Havana Hustle (Coastal Fury Book 6)

by Matt Lincoln

  “My turn, eh?” Holm asked.

  “Yes.” González looked at Yoani and then gestured to the passenger seat. “Come along. I will take the seat in back.”

  A flat, carpeted surface was in the area where one would expect a seat, but there was more to what the original owner might have used as a storage area. González reached in, undid some hooks, and then unfolded the leather rear seat. He jumped in and held his hands wide.

  “They thought of everything.” He shifted a little sideways, so his knees weren’t jammed into the back of the front seats. “Perhaps they did not plan for tall people, but the point stands.” He winked.

  “I don’t have to go,” Yoani said. “This is Liam’s—”

  “It’ll be fun.” Holm handed me the money case and then turned to Yoani. “We’ll only be a few minutes.”

  They piled in, and the Mercedes rumbled out of the barn. Its tires crunched on the gravel drive until they reached the grassy area I’d driven over. The stately automobile trundled around the property twice and then returned. Holm grinned as he backed in, and Yoani nodded as though impressed and not distressed over the proximity to González. Maybe she felt better than I thought.

  “I still want to look at the Bel-Air,” Holm told González. “It’s only fair since you brought it out.”

  González handed him the keys for it. “This one runs a little rough. The mechanics found a rodent nest in the combustion chamber when it came in. They broke the engine down to clean it, but it may never be perfect.”

  Holm frowned. “It still drives, right?”

  González nodded. “Yes. To be honest, it needs a shop in the States. They have better access to what you’ll need. We have a limited supply of parts at any given time.”

  “That makes sense.” I walked around the Bel-Air. It was a pretty car on its own merit. Gramps would’ve loved it. “Let’s hear the engine. Maybe Liam will take it out for a lap or two.”

  Unlike the other two cars, the Bel-Air was a hard top. The front end and doors were coral, and that color ran on the lower half of the back end. The roof and trunk were the dark grey Chevrolet paired with the coral that year. Inside, the theme continued with the two colors on the doors and seats. Although there were two doors, the rear seat offered space for more people. It looked like there was more legroom than in the Mercedes.

  “Let’s all go,” Holm suggestion. “Ted, you can get in back with Javi, and Yoani and I will take the front.”

  I thought about skipping, but it was a Bel-Air. Gramps would’ve been disappointed if I didn’t take the opportunity.

  “Let’s do this,” I agreed.

  I took the passenger side. González and I crammed into the rear seat, with me behind Yoani and him behind Holm. At least I offered that much of a buffer for her.

  González wasn’t kidding about the engine going rough in the Bel-Air. There had to be more to it than finding a nest inside. Going by the sound, though, I suspected he was right that it could be fixed, given the right tools.

  Holm pulled out and drove us around. He experimented with speed changes a bit and found the transmission played looser than he’d like. González stayed silent despite the slight abuse. Yeah, the Mercedes was on the to-sell list. Maybe he had other plans for the car. Personally, I could see Arturo hauling tourists around in that car.

  Back in the barn, we unloaded, and Holm handed the keys back to González.

  “You’re right that it needs more work,” he admitted. “I like both of the cars, but I’m loving the Mercedes.”

  González’s grin reappeared. That guy’s face was going to crack by the end of the day from all the salesman-style smiles. Mine would.

  CHAPTER 24

  Yoani pretended to be excited for Ethan and Robbie, or Ted and Liam, as they handed over the cash in exchange for the promise of owning those cars. From the time it arrived the night before, the Americans behaved as the large sum of money was not a big deal.

  To Yoani, it was. If she had that much money, she would hire someone to stay with her mother whenever she wasn’t home. Or even better, she could find a place for her mother to live where she would thrive while receiving the care she needed for the time she had left.

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was business as usual for these people. Next to them, she was a nobody who happened into their lives. In a few months, they wouldn’t remember her, and it was in her best interest not to forget it.

  Someone touched her arm, and she jumped.

  “Are you all right?” González asked in Spanish.

  “Yes, just tired.” She smiled at him even though she wanted to cringe. If only she knew why he bothered her so much. “I’m excited for my friends.”

  “May I speak with you in private?” he asked.

  Yoani glanced at Ethan and Robbie. They were looking through the cars again with the appreciation of a child who has received a bicycle as a gift.

  “Of course.” She switched to English. “Ted, Liam, I will be right outside.”

  González walked out, and Ethan raised a brow.

  “You okay?” he whispered.

  “Yes. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  “Stay within sight,” Holm told her. “We’ll keep an eye out for you.”

  “Thank you.”

  Yoani joined González under the blazing late-morning sun. He led her out of earshot but not sight from the Americans. His expression changed to one of deep concern.

  “You are very quiet with these men,” he said. “Have they hurt you?”

  The question surprised her. He hadn’t seemed like the kind of person who cared as long as he made money.

  “They have been perfect gentlemen,” she answered. “As I told you before, we have friends in common.”

  “You said your friend who escaped Cuba had friends who visited,” he reminded her. “I had the impression that these men weren’t those friends.”

