Cruising with the Blakemores

by Olivia Gaines

  He and Odessa knew the warehouse. Rentería dropped off Roget, Big Sarge, Ryanne and Dwight, leaving one vehicle in the bushes as he drove up the main entrance to distract the guards. They headed towards the back entrance. Odessa and Saxton entered on the side. The same guard Saxton knocked unconscious was back on duty. He whistled low and the guy turned to see him.

  The guard lowered his weapon to the floor and raised his hands, asking Saxton not to hit him again. He pointed down the hall to same room Kevin had been held in. It pained him, but he had to do it. Saxton punched the guy in the chin and he went down without a fight.

  “Did you have to hit him so hard?” Odessa asked.

  “Hell yeah! He’s supposed to be on duty. He didn’t even try to fight. He deserved to get knocked the hell out,” Saxton said as they crept their way down the dimly lit path to come upon Mateo, pacing back and forth behind Dora, expounding on a litany of ways he was going to kill her.

  Dora was calm as she held on to her tote bag that housed a few full sized towels. What is with this woman and the towels? She looked up to see them in the doorway, “Oh hey, baby. How you doing?”

  “Mama, are you okay?”

  “Yes, but I was starting to get bored.” She looked at Mateo. “You can stop talking now, Sweetums,” she told him as she looked at Saxton. “You know this young fellow has been going on for nearly an hour about all the ways he was going to kill me!” She looked at Mateo. “Young man, you need Jesus and some counseling.”

  She stood up and stretched. “I could use a bite to eat and I am getting a bit peckish.” Dora grabbed her bag and walked towards the door.

  “Senora, it is not so simple. You cannot just walk away. You do understand that I kidnapped you,” he told Dora.

  She smiled at him. “Yes. I know you think you kidnapped me.”

  She continued to walk towards the door. By now, Ryanne, Roget and the others had made their way towards the long hallway. Mateo grabbed a large, squirming bag from the floor and opened it, dumping a load of slithering snakes on the tile as he made a move to grab for Dora. It happened so fast that even Odessa had to blink twice.

  Saxton’s breath caught as he immediately backed up from the floor full of snakes. His eyes were wide with fear. Odessa was trying to assess which ones were poisonous and angry, but Dora was cool as a cucumber. She dropped her shopping bag on the floor as she extracted two towels from the bag.

  The first towel she used as she snapped at a very aggressive snake, popping it so hard in the head she killed it. With the second towel she snapped Mateo in the nose, it stung so much his eyes rolled up in his head. In three moves she came across the counter, wrapped the towel around Mateo’s neck and lifted him off the floor.

  “You are messing with the wrong one, young man. And now you have pissed me off. You know Saxton is scared of those snakes and here you are being a butthole about all of this,” she said as she tightened the towel until Mateo passed out. She slid off the counter, both towels in hand, moving through the room, flicking the towel and hitting snakes in the head, either killing them or rendering them dazed.

  Odessa was shocked, Saxton was stunned and Agent Roget stood in the doorway, grinning like a hooker at a condom sales convention. “Oh my God! You’re Tina the Towel!”

  Odessa, Ryanne, and Kevin, Jr. all asked, “Tina the who?”

  Tina the Towel goes to work...

  Dora patted the side of her hair as she took a stick and pushed snakes into a corner. “Wow,” she said as she worked. “I have not heard that name in years.” She looked at Kevin, Jr., who was staring at the snakes. “Well, I know I haven’t heard it in at least 15 years.”

  Big Sarge hobbled through the door. “Did she kill anybody?”

  Dora looked at him with a disappointed scowl. “I have not killed anyone in a long time, Kevin, so stop fussing.” She said it as calmly as if she were pouring pancake batter onto a hot griddle as she grabbed Mateo by the arm and started to pull him towards the doorway. “Guys, can you lend me a hand with this?”

  There was a coldness about her that Odessa had never seen before, like a switch had been flipped and something or someone else had been turned on. “Let’s get out of this room before some of his slithery friends wake up.”

