Dirty Side of the Storm

by David Sayre

  The last of T-Dub's men turned his weapon towards the scuffle his boss was having with Cristiano. He waited for the right moment, when he could get a clear shot of Cristiano and not hit T-Dub.

  Once Cristiano had gotten T-Dub's shoulders pinned, and was about to raise a fist to club the man's face, he felt gunfire breeze past his head. He dropped low to the ground and scattered away, finding cover behind the near side of the Mustang.

  The last of Cristiano's men saw T-Dub alone and vulnerable in the open space between the vehicles. He sprayed his gunfire, pummeling the ground at T-Dub's feet.

  "Tisdale!" Sheen yelled as he watched the near misses kick up a cloud of dust. He stood up from behind the Mustang and stepped out to get a good look at his target. He fired at the final goon and put three in him. One hit the gut, one the elbow and the other in the neck, just below the jaw line. The man dropped to his knees, then fell awkwardly to the side, crashing his head against the van's bumper.

  Sheen exhaled after the tense moment, but immediately tightened again as he turned to see Eladio staring down the barrel of the gun in Cristiano's hand.

  He shouted, "Drop it, Cristiano!" Before he knew what was happening, he had his Beretta pointed in the drug dealer's direction and squeezed the trigger. The shot clipped Cristiano in the leg and dropped him on his belly.

  Sheen grabbed Eladio's arm and pulled him away, standing between the young man and his fallen assailant. He looked Eladio over and asked, "You okay?"

  Eladio was shell shocked by the whole ordeal, but he nodded and, just above a whisper, confirmed, "Yeah."

  Sheen turned back to see that Cristiano was back up, on his knees, with his gun pointed at the detective's head. Sheen's eyes widened and lifted his arm. The moment of terror played out like a slow motion dream. He knew he didn't have enough time to put his gun on Cristiano. He knew he'd become the victim.

  He heard the shot.

  Then he saw Cristiano drop forward, face planted in the ground, and Sheen could see the hole what seeped blood out of the back of Cristiano's head. Sheen looked up and saw the smoking gun in Vernell's hand. No words were said, because none were needed. Just a look and a nod of thanks from Sheen were returned by a quick nod of acknowledgement from Vernell. He had saved Sheen's life and moved on to check on T-Dub.

  The last of T-Dub's men from the Suburban walked around the area to verify all their enemies were down. "We're good," he shouted as he checked the last one.

  T-Dub had his hand over the wound. The shot from Cristiano had taken a chunk off his bicep. Vernell had gone to the Suburban and gotten some bandage to wrap around it. Once Sheen and Eladio had gotten to him, Vernell was already tying it up.

  "I guess you guys really were prepared for something like this," Sheen said as he looked down at the First Aid Kit next to Vernell.

  "I told you, you might not want to be here. I told you it would get rough," T-Dub responded.

  "I had to look out for him." Sheen looked over at Eladio. T-Dub nodded.

  Vernell moved to help T-Dub up and Sheen reached out his hand for T-Dub to grab onto. Together they got him back to his feet. T-Dub let out a long breath.

  "You did ok for yourself, Delmon," T-Dub said.

  "I don't want to relive it, thanks," Sheen responded.

  T-Dub looked over at the van, then to Vernell. "Y'all get those containers in the truck before somebody comes poking around here. I don't think anybody would have heard that gunfire all the way out here, but let's get going before we find out."

  Vernell agreed and led the other soldier towards the van.

  "Let me help out with that," Eladio said.

  T-Dub raised his eyebrows at the boy and Sheen gave him a stern look. Eladio knew what Sheen's concern was, but Eladio felt grateful to be alive and he knew all these men helped make that possible. The least he could do was lend some muscle to transport a few barrels.

  "You know, for my last day on the job," Eladio added, to make sure there was no misunderstanding.

  T-Dub angled his head towards the van to let Eladio know he could go assist.

  Sheen thought it was advantageous for him to be able to get a private word with T-Dub.

  "I want to ask you for a favor," Sheen said.

  "Is that so?"

  "I'm gonna have to talk to this Internal Investigations guy and what I tell him may be dependent on a deal I make with you."

