The Reformed bn-4

by Tod Goldberg

  “Let’s just say,” I said, “that maybe I’m more careful than you are.”

  There was silence on the other end of the line, but I could tell that Junior was trying to contain his anger. He wasn’t the kind of guy prone to long, contemplative silences.

  “What do you want?” he said again.

  “I need your guys,” I said. “And your cop.”

  “When?”

  “Tonight,” I said. “There’s a shipment leaving Harding Pharmaceutical at six P.M. that I’d like to own.”

  This got Junior’s attention. “What is it?”

  I decided being honest was the best policy. “About a thousand stop-smoking patches.”

  “There a market for that?”

  “There is in Bolivia,” I said, thinking that a quarter century in prison might have made Junior a little dim on the black markets and geography. Or where people still smoked.

  “What’s my cut?”

  “You don’t get a cut,” I said. “It’s the price of doing business at Honrado. We discussed this right before my friend choked you out with her whip.”

  “Change of rules,” Junior said.

  “You don’t make the rules,” I said.

  “You think I’m stupid? I spent some time looking into you, Mr. Solo,” he said. “You don’t exist.”

  “And yet here I am, talking to you on the phone.”

  “You think you’re the only person who can run a license plate?”

  I looked at Sam. He was the man in charge of making sure I had plates on the Charger that couldn’t be traced back to anything prudent. It had been so long since we’d changed them that I had no idea whom or what they belonged to. I gave Sam a look that I hope conveyed this. He just shrugged.

  “I trust that Officer Prieto can do all sorts of services for you,” I said. “But do you think I’m the type of person who just rolls up into the DMV and registers my ride? You better have your man dig deeper.”

  Junior sighed. It was an odd sound. You never want to think of terribly menacing people feeling resigned. It ruins your idea of ultimate evil on all levels.

  “We either start understanding each other on a better business level or one of us is going to die,” Junior said.

  “Are you speaking euphemistically?”

  “I’m speaking bullets to heads,” he said.

  I laughed. It wasn’t a funny thing to be hearing, but it’s always nice to give psychopaths reason to believe you’re just as crazy as they are. “I like how you think, Junior,” I said. “Look, we can only both bleed this whale for so long and then we’ll have to fight for his oil and blubber once he’s dead; that’s what I’m hearing. So why don’t we do this. You send your guys and your cop over to Harding Pharmaceutical this evening, grab the truck, don’t kill anyone in the process, and in good faith, I’ll give you forty percent of my take.”

  “Fifty percent.”

  “What are you willing to give me to get fifty percent of a score you wouldn’t even know about without me?”

  “You can keep the girl. What’s her name? Leticia. She’s yours. But my man wants his kid. That’s Latin Emperor property.”

  Fiona was already angry, but this last demand got her ready to blow. So I did the only thing I could do. “Deal,” I said. “Why don’t you and me go to the job tonight, too. Make it a real gentlemen’s agreement, and that way I can make sure none of your boys goes crazy and caps someone and then we both lose.”

  “When do we get the kid?”

  “Sunday morning,” I said. “I’ve got buyers ready tonight. They’ll inspect the truck, see if it’s all kosher, we’ll get paid and we’ll make the trade in the morning at Honrado-that way no one goes gun crazy. No one gets cut. Father and son are together. We all go get some Jesus together, maybe. Make it real easy. And I’ve got one less crying kid to worry about. You ever listen to a kid cry for an entire night? And then there was the food he ate. You can have him, Junior. You can have him.”

  Junior considered all of this. “Where do we meet tonight?”

  I told him to meet me a few blocks from Harding at four forty-five. “The truck is scheduled to leave at six,” I said. “I want you to send Officer Prieto there to clear out the building well before then. Tell them there’s a bomb threat.”

  “I don’t tell him what to do,” Junior said.

  “You won’t. I will. He can tell them whatever he wants. Just get the people out. I don’t trust that your boys won’t stomp the shit out of someone just for kicks.”

  “Then what?”

