Buzzard Bay (43 page)

Arthur’s brother laughed, “At least this time you have narrowed the odds. The whole world isn’t after you, Mr. Green.”

They waved goodbye to Arthur and headed out of the harbor. “What a beautiful view,” Mindy said as they headed under the bridge to Paradise Island.

It was late in the afternoon; one of the cruise ships was pulling into dock, its load of tourists itching to get ashore for a night of chance in the Nassau casino. Most of the ships they saw were coming in for the night. They were headed out.

“The view is much better from the deck of my boat than it is from below, isn’t it, Mr. Green?”

Bob explained to July and the kids how he had hung on to a handle under the bow while a U.S. Coast Guard had searched the boat and then followed them, forcing Bob to be towed along in the water. “I was so sure those garbage bags were sharks. It seems funny now.”

“It was those bags that saved us in the end.” Arthur’s brother finished the story. “The Coast Guard wanted to look through it to see if they could find out what ship had dumped them. I wonder if they ever did.”

Mindy and Rikker thought it was a wonderful adventure, but July was beginning to realize what Bob had been through trying to get to her. She wondered what he had not yet told her, but it confirmed his love for her, and right now that meant more than anything.

“These islands are full of rumors,” Arthur’s brother told them. “Rumors and legends. The legend is that two warring drug lords faced off at Buzzard Bay. The rumor is that one drug lord sank the other one’s boat, and then Captain Norton, with the help of the Greens sank him. People here hadn’t realized the drug cartel’s grip on our government. It is no doubt a new government will be elected now.”

Bob went to say something, but Arthur’s brother put up his hand.

“It doesn’t matter. The drug people still want to do business here. They’re not going to show that they believe these rumors. It would make them look small and vulnerable. People of these islands love mystery and intrigue. They aren’t sure they know exactly how or what you did. They know Horatio Norton is a hero for getting rid of the drug lord, El Presidente, but did you help him or is that just a rumor? You two are a mystery, and the locals love to talk about it.”

Rikker and Mindy were very impressed by the revelation of Arthur’s brother. They certainly had not realized how respected their parents were.

As for Bob and July, they knew how rumors could spread in these islands. They just hoped that Arthur’s brother was right, that it would not affect their stay on Andros Island.

ir Harry Chamberlain came in to Novak’s office and sat on the edge of his desk. “This is a lot better than that dingy little hole you had over at the Canadian consulate, isn’t it, Novak? A lot more room.”

Novak rose and shook his hand, “And a lot more responsibility. Yes, I like the security guidelines you set up for the new prime minister and his cabinet,” Sir Harry told him. “Now I have a new job for you. As you know, Horatio Norton’s been named the new police chief. It’s kind of a figurehead appointment. He’s the new hero for the nation, and the government needs him to show their desire to shake the drug image the Bahamas have.”

“The problem is the government’s pretty vulnerable right now. If something were to happen to Horatio, it would look very bad for them, and you know there’s lots of people who would like to bump him off. What I want you to do, Novak, is to make sure nothing happens to Horatio. That will include setting up his itinerary and making sure his family is safe,” Sir Harry summarized.

“Sounds like a full-time job,” Novak looked worried already.

“I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t think you could handle it, and of course, I expect you to keep up the good work with Interpol. You didn’t expect to get this nice office for nothing, did you, Novak,” Sir Harry slapped his back. “Now I want you to come with me and meet Lena. I think there’s a few things you would like to ask her.”

Novak had heard lots about the infamous Lena, but he had not expected her to be so beautiful and well-informed.

“So you’re Sir Harry’s new man about town and the one all the girls are talking about,” Lena gave him the once-over. She made them a drink, and Sir Harry asked his questions, then Novak got his chance.

“I hear you have a necklace in your possession that you got from a man named Grundman. Would it be possible for me to see it?

It seems a lot of people are interested in that necklace.” She left the room and brought it back to show him. “You may be disappointed in this necklace Mr. Novak as was I.”

“It certainly looks like Hania Shonavon’s necklace,” Novak thought. “This looks like the one I have an original piece for,” Novak told her. “Would it be possible for me to have this analyzed to see if indeed my piece is from this necklace?” He looked up at her, “Of course I’ll bring it back to you.”

