you probably did make Lorenzo angry, and, as someone recently told me, ‘It’s never a good idea to make Lorenzo angry.’”

  * * * *

  Even though I knew Gabriel had a tendency to misread a situation, I texted Stevens again and asked him to make sure our van wasn’t being followed by Rafael Lorenzo or any of his men.

  Stevens was about a mile behind us, and he immediately texted me back. “Slugger and his friends haven’t left the compound. You’re clear.”

  When I relayed this information to Gabriel, he said, “When the DDO approves my request to stay in Santiago, I’ll return this vehicle and rent a different car. That should make it harder for his thugs to follow me.”

  “You sound pretty certain the deputy will let you stay in Santiago.”

  As Gabriel turned off the main highway and onto the airport access road, he said, “How can he say no? Reina is the best chance we have of getting any intel on Ben.”

  He was probably right about that, especially after what Nelson had told me about her willingness to betray her husband for a chance to live in the U.S. However, since I’d promised Nelson I wouldn’t tell anyone what we’d discussed about Reina, I couldn’t share that information with Gabriel.

  Juliana said, “I’ve never had a one-on-one conversation with Deputy Ira, but from what I’ve heard, it’s not easy to convince him of anything, especially if he’s already made up his mind about it.”

  Gabriel said, “That’s true, but I still think it’s worth a shot.”

  After driving past the main terminal, Gabriel headed over to the private hangars and parked in front of a weather-beaten building with a sign over the door that read Aero Caribe Internacional.

  Aero Caribe was a charter airline based out of Mexico City and was one of several charter companies owned and operated by the Agency throughout the world. While the companies were legitimate business enterprises—sometimes even turning a profit—they primarily existed to provide the Agency with a reliable means of getting personnel in and out of a country when it wasn’t feasible to use a commercial airline.

  On the tarmac in front of the building was a Cessna Mustang. The pilot of the four-passenger jet was already inside the cockpit, and when the three of us got out of the van, he walked over to the hatchway and gave us a quick wave.

  Four passengers had been listed on the manifest he’d delivered to the Aero Caribe office, but he didn’t seem surprised when he saw there were only three of us. Perhaps the Ops Center had already let him know one of his passengers wouldn’t be able to make the flight.

  When I told Juliana I wanted to have a word with Gabriel before he called the DDO, she wished him luck, and then she walked across the tarmac and boarded the aircraft.

  After she disappeared, I turned to Gabriel and said, “Hold off on contacting the DDO until I’ve had a chance to talk to Douglas. He may have some new intel you could use to convince the DDO to let you keep that appointment with Reina tomorrow.”

  Gabriel said. “You really want to help me stay in Santiago? That’s hard to believe after all the negative vibes I’ve been getting from you.”

  “What negative vibes?”

  “You’ve got this major anger vibe going on with you, like you want to bite my head off. What’s that about? It’s not my fault Ben wasn’t at the guesthouse.”

  “Did I say it was your fault?”

  As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I knew what he said was true.

  “No, Keith, you’re right. I admit it. I’m angry Ben won’t be on the plane with us t
onight, and I’m not sure who to blame for that.”

  “Who says you have to blame anybody? Stuff happens. Things go wrong. Life is a series of interconnected random events without rhyme or reason. Unless you believe in a Higher Power who orders everything according to some unknown purpose, you’re stuck with that.”

  His words affected me—probably not in the way he imagined they would—and I found myself considering the possibility God had a purpose in the way things had gone down. Maybe not finding Mitchell at the guesthouse was a good thing.

  Right now, I couldn’t see it.

  But that didn’t mean I couldn’t believe it.

  * * * *

  Gabriel waited for me inside the Aero Caribe office while I made the phone call to Carlton. Since I didn’t want it to be an official on-the-record call, I punched in the number of his cell phone, a number he had always insisted he’d never given me.

  When he answered, he said, “Aren’t you supposed to be getting on a plane in a few minutes?”

  “We’re at the airport now. So far, we’ve had no problems and Stevens says we’re clear.”

  “I have to assume you have some urgent private matter to discuss with me; otherwise, I can’t imagine why you’d be calling me on this number.”

  “I wanted you to know Keith doesn’t plan to come back with us tonight. He claims he and Reina have forged some kind of bond, and he believes he can get her to tell him where Lorenzo has taken Ben. He’ll be calling the DDO in a few minutes to get his permission to remain in Santiago.”

  Carlton sighed. “Why does this not surprise me?”

  “Actually, Douglas, I think it might be worthwhile for Keith to remain in Santiago. If you could convince the DDO to—”

  “In light of the circumstances, I’m not inclined to contact the DDO about this development.”

  “What circumstances?”

  “You don’t have time for me to give you the details right now. What were you saying about convincing the DDO?”

  I hesitated. Did the circumstances involve the gas canisters? Was there an operation in the works to retrieve them? Was that the reason we’d been ordered back to Langley?