by Finian Blake
On the morning of his appointment, Julio sent his car to pick up Laurita. He took the wheel, and his driver rode along. His bodyguards moved around the house to make it look like he was at home. They drove to her father’s house switching cars and drivers at the house proceeding to the Minister’s office where he was taken directly into a formal reception room. Julio had been there often enough to feel at home. He poured himself a drink and settled into an upholstered chair. Within five minutes the Minister entered the room.
“Good day Julio, how was your morning?”
“It was a pain in the ass. I am tired of playing games with the FBI. I was hoping that you could at least do something about the helicopter. It blew my lunch off of the table the other day.”
“Yes, I have the films. They wanted to know if you were breaking any morality laws by having sex with that young woman by your pool. She seemed to be quite young. I told them that I would study the films in minute detail and let them know.”
“What was your opinion?”
“It is my opinion, that you should give me the seniorita’s phone number. The lady seems to be very talented.” Julio did not bat an eye he took a pen and paper from the table and wrote down a number from memory.
“Ask for Juanita and tell her that you saw the films. I will take care of the financial arrangements as usual. Have a good time on me. Now, about that helicopter, will you get them to back off? I would like to eat my lunch without holding it on the table.”
“I will of course tell them that they are being reckless. I will even have them replace your damaged umbrella.” Julio laughed out loud at the idea as the minister continued. “With their camera lenses, they should be able to see what is on your plate without this type of a problem.”
Julio removed an envelope from his pocket handing it to the Minister.
“Thank you my friend. I always enjoy your visits.” The Minister turned to leave and hesitated. “Before you leave a young man called ‘Hermes’ is asking to see you. He claims that someone called Tony sent him.”
“If he came all this way he deserves to see me. Can we use this room?”
“Of course you may. I will have my assistant show him in right away.” The minister pulled out an inch-thick stack of money stuffing it in the envelope along with Julio’s bribe before leaving the office. Julio looked at the minister quizzically as the Minister answered his question before he could ask it.
“The FBI doubles your bribes so I double your bribe before telling them and laugh all the way to the bank.” Julio poured himself another drink laughing loudly as the door closed sitting back in the comfortable chair admiring Rodriguez’s ingenuity. After a few minutes the door opened and a young man entered the room. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties being lean and muscular with reddish brown hair. The young man remained standing since he was not offered a chair.
“What kind of a joke is Tony pulling. I wanted someone that could get me some results, not a kid with acne. I wanted ‘Hermes’ down here.”
“I assure you that I am ‘Hermes’. Tony said that you had a transportation problem, and I am here to deal with it.”
“I have suits older than you.”
“If you want a suit, I will have Tony send you a tailor.” ‘Hermes’ spoke without emotion in a monotone voice. “I can see we are wasting each other’s time. I will pass the word on to Tony that you want somebody else.” His hand was on the door knob when Julio stopped him. Tony was not into jokes if he sent him there must be a reason. Tony was the go to guy for everybody in the mid-west. He transcended rivalries and turf wars while maintaining absolute confidentiality. “Wait a minute. Tell me what Tony’s instructions were?”
“Tony told me that you had a transportation problem. You will tell me what your needs are and I will take care of them.”
“You are not bullshitting me are you?”
“I have Tony’s full confidence. I will supply what you need.” The young man said with quiet confidence.
“How long have you been working for Tony?”
‘Hermes’’ voice remained calm and quiet. “Tony took me on about ten years ago. I was fifteen back then. I started in the insurance business, did some time in collections and then moved over to disposal and transportation. I work with smuggling and IDs. I did some bootlegging for a while switching over to arms.
“What did you bootleg for Tony?” Julio was waiting for the punk to say booze.
“I bootlegged cigarettes for his vending machines.”
“What did you use?”
“I used a tandem semi-trailer to bring them up from Kentucky.”
“What is the tax on a pack of cigarettes?”
“It is ten to twenty cents depending which state. Illinois is twenty cents a pack.”
Julio laughed, “That is a lot of small change.”
“Pennies make nickels, nickels make dimes and dimes make dollars at two bucks a carton that would make ten thousand profit a run. Tony pays me two.” Julio knew that ‘Hermes’ was the right man.
“What is your name?”
“At this time it is Richard Buck.” He handed his passport over to Julio to inspect.
“Are you a rich buck?” Rich smiled at him.
“Not yet, but I am working on it. Tony said that this could generate a fair piece of change.”
“What does Tony call you?”
“He calls me ‘Asshole Number Three’.” Julio relaxed he had heard that name before, since Tony called everybody under him asshole. Asshole three was the delivery man.
“How much time did you spend talking to Minister Rodriguez?”
‘Hermes’ avoided putting names into the conversation, “We talked long enough to find out what the score was. He let me use the side door to his office when the FBI showed up.”
Moony frowned at the news, “We have business to discuss.”
