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10-12-06 |
| Written by J. J. White | |
| Tuesday, 01 January 2008 | |
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Share it:      Lupa Alfero had two possible answers to my question. He chose the wrong one. I didn’t hesitate. I’ve been in this business too long to know that any hesitation meant death. I pulled the Glock and leveled it chest high, but Keri screamed before I could get a shot off. And then … I broke my own rule. I hesitated. I instinctively looked at Keri, heard the report of a gun, and felt my legs collapse as a black fog consumed me. “You sure Souter’s gonna show up at six?” Sig asked, “We only have one shot with the ambulance and I’m not taking a hijack rap if you can’t guarantee he’ll be there.” Siegfried Klum had the body of a prize fighter, attached to a little boy’s face. His muscular body and 6 foot 4 inch height helped create an arrest record that spanned fifteen of his thirty years. “I said it, didn’t I,” Keri replied. “Souter said he’d pick me up at five, and that he had some business with Lupa at six. Mendicino set him up for us. We’ll be there at six.” “What’s that pig Mendicino want?” Lupa asked Keri. Lupa was short and dark skinned, even darker than usual for a Cuban. His rap sheet didn’t exist until ’80 when he forced a single mother and her kid off one of the boats from Mariel to Miami. Keri didn’t like the swarthy hoodlum. She answered sharply, annoyed by his interruption. “Mendicino knows about the half-million. He wants only ten percent, and that’s cheap, considering it was his money Souter was skimming off, anyway. We’re going to pay it, Lupa. You’ll still get your $150,000, so chill out.” “You chill out, sister. Me and Sig are the ones that get in trouble if you mess up. Don’t mess up, Chiquita, or I’ll mess you up.” Keri ignored him and looked at Sig. “You be there with that ambulance, Sig. It’s has to be timed just right, or Souter might get a shot off.” “I say we just beat the information out of him. I can do it quick,” Lupa said. “No,” Keri said. “He wants that money for his wife and kid. He’ll let you kill him before he tells you anything. I’ve been his girl long enough to know that.” I liked Salvatore Mendicino, even though I knew he wouldn’t hesitate to kill me if he knew I was stealing from him. I’ve made a good living working for the fat Italian. He needed somebody smart, who knew how to use a gun, and had a little muscle to back it up. He sends me out to rough up a few deadbeats that owe him, and I get his money back to him quickly. Maybe I keep a little for myself he doesn’t know about, but that’s the price he pays for quality service. I don’t feel guilty about it. Why should I? I make him money and he doesn’t need to know anything else. Mendicino looked up from his lunch. “Jake. Out of friendship, I lent Lupa Alfero a grand so he could get his kid’s car fixed. At least that’s what he said he needed it for. Hell, I don’t even know if he has a kid. It don’t matter, he usually pays up, but not this time.” “How much do you want me to get from him,” I asked. “With interest and penalty…$3,614.26.” “You really want the twenty-six cents, Sal?” “Nah…I’ll take $3,500. If he doesn’t have it, blow his ******* head off and leave it in his neighborhood. A little message for the rest of those Cubans. Okay, Jake?” “Yeah sure. Where and when?” “Dock 30A, at six o’clock. He thinks I’m coming. Now get the hell outa here and let me eat my lunch.” I left the fat bastard hoping he’d choke on one of those huge sausages he was stuffing in his mouth, and then I gave Keri a call. She likes to watch me work. If I had some time later, I’d stop to see Jill and the boy… see how they’re doing since I moved out. They had two hours before Souter arrived at the dock. Sig kept a close eye on Lupa. He didn’t trust the Cuban, but he wanted that 150 grand too much to worry about Alfero’s psychosis. “There they are, man.” Lupa said, pointing at the two paramedics walking toward their ambulance. Keri told Sig earlier that it was a private company ambulance, so it shouldn’t have a GPS transmitter on it. “She’d better be right,” he thought. As soon as the two paramedics closed the door, Sig walked quickly to the passenger side, pulled a ski mask down over his face, and aimed the gun through the window. An hour later, he and Lupa tied and taped the paramedics together and dumped them in an old warehouse near Dock 30A…and waited. I saw Jill and the kid for an hour before picking Keri up in front of her apartment. A couple of more jobs and I’d funnel some of the half mil to Jill, to take care of the boy. Then Keri and I would head to Vegas for a little fun. “You sure you want to go along. I may have to shoot his ass, you know.” “Yeah,” Keri