by Matt Lincoln
“Well, the office is a mess. He had a lady that came in to run the books and paperwork, but she cut out a few weeks ago. I just sort of ignored the whole thing because I handle the outside ends, you know?” He shrugged, meaning that was all the explanation he had for it or was going to give me. “Oh, and there’s an apartment space on the second story. That’s where I’ve been living so that I could keep an eye out overnight. Plus, I hated taking money from the old man when he had nothing coming in, so we swapped services for payment.”
“Then you do all the maintenance and security and live on the property? Sounds like a good deal.” I was trying to work out how this would happen if I did decide to take all of this on. “Would it be too much trouble if I asked to look at the buildings while I’m here? I’m not trying to pry, but I’m interested.”
“No problem at all. You’ll have to mind my mess upstairs, but---” He kind of trailed off with his words.
“I actually wanted to start at the barn.” I figured that a bit of a cover story wasn’t out of order as I pointed to it. “I have a project boat that I tend to baby and keeping her under wraps is a priority for me.” It was my main motivation, but I wasn’t bringing that up anytime soon. I figured the fewer people that knew about Wraith, the better.
“I got you, yeah. Come on then.” Lael started to fumble with a keyring on his jeans loop. “So, the story behind this thing is, we had a racing team park in here for a few months, and that’s where the barn came from. They wanted it to be safe and away from competitors' eyes, so us being all the way out here made a lot of sense to them. Once they left, then Padilla had me paint it red to give it some character, make it stand out, and be memorable. And it is all of that, let me tell you.”
Lael said all of this with a joking voice and tone. He seemed to be good-natured about the whole thing. He unlocked the east door, and it creaked as he opened it. “Some WD-40 will fix that right up.” Lael switched on the breaker and flooded the empty shed with fluorescent light. There were metal grating walkways lining the sides on the north, south, and east, with railing placed intermittently along them.
I could see a built-in tool cabinet in the corner and a swing-out light on a chain in the other corner. It was not a bad setup. I walked to the end to get a look at the west exit where Wraith would be coming and going from. It was a chain pulley system that would probably need to be replaced. As this was the main thing I needed over anything else, I took my time examining it all.
Lael could see that I was mulling things over, so he excused himself and left me alone to explore. I decided to call up Xavier quickly.
Luckily for me, he answered on the second ring. “Header? Everything okay?”
I wasn’t known to call out of the blue these days, so I guessed that his reaction wasn’t uncalled for.
“Yeah, everything is fine,” I assured him. “Here’s the thing, though. I’m looking into a private marina to house Wraith, and I’ve found a decent sheltered dock, but I wanted to get your opinion on it. Mind if I send you a video of the inside?” I switched the call to video and started to do a panoramic spread of the building.
“Not bad. A little basic, but that might work in our favor.” He watched on his end as I circled around again. “You notice any security features offhand?” He was thinking ahead, which I appreciated.
“Well, the exit of the dock is to the west, which isn’t ideal, and we’d need to replace the door leading out.” I looked around again. “But it’s a good setup, overall. It was built for a racing team, so there’s that. They built this thing for security. And the location is kind of dead. I’m well outside of the city proper. It's a drive to get here, but I don’t think we’d have too much in the way of prying eyes around here.” If they took their business seriously, and it looked like they did, then this shed was built for confidentiality.
Xavier was already planning ahead. “Is there a lot of traffic in the area? What are we looking at as far as proximity boats?”
I switched the call back, having given him a thorough look around. “There are a total of seven bays, and they’re all in good shape. It’s separated into two, so we could probably block off this smaller one and keep the four to the north. We can keep the place looking legitimate so that the locals don’t suspect anything weird.” We couldn’t be too careful when it came to Wraith.
“Yeah, good, I was going to mention that. So, is the outside acceptable?” Xavier was typing on his laptop. I could hear that through the line. He was most likely looking the place up, getting statistics and data for the team.
“It’s not bad. There’s a guy that’s been taking care of the place, and he lives on site. I wouldn’t mind keeping him around if he checks out and is willing. I don’t think any of us will be staying here twenty-four-seven, so keeping a hand and eye on the property makes sense.” It did to me, anyway, if we could trust him.
“I agree,” Xavier replied. “If you have a name, I’ll run it real quick, see if anything pops up.”
“It was Lael Szabo. I think that he’s ex-Army. He had a shirt that stated as much. Of course, it could be a family connection, too.” Maybe a kid, sibling, parent, spouse. I was only guessing.
It took a few minutes, but Xavier found something. “Yeah, he’s retired Army. Medical separation. Wounded in action.” Xavier paused. “Says this guy lost an arm. That hold up on your end?” It was a good idea to get him verified ahead of time, should I make this work.
“It does. Burn scars on his neck, as well.” I had assumed as much. And it made sense. That also made me appreciate him in this position a bit more.
“Okay, then,” he replied. “He checks out on digital—nothing negative to mention, no wife or partner, no kids, pretty much a loner type. And you’re thinking of bringing him on? In what capacity, exactly?” It was important for Xavier to make sure what this guy would be doing, evidently.
