Beyond Blue (18 page)

Ruby carried a big tray of nachos into the family room and carefully lowered it to the coffee table. The men smiled
their approval, and five hands darted for the cheese-covered chips. The three visitors on the sofa and the man on the big floor cushion had the advantage of position, but the man in the easy chair was up quickly to make sure he got his fair share.

The visitors didn't seem quite comfortable when they first walked into Rafe's house. They all followed his lead, hanging their jackets in the hall closet and rolling their shirtsleeves up to just below their elbows. After a weak attempt at small talk, Rafe had walked them to the family room. Smiles grew bigger when Hector greeted them from the couch.

“Fellows! I told you my brother Rafe would square you away.” Then Hector turned on the game, and everyone relaxed.

Ruby loaded up a small plate and crept over to Rafe, perched in the La-Z-Boy beside the couch. She stayed low in order to avoid blocking anyone's view of the soccer game displayed on the big screen television. As she got into position, kneeling on the floor beside Rafe's chair, Ruby considered an international truth. In the face of team sports, all men became children again.

Rafe had not raised the chair's footrest, and his feet dangled above the floor as he balanced the plate on his lap. His right hand alternated between pushing food into his mouth and lifting his beer to it. His left alternated between rubbing her neck and playing in her hair. He had been like this since they arrived at his house and got his visitors settled. In Ruby's experience, this was just part of hanging with a Latin man. If he had been a dog spraying a tree trunk, he could not have more obviously marked his territory. The weird thing was, she kind of liked it. But what she really wanted was to engage the newcomers in conversation.

Ruby didn't really get soccer, a long game with no breaks and low scores. The announcer rattled away in Spanish and the players seemed to ramble around the field
in random patterns. This gang was all about the game, and when somebody scored a goal they sent up a loud cheer and raised their bottles to the ceiling.

“Rafael, you are a most gracious host,” de La Fuente said in his overly formal English. “You present all the decadent pleasures the United States can offer. And how did you manage to get Aguila Imperial here?”

“I'm telling you, you can get anything here,” Rafe replied. de La Fuente grinned back and Ruby found his gold-capped tooth somehow disconcerting. When everyone raised their bottles she joined in. The Colombian beer, Aguila Imperial, turned out to be a pretty good lager, reminding her of Samuel Adams. After a good swig she threw an arm over the arm of Rafe's chair to raise herself a bit.

“That's why everybody wants to be in the U.S.,” she said. “Are you fellows planning to stay? Do you have jobs lined up and stuff?”

“My friends here will be staying for a while,” de La Fuente said without taking his eyes off the screen. “They have technical qualifications and after Hector led us to his talented brother, Rafael arranged job interviews for them. I myself am merely a visitor.”

“Technical, huh?” Ruby leaned toward the man at the end of the couch. “So what do you do, handsome? What makes you technical?”

He blushed and gave her a shy smile, but it was de La Fuente who answered. “Marco is a chemist.”

Ruby smiled, nodded, and sat back on her haunches again. Why was de La Fuente the spokesman? She had heard them all speak, in both Spanish and English. Maybe they hadn't all practiced their stories enough. She knew they were not what they said they were, but she wondered how deep the deception went. And Marco was a chemist. Was he the quality control man for the drugs? Or maybe he had created something new? Ruby had assumed all along that the white powder in Rafe's furnace room was
cocaine, but it could just as easily be some form of amphetamine like meth or some new designer drug. She'd have to know for sure before she called in the cavalry. It was time to start enlisting Rafe's help in finding out the truth.

She looked up at him just as he raised his bottle and drained it. She took the empty bottle from his hand just as she had the first two times and stood up. But this time she tapped his knee and whispered, “Join me for a minute?” With a wink she gathered the other four empty bottles and shuffled toward the kitchen. Rafe followed her all the way. Once in the other room she dropped the bottles in a recycle bin and turned with her back to the refrigerator.

“Okay, what's up, chica?” Rafe asked. “What do you need?”

“Well, first, it's been almost an hour since I've had a kiss, lover.” She pulled him into her arms and shared a fierce kiss, finding herself quite lightheaded when their lips broke contact. Her genuine feelings made her part easier to play. As she thought about it, her brow creased with concern. Rafe, staring into her eyes again, could not help but notice.