said. “I know. That’s why I like you, Jake. It’s never boring around you and besides, I’ve never seen you kill anyone before.” I chuckled. “Good timing then. After this, it’s Vegas baby. I just gotta drop some of the locker money with Jill and then we’re gone.” Keri slid over next to me and grabbed my arm. The girl was a real looker. As we drove up to the dock I saw Alfero standing by a coil of rope, nervously smoking a cigarette. Well, he’d better enjoy it because it might be his last one. 6:25 PM I had a throbbing pain in the back of my head when the monotonous wail of the siren woke me up. A big man, dressed in a doctor’s coat, blocked my view. Blocked my view of what? A hospital room? No, an ambulance. It had to be with the siren, the big paramedic with a nametag that read, “J. Mills”, the smell of rubbing alcohol. What the hell was I doing in an ambulance? I remember firing the Glock at Alfero and … No wait, I didn’t fire, but I heard a shot … and Keri, I heard her scream. Where is she? Did Alfero shoot me? “Where am I,” I asked the paramedic. My words were slurred and came out slowly. “You’re on your way to the hospital, buddy. We’ll be there pretty soon.” “What’s wrong with me? I can’t feel my legs. Did I get shot?” The big paramedic looked miserable. He had a half-smile that told me I was in bad shape. “I want to know. I can take it,” I said. The paramedic hesitated, and then sighed. “You were shot back at the dock. The bullet hit your neck…I’m sorry, man…It’s pretty bad, but the doc will fix you up. We’re almost there.” I tried to get up but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even turn my head. That bastard Alfero must have got the jump on me. Keri … I forgot about Keri. “My girlfriend Keri. Is she okay? He shook his head and pointed to a body on the other gurney. It was covered with a sheet. “She didn’t make it,” he said. “I’m sorry.” “Turn my head. I want to see her. Turn my head!” The paramedic gently rolled my head to look at the gurney, and then pulled back the sheet. My eyes teared when I saw what they did to her. Her face was white, completely drained of blood, and she was cut from ear to ear. The paramedic covered her up again. “Am I gonna make it? I want you to be straight with me. Am I?” “I don’t know, sir,” the baby faced attendant said. “It will be close, but it can’t be too much further. Just hang in there, okay?” “Yeah, sure, but I’m having trouble breathing. Do me a favor uhh…” “Joe,” he said. “Yeah, Joe, do me a favor and take the key off the chain around my neck, okay?” The paramedic removed the key, but I couldn’t feel his hands touching my skin. “Joe, listen to me. If I die, I want you to give that key to my wife, Jill; I want you to tell her, Portland Square Hotel, locker 132. You got that.” “Yeah, sure,” he said. “Portland Square Hotel, locker 132.” “That’s right Joe. You do that and my wife will take care of you. I’m depending on you Joe.” “Yeah, sure, Souter, and maybe I’ll give your wife something else too.” “Keri, I got it,” he said, staring at the other gurney. Keri threw off her sheet, sat on the edge of the gurney, and wiped the dried blood off her neck with a rag. “God,” she said. “I thought I’d suffocate.” She stood on the metal floor and knocked hard on the window to the front cab area. Lupa Alfero slid the window open and smiled. “Hey, the ***** is back from the dead. Did he tell you yet?” “Yeah,” Sig said, flipping the key in the air. “The money’s in a locker at the Portland Square Hotel, but not for long.” Keri leaned over my face and smiled. “Sorry, baby,” she said. “You shouldn’t brag about having so much cash. Somebody bad, like me, might want it. You look puzzled.” “Who shot me?” I asked quietly. “Nobody, sweetheart. When I screamed, Sig here came up behind you and smacked you good with his gun. I shot you full of Pavulon, a temporary paralysis drug, and then we started acting. You talked, just like I said you would, worried about Jill and what’s his name.” She held up a syringe. “Now this is potassium chloride.” She plunged it in my arm. “It’s fast acting stuff, and causes almost immediate cardiac arrest, so it will all be over in a few minutes.” Sig opened the back of the ambulance and pushed my gurney near the open doors. I heard the rush of air across the highway. “Thanks for the money, baby.” Keri said. “Yeah, man,” Lupa said, “Thanks for the money, baby.” I heard Sig laughing as he shoved me out of the moving ambulance. The gurney flipped over on the pavement and landed on its side by the emergency lane. I stared at an old beer bottle near my nose, until it faded away to black. 6:41 PM Copyright 2008 J. J. White |
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 01 January 2008 ) |
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