  T-Dub's eyes told the story. He was wary, but also couldn't believe Sheen's timing. Now, you wanna talk about this shit?

  T-Dub looked at his wounded arm, almost as a sign to Sheen that he had other issues to deal with just now.

  Then he asked, "What happened to you not being concerned with my business outside of finding Eladio? You giving me your word, and all that?"

  "That was for not giving you up to anybody. This is a different arrangement altogether."

  "And what do you want from me?"

  "Eladio and Maribel want to open their own business. Something legitimate."

  "Ok?"

  "Stake them."

  A laugh escaped as T-Dub's lips stretched to a full smile. He could not believe the audacity of this man. In some ways he loved him for it in their past. Maybe that's the reason he couldn't bring himself to fully turn away from him now.

  "And why would I do that?"

  "Help somebody out. Somebody who can walk away from this and do better for himself."

  "I help a lot of people out."

  "Some of them you do."

  T-Dub nodded. He knew what Sheen meant.

  "And what do I get in exchange?"

  "I can feed everything I have on the downtown cafetería, and their cross town connection, how they deliver, everything to the Internal detective. He'll take it from there."

  "How do you know all that?"

  "Not important. But during my investigation, I discovered some things. This can eliminate your competition."

  "I told you, I won't sell in our neighborhoods."

  "Okay, so then nobody sells there. This will slow things down."

  "Somebody will replace Cristiano."

  "Yeah, but not for a while."

  Sheen could see on T-Dub's face that he was already considering it. He thought he could play on T-Dub's ego and suggest something further.

  "And how about you take advantage of the time when the drug traffic has slowed and help open a new rehab center in Overtown. Sit on the board of trustees."

  Sheen hoped he hadn't gone too far with the idea.

  "You don't think that's a little bit hypocritical?" T-Dub asked.

  "Sure it is," Sheen honestly responded. "But you're doing all this other community organization and you're still a drug dealer. And even if you don't sell to our people, you sell to other people's kids. No matter what, you are a hypocrite."

  There it was. Sheen couldn't hold his honest opinion of T-Dub out of the conversation. He hadn't planned to go there, but in the flow of discussion it just circled around to that point.

  T-Dub had an uncomfortable stare darting at Sheen. He didn't really seethe about the comment, but it wasn't entirely appreciated. Deep down he knew it was true. But his arm hurt and he was tired of this conversation. He didn't want it to escalate any further. And he ultimately didn't care enough about hypocrisy to stop making the amount of money he was making.

  "I gotta go get patched up," T-Dub said and was about to turn away.

  Sheen stopped him when he asked, "What about our deal?"

  T-Dub looked him over, then said, "I see that the police have followed through on your information and shut down that organization . . . then, yeah, I'll give the young'un and his girl some startup capital."

  It was fair, Sheen thought. He nodded and said, "Good. Thanks."

  T-Dub kept his stare on Delmon a moment longer before saying, "I'll see you around, Number 22."

  "Take care of yourself, Allen," Sheen replied.

  They didn't shake hands.

  They gave each other one last look, then T-Du
b turned away and Sheen did the same, each man walking off in their own direction.

  There was no beef between them, but there wasn't going to be a friendship either.

  Eladio had just finished helping Vernell and his associate and joined Sheen by the Mustang.

  "Let's go," Sheen said and he opened the driver's side door, getting in the car.

  Eladio moved towards the passenger side. In order to get in the front seat, he had to step over the dead body of Abraham Cristiano, left face down in the dirt, to ooze out onto the warm, Florida soil.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  The End of It

  Sheen plopped a spoonful of sugar into his coffee mug and added a sprinkle of non-dairy creamer. He poured from a freshly brewed pot on the coffeemaker he kept in the office. It was in the outer office that was never really used, as Sheen hadn't kept a secretary like his father did. Business wasn't booming that much, and the waiting area was practically pointless for him. He took his cup to the personal office where he had his desk and sat down.

  Sheen was confident T-Dub would keep his end of the bargain and now Delmon hoped this phone call would cause Raymond Beck to lead the narcs in the direction of shutting down the Cristiano, nee Sanchez, organization.

