by David Sayre
There was no sense in denying the model of Eladio's vehicle. Beck could look it up with the DMV and get the information. In fact, Sheen suspected he'd done so already.
"Okay. He drives an Accord."
"That's right. Calderon was there that day, Sheen. I'm starting to put two and two together and it's coming out that you're boy had something to do with a police shooting."
"You don't know what it adds up to yet."
"No, but I have a healthy suspicion and when I find Eladio, I'm gonna know for certain."
"What happened to my week?"
"It went out the window when a detective suggested from his hospital bed the great probability that Eladio was involved in putting him there."
Sheen got in the car and was about to close the door, but Beck held it open and stood in the way.
"I find this kid with you, and that's obstruction. If you get to him, you let me know the instant that you do. Or I promise you your days as a private eye will be done, and that will be the least of your troubles."
Beck closed the door on the Mustang, gave Sheen one last stare to illustrate how serious he was, and then walked away.
Sheen felt the heat on the back of his neck. It travelled to his face. He didn't like being threatened. But now he also had the added problem of keeping Beck out of the mix. There were already too many guests at the party and Sheen just wanted to ensure that he and Eladio could leave safely before the lights went out.
He fired the ignition and backed out of the space. WSHE was playing Metallica's Wherever I May Roam. Sheen cranked up the volume and let the power of the drums and the distortion of the guitar fuel his adrenaline further. He needed to open up the Mustang's engine on the expressway and let the speed clear the anger out of his head.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Demarcation
"So where is this meeting at?" Sheen asked.
He was standing alongside Eladio, a few steps removed from the Mustang. They were outside T-Dub's warehouse and had just walked up to T-Dub and Vernell. Three more of T-Dub's guys stood behind him.
"Down off of Krome. Desolate, away from anything else," T-Dub responded.
Sheen gazed up at the setting sun, then replied, "Out in the woods, in the dark. You guys are priceless."
"Not my instructions, man."
Sheen looked at the other guys flanking T-Dub and Vernell. He also noted the older model Chevy Suburban they stood in front of. It looked like it had seen better days from the faded paint and scuff marks. Sheen nodded at the other men and asked, "Who are these guys?"
"I ain't exactly sure what we're walking into, and how many people Cristiano's gonna have with him. So it ain't just gonna be you and me and Vernell walking into that."
"Just Cristiano? No nickname?"
T-Dub didn't respond. Neither did anyone else.
"Well, we got T-Dub, Cachorro, Araña. I just figured Cristiano would have a nickname too. What, he didn't pass initiation or something?"
T-Dub held a deadpan stare on Sheen, bored with the joke. In fact, he thought it was ill-timed. The others in the group gave Sheen a perplexed look, not appreciating his attempt to break the tension of the moment. Vernell's solid stare of disinterest was coupled with a display of spitting on the ground next to him.
Vernell piped in, "We better go, boss."
The three bodies of extra muscle moved towards the truck and Vernell headed for the driver's seat.
"Come on," T-Dub instructed.
"Nope," Sheen said.
T-Dub stopped in his tracks and gave Delmon a question mark of a glare.
"I'm driving my car and Eladio stays with me," Sheen offered.
"You don't want to bring that loaner to this. I'd hate to see it get shot up or something, then you got to explain to your friend what happened. Nah, you should come with us."
"Let me worry about the car, ok? Me and Eladio are going in my vehicle."
T-Dub was losing his patience for this, but knew that Sheen wasn't going to budge. What did it matter, anyway?
"Alright," T-Dub relented. "But I'm going with y'all."
"Suit yourself," Sheen responded. He walked towards the Mustang, accompanied by Eladio.
T-Dub looked at Vernell and said, "We'll meet you over there."
Vernell nodded, got in the Suburban, started it up and drove off.
T-Dub followed Sheen and got in the passenger seat, while Eladio took the back.
Sheen fired up the engine and hit the gas.
They had driven west on 8th street for about five quiet minutes when Sheen spoke up, asking, "So, what's the plan?"