  She grasped for an easy explanation, but a handful of words jumbled together between the Spanish and English for a moment. It happened when she got stressed. She used to think it was her, but she’d heard of other bilingual people having the same difficulty. That was it.

  “I sometimes get my wording confused when I switch back and forth,” she told him. As Ethan told her the night before, working as close to the truth as possible made lies more believable.

  González nodded. “I understand. That used to happen to me as well.” He glanced toward the barn. “Do they know how your friend fled the island?”

  This, she had been prepared for. It was also aligned with the truth.

  “No. She refuses to speak about it. People died.”

  Yoani thought back to that night, back when she was a child. She’d always had flashes of saying goodbye, but she never understood why her mother had allowed her to go with them to the hidden dock.

  “That happens,” Gonzalez said. “As my father used to say, ‘You want to leave, you take your chances.’”

  Yoani froze. She’d heard those words before.

  You want to leave, you take your chances.

  It was that same night, so long ago. Other memories opened like unwelcome flower buds. She forced a smile and focused on the heat, the buzzing insects, the smell of fresh-tilled soil.

  “Every choice bears risk.” She prayed her voice sounded thoughtful rather than frightened. “My friend survived. She was lucky.”

  “There are safer options than those open boats.” He gave her a long look as though evaluating her. “Especially for those who have friends with money.”

  Yoani looked away. This was the moment her country needed her to step up, and yet, she wanted nothing more than to be away from the man.

  “I am sure,” she answered after a long moment. “There are rumors of people who help others.”

  “If you know anyone who wants a fresh start, have them call me.” He pulled something from his pocket and pressed it into her hand. “This number is good for three weeks. It is the same num
ber your friends have regarding the cars.”

  “Will there be a way to contact you after that?” Her voice caught in her throat on the last word.

  “They can go dancing with me at the clubs.” He grinned. “I have many dancing partners with many skills. Anything I need, they provide.”

  Her heart galloped as she nodded. “Thank you, Javier.”

  “My pleasure.” He brought her hand up to his lips and brushed them across her skin. “I will be here long after those Americans have left.”

  González released Yoani’s hand and then strode back toward Ethan and Robbie with every bit of his swagger intact. Yoani slid the card into her small purse and went over to the Emgrand. The pounding sunlight was far preferable to being in the same space as that man anymore. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could stand to be in his presence.

  Mere minutes later, the three men returned to the SUV. González went to the door of the front passenger seat. Yoani had forgotten they needed to drive the man back to his car. She returned to the seat behind the driver who was still Ethan.

  “What do you think of those great finds?” Holm asked as they trundled down the lurching gravel road. “We sure got lucky.”

  She nodded. It was all she could do until González was gone. Fortunately, Holm left her alone after that. She couldn’t tell whether it was because he’d seen something in her face or if his attention was stolen by something else.

  The short drive felt exponentially longer than the seven minutes that dragged by on the dashboard clock. González maintained his charm even as he got out of the Emgrand.

  “You go on ahead,” he told them. “I have to return to the drivers. They aren’t used to these back roads.”

  “Don’t you bring customers out here often enough for them to get the idea?” Ethan asked in a friendly tone.

  “We do not use the same location twice.” González held his door open and gestured for Yoani to retake her seat. “It protects our business.”

  “Makes sense.” Ethan looked at Yoani via the rearview mirror. “Want your seat back?”

  “Liam should take it,” she suggested. “He is taller, and you two have much to discuss, like who got the better deal.”

  González laughed. “Let me know how that goes.”

  Robbie maintained his cheerful demeanor as he took the front seat. Once they drove away, however, he took off his sunglasses and looked at Yoani. Worry lines appeared at the corners of his eyes, and he frowned. In front of her, Ethan was still aside from the driving.

  “What happened between you two back there?” Robbie asked in a gentle tone. “After you were done talking, you looked like you might pass out.”

  Yoani put her hand to her mouth and fought the rush of emotions. She closed her eyes for a moment. Her heart slowed a beat or two but still pounded like wild horses in her chest. She opened her eyes and blinked back the stinging wetness that threatened tears.

  “You were right.” She swallowed. “He… his father…” Images from that night belted her in the heart and belly. Those cursed tears ran down her cheeks. “He doesn’t remember me.”

  Ethan made a sound like a low rumble. Robbie put a hand on his shoulder for a moment and shook his head.

  “You don’t have to talk about it right now.” Robbie rustled through the glove box and then the compartment below it and found facial tissues. He handed them to her. “Take your time.”

  Yoani used several tissues to dry her face and blow her nose. While stuck in the Emgrand, she had no defense against the onslaught of memories from a warm, misty night beneath an orange light.

  Her mother didn’t tell her why they left the house so late at night in an uncle’s car. Yoani was young enough to think it was a brilliant adventure with a prize at the end. When her mother ushered her out of the car next to a docked boat, Yoani saw her best friend. Rosa and her family were huddled by the boat, and Rosa was crying. Yoani ran to her friend while her mother went to speak with a man who barked orders at other people.

  “Why are you leaving?” Yoani had cried. She was a child, but she understood what was happening. “Please don’t go. I’ll miss you.”