  Sheen referred to the card he'd already placed on his desk before him, reached for the phone and punched in the numbers. Beck answered.

  "Beck, it's Delmon Sheen."

  "Okay. What do you have for me, Detective?" Beck asked.

  "I found Eladio Calderon."

  "Why isn't he in my office right now?"

  "Hang on. I've got a lot to tell you, just listen."

  Sheen could hear the frustration through the phone as Beck sighed, then relented by saying, "Go ahead."

  "Eladio didn't have anything to do with the shooting at Flagler and First," Sheen said.

  "Of course he didn't," Beck responded with notable sarcasm.

  Sheen was prepared to continue with the lie, regardless of what Beck thought. Sheen wasn't going to place Eladio in danger for his involvement in the incident. The kid was getting out of that world and Sheen intended to see it happened for sure.

  "Look," Sheen continued, "A friend of his, name of Diego Sanabria, asked Eladio if he could give Diego and another guy, who I assume had to have been Nestor Feliz, a ride downtown. Eladio didn't even know Feliz or what they were going to do when they got there. I'm telling you, Beck. The kid thought he was going to drop them off and head home. He had no idea what he'd gotten himself into."

  Sheen didn't particularly like lying to Beck, but he knew the truth would still be enough for Eladio to pick up an accessory to murder charge. And cops were involved, which meant the sentence would be at the harshest possible terms. Sheen wanted Eladio to have that chance to change his life.

  That wouldn't happen for a felon.

  Beck was silent. Sheen held his breath, waiting to see if his bluff would be called or not.

  Finally, Beck said, "Alright, tell me where I can find this Sanabria kid."

  "Unfortunately, you can't," Sheen informed. "He was killed a few weeks back. But I can give you the murderer, and what's more I can give you inroads to his cartel."

  Sheen could hear the tone in Beck's voice perk up as he said, "I'm listening." Sheen could almost visualize Beck having been slouched back in a chair at his desk and then sitting upright, leaning forward with greater attention upon hearing the offer.

  "First off, I want your guarantee that you'll leave Eladio alone," Sheen insisted. "I don't want him questioned or harassed about all of this. That's the offer for my information."

  Beck gave it a moment's thought, and then agreed.

  "Abraham Cristiano," Sheen said. "He could usually be found at the cafetería where the shootings occurred, but I haven't seen him much lately in my surveillance."

  Because he's deader than hell.

  Sheen didn't feel the need to inform Beck of Cristiano's death. There was no way to explain how he knew that one without going into details of the face-off in the woods. His body, with five others would be found soon enough.

  "You've been sitting watch on a drug shop connected to a police shooting and you're just now getting around to telling me?" Beck asked the question with a touch of anger in his voice.

  "I told you when we made our arrangement, I wasn't going to tell you anything that I felt put my client's son in danger, and I couldn't be sure of his involvement until I caught up with him," Sheen explained. "And I also told you that you'd know anything I found after I'd secured his safety."

  "Fair enough. Tell me about this cartel."

  "There's a bus driver, makes stops repeatedly from the cafetería to a convenience store northwest of there, near Curtis Park."

  Sheen gave Beck the bus route number and the Northwest 20th street and 17th avenue intersection where the convenience store was located.

  "You're going to find that Cristiano took over the business from the deceased Gonzalvo Sanchez."

  "One of the shooting victims."

  "That's right."

  "Where'd you find the kid, finally?"

  Sheen wasn't sure why that was relevant, but he didn't want to appear to be hiding too much from Beck.

  He merely explained, "He was out of town. He ran off once he saw the news about the cops being involved in the shooting. He was scared, didn't know what to do. He thought he'd be accused of something he had nothing to do with."

  "He willing to talk to me about it?"

  "The deal was for you to leave this kid alone, Beck."

  Beck gave it a moment, then stood by the deal.

  "Alright, look. As far as my investigation's concerned, I found out what the two detectives were doing there. The rest, I'll just pass along to narcotics, DEA, whoever wants it. Let them deal with it."