“We need to talk somewhere else,” Rich said. “There are two FBI agents down the hall that were going into the Minister’s office. He takes your bribe, doubles it and makes the FBI double that. I figure that you have a few more months before they hit him up with the big bribe. We need to leave now before they leave his office.”
‘Hermes’ went to the door leading the way down the hall. When they reached Julio’s car, ‘Hermes’ gave the driver some instructions dismissing him. They climbed into a courtesy van from the Hilton and went to the hotel. Rich would not accept any conversation until they were in his hotel room.
“I do not have any conversations in cars. Cars can be bugged in any number of ways, even when they are stopped at an intersection.”
“They can bug hotel rooms too.”
“This is not my room. I had someone else engage the room picking up the key later using their name.” Julio nodded his appreciation. “Now, tell me what your requirements are.”
“These assholes never leave me alone. I need to permanently ditch them.”
“They will never leave you alone as long as you are alive. You are too important.”
“Tony said that ‘Hermes’ was a genius at these things. Was he bullshitting me!”
“The only thing that you can do about them is to die.”
“I believe that I will skip that solution!” Julio was beginning to doubt Tony’s estimate.
“I meant that you need them to believe that you are dead.”
“Just how do you propose that I do that?”
Rich scratched his head, “I am not sure of the details, but it is possible. I can go to work on it right away.”
“You told me that I have a few months down here at best. Can you get it done before things turn to shit?” Julio did not want to be left making things up as he went along.
“Tony told me to make things happen, and I have never let him down. Things will happen on time just when I say they will happen. I will require some bribe money and your approval so that I can work things without Tony. Do we have a contract?”
Julio was starting to see why Tony chose Rich,
“Yes, tell Tony what you need. He will cover everything. What do you need from me?”
“You just gave me a contract. For now, I have your word.” Julio was developing a strong liking for this young man there was a minimum amount of bullshit and he could make decisions. Rich started moving toward the door.
“I do need a way to get to your hacienda without bumping into the Feds.”
“I send my car to pick up my house keeper every day at eight AM. They can’t spare the manpower to follow both her and me around. You can ride over with her in the morning, and be dropped off in the evening.” Julio wrote down the phone number and address. Rich memorized it and burnt the paper.
“What if you forget the number?”
Rich laughed, “You can break my legs. I do not miss the important stuff.” Julio laughed at the comment, since in the early days he had a reputation as being a leg breaker. “I memorize all of the important things and if they bust me they get this.” Rich handed Julio his wallet and passport. Inside the wallet were pesos, dollars and a driver’s license, otherwise it was clean. The leather was suede so that there would not be any finger prints and there were no plastic inserts in the wallet. Next Julio looked at Rich’s passport had several international stamps, with no other papers in it. Julio looked at the immigration stamps finding that they corresponded with places and dates of his last three arms deals that he turned over to Tony for transportation. It didn’t make sense but this kid was for real.
Julio wanted to make one point clear, “There is one more thing Laurita is like my daughter. She is twenty and looks really hot. If you make a pass at her I will take exception. Are we clear on that point?”
“You are crystal clear. She is to be treated as if she were your daughter. We need to go over to the Hyatt. Your driver is due there in ten minutes. Julio needed to check one more thing.
“I need to pat you down and check your luggage.” ‘Hermes’ held out his hands and let Julio pat him down. Next, Julio went through his bag and when he was finished, he asked ‘Hermes’. “Why aren’t you carrying a gun?”
“That would be a mistake. If I get caught carrying a gun in a foreign country, it would be an automatic prison sentence. What am I going to do? Shoot it out with the Mexican Army using a pistol. Stuff like that only works in the movies. I don’t like to use guns unless I have to. I prefer to use my head. When I need a gun, I will carry one for the amount of time that I need it.”
Julio made his pronouncement, “We have a contract.”
Rich went right to work, “I am going to keep our amount of contact down to a minimum. It may piss you off, but we can’t afford to give the Feds too much to find. I will take care of all of the details and give you what you need, when you need it. Most of my work will be with the vendors and you will not have any contact from me unless it is directly related to our business.”
“It is a bad idea to piss me off too much.”
Rich was not fazed by the comment, “Tony mentioned that. Are we still good to go?” Julio did not give a verbal answer he pointed a finger at Rich and nodded. They walked over to the Hyatt and waited in the lobby. When the car entered the drive Julio stepped to the curb jumping in the back seat as quickly as possible. Rich went in the bar and had a few drinks. When he was sure that there was no one watching, he walked across the street.
