Playing Dirty (7 page)

“What’s the occasion?” I wondered aloud.

He and I held our glasses up to each other. He said, “Let’s make a toast to freedom!”

He and I tapped our glasses against one another and made the
ding
sound, saying the word “Freedom” in unison. It felt really good to sit there in the presence of this man and become cozy with him. I felt like he and I were on the verge of something really special. I’m not speaking from an intimate standpoint, because I was not the least bit attracted to him. Okay, granted, he’s a fairly attractive man. He kind of reminded me of the actor Sean Connery, with the salt-and-pepper thing going on. But I was up to my neck when it came to fucking these tired old men. All I wanted to do was make this deal with him and keep it moving. That was it.

Two hours had passed and I could see that everyone around me was ripped. The sleazy whores were falling all over each other, making themselves look very cheap. I stayed close to Mr. Alvarez, but I was also able to hold my liquor a lot better than these women, who were making complete spectacles of themselves. And when Mr. Alvarez had gotten tired of the show they were putting on, he had two of his men escort their asses downstairs. I laughed my ass off on the inside, because that was surely a sight to see.

Amid all the loud music, drinking, and laughter that was going on, I noticed that one of Alvarez’s men tapped him on his shoulder; then he leaned over and whispered something in his ear. I was literally killing myself to hear what he was saying, but, of course, I couldn’t manage over all the noise. And then all of a sudden, Alvarez leaned over toward me and said, “Excuse me, Ms. Lomax, but I have some business to take care of, so I am going to have to call it a night.”

My heart started thudding like crazy, because I didn’t know what was going on. I couldn’t let him leave without telling him what I knew. But the way things were looking, I didn’t have enough time. “Ah, you’re leaving so soon?” I whined. “I was just starting to build a connection with you.”

“There will be another time,” he assured me. “I have your number, so I will be in touch.”

As he began to lift himself up from his chair, I grabbed him by the arm. “Please don’t go,” I begged.

He smiled. “I’m sorry, beautiful, but I have to. Don’t worry, though, you’ll see me again.”

“You don’t understand. I came here tonight to warn you that the DEA is onto you because someone in your organization is feeding them a lot of information about you. They know how much coke you bring in once a week from South America, and they know that you’re going to be at the docks when your next shipment is brought in.”

Looking very alarmed, he sat back down. “Who is the traitor?” he demanded.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have a name. But I do know that whoever is your lieutenant is the informant. And I also know that whichever day you step foot on that dock, they will be waiting for you,” I continued; then I looked around to see if anyone was watching me.

“How did you get this information?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Alvarez, I can’t tell you who my source is. But I can tell you that they are definitely reliable.”

“Indeed they are,” he said; then he buried his face in the palm of his hands.

I didn’t want to say another word. It became very clear to me that he needed some time to think, so I sat back in my chair and waited for him to say something.

Fifteen seconds later he lifted his head and looked around the room. He motioned for one of his men to come to him. And as soon as he approached Mr. Alvarez, he leaned down toward him, and that’s when Mr. Alvarez whispered into his ear. Several seconds later the guy left the room and headed downstairs.

I immediately became uneasy and wished that I had not said anything. But it was too late, I had already let the cat out of the bag. Now I had to wait and see what happened. Nervously sitting there, I got up the gumption to speak. “What’s going on?”

“I told my driver to fetch my car,” he replied.

“You’re still leaving?”

“Yes, I am, but I want you to know that you have given me some very valuable information. And I assure you that you will be compensated for it.”

“But I don’t understand what you mean,” I said, trying to play dumb.

“Let’s just say that you’ve saved my life, along with millions of dollars, and for that, I must repay you. So tomorrow I am going to have someone bring something very special to your office.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I said, knowing damn well that’s exactly what I wanted.

“Stop it! I insist,” he said, and stood back up from his chair. He grabbed ahold of my hand and kissed it.

I smiled and said, “Please promise me that you’ll never mention that we had this conversation.”

“You have my word,” he told me, and then he made his exit. And just like that, he was gone. Vanished behind a set of black doors. I sat there and had myself another glass of champagne. I made a toast to myself about the power move I’d just made. And after I finished gulping down the last drop, I set my glass down and left. The entire drive back to my house, all I did was smile and wonder about the special gift Mr. Alvarez was going to have delivered to me. I knew it couldn’t be anything other than money. The question was, how much was he going to toss my way? And since I hadn’t thrown any figures at him, it could be anything. But knowing the magnitude of revenue he had at his disposal made me believe that it would be half a million or better. Time would tell, though.