Lena smiled, “I’ll make you a deal. You escort me to the policeman’s ball Saturday night, and I’ll let you borrow the necklace.” Novak was stunned. Why would this woman ask him to escort her, but he needed that necklace and he thought, I guess I could wear my old Mountie uniform after all, this is in the line of duty.

“Okay,” he blurted out.

“Great,” Lena said as she showed them out the door, “I’ll pick you up.”

On their way back downtown, Sir Harry didn’t say much until he dropped Novak off. “That’s a very dangerous woman you’re dealing with there.” Novak didn’t know how dangerous until they were about to enter the ballroom Saturday night. Novak couldn’t believe he was escorting this beautiful creature beside him.

“All eyes will be on you tonight, Lena,” he told her. She turned toward him and kissed him passionately her hand rubbing the front of his tight uniform trousers. She felt him getting hard.

“There’s nothing like a bulge in those tight pants to take the attention away from me,” she told him as she led him through the ballroom door. They certainly got everyone’s attention, she radiant in her evening gown, and Novak with his face as red as his tunic.

TWENTY-FOUR

T
HE GIRL LAY
naked over the pool deck. Her head rested in one man’s lap, while another man stood in the pool stroking in and out between her legs.

Bob and July always got up just before dawn to get everything ready for the day ahead. The hotel was filled to capacity, and breakfast would be hectic. It was while they passed the pool on their way to the kitchen that they heard the moaning and stopped. Gradually in the dim morning light, they made out what was going at the edge of the pool.

They stood watching for a moment then July asked, “Should we put a stop to it?” They had seen the same girl flashing some men on the dance floor, and the party must have carried on till now.

“No,” Bob answered, “it’s none of our business. They seem to be enjoying themselves.”

“Well, we’d better get to work then. They are making me horny,” July rubbed against him. “I think you’re a little too late to get into that fray. I’d say they’re just about done.”

July pushed him toward the kitchen. “Let’s get out of here or there’ll be another fray, and you’ll be involved.” July was very happy that Bob had become so laid-back, because it hadn’t always been this way.

If Bob could have stayed at the hospital in Nassau, he would have been able to receive professional help, but Canada’s sudden interest in a comatose patient being treated there put Novak in a tight spot.

Novak no longer worked directly for the Canadian government, but he still had close ties with their embassy, so he reported back to the authorities there that the man in question had not been identified. He explained that the patient was under intensive care and not allowed visitors. He also reminded them that Mr. Green had been reported missing after the two ships had collided off the Bahamian coast, and he had no reason to suspect that the patient and Mr. Green were one and the same. After he sent the message back to the Canadian authorities, Novak took a minute to reflect on the fact that he had lied. There was a time when that would not have happened. “Now I’m getting just as devious as Sir Harry,” he said out loud. He also realized that this world was not always black and white; there were gray areas that were not covered by the code of conduct he had so rigidly adhered to.

Novak picked up the phone and contacted Horatio. “You’ve got to get Green out of there. I told the Canadians no one could get in to identify the patient, but they’ll have someone down there pretty damn quick.”

“How did they find out?” Horatio wanted to know.

“I don’t know, and I don’t want to know any more about anything,” Novak hung up the phone.

Things were not easy after they reached Andros Island. They spend their time at Horatio’s guesthouse. July knew Bob’s physical condition needed to be looked after and that was not a problem. She knew that he was very resilient, and already he showed signs of improvement.

What she hadn’t realized was his mental state. July was not meant to be a shrink; she had no patience for people who as she called it, had a terminal case of head fuck. She thought the location would be perfect for Bob’s rehabilitation, but she was soon to find out it made no difference to Bob.

From the start, he was paranoid that someone was after them. No matter what she said, he just wouldn’t relax; all day he paced the floor, and at night he’d toss and turn then wake up screaming and dripping in sweat. The first month, he showed little improvement. July was beginning to wonder how much more she could take.

Physically, he had improved to almost where he was before the head injury, but she could not seem to get into his head. Finally, one night as he sat up in bed, shaking and covered in sweat, instead of trying to comfort him she asked, “What did you see, Bob? What woke you up?”

“I killed a man, July. I shot him, and I saw his head explode. Now all I see is his face inside a helmet rolling across the snow. He’s smiling at me, July, a hideous smile. No matter what I tell myself, he won’t leave me alone. I’m sorry, July, but I can’t shake him.”