"You already know the plan," T-Dub responded.
"Not all the details."
"We show that we have Eladio, they show they have my product, we make like we're gonna exchange, but we don't."
T-Dub let the words linger. He didn't want to dot the i's and cross the t's. He knew Sheen would figure it out.
"So you kill Cristiano and his men?"
"You want me to not turn Eladio over to that man, there is no other way."
"Motherfucker deserves to die," Eladio interjected.
"Son, you do best not to offer up opinions in this situation, hear?" T-Dub reprimanded.
Sheen shot a sideways glance at T-Dub, and then looked in the rearview to catch Eladio's reaction. It was anger, but respectful. It was because of that respect that Eladio explained his reasons.
"For what he did to Maribel," Eladio said.
"Your girl ain't dead, young man. You're talking about a life for some unfortunate violence," T-Dub responded. "Nah. Cristiano ain't gonna stop coming at us, so . . ."
"It isn't right," Sheen said.
"What's not?"
"Killing him."
"Cristiano? He's in the life, Sheen. He gets what's coming to him on the day that it should come. He just doesn't know that today is that day."
Sheen shook his head.
"Told you, you don't want no part of this. Now, I told you that didn't I?" T-Dub reminded Sheen.
Sheen silently nodded. He knew it might come to this, but didn't want to believe it. And he couldn't accept being an accomplice to this killing.
"I can't be involved in this kind of illegal activity," Sheen said. He knew how naive he sounded the moment the words escaped his lips. But that didn't change the fact that he felt he couldn't be involved. And then he would glance at the rearview mirror and catch a glimpse of Eladio, maybe an entire life ahead of him. Sheen couldn't walk away from him.
"You ain't a cop," T-Dub said.
"No, I'm not," Sheen replied.
"Alright, then."
"It's not that simple."
"No, it's a gray area. That's what life has, whether you want it to or not."
"Maybe there's another way, I have some connections, and I can give them some information on Cristiano and his men, stuff I've found through my investigation, you know . . . isn't that better than this?"
"It don't help your boy, Eladio, Sheen. This man isn't walking away without the young'un. Now all this stuff you said, that's fine if that organization goes under, but the top man . . . I can't risk him talking to the authorities, trying to buy time off his sentence. And by the way, it would only get that far, if he's already killed Eladio. No matter how you look at it, he gots to be got."
Sheen grimaced, sighed and realized T-Dub was right. But Delmon hated that there was no other out. That it had come to this. There was silence in the car for three minutes that felt like thirty. And Delmon stewed over the conversation the whole time.
Finally he spoke his mind, honestly, "I have a problem with how you make your living. It's just the way it is. It's hard for me not to find a way to turn you in."
"You could," T-Dub said. "You could make a call, get word to that Internal man you're so chummy with . . ."
Sheen shot a surprised look towards T-Dub, as if he was asking You know about that? T-Dub was already looking at Sheen to gauge his reaction and his expression confirmed, Yeah I d
o.
Sheen realized that Vernell must have known. He must have been tailing him. Or maybe Vernell had deeper connections than Sheen realized. Either way, he was positive the information had come from T-Dub's capable right hand man.
"But shit, man . . . it ain't like putting me behind bars is gonna put an end to all this," T-Dub said. "If it ain't me doing business, it is going to be somebody else."
Sheen kept his eyes on the road. They had driven past Bird Road and there wouldn't be much longer to go before they'd reach their destination. There was nothing left to say.
Just drive.
✽✽✽
Krome Avenue was desolate. It was lined with trees and the occasional open field. As you went further south, more and more tree farms and plantations accompanied by fruit stands would pop up. But this far north, just off the Tamiami Trail, it was the wilderness.
Sheen shadowed the Suburban in front of him and followed wherever Vernell led. They turned left, towards a clearing off the northbound lane of Krome. They drove in about 400 yards and found that a vehicle was already parked in the opening canopied by live oaks and bald cypress trees.