M
y BlackBerry started ringing and it startled the hell out of me. I looked over at the alarm clock on my nightstand and realized that it was 6:00
A.M
., so I immediately wondered who the hell could have been calling me at this hour. I picked up my phone and looked at the caller ID. Maria’s name was beaming out at me like headlights on a car. I had an idea what she was calling me for, so I hesitated to answer. But then I realized that if I didn’t answer, she’d know that I had something to hide. I pressed down on the call button and said hello in the groggiest voice I could muster.

“Yoshi, wake up. We need to talk,” she demanded. I could tell she was pissed.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“Please tell me you didn’t blow the whistle on my agents’ investigation?” she begged.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, playing dumb.

“I am talking about the Juan Alvarez case.”

“What about it?” I asked, continuing to act like I had no idea what she was talking about.

“His case went bust on us this morning. And we can’t locate our informant anywhere,” she said.

“Tell me what the hell does that have to do with me?” I countered.

“Yoshi, you were the only person who knew outside the agency.”

“So you’re accusing me of blowing your agents’ investigation?”

“I’m only asking. You were the only person I told.”

“Come on, Maria, you’ve known me for a long time now. You know I wouldn’t betray your trust like that. What you need to do is talk to your agents, because this sounds like an inside job to me.” I tried to sound as convincing as possible.

“No way. My men wouldn’t do that. They’ve worked over five hundred man-hours in a two-month period to crack open this case, and then to have it blow up in smoke like that…no, I just can’t believe that.”

“Well, Maria, I don’t know what to tell you—”

“I need you to tell me the truth,” she interjected.

“What the hell do you think I’ve just done? Maria, I am an attorney! Not an informant. And besides, I didn’t know the specifics anyway. Remember, you kept all that information to yourself.”

“Yeah, but you knew who we were after.”

“So what! That doesn’t mean shit!” I snapped.

“Look, Yoshi, I’m not trying to get into a fight with you.”

“You should not have called me with that bullshit then. You’ve really insulted my intelligence.”

Maria sighed; then she said, “Cut it out, Yoshi! No one could ever do that.”

“Are you done? Because I am ready to go back to bed.”

“Yes, I am done. But I must inform you that if we ever find our informant and he utters your name, just know that life is going to look very dim for you.”

“Wait a minute, Maria. Are you fucking threatening me?”

“If you had any involvement in sabotaging my agents’ investigation, then, yes, I am threatening you.”

“I am appalled that you would think that I would be capable of doing something like that. I mean, what could I gain from it? Absolutely nothing. I make my money representing clients in a courtroom. I’m not into anything other than that. So, whenever you do find out who blew the whistle on your agents’ case, feel free to call me back and give me an apology. I’ll be all ears.” I indignantly ended the call.

After I hung up, I laid my phone down on the nightstand and turned back over in my bed. Deep down inside I felt bad, because I never wanted to double-cross Maria. She and I had been friends forever. She was like the sister I never had. But when I looked at it from another angle, I had to come to terms with the fact that I came into this world by myself, and that’s the way I was going to leave. So, to hell with her and her threats! Shit, I was trying to get paid by any means necessary!

I finally rolled out of my bed around 8:30
A.M
. so I could shower and get dressed. After I had my usual cup of hot tea, I headed straight to the office.

I got my usual stares when I entered the building, but I wasn’t expecting to be greeted by Paul first thing in the morning. He was acting very weird as I walked by him. I threw on a fake smile and said good morning.

“We need to talk,” he said as he followed me toward my office.

I looked back at him. “What’s wrong with you?” I asked.

He waited until we both walked into my office and closed the door behind us. “Are you involved in any type of illegal shit?” he questioned.

“No, I am not! And why would you ask me something like that?”

“Because there were a couple of agents here a while ago asking a ton of fucking questions about you!” he roared.

“What agents? And what kind of fucking questions were they asking?” I felt really nervous on the inside. I had instantly gotten sick in the stomach, but I played it cool in front of Paul.

“The DEA, that’s who! And they wanted to know everything—from what time you come to work in the morning to what time you go to the bathroom to take a shit!”

“I don’t understand. I mean, why would they be coming here and inquiring about me? I haven’t done anything illegal.”