“Only in regard to the marina. I’m not planning on adding anyone to the team.” I thought back to our last mission and all the problems that arose with Kippy being around. She wasn’t even considered a part of my team, and that had caused problems. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. “If we can trust him, and the fact that he knows the area, the people, and the business, then it would make sense.”
“Since you’re the one footing the bill and are talking to the guy, I’m leaving this in your control, Header.” Xavier was probably grinning on the other side of this call. He sounds a little too smug not to be.
“Then I’ll talk to him, get a feel for if he’s interested and get back to you. It’s not going to be an immediate thing, anyway.” Money situations never were, in my experience. I was starting to feel excited about the possibilities with this place. I just didn’t want to get into something I couldn’t handle down the line.
“That’s true, too. Okay, so I’ll let you get back to what you’re doing, and if I produce anything else, I’ll let you know.” Knowing him, Xavier would certainly come up with more.
“Thanks, I appreciate the input. Talk to you later.” I hung up and headed back out of the barn. I found Lael hanging out and waiting for me. I waved at him as I walked on toward him.
“All good?” he asked. He’d taken to repairing ropes and nets, as there was a pile nearby that wasn’t there before. I guessed that he liked to stay busy and maybe was trying to appear useful in an empty marina.
“Sure. I am just speaking with a business partner about it. Would you mind showing me the office now? If you’re not too busy, that is.” I didn’t want to come off as rude or dismissive about his work, especially if I wanted to keep him on in a professional fashion.
“No, I’m pretty sure that these ropes won’t mind if I leave them.” He smirked and headed off toward the two-story building. “So, as I told you before, the office is kind of a disaster.” Once we got there to the door, he unlocked it and gestured for me to go in. “I don’t feel qualified to play with any of this, so I don’t.”
I scanned the room and sighe
d. Yeah, it would be an undertaking. There were two filing cabinets side-by-side in the far corner, a giant, white metal desk in the middle of the small room, and a folding chair beside that. A mini-fridge sat in the corner next to a beat-up, vile looking armchair with too many stains on it for me to be able to tell what color it was. There was a small end table piled with junk on the other side of the chair.
The windows looking in had that obscuring décor film on them, I guessed for privacy. The floor was sticky as I moved around inside and tried to see what else was there. Lael could see that I wasn’t too impressed.
“If you are interested, you’d probably need to hire an accountant to come in and clear everything up and out,” he recommended. “I know that Mr. Padilla was good about keeping the records, but he hadn’t been able to for a while now.” He sighed, looking it over with me. “As for the furniture, if it were me, I’d dump it all. Start over. He was planning on doing that, but, well, you know how things go sometimes.” He wasn’t making excuses, just stating the facts. From what he had told me, it sounded like the man had every intention of setting things up better, but health problems got in the way of that.
“I welcome the contribution. When was the last time you had a boarder here?” By the looks of it, the business ended when Mister Padilla went into the hospital. The invoices that I could see on the desk were from a few months back.
He shrugged. “Months ago. This place is a little out of the way, in case you didn’t notice. The prices were fair, from what I saw, but we’re not fancy, and there’s not much in the way of a local draw.” I liked the way Lael was so honest about what this place was or had.
“I can see that. No offense,” I added abruptly. I smiled to let him know that I wasn’t rude or harsh.
“None to take. I know what this place has to offer, and so did the old man. Didn’t make him love it any less.” I could hear the respect Lael had for Mr. Padilla. I didn’t know how he’d respond to what I was about to ask him, though.
“Just, throwing this out there, nothing final or anything like that, but if my business partners and I were to think about moving forward on this, would you be interested in staying around? Keeping up the deal you had with Mr. Padilla to maintain the place and live on-site?” I didn’t expect an instant reply. In fact, I was hoping that he’d think long and hard about it because I wasn’t even ready to commit.
Lael shifted his weight, looked out the windows, and then back at the mess of an office. “I’d consider it, I guess, if the offer was made. I’d prefer a written out contract this time around, just to cover everyone’s interests.” He said that as efficiently as he could without coming off as jaded. “Would the, uh, living arrangements need to change?”
“I don’t believe so. I have a place already, and my partners wouldn’t be interested in living on site, either. So, with some modifications, we’d work out something to keep the situation as close to what it is now, but with a business model more attuned to our needs.” I didn’t want to get into details yet as I still wasn’t sure that I was going to purchase this place. But I liked it. I liked the idea of it a lot.
“I understand.” He smiled politely and headed out. “I can show you the loft if you want, or we can tour the rest of the bays. Give you a feel of what’s here and what’s going on.”
“I think that’s a good idea about the bays. Let’s do it.”
I spent the rest of the day there, going over plans and testing what I could get out of Lael in the way of information. By four, I was pretty much sold, so I took down Mr. Padilla’s number and got ready for a massive change to my life.
6
Jake
That evening, I planned to start canvassing the areas near and around LaShawn’s workplace. Without a valid idea of what the trio he told me about really looked like or what they wanted, I knew that I was going to have to start out at the bottom of the intel chain and work my way up.
