by Dan Kelly
“Prepared? We’ve been praying for it.”
“Okay, I just thought I’d mention it.”
“You two are doing a great job. Keep beating the brush and see what else you can flush out.”
Dave disconnected and Pete said, “Beating the brush? Flush out? Listening to him you’d think we were on a safari.”
“When you think about it we are, kind of. The only real difference is that our big game has two legs instead four and hopefully they’ll kill themselves”.
They were silent the rest of the way back to the hotel. It was almost midnight when they got back to their suite, so they decided to call it a night and leave the buxom brunette for tomorrow’s things to do list.
Chapter 14
- San Juan, Puerto Rico –
At ten the next morning, Pete and Abby are standing on the first tee of the Bahía Beach Resort and Golf Club and Abby is getting ready to tee off. When they first walked out onto the golf course they couldn’t believe their good fortune when they spotted the buxom brunette in the foursome that just walked off the tee. Abby said, “I’ve just got to try my luck at the crap table. We’re definitely on a winning streak.”
The lady is playing with three other women and they all are very good golfers. Pete and Abby caught up with them on the back nine and Abby struck up a conversation with the brunette on the tenth tee. “If I played for a hundred years, I’d never be able to play like you. How long have you been playing?”
“About four years and thanks for the compliment. I don’t hit the ball as long as my friends here, but I’m a lot more accurate on the fairways and am a pretty good putter. I still need a lot more work on reading the putting greens though. How about you? How long have you been playing?”
“Off and on about five years. I’ve taken some lessons and when I practice I seem to be getting the hang of it, but then there’s a lot of time between sessions and I find myself back where I started from.”
“It’s definitely a game that requires a lot of practice. I’ve never seen you around here before. Are you in San Juan on business, vacation or do you live here?”
“I’m here doing research for a book I’d like to write on the history, cultures and legends of the countries bordering the Caribbean rim. Do you live in San Juan?”
“The Caribbean is a fascinating place. I’m sure you’ll find loads of material for your book here. I was born and raised in San Juan, I left to attend Texas A & M , received a degree in finance, met my husband there in my senior year, got married when I graduated and settled down in San Antonio where my husband’s family has an import/export business. As the bride of the only son of the owner, I quickly moved up in the company and was just named CFO. I come here several times a year on business which works out well for me because I still have a lot of family that lives here.”
“Being a native, you could be a wonderful source of information for me. Would you be willing to let me pick your brain for any memories you might have of things you learned about San Juan and the Caribbean in general? I know I’m being presumptuous, but I have a feeling you could be a big help to me.”
“I think that might be fun. I might learn some things myself. I’m staying at the Ritz Carlton San Juan Hotel, Spa & Casino. How about us getting together tomorrow morning, say at 9:30? I’ll meet you in the lobby and we can decide then where we can go to talk without being interrupted. I’d invite you up to my suite, but I prefer to be outside somewhere instead of cooped up in a hotel. It’s luxurious, but sometimes it’s a little too confining for me. I prefer the wide open spaces.”
“That would be terrific as that’s where we’re staying. By the way, my name is Abby Keenan and this is Pete Brody, the captain of my yacht, the Vuelta de Lujo, who also doubles as my chaperon and bodyguard.”
“My name is Zarita Barranco and I look forward to tomorrow’s get together.”
“Zarita, you’re up.”
“Time for me to take some more of my friends’ money. They insist on making wagers on every hole. Who am I to spoil their fun?” Smiling mischievously, she headed for her golf bag and shouted out to her golf mates, “Which club should I use to clobber you ladies with this time?”
As the ladies began to banter among themselves, Pete and Abby drifted over to a water fountain set back from the tee. Pete said, “What’s your impression of her. Is she for real or is she a figment of her imagination. I’m getting conflicting impressions in that the way she was dressed and acting when we first saw her with Pablo had me thinking she was arm candy and possibly a personal playmate of his, but listening to her today has me thinking there’s more to the woman than the facade she might be putting on. How’s that for ambivalence?”
“I’m having mixed reactions as well. She volunteered a lot more information than my question warranted. Maybe we’ll have a better fix on her after our discussion tomorrow.”
They finished the back nine at around 1:30, Pete ended up with an 85, not bad for a guy who doesn’t play more than a half dozen times a year and Abby’s putted her way to an 82. She had five birdies on the back nine. When they were walking into the club house for something cold to drink, they spotted Zarita and her friends getting into a limo which was waiting for them in front of the club house.