“Was this the same man who wanted to kill you, Bob? Would this man have stopped with you, or would he have killed your family?”

“Yes, I believe he would have,” Bob told her.

July retorted, “We need you Bob, but we need you in the future, not dwelling in the past.”

Bob slept through the rest of the night. July began to see a ray of hope. She had made a breakthrough. The next day, July sat Bob down and began asking questions, learning more about what Bob had been through. It was not his head injury that had caused his trauma; that was merely a conduit to what had happened before. The more she gleaned from Bob, the better she understood he had simply shut down. But now she had to know how to get him back.

In Horatio’s yard, they’d found one of the jeeps from the farm. Bob and Rikker spent hours together getting it running again. July noticed that this was when Bob was at his best. Once they had the jeep running, Bob and she began exploring the island.

The more they looked around, the more they wanted to stay here, but how do you make a living was the question. Bob was hoping that they might salvage something at the farm. It soon became evident as they looked at the burned-out buildings and the fact that the locals were starting small farms on anywhere that had not been taken over with vegetation; this was not an option.

Their ventures always brought them back to the old San Andros Hotel at the airport. From the outside, it looked pretty good, but once they got inside, Bob’s comment was “This is almost as bad as the farm.”

till they could see potential, but how to actually purchase the property could be insurmountable, let alone making a go of it. Old Man Gator owned the property; in fact, he and his family owned most of the island if the truth were to be known and certainly didn’t need the money.

“We have to make up our minds. We got $261,000 from the sale of El Presidente’s yacht, do you want to invest it into this sinking ship?” July asked Bob.

ir Harry had insisted the money the Bahamian government got from the sale of El Presidente’s boat went to the Greens for services rendered. The Government agreed but only if the money was to be reinvested in the Bahamas.

“I’ve got something more to confess to you, July. I invested fifty thousand in a necklace.”

This took July by surprise. “I hope it was a good one,” was all she could think to say.

“I think it was Hania Shonavon’s, so I borrowed the money from Ansly to buy it. I thought it would clear up a lot of things in Canada. It was Novak who told me he thought Lena had it or one that was an exact replica.”

“I think Novak mentioned something about it at one of the meetings we had, but I can’t remember what he said,” July answered.

“My point is that I don’t have the necklace, and I don’t have the fifty thousand so if I can blow that much on a necklace, why not on a broken down hotel. Besides, you said the money had to be reinvested in the Bahamas,” Bob told her.

“At least we know this island. We stand just as good a chance of keeping our heads above water here as anywhere.” Once July made up her mind, there was little that could detour her. She knew a lot of people and began nosing around, eventually finding a chink in Gator’s armor.

July was having coffee with the Minister of Agriculture’s wife one morning when she mentioned that she and Bob had been negotiating with Old Man Gator to buy the Andros Hotel, but they just couldn’t get a reasonable price out of him.

“We’d love to have you and Bob there,” she told July. “The government needs a place close to the airport for our people to stay, but we certainly can’t put them up in a place as rundown as that. They’ve been putting the pressure on Gator to clean it up. I think I can convince my husband to pressure him enough that he’ll be a little more cooperative. The only advice I can give you and Bob is when and if Gator comes up with something acceptable, you’d better be ready to pounce.”

Bob and July took her advice heading for Nassau to see a lawyer and begin drawing up papers. While Bob went to see if they could get a loan from any of the Nassau banks for their project, July went off on her own to see her old friends at the Bureau of Tourism. There she proposed they do a feature on Andros Island and the hotel. They told her it would certainly be given some thought, which to July meant they weren’t all that interested. The matter had pretty well been forgotten when July received a call proposing she feature a series of ads promoting all the outer islands and their tourist spots. In return, she would be able to highlight the old Andros Hotel.

The timing was terrible, but if the hotel was to be successful, she had no choice but to accept. July dreaded telling Bob; she felt like she’d just sold her soul for a thirty-second TV spot.

Gator was under a lot of pressure to do something with the hotel. ‘If we’re going to put any money into this island, you’re going to have to help on your end,” the government told him. Gator was too old to start running a hotel. He paid his son to run it, but the only time his son ran was to pick up his money at the end of the month. Renovations would cost a lot more than he could ever make out of operating the hotel, so he came to the conclusion that someone else should do the work. Someone who would do the work and then give it back would be best, and that someone would be the Greens.

