McNally's Bluff (31 page)

I engaged a limo to take us to the airport and after checking our luggage we indulged in a bon voyage drink in the lounge to steady our nerves. When our flight was called we queued up to be searched for bombs, box cutters and weapons of mass destruction, went through the metal detector and finally got to board.

Traveling business class, we had comfortable seats side by side with Georgy taking the window seat. The steward instructed us on emergency protocol as his stewardess teammate showed us how to use a life jacket once called a Mae West. (I longed for Smilin’ Tom’s Seminole worry beads.)

We fastened our safety belts and held our breath as we taxied down the runway and gradually left terra firma. When we were airborne the stewardess passed out newspapers and magazines for those who wished them and asked if we wanted coffee before lunch. We did.

I got a
Post
and Georgy got a
Herald.
Waiting for the coffee we scanned our dailies.

Moments later I heard Georgy exclaim, “Oh, no!”

“What’s wrong? Are we crashing?”

“Worse,” she said, handing me her
Herald
and pointing. “There, right on the front page. I can’t believe it.”

Following the perfectly manicured moving finger, I read:

SOCIALITE AND POLITICAL ACTIVIST DETAINED IN MIAMI

Palm Beach socialite Carolyn Taylor and Miami columnist and political activist Alejandro Gomez y Zapata were arrested by the Coast Guard yesterday, along with Consuela Garcia and Billy Gilbert. All four are being detained by the Miami police.

Yesterday afternoon, the party boat, rented by Mrs. Taylor, while out on a run with her guests, picked up a lone passenger piloting a speedboat. Spotted by the Coast Guard, they boarded Mrs. Taylor’s yacht and were told the man had escaped from Cuba. The man, who has not been identified, carried only a leather satchel. Upon examining it, the officer discovered two dozen bags of uncut heroin, worth millions on the illegal drug market.

Mrs. Taylor insisted that she believed the man was a Cuban refugee they had been alerted was coming. Mr. Gomez y Zapata and Ms. Garcia confirmed Mrs. Taylor’s allegation.

Billy Gilbert stated that he was a guest of Mrs. Taylor’s and was totally ignorant of any planned rendezvous at sea.

The spokesperson for the Coast Guard described the ensuing scene as “a three-ring circus.”

Oy vey.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The publisher and the estate of Lawrence Sanders have chosen Vincent Lardo to create this novel based on Lawrence Sanders’s beloved character Archy McNally and his fictional world.

copyright © 2004 by The Lawrence A. Sanders Foundation, Inc.

cover design by Jason Gabbert

978-1-4532-9835-0

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