  Dora strolled along into the warehouse, seeing Rentería, but not seeing him as she looked for the perfect spot. She found a chair and asked for Mateo to be dragged into it. “Right here is fine,” she said as she looked at Roget. “You know what I need,” she said flatly as Roget saluted and took off; almost giddy with excitement.

  Kevin, Jr. whispered to Saxton, “What does she need?”

  “A bucket of water,” he said low. “And a bucket of gas.”

  Odessa crinkled her brow. “How do you know?

  “We studied her interrogation techniques at Langley,” he said as he continued to check the surrounding floor for snakes. Shuddering. Shivering. I hate snakes.

  “Line those fellas up here against this wall so they can watch,” she told Rentería as the warehouse workers all filed in.

  Dora still had a towel in her hand when Mateo started to come around. His head lolled from side to side as he tried to get his bearings. He saw all the men seated against the wall. Saxton was standing next to his wife and the rest of her family was standing about. An older gentleman with a cane stood watching him, shaking his head in pity. The old man mouthed the words, I am sorry. This is going to hurt.

  He spotted Mary Jean in the dress. “Are those beetles?” he asked as he blinked furiously, trying to adjust his eyes.

  He felt some light taps on his face as his eyes began to focus. It was Seňora Blakemore’s mother. She was touching him. She was touching his handsome face. A sound could be heard in the back of his throat as he scraped the bowels of his saliva glands to produce enough spit to hurl into her face, but Dora was quick. She stepped back and began to swirl the towels like double Dutch jump ropes. The instant Mateo puckered up, she flicked her wrist, snapped the towel in her right hand and it not only caught the saliva, but also split Mateo’s bottom lip.

  Dwight’s eyes were twinkling as he watched his mother-in-law set up for work.

  Mateo was furious. He began to release a slew of racial insults at Dora, “You ignorant baboon! You have no idea of who I am! I will kill you. I will feed your old carcass to my men until your...”

  Dora walked up on him. “Save your threats, little man. You are going to need all of your strength to get through this.”

  She looked at the men along the sideline. “Is he a good man to work for? Is he fair to you?” Their eyes were wide as they watched her place a small towel in the bucket of water the tall man had delivered and soaked it. Dora walked over to Mateo. “Sorry, we have to get a bit personal,” she told him as she stuck her hand in his crotch, lifted his package, and shoved the wet towel under him.

  “Your knife please, Saxton,” she said, so eerily calm as she used the giant blade to cut away the front of the man’s shirt. His bare chest was exposed as she dipped another towel in the small container of gas, wiping the liquid down his sternum, then his belly button and final around his nipples.

  “What are you doing, you crazy bitch? You getting your jollies from feeling up a much younger man, eh, Puta?”

  Big Sarge groaned loudly. Dora turned her body at an angle and flicked the towel, making contact with the soaked wet spot in the seat of his pants. The snap echoed through the warehouse as Mateo’s body slumped in the chair.

  “That hurt a great deal, didn’t it, Sweetums?” she asked as she lifted his head. “I am going to take you through a series of painful and intense strikes, but I only have one question, which I will save for last.”

  Mateo was still trying to catch his breath from her popping his genitals with the towel. He tried to speak, but no words came out.

  “That one hurts, but not as much as this one,” she told him as she snapped the towel again, making contact with the gasoline on his belly button. Mateo’s mouth wa
s opened, but no sound was being emitted.

  Odessa was outdone. “Mother, what are you doing?”

  Dora didn’t look at her children as she spoke. “He is a little man. A peon, a worker bee. This man is not a killer. If he were, you would be dead by now.” She snapped the towel again and it made contact with the gas on his sternum. The skin began to redden as a large red splotch began to permeate the skin on his chest, spreading like an infection under his skin.

  “No, you are no killer. You are the kid on the playground with the magnifying glass burning ants, killing your neighbor’s pets. You like to torment people,” Dora told him as she tied towels around his ankles and saturated each with gas.

  “You know nothing about torture. You are all talk. Me on the other hand... I made my living getting answers from little worms like you,” she told him as she stood up, assessing her work. He will break easily. This won’t take much.