“What troubles you, Ruby? Something is making you frown.”

“Oh, Rafe, I don't want to sound paranoid, but those guys out there, they just don't seem right.”

Rafe threw back his head and laughed out loud. “Oh, my little one, they are just new and feeling like strangers in a strange land. They will loosen up.”

“No, it's more than that,” she said seriously. “Honey, I worry about you.”

“Now why would you worry about me? You have no reason to care.”

“No reason?” Ruby shot back in her high squeak of a voice. “Usted es mi hombre, sí?” Rafe hesitated just a second, as if he had not considered it. “Sí, mi amor.”

“Well, if you're my man, then I can worry about you,”
Ruby said. “I don't want to see nobody make a fool out of you. I just want to know you know what you're doing, that's all. Especially if you didn't meet these guys yourself originally.”

Rafe eased Ruby out of the way and opened the refrigerator. A blast of cold air burst into her face as he reached in to pull out more beer. “You have no reason for concern, chica. I am simply helping these men to settle in the country, as I have many before them. Besides, Hector brought them to me and if a man can't trust his brother…”

Ruby dropped a heavy sigh. “You do know they're not your countrymen, right?”

“What are you talking about?” Rafe asked, carrying the bottles to the table.

“Have you been gone that long from home, baby? de La Fuente doesn't want to speak Spanish around me, but I heard enough. Their accents aren't Colombian, Rafe. From their voices, these guys are all from Peru.”

Mike stepped forward and swung his huge right fist at Gunny's head. Gunny easily slapped it away with a palm and waited. That, he knew, was just a test punch, to see what he was up against. Next came a wild left, and a quick right jab. Gunny dodged them both. When Mike tried a left hook, Gunny took it on his elbow and slammed his own left into Mike's jaw. Mike's head rolled backward but he stayed on his feet. Anger flared from his eyes. Soon he would commit.

A battle of giants like this one was similar to sumo wrestling in that the final clash didn't last very long. Gunny didn't want to tear up the restaurant, he just wanted to put this big Sicilian in his place. He was just waiting for the other man to overstep himself.

When it came it was quick. Mike roared in rage, feinted with a right, and shot a left cross forward, very fast. Gunny was faster, spinning with the punch and stepping in to capture Mike's jacket lapels in both hands. Gunny's left leg went wide, his left elbow digging into Mike's solar plexus as he turned.

Gunny had studied judo as a sport since grade school, and had attained his third degree black belt before he left the Marine Corps. He slammed his hip into Mike's body almost without thinking, wheeling the bigger man over it and into the air. Mike had no control of his movement, but Gunny did, making sure he landed flat on his back instead of his head. As the air rushed out of Mike's lungs, Gunny stepped over his captured left arm and sat down hard on
Mike's chest. Mike's arm was vertical, controlled by Gunny's legs and hands. A simple thumb lock allowed Gunny to administer pain in controlled, measured doses. Mike grimaced, but didn't fight.

“Now, you want to stop this nonsense?” Gunny asked in a friendly voice. “It's hard to hold a slice of pizza without a thumb.”

Mike stayed silent for about ten seconds as Gunny increased the pressure very gradually. Gunny saw the sweat begin to rise on Mike's forehead just before he mumbled, “Okay.”

“Excuse me?” Gunny said.

“Okay,” Mike bellowed in response. “Let go of me.”

“Sure thing, partner,” Gunny said, standing. “We're on the same side, after all.” He stepped away from Mike before letting go of his arm. Mike was on his feet in an instant, cradling his hand. Gunny surveyed the bar now that he could spare the attention. Beyond the self-serve buffet, Lorenzo Lucania was talking to an excited Chinese manager. The conversation cooled as Lucania stuffed a hundred-dollar bill into the man's shirt pocket. Closer to him, Gus was looking from Mike to Gunny to Lucania, looking professionally neutral. Robbie, a younger man, was just starting to chuckle. Gunny didn't like that. He didn't want to make enemies, and it would be a bad thing to take down Mike's pride. He waited for Robbie to speak.