The limo driver didn’t look like your ordinary chauffeur or a body guard. He wasn’t wearing a uniform and he looked like he should be sitting behind a desk at a bank instead of behind the wheel of a limousine. He was wearing a summer weight light beige suit, white shirt with a solid pale brown tie, a conservative look with dollar signs oozing from every thread. The banker image was shattered, however, when he slipped behind the wheel and his jacket opened to reveal a shoulder holster and a gun.
As they walked up to the bar, Pete whispered, “Did you get a load of the hardware the driver was carrying? Since when are limo drivers carrying weapons?”
Abby replied with, “I think we might have stumbled into something a lot bigger than we first thought. We’ve got to get Dave to check her out before we meet with her tomorrow. I’d like to know more about the women she was playing with too. Just a minute.”
Abby walked over to the reception desk and spoke with the lady there for a few minutes. When she returned she had a big smile on her face. “It’s amazing what you can learn if you ask questions in the right way. I told the lady that we were playing behind Zarita Barranco and her party and wanted to thank them for being so nice by leaving a thank you gift for them at Zarita’s hotel. I didn’t get the other ladies names and want to use them on the notes that will accompany the gifts. I asked if she could help me out.” Waving a piece of paper in her hand she added, “She was delighted to do so.”
“In other words, if you’re a good liar you can learn a lot.”
With an even bigger smile on her face she said, “If you want to be picky about it, yeah.”
“Well, why you’re gloating over your prowess as a prevaricator, I’m going to get something cold to drink. I’m so thirsty I could drain a reservoir.”
“You’re just ticked because I beat you at golf.”
“I was just being a gentleman and let you win.”
“Get real. How did you let me sink those birdies on the back nine?”
“I haven’t figured it out yet, but somehow you cheated.”
Laughing, they both stepped up to the bar and ordered a tall Tom Collins.
Between sips of their drinks they discussed the agenda for the rest of the day. Abby said, “I’m hoping Dave can come up with something on these names. I’ll feel better if I have some idea of who we’re dealing with.”
While they were finishing their drinks, they decided to spend the rest of the day back at the hotel getting a massage and spending some time in the Jacuzzi. Their evening would be spent in the casino. These activities should give them plenty of opportunities to strike up conversations with lots of people and hopefully gather more helpful information.
Abby said, “You know masseurs, masseuses and casino
bartenders are like hairdressers, many of them love to talk and they hear all sorts of good gossip. Couple this with meeting some talkative patrons and we should have an interesting night. I’m also definitely going to try my luck at the tables. I’m going to ride the streak we’re on for all it’s worth. It’s not going to last forever.”
No truer words were ever spoken. The masseur and masseuse they drew would have made a sphinx look like a chatter box. The casino was packed with people, all looking to luck out in a big way and they weren’t interested in talking to anybody about anything but what was happening with the cards, dice or little ball. The bartenders were so busy they didn’t have time for small talk and Abby dropped $500 at the crap table and another $300 playing black jack.
Around mid-night they declared the evening a disaster and headed back to their suite. When they arrived, their luck seemed to have made another turn, for the worse. When they first entered the suite nothing seemed out of place, but when they went into their bedrooms it was another story. There were no overt signs of the rooms being tossed, but things were out of place. Clothes had been rifled, suitcases searched and not put back where they were found, bed covers had been disturbed and a list of tentative places to go while in San Juan that Abby had prepared and left on the dresser was now on her nightstand. Someone was apprehensive about who they were and what they were up to, enough to do an unprofessional search of their suite or get someone to do it for them.
Pete said, “Something we’ve said or done has shaken somebody up. Do you think Zarita Barranco might be behind this?”
“Possibly or maybe our attempts to engage the employees of the spa or the guests of the casino in some conversation about my book research has raised someone else’s suspicions about our legitimacy.”
“Well, whoever is behind the search of our suite is concerned enough to take the risk of being discovered doing so and therefore is definitely someone of interest re: our purpose for being here. We’re supposed to be surreptitious observers and intelligence gatherers, but our cover of you doing research for a book and my being your escort and bodyguard doesn’t seem to fly too well in some quarters.”