  “I have one question for you, Mateo,” she said as she dipped the end of her towel in the water, wringing out the excess. “But first, I want to make something perfectly clear.” She snapped the towel and it made contact with his left nipple. The right side of his mouth drooped and he began to drool. “That is for trying to kidnap my daughter and sell her into slavery.”

  She snapped the towel again, making contact with his right nipple. Mateo let loose of a giant fart and a wet stream began to roll down his leg. Kevin, Jr. turned his back, he tried to turn Mary Jean away as well, but she turned back, not wanting to miss a minute of the action.

  “That one is for trying to feed my baby to a giant snake,” she said as her son turned back around. He had no idea she knew. Big Sarge asked, “Say what? Let me at the bastard!” But Roget grabbed him by the arm, placing the elderly gentleman in a chair. He was watching one of his heroes at work. Tina the Towel was doing her thing.

  “I will give you one chance, and one chance only to answer my question. If you fail to do so honestly, I am going to pull down your pants, oil up your little brown eye, and I am going to release six blows of my towels until you crap down your leg in front of all of your men. Do you understand me?”

  Through tears he nodded as snot ran from his nose like hot flowing lava. Odessa made a move to step forward, but three sets of hands touched her, telling her not to move – her brother’s, her husband’s and Agent Roget who whispered, “Let her work.”

  “You see, Mateo here is under orders to kill you, but he doesn’t have the balls,” she said as she flicked the towel again, making contact with his genitals. “Which may not work again after I’m done with him,” she said as she watched the henchman cry like a child.

  “So, I am going to ask, one time and one time only. Mateo,” she said as she began to swirl the towels again like a jump rope. She snapped at his left ear, the other she snapped beside his right ear, intentionally not making contact with his skin. “Who gave you the order to kill Saxton and Odessa?”

  He cried out, “Ricardo! Ricardo! He told me to kill them... Ricardo!” The men against the wall emitted a collective groan at their boss buckling under the pressure of an old lady with towels.

  Everyone looked to Rentería, but it was Agent Roget who asked the question, “Who is Ricardo?”

  Rentería’s eyes were on Odessa. “He is Hugo Degaldo’s brother.”

  Kevin, Jr. asked, “And who the hell is that?”

  Odessa spoke softly, “The man I killed in Mexico.”

  Throwing in the towel...

  Big Sarge’s eyes were filled with fear as he watched his wife. She was like a wind up doll, once in operation, bringing her down was tough. Many years of counseling and therapy had taken place to give her balance. It was all about to go out the window as she turned her attention to Rentería. “You!” she said in an accusatory tone. “You have not been honest about your role in any of this.”

  Dora started swinging the towels again and Rentería stepped back. “Start talking, Seňor, or you’re next,” she said as she snapped the towel, making contact with one of the men sitting on the floor next to Mateo’s slumped body. The guy started swearing in Spanish. Dora turned quickly and popped him in the mouth with the towel, splitting his bottom lip. “Ladies are present. Don’t use that language in front of us.”

  Big Sarge moved forward, “Dora, sweetheart, can you hear me?”

  “I can hear you just fine, but as I said, this man is duplicitous, and knows more than he is letting on,” she said as she moved closer to the cartel leader. Rentería’s eyes were growing wider. “I suggest you start talking,” she said as she swished the gas soaked towel.

  Everyone was staring at him and he knew he had to speak up, but he didn’t know where to start. Dora helped him out. “You knew who Odessa was when she walked into your villa in Mexico didn’t you?”

  His head dropped low. “I did.”

  You could almost hear the air being sucked out the large warehouse. Dora snapped the towel. “The wedding, this cruise... all of it! Seňor, start talking!”

  It was no use, he may as well throw in the towel and let the sand hit the floor. “I recognized her from the picture Ryanne had shown me when she said Antoinette resembled her sister.” His voice was low when he talked about how his cousin Mateo would take away the identification and jewelry of the people he would kidnap. “He used the identification for ransom, but he found it was much more profitable to sell them to skin peddlers or to replenish his stock in the whorehouses.”

  Rentería’s voice was riddled with shame as he continued. “I saw her ID, I remembered the name and I had to think fast.”