“Oh man, Mike, he really…”

Gunny interrupted him. “You want to go next? Think you can take me?”

Robbie's face changed from glee to worry. “Hey, no, man, that ain't necessary.”

“Then shut the hell up. You just back up the man who's got the balls.”

Beyond Robbie, Gunny saw Lucania wore a faint smile. Then the smile dropped from his face and his eyes widened just enough to betray concern. Gunny knew why. He could hear Mike getting up behind him. Gunny turned
and the two big men stood facing each other. Gunny's focus was on Mike's face, ready for anything. His focus was so strong that he didn't even hear Lucania approaching until he was right behind Gunny.

“Mike,” Lucania said, with perfect even calm. “He's good. He's smart. And he's in. Now, shake hands with your new partner.”

Mike's eyes never left Gunny's but his right hand poked forward. “You follow me.”

“Gladly,” Gunny said with a grin. The grip was strong, but not unfriendly.

Another cheer went up from the living room bleachers when one of the teams on the big screen finally managed to score a goal. One thing Ruby Sanchez had never suspected about soccer was how long it took to play just one freaking game. The floor in front of the sofa was littered with broken chips now and the empty beer bottles had gathered on the coffee table faster than she could whisk them away. So she had given up and let them accumulate. No one else seemed to care.

Even after fairly heavy drinking, the visitors almost never said anything not directly related to the game. In fact, they hardly said anything, except to cheer, except for de La Fuente. He was clearly the spokesman for the group. The others were more like happy frat boys than vicious drug smugglers. Was it possible she was wrong about these guys? No, they were up to something evil all right, and she knew a way to reinforce her feelings.

“Gotta take a potty break, sugar,” Ruby said to the side of Rafe's head. He turned just long enough to give her a quick, beer-flavored kiss, and returned his focus to the game. Ruby grabbed her purse and slipped away unnoticed.

Ruby hadn't realized that her ears were ringing until she closed the bathroom door behind herself and locked it. The
men had the game up louder than she had realized and she could still hear it through the door. Aside from sparing her ears, Ruby appreciated that the bathroom was free of the smell of stale beer and testosterone. The fresh smell reminded her of how clean the bathroom was, especially for a single man's home. He must have a maid come in, she decided.

Getting comfortable on the obvious seat, Ruby pulled the little plastic bag out of her purse. Next she found a small kit in her bag, about the size and shape of a small sewing kit. It opened to reveal four small dishes at one end, like docking ports for marbles. Above them lay four eyedroppers. The liquids inside them would tell her what she wanted to know about the fine white powder in the bag. Opening the bag, she poured a small amount into each tiny dish. Then she added a few drops of liquid to each sample. A little of the powder puffed up. This stuff was a very fine powder indeed. But its color didn't change in any of the little dishes. Odd, she thought, so she added a few more drops of the different liquids to each. Then she reached into her bag one more time and fished out her cell phone.

Across the city, Gorman dropped the New York Times crossword puzzle and snatched up the phone before the end of its first ring.

“Gorman.”

“I know that, fool. You know who this is?”

“Ruby,” Gorman said with a grimace. “About time you called in, but what's with the echo? Don't you ever call me from anyplace except the bathroom?”

“Sorry, sugar,” Ruby replied. “When I sit on the crapper I think of you.”

Gorman put his feet up on his desk and leaned back. “So, what's going on? Making any progress with your smuggler friend?”

“It's getting kind of weird, boss,” Ruby said. “I found his stash and got a sample, but I don't know what it is.”

“What, you forgot your testing kit?”

Ruby rolled her eyes. “I'm not an idiot, Paul. I got the kit, but this stuff doesn't react to anything. So it's a very fine, white powder, but it's not heroine, or cocaine, or meth or any kind of acid. What do you think?”

While Ruby spoke, Gorman lowered his feet to the floor and leaned forward slowly. “I don't know what to think, but if he's smuggling this stuff in and hiding it, it can't be good. I don't like mysteries, Ruby. You need to come on in now and let somebody else put this guy under surveillance. Where are you anyway?”