  “You just make sure everyone’s out of the facility, and then have your boys take the truck from the loading dock. Your boys know how to steal cars, right?”

  “I’ll find someone,” he said.

  “Be good if they knew how to drive a truck,” I said. “You got any kind of program in the Latin Emperors that teaches manual-transmission driving?”

  “Why don’t you just do this yourself?”

  “Because I don’t trust that you wouldn’t have your officer Prieto arrest me. Or shoot me. And we’re a team, Junior. Remember?”

  “Where do I tell them to take the truck?”

  “Bring it to the back of Honrado,” I said. “Park it next to loading bay by the press. One of my people will be waiting. The truck doesn’t show up, you don’t get your money plate.”

  “How much is this job worth to you?”

  This I had no idea about, so I came up with a number that would make Junior interested. “Fifty g’s, easy. Maybe more. And this is real money. Not your photocopies.”

  “Four forty-five,” he said and hung up.

  Leaving the planning and execution of the job to Junior meant that I could keep my hands clean. But it also meant that there was a better chance Officer Prieto wouldn’t let anything go wrong.

  Dealing with Fiona would be enough for me to handle.

  “Michael,” Fiona said, “what are you thinking? You can’t give them Leticia’s son!”

  “I’m not going to,” I said. “But we just got him on tape agreeing to buy a child. Well, actually, he’s trading a child. Either way, it’s a crime.”

  “Oh,” Sam said, “you’re a fast one, Mr. Westen.”

  “I’m trying my best,” I said. “You want to tell me where they traced my license plate to?”

  “Well, if my memory serves me correctly here, he just traced your existence back to a wrecked Dodge Charger I saw out at the dump a few months back.”

  “No idea who owned the car?”

  “I ran the plates, and they came back as being owned by a gentleman named Cy Rosencrantz, who currently resides in the Shayna Grove Assisted Living Facility in Ventura, California. I think you’re safe.”

  “That’s fine work there, Sam.”

  “There’s only one of me,” he said.

  Father Eduardo came back inside the loft then and handed Fiona back her phone.

  “Where is she?” I asked.

  “She’s got a homegirl lives near Coral Springs. So she’s there for right now.”

  “She going to stay there?”

  “You can’t tell with these girls,” he said. “All she knows is the streets. I’ve tried to help get them a new life, but when things get tough, they slip back into what they know. She’s scared, but she understands the situation now. And she’s been forgiven for what she’s done. That helps.”

  “Look,” I said, “tonight it’s going to happen. Either we’ll have the Latin Emperors where we need them-and that means Junior, too-or people are going to start dying. Junior’s about three steps behind right now, but he’s gaining speed.”

  I didn’t bother to tell him about his demands, which showed he was emboldened now, and which also showed he was beginning to get close to the truth of who we were and what our intentions were. It helped to have a cop on the payroll for these purposes.

  “What do I do?”

  “Today,” I said, “you go into your church and you do your job. We’ll tell you if a
nd when you need to move.”

  “What are you going to do?” he said.

  “All due respect, Father, if I told you, it would put you into a bad position,” I said.

  “With the law?”

  “With the law, with God, probably with yourself. Just know no one’s getting killed on my watch, and all crimes committed are for a greater good.”

  Father Eduardo seemed dubious about my claims, but wasn’t in much of a position to argue. “What about my brother?”

  “That will be up to him,” I said. “If I can keep him out of the endgame, I will. But no promises. If he’s at the plant tonight when Sam and Barry start running the money with Junior’s men, we can see if we can pull him out. That’s the best I can offer, because I’m not going to look for him.”

  “Fine,” Father Eduardo said. “It will have to be.” He looked at his watch. “I need to get to the church. We’re having a bake sale today.”

  “Sam’s going to go with you to work today while I do all that greater-good stuff.”

  “I’m handy at a bake sale,” Sam said. “And if you have any overflow of people needing holy advice, I’m happy to help in that capacity, too.”