I tried to dress the part, not wanting to come off as an undercover cop or a private investigator. Although the latter idea had some merit, so I kept that as a backup plan if I needed it. That said, I dressed down in a ratty tee, some jeans, and the least likely pair of shoes to draw attention that I possessed. They were old beat-up sneakers that had seen better days.
All I had to go on for intelligence was some accents on the trio, including a Middle Eastern, possibly Israeli woman, a big guy with Indian ancestry, and a little guy that sounded like he was from somewhere in Europe. I tossed out British Isle accents, and I figured that French might be too recognizable as well. That still left a lot of room.
I had a plan to cruise around the emptier spaces and streets LaShawn had mentioned to me, get a feel for the people who haunted the alleys, and looked like the vulnerable types that might become targets. I had read up on the papers, websites, and blogs about theories and facts associated with the current uptick in ODs in Miami. I wasn’t seeing anything that screamed international drug killers, but information as a whole was scarce, anyway.
I knew that in some cases, money opened mouths, so I went in prepared for that, too. For the first few hours, I got nothing. No one had seen anything, and no one wanted to see anything. There were a lot of rumors, but nothing matched up with what I already knew to be true. Formerly clean ex-addicts had started to overdose. People were being force-injected with drugs. Some woke up. Others must not have. I didn’t hear anything new, though.
Getting those kinds of medical records and police intel was not going to be possible right now. I had no contact at the Miami Police Department, which was maybe something I should cultivate. I’d have to look into it. Tonight, it was all footwork and asking around, hoping for someone to say something. It was slow-going.
As I was walking up toward a small greenspace park, I saw a pair of teens passing a smoking item between them. I’d hit roadblocks everywhere else tonight, so maybe these kids would be willing to answer a few things for me. It was worth a try if anything was.
They watched me approach, and both of them were obviously high as a kite already. The first kid was layered up, and I was willing to bet that he was packing a weapon somewhere on his body. The puffer jacket he wore was maroon and black, and his shorts were digital tiger-stripe camo. Or at least, they tried to be.
The other kid wore a superhero logo tank and baggy jeans. He had on a tight beanie with some explicit words that told me he didn’t understand the meaning of self-respect. They eyed me as I got closer, and the puffer jacket guy tapped the other one, gesturing for them to leave before I got there. But the one in the superhero tank held his ground and swerved around to look at me head-on.
They had claimed an old, busted up concrete picnic table and bench combo that was tagged with graffiti. Puffer jacket kid stood up when he saw that his buddy was staying around to talk to me.
“What’s going on, ese?” This came from the superhero tank kid.
“Not much. Wondering if you’d seen anyone get drenched around here lately.” I was careful not to use language to identify my motives. I stood about six feet from them, giving them enough room to run if they chose to. I didn’t want to crowd them or scare them, nor did I want to provoke a violent response from either of them.
Superhero tank just chuckled at me, in the way that people did when they didn’t want to seem like they knew something or were nervous. “People around here get drenched all the time. Two, three times a night. You gonna have to be more… specific, homes.”
“Maybe a few got wet against their will. I heard a guy got taken into an alley, got loaded up by three guys, but made it out okay. You ever hear anything like that?” Again, I was intentionally using words that I knew would hold their attention and maybe get them to talk to me. I wanted to leave enough for them to correct me on, or fill me in, as well.
“Crackhead stories, man! That kind of stuff don’t happen.” Superhero tank laughed again, but I caught a glimpse at the one in the puffer jacket. His face had gone a little pale. It looked to me like he had hea
rd something about this.
“What about you?” I jerked my head in his direction. “You know what I’m talking about, maybe?” I could see that he did. But he wasn’t going to talk easy. His buddy saw this, too, and jumped to his defense.
“Even if he did, why’d he tell you? It’s got nothing to do with you, ese.” He started to slide off the table and stand in front of me. The kid was a good half-foot shorter than me, and now that he was standing, I could see that he too was armed. There was a firearm at his waist, placed more for show than for anything else, most likely.
I had no intention of getting into any kind of altercation tonight, and certainly not with two high schoolers. I didn’t move back, but I didn’t step forward, either. “I just want to know who’s pushing junk into people's veins to see if they get drenched, that’s all. It’s a free country. If they want to shoot up, let them. I only want to know about the ones that get it but don’t want it. Understand me?” I didn’t want to blow this chance at learning more. I’d say whatever I needed to at this point, just for a bit of intelligence going forward.
Puffer jacket looked about ready to talk, but his friend wasn’t having it. “Go back to your rich bitches, man. We ain’t got nothing for you here.” Superhero tank started to walk away, but the other kid was glued to his spot, watching me.
He looked around as if he was going to be overheard, and then he looked over at his friend, who had stopped and gestured for him to follow. But puffer jacket shook his head and shrugged like he was cold or had a chill. He raised his eyes to meet mine. “There’s a little dude, funny voice, always wears like a long coat. A spook, you know?”
I knew what he was talking about. Not the kind of guy that frequented the alleys of Miami. “Yeah, I know.”
“He got my sister to run for him, only like twice, though. She got freaked out by him. I was gonna pick it up, but he never showed. So, I knew where my sister had seen him, so I went there. And… I saw him in an old burned out building, with another guy, and they were all talking to each other in a weird language.”