  Rosa’s mother knelt before Yoani.

  “You and your mother are coming with us,” Señora Garcia told her. “Hush now, don’t cause trouble for your mother.”

  Fear lanced through Yoani’s little body. She’d heard of all the people who took boats to Florida. Some people were never heard from again.

  Her mother’s voice floated across the dock and rose in pitch. Words flew thick and fast as the man argued and shouted at her.

  “You want to leave, you take your chances!” He slapped her mother. “Get in the boat or go home.”

  Yoani pulled away from Señora Garcia and ran to her mother.

  “Leave her alone!” she shouted.

  The man took a swing at Yoani, but Mami jumped in the way to take the blow. She stumbled into Yoani, and they both fell. He loomed over them, and the orange lamp lit his face. It would have been a handsome face had he not been so cruel.

  “Papi, stop!” A boy only a little older than Yoani ran out and grabbed his arm. “You’re scaring them.”

  The man shook off the boy.

  “Get out of here, woman,” he snarled. “You and your brat are trouble.” He stuck a finger in Yoani’s face. “If you tell anyone about this place, I’ll kill your mother in front of you, and then I’ll kill you.”

  The little boy hugged himself and looked at his feet. Yoani stared at him until her mother tugged at her arm.

  “Come, my love. It’s a long walk home.”

  Behind them, people began boarding the boat. Yoani saw Rosa, but the scary man put his hand on a gun at his hip.

  That night, she ran with her mother until the air smelled more like the city and less like the sea. They got home as the sun rose. Her mother had made her swear to forget what happened, but she hadn’t been able to get that boy’s face out of her mind for days, especially when she heard that Rosa’s boat never made it to Florida.

  All these years later, the impact of that night fell onto Yoani’s body like being hit by a bus. She wasn’t sure when she’d forgotten everything around seeing Rosa at the dock. Maybe it happened over time, or maybe it went away when she stopped thinking about the boy.

  As Yoani relived the memory, the man’s face crystalized, as did the boy’s. She understood at last.

  González was the little boy at the dock that night.

  CHAPTER 25

  We met Birn, Arturo, and Philippe at an intersection halfway between the meet up and Havana. As we parked at the crossroads, Yoani touched my shoulder. She moved over so we could see each other. A lump formed in my throat as I noted her red, puffy eyes.

  “I don’t want them to know that I’ve been… upset.” She put her sunglasses on. “Philippe will get angry and want to act.”

  “Okay, anything you need,” I told her.

  “Same,” Holm added.

  Yoani sniffed. “Thank you.”

  We got out and met the other men at a stand of trees a few yards from the dirt roads. The shade didn’t do much for the pounding heat, but at least it didn’t feel like the sun was eating into my skin.

  “Did you find a vantage point?” I got a second look at his dirt-stained clothes. “I take it you did?”

  “Arturo and I got fairly close.” He gave the guard a friendly clap on the back. “We worked up to that line of trees and stayed low. There was a little ditch on the other side between them and the road.”

  “Score one for privacy lines,” Holm said with a chuckle. “What did you do, pretty boy?”

  Philippe scowled. “I watched the car. Maybe I don’t have training in stealth.”

  “Hey, it’s okay.” Holm put on a disarming smile and held out his hands. “I was just giving you a little shit. We’re cool.”

  Philippe shrugged and hung back. Yoani went over to chat with him while the rest of us discussed the events of the morning.
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  “There isn’t a lot more we can do here until the cars are delivered,” I said. “We’ve been talking about a sting at delivery, but other than González and those drivers, we don’t have anyone on the line. We need to rethink how we handled the delivery.”

  “What do you have in mind?” Birn asked.

  “We take delivery and then track the boat back to Cuba.” I used my toe to nudge at a small rock that had rolled off the road and into the grass. “González said they have a new shipping crew.”

  “Well, I wonder why that could be,” Holm said in a tone that indicated he did not wonder at all.

  “I want to know where they’re loading these cars.” I crossed my arms across my chest. “They’re smuggling more than cars. I can feel it. Even if these goons don’t go back to where they load the cars, they’ll return with or for other cargo.”

  “What do you think they’re moving?” Philippe asked. Nice of him to rejoin the briefing.

  “It could be anything.” I had a few ideas, but I wasn’t ready to share. “We all know the black market flows hot and heavy throughout the island. Until we catch them, we won’t know.”

  Yoani turned her back on the group and walked away a few paces. My suspicions grew with her every move. I felt like busting something, preferably González’s face.

  “We track the boat and bring the crew in when they dock,” Holm recapped. “Sounds decent, as long as they can lead us to who hired them.”

  “If they cannot?” Arturo asked.

  “We find a way.” I left it at that and moved on. “We have two weeks to prepare. That gives us time to locate Manuel Delgado. If we’re lucky, he could lead us to the people working with him on this end by the time that delivery comes in.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Holm stepped toward the Emgrand but stopped. “What about our liaison and her crew?”

  I glanced over to Yoani’s back. Her blouse followed her back’s outline and flared over the waistline of her chinos. If González or his men found out she worked for the government, things could get rough for her.