  Sheen was relieved to hear that the plan might work. The downtown organization might be taken down after all.

  "But if there's anything else you need to tell me, Sheen, do it now. I'm closing the file on this and I'm not calling you an anonymous source to the drug investigators. So they may contact you in the future. There's nothing else you want to make me aware of?"

  Beck left it as an open question and Sheen didn't answer it. He simply told Beck he'd given him all the information he had and left it at that. They said goodbye to each other and Sheen left the office.

  He was going to drive to Mickey's and pick up Eladio. The young man wanted to see two people. Maribel and his mother. Maribel was going to drive to Yessenia's house after she'd finished her shift at Cafe Vida. Delmon had planned to deliver Eladio around the same time.

  ✽✽✽

  It was a tearful apology. Even if Yessenia insisted it wasn't necessary, Maribel still felt responsible for giving one. She felt guilty that she'd known Eladio was alive and hadn't told his mother. She explained why. That Eladio wanted Yessenia to be safe and Detective Sheen had agreed. None of them had liked keeping the sweet woman in the dark, but felt they had to do it.

  Maribel couldn't believe the kindness in Yessenia's heart. Yessenia was wiping Maribel's tears as she gave her heartfelt apology.

  "It's okay, Mija," Yessenia said as she held Maribel close to her with an embrace.

  Maribel was a beautiful soul, something that Yessenia had known since they'd first met. And she knew how much Eladio loved her and hoped they would live a life together. Yessenia already thought of Maribel as a daughter.

  "Gracias, Mami," Maribel said in a broken voice.

  The front door opened.

  Yessenia's eyes drifted to the young man that stood beneath the doorway. He had sad eyes. Maybe even scared. He had seen more of the world around him since last they'd been together, but in those aging eyes she still saw her little boy.

  She whimpered as she jumped up from the couch and greeted him. Before her mind could process that this was real, that it was truly happening, her son was in her arms. She kissed him on the cheek, held his face in her hands and looked at him up close. She was so
glad to see him that she squeezed him again, her arms surrounding his torso. She reached one hand up to the back of his head, touching his hair. She remembered how she'd looked at him the last night he'd been with her.

  She lost it. The tears rushed out and she was shaking in her son's embrace. He was home. He was safe.

  Eladio couldn't control the emotion either. He wept. And he held on.

  He never knew his mother could hug so tight.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Ever After . . .?

  It was a beautiful afternoon. The sun was out, but the slight overcast of the clouds prevented the heat from being unbearable. There was a cool breeze that would sometimes permeate the air in Miami in late October. The ocean waves collapsed to the shore as they reached the white sands of the beach at Crandon Park.

  Delmon and Ines had a beach blanket stretched out and a picnic basket full of the remainder of their lunch that she had prepared at home for their quiet afternoon together.

  It had been almost two months since the Eladio Calderon case had concluded. After the emotional reunion Yessenia had with her son, she gave Sheen a check for all his hard work. Maribel and Eladio were well on their way to opening a modest diner, probably around New Year's, and Sheen was looking forward to being among their first customers. He'd kept in touch with the young couple and had even agreed to introduce them to Ines and go out together for dinner some night in the future.

  Sheen had only seen T-Dub once since their altercation with Cristiano. Delmon and Wendell had attended the "We Will Rebuild" exhibition game in October that pitted the Miami Heat against the Chicago Bulls, with proceeds going towards Hurricane Andrew relief funds. Sheen and T-Dub spotted each other waiting in the concessions line, exchanged a quick nod to say hello and that was that.

  He hadn't heard anything further from T-Dub, but he'd obviously kept his word about investing in Eladio's business endeavor. And Sheen had read in the Herald about Allen Tisdale, local philanthropist, planning to develop a drug rehabilitation center in the Overtown community. Drug busts in the downtown area had also made the papers, one organization in particular facing a series of arrests and seizures. But a few corners in Overtown were already being inhabited by someone else with a new crop of product and Tisdale's rehab center wouldn't be constructed in time to help enough addicts in the dilapidating neighborhood. Sheen hated to think it . . . but, that's Overtown.