Rich went to his room checking out of the hotel finding that there was a coach leaving for the airport in ten minutes. He boarded the coach and went to the Mexicana Airlines international terminal. He looked at the departure board. Most of the flights for the states had already departed and the only flight left was to Los Angles. He purchased a ticket and sprinted for the gate. He boarded and settled into the Shakespeare seat, 2B. The flight departed a few minutes after he was settled. On the way up to LAX, Rich reviewed his conversation with Julio. He had a very limited time to put together a complicated operation. The Feds would only buy the story if there was a body. He needed to come up with a location and a method that would leave no doubt as to who the corpse was. His first stop had to be Tony. Tony ran a junkyard and was thought of as a flunky by both the cops and Feds. He was referred to by all of the underworld figures as the ‘Trash Man’. The term takes out the trash meant give the job to Tony. He could dispose of anything and guarantee that it would never be seen again.
Rich made a quick connection in LAX taking the red eye flight to Chicago grabbing a cab to his house in Wheeling. The place looked somewhat run down. Rich was never home to do the happy homeowner things. The interior was not dirty since he was never home to get things dirty. The pantry was loaded with canned food of various descriptions. He opened the refrigerator finding several cans of soda and beer. He pulled the pizza box out of the fridge finding a feint fuzzy growth lying across the top of the pizza causing him to throw it in the trash. Rich decided on canned soup and a beer for breakfast. While he was waiting for the soup to warm, he made a few calls. Rich made an appointment to meet Tony at a restaurant in Palatine at five o’clock. After eating he fell into bed, passing out into a dreamless sleep. Rich awoke at three and stumbled to the shower. After he was dressed Rich walked out to the garage. The house was a small three-bedroom home and the garage was as large as the house. It was two and a half cars wide and a car and a half deep. The back yard was large, but with the garage there was only a small patch of grass to mow that he paid the kid next door to do. Rich removed the dust cover from his 1965 Chevy Nova. He kept a trickle charger on the battery to keep it fresh. The small block 283 V8 fired instantly with a rumble that always pleased him. He dropped the floor shift into first gear, driving over to the restaurant to meet Tony.
The restaurant was a beer and burger place on Touhy Avenue. He arrived an hour early ordering two half pound burgers and a pitcher of beer for five o’clock. Rich was a legend with the waitresses since he would tip twenty dollars on a seventeen-dollar tab. Happy hour was just starting, and by five the place would be jammed. All of the workers from the surrounding area would pour in and the place would be standing room only. ‘Hermes’ took a two-person table wedged in the back corner of the restaurant. He watched asshole one and two enter the restaurant taking the standup table in front of his table. Nobody else could get within ten feet of him. By the time Tony arrived every table in the restaurant was taken and the juke box would be playing loudly. By the time Tony reached the table, the waitress was dropping two half pound burgers and a pitcher of beer on the table.
“Am I that predictable?”
“You said five o’clock straight up. If you were late your burger would be getting cold. I assume that you still do not want cheese on your burger, and that you still drink Bud.”
“I would like a cheese burger,” Tony said it because he knew that Rich ordered a cheese burger for himself.
“I haven’t touched mine yet,” Rich slid his basket across the table. It was a test and he knew it. Tony applied the condiments and called the waitress over to remove them.
“I see that you still like a naked table when you talk.” Rich said.
“I hope an asshole like you has checked the table for wires.”
“Yes, I did that about a half an hour ago.”
Rich went straight to business, “M dropped a very complicated contract on me. Even if it goes smoothly you are going to take heat.”
“Who is the contract?”
“M, it has to look good. He asked me to move away from you to do the job.”
“That idea has merit. What do you need to do it?”
“I want one M to work with.”
Tony said, “I was told to go through F C for the money. As far as security goes you have a ‘Mercury Black’ authority for running arms. Use that clearance for now. You have picked up papers from W before. Use her for your needs in that area.” Tony knew that Rich was good, but this was a stretch. “Do you have a plan?”
“Not yet, do you want to know what the plan is, when I come up with it?”
“No, I think that this one sh
ould stay with you. Do you remember me telling you about the pennies, dimes and dollars thing?”
“Yes, I used it to let him know that you sent me.”
Tony put his hand on top of Rich’s hand, “M keeps track of those things. Do not assume that you have an unlimited budget. You have F C’s contact numbers. Do you need anything else?”
“I need W’s contact.” Tony wrote the number on a slip of paper, handing it to Rich. He read the number burning the paper in the ash tray. When the fire was extinguished he mixed the ashes with his fingers, and poured some beer in the ash tray. “Thank you, do you want any reports?”
“No, I do not expect to hear from you again.”
Tony shook hands with Rich, and asshole number one started walking out the door for a look at the parking lot. As Tony walked past the standup table, asshole number two followed him out. All the time that they were talking no names were exchanged. Rich called the waitress over to the table and had her wipe down the booth. He gave her a twenty-dollar tip telling her to break the glasses. When he was satisfied with her work he left the restaurant. He went to the pay phone dialing the number for Father Cash.
“Bless me father for I am about to sin.”
“I am holding confessions at Saint Romans in the south east confessional at seven.”