“You better hope not. Because I let them go all through your office.”

“What! Are you fucking kidding me?” I screamed. “Why the fuck would you do that?”

“They had a search warrant, so there wasn’t shit I could do about it.”

“Did they take anything?” I wondered aloud as I looked around my office, scanning everything to see what was out of place.

“No, I didn’t see them take anything. But they looked through your entire file cabinet, your computer, and your planner.”

I slammed my fist down on my desk. “That’s bullshit, Paul! They can’t go through my shit like that!” I protested.

“Yes, they can, when they have a search warrant.”

“On what grounds, though? What fucking judge gave them a search warrant to go through my shit?” I continued to roar.

“I’m not sure. But whoever it was felt you had something they were looking for.”

I sucked my teeth. “Well, if I had it, I’m sure they would have walked out of here with it.”

“Look, I’m not trying to get in a debate with you. Just keep your fucking nose clean, because I’m not going to tolerate any more of these episodes with agents walking into my firm. It makes me and the other partners look bad.”

“You’re always thinking about your image.”

“And I should,” he replied sarcastically, and abruptly left.

I walked over to my office door and slammed it shut. I knew this whole thing had something to do with Juan Alvarez, so I was pissed. And to know that Maria had something to do with it made my blood pressure skyrocket. I knew she was only doing her job, but I can’t handle that type of heat, especially here on my job. I guessed I was going to have to handle her ass with a long-handled spoon. I’d still be her friend, but from a distance. And since the heat was on me, it wouldn’t be hard at all to keep her away from me, which made me wonder if they knew she and I were friends.

Yeah, she had to have told them something, or else they would not have pursued me. Oh well, whatever she told them would definitely have to be proven. And since I dot all my
i
’s and cross all my
t
’s, they were going to have to do better than what they were doing right now. I should call Ms. Maria and tell the bitch, “Thanks for everything.” But, nah, knowing her, she’d be waiting, so I would not waste my time. I’d get her ass back by totally giving her the silent treatment. She hated that, so that was exactly what I intended to do. Other than that, I was going to live my life and step my game up just a little bit more.

After I sat in my office for about an hour and mulled over the fact that agents had been searching through my personal files, I got a knock on my door. I was very agitated at this point and my tone expressed it. “Who is it?” I roared.

“Ms. Lomax, it’s me Donna,” my assistant said. “I have a package for you.”

“Come in,” I ordered her.

She walked into my office and set the manila envelope down on my desk. “This just came in,” she told me.

“Who is it from?” I asked, hoping she’d be able to tell me before I found out myself.

“There’s no return address on the envelope,” she replied.

“Alright. You can leave now. Thank you,” I told her.

After she exited my office, I ripped open the package. But before I pulled out the contents, I told myself that this had to be from Mr. Alvarez. He assured me the night before that he was going to have his people send me something the very next morning. So this had to be
that something.
…At least that’s what I hoped. I took a deep breath and stuck my hand inside the envelope. Inside of it were two pieces of paper, so I pulled them out. “Oh shit!” I uttered unconsciously. In my hand I held a fucking cashier’s check in the amount of $5 million and a handwritten note that read:

You have done a very great deed!

And it will never be forgotten.

I almost passed out. I mean, I wasn’t expecting this. Shit, I was banking on half a million, not five. But, hey, I won’t complain.

Before I stuck the check inside my handbag, I kissed it about ten times. This was the quickest five million I’d ever made. And to know that I did it without stepping one foot inside a courtroom made me one happy camper. Maria wasn’t too happy with me, but I couldn’t care less what she or anyone else thought about me. I knew one thing—after I was done with Sheldon’s case, I was going to Virginia to visit my father’s side of the family.

I had always wanted to be close to them, but my mother never allowed it. She thought we were too good for them. Okay, granted, a lot of them had struggled throughout their entire lives but, hey, some people were just not as fortunate as others. That was no reason to look down on them.

I hadn’t spoken with any of them recently, including my favorite cousin, Carmine. I was sure everyone was doing well, considering we lived in a wealthy country and the opportunities around us were endless. So I would pay her and the rest of my family a visit as soon as I get the first chance.

I ended my day at the firm somewhat earlier than usual. The cashier’s check was burning a hole through my handbag, so I had to get to the bank to make a deposit. And that’s exactly what I did.