The area appeared to be an unofficial dump, or makeshift junkyard. There were old tires on the ground and some scrap metal, rusted to waste. The only light in the area shown from the headlights of the three vehicles and a fire that had been started in an old, rusty barrel. At first glance T-Dub wondered if Cristiano had set some of his product ablaze, but then looked closer and realized the drum had been out here probably ten years or more.
Vernell got out of the truck and walked forward. T-Dub kept his eye on Cristiano, who had three men with him, but spoke to Sheen, "You hang back. I'll wave you over when you should bring Eladio."
T-Dub got out of the Mustang and walked over to join Vernell. Cristiano eyed him as he approached. One of the men standing with Cristiano had been with him when he and T-Dub had their summit at the bar on the river. Sheen watching on from inside the car recognized the large man as one of the men who chased him a few nights earlier.
Cristiano had his eye on the Suburban when he asked, "Who's in there?"
T-Dub looked back towards the Suburban, then returned his gaze to Cristiano. He answered, "Nobody's in there. We brought the truck to carry the product. We can't fit all those drums in that little ol' Mustang."
"Then why didn't all of you ride in the truck?"
"Truck ain't got A/C, and I can't deal with that in Miami. Not even at night."
Cristiano eyed the vehicle. The windows were tinted and you couldn't see anything through them at this hour.
"We gonna do business, or what?" T-Dub asked.
Cristiano didn't appreciate the impatient tone and he let T-Dub know with his stare.
"Where's the boy?" Cristiano asked.
"He's here. You prove to me my product is here, then we can make things happen."
Cristiano kept his vicious stare fixed on T-Dub, making sure his rival was aware that he was not to be fucked with.
He quickly gestured his head to the back of the van they'd arrived in, while never looking away from T-Dub. The big man at his side walked to the back of the van and swung open the cargo doors.
Vernell didn't need to be ordered, he knew the score. He walked to the back of the van to check things out. As he did, he noticed one of Cristiano's men lifted his shirt to show he was carrying. Vernell thought it was a stupid move. He knew they would all be packing and this was an unnecessary show of muscle.
"You best calm that shit down, motherfucker," he said as he walked past the man.
T-Dub and Cristiano both looked over and saw the interaction.
"No need for shit to get impolite. Let's just take it easy," T-Dub calmly explained.
Vernell never broke stride as he kept his eyes on the man who'd flashed the piece. Vernell got to the back of the van, looked inside and saw the missing delivery. Everything seemed to be there and Vernell nodded at T-Dub.
"Good," T-Dub responded.
Then Vernell stepped up into the van's cargo bay. Cristiano's main thug, the big guy, reacted by grabbing Vernell's arm and pulling him back to the ground before he could get in the van. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he exclaimed.
Vernell pulled his arm away and stepped back from the man, giving him a ferocious look.
Man, I am so tired of Big Fucker, here.
"How else are we supposed to get our stuff?" T-Dub asked.
"Not until I see the boy. Cachorro," Cristiano insisted.
T-Dub looked over at Vernell, then back to Cristiano. He nodded and said, "Alright."
Sheen saw T-Dub look over towards the Mustang and give him a wave. Delmon took a deep breath, with the intent to calm himself. It didn't work.
He opened the driver's side door and let Eladio out of the car.
Eladio looked at Cristiano and was instantly seething. Cristiano returned the look, but his glare was colder, more calculating.
Vernell was sweating, standing so close to the fire drum. He sized up the situation and looked Big Fucker up and down. He counted off the enemies in his head and looked at each one's specific position.
Delmon walked alongside Eladio as they approached T-Dub.
"Brought your little basketball friend with you," Cristiano commented on Sheen's presence. Neither Sheen nor T-Dub reacted.
Cristiano looked Eladio over.
"And you're the cause of all this trouble."
"I didn't cause shit," Eladio spoke up.
Both T-Dub and Sheen liked that the young man was speaking up for himself. But they also both thought it was not the right time to raise the temperature of the discussion.
"I should take you out for what you did to my girlfriend, you bastard," Eladio said, emphasizing his words with great disdain.