“I think our cover is fine. It’s just that the people we’re after are the real nervous type because the money involved is so great. They’d check out their own mothers’ stories because they trust nobody. We just have to be very careful and keep Manny and his men within striking distance.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Chapter 15
-San Juan, Puerto Rico-
By nine-thirty the next morning, they hadn’t heard back from Dave so they were going to have to wing it with Zarita. They met her in the lobby and set out in her limo for a sidewalk café she fancied. It was a short fifteen minute drive so the conversation was limited to the weather in San Juan, sailing which she loved to do and her involvement with horse racing as an owner. The lady obviously has access to substantial amounts of money because the pursuit of those interests doesn’t come cheap. Pete and Abby are wondering where the money is coming from, her income as a CFO or funds generated from smuggling operations.
The place Zarita has selected is in a beautiful setting. It’s in a small park with carpets of green grass and not a weed in sight, lots of trees and beautiful flowering plants and a fantastic view of the sea. Pete and Abby have already eaten breakfast, but Zarita hasn’t so she ordered a Spanish omelet, toast and orange juice and Pete and Abby opted for coffee and a croissant.
When their food was served Zarita said, “Okay, what kind of things would you like me to talk about?”
From then on, Abby controlled the flow of conversation. Zarita proved to be very knowledgeable about San Juan, its tourist attractions, history and legends, some going back to the fifteen hundreds. She was a researcher’s dream. She was very forthcoming, sometimes bordering on the loquacious, but there was a not so subtle change in her attitude and responses when Abby’s questioning got around to her company and the subjects of piracy and smuggling.
“Zarita, we’ve been hearing and reading stories about piracy and smuggling in the Caribbean. These incidents have apparently increased substantially over the past ten years or so. Has your company experienced any problems with piracy in the region? Have you heard any rumors involving smuggling or piracy anywhere in the Caribbean?”
“Since I spend most of my time in San Antonio and other countries, I’m not plugged into the rumor mill like the locals would be. We haven’t had any problems though. Look, I’m going to have to get back to the hotel as I have a busy day ahead of me. I hope I’ve been of some help to you.”
“Oh you have and thank you so much for letting me pepper you with all of my questions.”
“You’re very welcome. It was an interesting morning.” Pete sensed this last was said with an element of suspicion.
On the drive back to the hotel, Zarita spent the time reviewing some documents she had in her briefcase and Pete and Abby got the message that she no longer wished to engage in small talk, so they just sat back and enjoyed the scenery. With a curt “Good luck with your book.”, Zarita had the driver drop them off in front of the hotel and then ordered him to take her to Old San Juan. As the limo drove away Abby sarcastically remarked, “It must have been something I said.”
Pete smiled and said, “You definitely were starting to probe into areas she wanted to avoid. I wonder what the lady is hiding. Let’s call Dave and see if he’s managed to come up with anything on her and the other members of her foursome.”
“I also want to touch base with Julio Mendoza at the Listin Diario and bring him up to date on what we’ve uncovered to date.”
When they got back to their suite, they were pleased to find that they had had no other uninvited guests. Abby called Dave, told him about their meeting with Zarita and their reaction to her and he told them that Zarita and her friends had nothing unsavory in their backgrounds. Zarita was indeed the CFO of an import/export business, Best of the Best Ltd., dealing in exquisite furniture from all over the world. Her friends were the wives of high level executives at highly successful companies in the pharmaceuticals, electronics and investment industries, all based in San Antonio. As far as Dave was able to determine, they and their spouses were squeaky clean.
Pete and Abby aren’t buying it. Zarita associating with someone like Pablo Salazar doesn’t fit in with a squeaky clean image. Her friends might be what they appear to be, but until there was more proof of that they were stripes of the same color as Zarita just by their association with her.
Zarita Barranco and Pablo Salazar were people Julio Mendoza had come across before in his journalistic investigations into the impact of organized crime on the countries of the Caribbean. He wasn’t buying the squeaking clean image of Zarita either. “My sources tell me that this Pablo Salazar is very savvy when it comes to moving goods around the world undetected by the authorities and is one mean hombre when challenged. The lady has been seen with him on several occasions. It is believed that their relationship is strictly a business one without any romantic overtones. On one occasion she was also seen with Juan Fuentes. Be careful, Abby, you are now swimming with the sharks and they have voracious appetites when it comes to making money and won’t hesitate a second to eliminate any threat to their operations.