Gator invited the Greens to lunch at the hotel, but when they got there, Gator found out there was no lunch because the cook had not been paid so she quit. Gator was not one to be detoured however, and so they all sat down to a liquid lunch from the bar. Gator was hard to pin down, but finally, it seemed that he might settle for around one million. Bob was deflated, but July kept after Gator until she had him down to around eight hundred thousand.

“Okay, here’s what we’ll do. The first year we’ll pay you fifty thousand up-front and guarantee that another fifty thousand will be put into the hotel, and from then on we’ll give you a hundred thousand every year till it’s paid off,” July offered.

“Sure, if you can come up with the money, stop by my shop and we’ll make a deal,” Gator told them as he got up to leave obviously thinking by the look on Bob’s face that this was a waste of time.

Bob and July walked outside the hotel.

“What do you think, Bob?” He didn’t answer her right away, instead shading his eyes, his head turned toward the sky.

“That’s a government charter coming in. I think I’d better catch a ride back to Nassau on it. I’ll make sure the lawyers make the appropriate changes to the papers and get them back here on the evening flight.”

He smiled at her, “I’m going to stay in Nassau and get supplies ready to load on the mail boat.”

July couldn’t believe her ears; she’d expected to have a fight on her hands. “We haven’t got him to sign the papers yet?”

“I’m not totally naive here, July. Gator knows the property alone is worth more than $800,000 so he’s selling it to us betting he gets it back in one or two years. I’m leaving Gator to you, July, I don’t want to be anywhere around or even know how you get him to sign, I just know he will.”

July leaned over and kissed Bob.“How far do you think I’ll go?”

Bob kissed her back then started walking toward the airport. “I don’t know, but I feel sorry for Gator,” Bob said over his shoulder.

July knew exactly what she was doing when she put on her skimpy sundress that didn’t hide much. She’d have to make use of everything she had to deal with Mr. Gator. It was a terribly hot day. The sundress stuck to her as she climbed out of the old jeep and walked into Gator’s garage.

It was the perfect front for Gator to conduct his business, whatever that might be. Anyone could stop by to have his car serviced. Sometimes his office door was open, sometimes it was closed depending on who stopped by. Today it was closed, but July was pretty sure it wouldn’t be for long. Whatever his mechanics were doing was unimportant now as they fell over each other coming to her assistance. Gator came out of his office to see what the commotion was all about. His order to get back to work was basically ignored, as the boys gathered around July bantering for her attention. Gator saw he was getting nowhere.

“Come in to my office, it’s cooler in here,” he beckoned to her. She said goodbye to the boys and followed Gator into his office. He sat down behind his desk, “What can I do for you, Mrs. Green?”

“I’ve come to consummate our deal, Mr. Gator.” She watched his eyes as they lit up with interest. Many of the Bahamian men were terrible womanizers. It was well-known that Gator’s many kids were from different women scattered around the island. In all fairness, he had at least given all his women a home and looked after the kids or the ones he knew about.

“You have something for me?”

“Maybe.” She leaned over his desk giving him a good view of her bosom.

His mouth fell open as he watched the sweat run down between her breasts. He was totally distracted; it had been a while since he’d had a hard-on, but now he felt his prick becoming hard. He’d never had a white woman, or any woman for that matter, that could turn him on like this.

He barely heard her add, “But first we have to make sure we have a deal…”

“Damn, it’s hot in here,” he thought feeling himself start to sweat.

“I give you 50,000 up-front, put 50,000 into fixing up the hotel, and pay you $800,000 over eight years. Is that good for you?” she asked in a voice that would melt ice.

Gator swallowed; he’d give almost anything to have this woman. “That could be arranged,” he heard himself say. She stepped back looking at him. Christ! He could see her belly button; her dress was so wet.

“Do you agree to leave us alone and let us run the hotel the way we want, if I give you what you want?”

He sat back full of confidence. He had her where he wanted her. “Certainly, Mrs. Green. If you give me what I want, you can run the hotel any way you want.”

July handed him a piece of paper. “Here is a letter of agreement for the sale of the Andros Hotel property. If you get what we agreed on, will you sign it?”

Gator took the document and looked at it. It was a standard letter of agreement complete with a lawyer’s seal. He sat it on the desk in front of him. “Yes, we have a deal, if you give me what I want.” There was no mistaking what he meant by his voice.