"And you don't think you deserve the same for killing Araña, you little fuck?"
"Man, I didn't kill anybody!"
"No, but you drove those fuckers there. You and that pendejo, Diego. And look what happened to his fucking faggot ass."
Eladio seethed. Sheen quietly put a hand on Eladio's arm, trying to calm him without making too much of a show in front of the others.
But Cristiano noticed it. A smirk crawled across his face. He saw it as more ammunition for his verbal undressing of his foe. But his smirk faded when his eye was caught by something else. He looked past Sheen and Eladio, past T-Dub. About twelve feet past them.
Anger took over his face as he yelled towards T-Dub, "Hijo de puta!"
T-Dub didn't know Spanish, but he knew they weren't nice words. This was further indicated by the spit that Cristiano fired T-Dub's way after he sneered the expression.
Then Cristiano reached for his gun.
✽✽✽
Inside the Suburban, the three men waited. Each had already armed themselves and awaited the moment they should covertly exit the vehicle. When they had first pulled up, and Vernell got out of the front seat and walked towards the group of men attending the meeting, one of the armed men cracked open the back door so that it could be quietly pushed open with ease. When the time came for them to make their move, they could do it without raising suspicion.
They'd watched Vernell go to the back of the van and had seen Cristiano's thug put his hand on Vernell. At that point the lead man in the truck had used his foot to slowly push the rear driver's side door out all the way. They watched as Sheen and Eladio exited the Mustang and walked towards the group. And they saw as the exchange of words got more and more heated.
Before they'd left the warehouse, T-Dub had given them the instructions that he would signal when they needed to come out, unless they saw that things were getting testy. If that was the case, they should get in position and be ready to fire.
Each of the three men had a TEC-9 at the ready and, one by one, slowly exited the vehicle. Two of the men moved to the rear of the Suburban, taking cover behind the truck's cargo cab. The last one to exit moved towards the front end. He kept his head low and couldn't be seen
as he moved to his spot. But he noticed, at the last possible moment, that the way the light was dancing off the steel drum's fire, his shadow was evident and his movements noticeable.
He knew Cristiano had caught the image of a partial silhouette when he called T-Dub a son of a whore in Spanish and looked up to see that Cristiano had pulled his gun and his actions were soon followed by his goons behind him.
✽✽✽
Vernell was the first to react to the outburst. The moment he'd heard Cristiano's insult and saw the guns come out, he head butted Big Fucker squarely on the nose. Blood rushed down the man's face, covering his lips and he dropped to one knee, dazed from the shock of pain. Vernell had a clear shot at the top of the man's head and he took it, pulling his Glock 17 from his waistband and firing at close range. Fragments of Big Fucker's skull ricocheted off the side of the van and blood and brain tissue splattered across the vehicle's fender.
Cristiano had pulled his gun first and aimed for the body that emerged from the flame lit shadows behind the front of the Suburban. Before the shadow could fully come into the light and get his rapid fire off, Cristiano put two bullets in him, dropping him instantly.
Sheen pointed his Beretta with his right hand and ushered Eladio away from the gunplay with his left. He'd fired a couple shots in the general direction of the goons behind Cristiano as he quickly walked backwards towards the Mustang. He kept Eladio behind him until they were both behind the car. He aimed three more shots and got one to hit a goon in the chest.
T-Dub pulled his gun on Cristiano, but the Cuban dealer had quickly repositioned after his first kill and winged T-Dub. The shot caused T-Dub to drop his piece and duck to the ground. He immediately, on instinct only, swept his long leg across the ground and tripped Cristiano. The move caused him to fall and the two rivals went at it on the ground, punching and kicking at each other. Wrestling, scratching, clawing, whatever they could do to gain an advantage.
Vernell had a clear shot at one of Cristiano's other goons as they were focused on the two men left behind the Suburban. Vernell lined up his shot and fired four rounds into the man. The other exchanged rapid, automatic fire with an enemy across the field and killed one of T-Dub's men. He then ducked behind the front of the van and focused on Vernell.