  Father Eduardo still looked distressed, but agreed because he had to. He and Sam started to make their way for the door. “Wait,” I said. “Sam, are you armed?”

  “No, Mikey. I know the rules.”

  “Sam,” I said, “are you armed?”

  “I have a. 22 on me. It would hardly do any damage,” he said. He turned to Father Eduardo. “Little more than a pellet gun, really.”

  “No guns,” Father Eduardo said.

  I walked upstairs and came back down with two paintball markers and handed them both to Sam. “Both are filled with pepper spray,” I said. “Try not to shoot anyone at the bake sale.”

  Through the window, I watched Sam and Father Eduardo drive away. In any other circumstance, they’d make for enemies, but here they were, in the same car, going to church. You never know when the occupied will rise up and become the enemy, and when the enemy will become the ally.

  “Fi,” I said, “why don’t you make Barry’s life complete and wake him up from his golden slumber?”

  “Does this involve me kicking him?”

  “He’s got work to do today. Let’s try to keep his internal injuries to a minimum,” I said.

  So Fiona tramped up the stairs to the top of the loft, where Barry was still snoring away, and shouted “Alarm!”

  One thing about Fiona: She can be subtle when she wants to be. It’s just an issue of how often she wants to be anything but what she is.

  While Fiona made Barry alert, I went about assembling what we’d need to either convict, imprison or kill Junior Gonzalez. There’s no joy in this sort of work, the gathering of evidence to ruin a person, but if you’re willing to do the crime, as the adage should say, you have to be willing to be outsmarted by a spy.

  When working with someone for the first time, it’s wise to let them feel like they have the freedom to express themselves without fear of rebuke. So when Fiona and I arrived at the meet-up spot with Junior that evening-the parking lot of a Steak-N-Shake a few blocks from the industrial park that housed Harding Pharmaceutical-I decided not to get angry with the man if he reacted poorly to anything.

  Like, say, the presence of Fiona.

  “You didn’t tell me you were bringing your poodle with you,” Junior said. He sat at one of the outdoor tables with a half-eaten burger and a pile of fries in front of him. He took a sip from his milkshake and then set it down beside his plate of food. The shake probably made his throat feel better.

  “I thought it would be good for you two to settle your differences. In the spirit of teamwork, of course.” I motioned to the other seats around his table. “Mind if we join you?”

  “Yes,” he said. “I chose to sit outside to avoid the noise inside.”

  We sat down, anyway.

  Inside the restaurant, a little girl’s birthday was in full swing. There must have been twenty kids running rampant. Even outside, the high-pitched squeals were enough to make me want to swear off sex permanently.

  “My friend has something to say to you,” I said.

  “I am truly sorry for choking you with my whip,” Fiona said. “Though there are places in this world where the service you received would be the culmination of a lovely night out. It’s all about how you appreciate the finer things.”

  Junior grunted. “Save it,” he said.

  “So, we can’t be friends?” Fiona said.

  “I don’t deal with you,” he said. “Just Mr. Rosencrantz.”

  “I told you,” I said. “You have to dig if you want the truth, Junior. I didn’t buy my security at Staples, like you did. And maybe, if we become good friends after tonight, I’ll just show you my passport. And next thing you know, we’ll be having Thanksgiving dinner together. Your family of gangsters. My family at the Shayna Grove Assisted Living Facility. It will be lovely.”

  Junior made that grunting noise again. “Why’d you pick this place to meet?” he asked.

  “I like the fries,” I said.

  “When I was in the joint,” he said, “I used to have dreams about this place.”

  “Then you should be happy,” I said.

  “Funny thing is,” he said, “all those years, and when I got out, I forgot to come to this place.”

  “Too wrapped up in your little plans for revenge?” Fiona said.

  Junior actually smiled. I think we might have been having a moment of some kind. “Just happy to cook for myself again. You get a little tired of burgers and fries in prison.”

  “You do have a lovely kitchen in your house,” Fiona said.

  Junior checked his watch, but didn’t say anything.

  “You late for something?” I asked.