  He shook his head. “I knew Saxton was Catholic, the priest was already there... so I suggested it to Mateo as a means for him to get even with Saxton... but in truth, I did it to save her life.”

  He walked over to Odessa and placed his hands on her shoulders. “You are so full of life and energy. So smart, so beautiful. I offered you the job because I was hoping you would rub off on my wife,” he said with a wry smile.

  “Instead, Odessa Blakemore, you saved my life, not only once, but twice. You gave me hope that there are still good people out there in the world fighting the good fight and I wanted to help,” he told her.

  Dora wasn’t amused. “You put them in harm’s way. You call that helping?”

  Rentería held up his hands. “The whole Panama thing... I just happened to be there and intervened so they would not get killed,” he told Dora.

  Rentería looked at the group. “You must understand, Odessa is marked. Ricardo will not be satisfied. These men are like hydras – you cut off one head, another grows in its place. Killing them is of no use. So I thought I would take a different route – go after their money.”

  Everyone watched him as he looked at Saxton. “She was angry at what Mateo tried to do to her and she was going to go after them anyway. And they were going to come after her... it was better this way. If each time they tried to get her, she shut down something of theirs, I was hoping the higher ups would give the order to just leave her alone....”

  Odessa could not believe what she was hearing. It was all a set up. “But why? Seńor? Why?”

  Saxton asked the next question. “And the cruise? You suggested we take the cruise.”

  Rentería was actually blushing when he told them, “Actually, I wanted to go on a cruise. I had never been on one... and you guys are so much fun.”

  Kevin, Jr. moved towards Rentería like he was going to choke him, but the cartel leader held up his hands. “Wait, it was fun. I had a great time. Antoinette had a great time, she wants to invite you all to our villa, but first hear me out.”

  Big Sarge took a seat again in the chair and dropped his head. He was listening but not really hearing what Rentería was saying because he understood. No man is an island. Dora had rescued him. Odessa had rescued Saxton. The darkness in Dwight was being illuminated by Ryanne.

  “I am a powerful man, yes, but I have no friends. My wife is a lovely woman, but she is limited in the convers
ation department. You two ...” he looked at Saxton and Odessa, “... you two have something so special. So magical. It is beautiful. I wanted my wife to see and experience what a working marriage is like. Even your parents, after so many years together...”

  He was quiet. “I am sorry. I simply wanted to escape from my life for a week and have some fun with my friends.”

  Mary Jean, who had been unusually quiet, burst into laughter. “Oh hell yeah. I am writing a book about all this shit right here! It will be a best seller.” She continued laughing as she grabbed Kevin, Jr. by the arm. “Okay, they got this. You and I have some loving to do before I get on the plane headed back to Corpus Christie. Also, I want to hear about that big snake.” She gave him a wicked grin as she reached for his crotch which caused Odessa and Ryanne to frown.

  Kevin, Jr. smiled as he asked Saxton, “Man, can we leave?”

  Saxton grabbed the keys to the second vehicle. “Yes. Yes. And Yes. Odessa, it’s time for us to leave. I want to go home, get in my bed and just sleep.”

  Odessa was not budging. “You expect me to be okay with all of your manipulation?” she asked Rentería.

  Rentería stared at her with incredulity. “I manipulated some things to keep you alive. Yes, as you saw, you are being watched so you did not interfere with their business, but no one made a move on you or Saxton.”

  He said the words, but were they enough? Odessa wasn’t moving. “It has to be enough, Seňora Blakemore. You have to know when to throw in the towel. It is time.”

  There were so many things she wanted to say, but she couldn’t. Someone shot at them at Orient Beach, but it turned out that it was Mateo trying to scare them. Everything in her was bubbling to the top and she ran to the nearest trashcan, stuck her face in it and began to throw up.

  Big Sarge had risen and removed the towels from Dora’s hands. He whispered quiet words in her ear to soothe her and bring her back to him from the dark place she went as Tina the Towel. The moniker had stuck because his wife had legs like Tina Turner, but her heart was soft. He had to snap her back to his wife. “Dora,” he said into her ear, “I think we are going to be grandparents.”