  “I asked a friend of mine to stop by, too,” he said. “You have a problem with that?”

  “No,” I said. “Any friend of yours is a friend of mine.”

  “We’ll see,” he said, and just then a police cruiser, followed by a tow truck, pulled into the lot beside my Charger. “You may not want to tell me who you are, but I’m going to bet that you have fingerprints on file somewhere. I got to watch a lot of CSI in prison, so I asked my friend Officer Prieto to get a few… what do they call them? Latents?”

  I had to hold myself back from clapping. It was a great move by Junior. Instead, I said, “Junior, if you attempt to move my car without using the key? It will blow up.”

  “You bluff.”

  “One way of finding out,” I said. “But from this distance? We’ll all be dead, too. So if you don’t mind, I’m going to go behind the building. I’ll pop inside and see if I can get the birthday party to cower beneath the tables.”

  Officer Prieto and the tow-truck driver stood behind my car, presumably waiting for some sign from Junior. He didn’t make any, so I went ahead and decided to rectify the situation on my own. “Just tell our friend that I’m happy to give him my prints.”

  The advantage of being a covert operative, and one that has had certain nebulous organizations proctoring his work recently, is that I happen to know my prints aren’t in the system. Or if my prints are in the system, they don’t come up as belonging to Michael Westen.

  But Fiona’s just might be. Not that she couldn’t handle herself, but it probably wouldn’t do anyone any good to have certain government agencies aware that she was in town.

  Junior stood up and whistled. Officer Prieto and the tow-truck driver exchanged a few words, and then the truck drove off. “Give me a minute,” Junior said, and started off toward the policeman.

  I got up from the table when Junior was far enough away that he couldn’t hear me. “Here,” I said. I handed her my phone. “Take some candid photos for our memory book, won’t you?”

  “Love to,” she said.

  “Keep my face out.”

  “That officer is very handsome,” she said. “I’ll focu
s on him.”

  “Good,” I said. “When I go over, you wait here. But keep snapping photos. You never know when we’ll want to relive this experience.”

  “That was a smarter move than I would have anticipated,” Fiona said. “The fingerprints? The car? Very savvy.”

  “He’s had a lot of time to think of great ideas.”

  “Are you sure you’ll be fine?”

  “What’s the worst that can happen-he finds out I’m a spy? Spy trumps local cop every day.”

  “I hazard to remind you that you’re not a spy anymore,” she said.

  “You know what I mean.”

  Officer Prieto dipped into his car and came back out with something small and square. Probably an ink pad. Junior waved me over.

  “I’m allowed to use a real gun here, right?”

  “Try not to shoot the kids,” I said.

  By the time I reached the Charger, Junior and the cop were already back in conversation. “You must be the crooked cop,” I said. I extended my hand to shake, but instead, Officer Prieto pressed my fingers into the ink pad and then onto a piece of paper. He did it in under ten seconds. It was fairly impressive. Since I knew it was coming, and since I thought maiming a cop would be more trouble than I needed that afternoon, I opted not to stop the process by breaking his arm in two. All that, and I don’t even think Prieto made eye contact with me, though it was hard to tell, since he wore mirrored aviator glasses.

  “You got anything to hide?” Officer Prieto said.

  “I’m a criminal mastermind,” I said, “but that’s probably pretty apparent. Other than that, you now have all the clues you need to my existence.”

  “I find out you’re not who you say you are, I’ll bring your whole world down,” he said.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Good luck with that. I can tell you right now, I’m not really Cy Rosencrantz.”

  The three of us stood there for a moment without saying anything. It was a nice form of posturing, one usually only seen in the wild. I decided to wait it out a few moments longer and then said, “You done?”

  “A real joker here,” Prieto said.

  “I’m just concerned that we have a job about to jump off, and you’re trying to stare me down. Either you’re a crooked cop or you’re not. If you’re not, just go on and run my prints. If you are, you need to decide how you’re going to get everyone out of that warehouse in the next twenty minutes or so.”