Private Deceptions (26 page)

Now that the shooting had stopped, people to get up off the floor and began to move around. The cook came out of the kitchen. "Go on and get out of here. I’ll take care of things here," the cook said.

I grabbed a tablecloth and picked up the pump. I picked up my suitcase and left the club though the back door. I walked quickly and with my head down, past the crowd, and along the beach until I reached the canal. Carefully I wiped the pump clean and then proceeded to smash it against the rocks. Then picked up all the pieces and put them back in the tablecloth. Then I walked down the canal and dropped broken pieces of the pump into the water. With all the pieces gone, I folded up the tablecloth and put it in my suitcase. I made my back to the main road and was able to flag down a cab. "Bahama Princess," I said as I got in the cab. "No, take me to the Lucayan Beach Hotel."

Once I arrived at the hotel, I checked in and went straight to my room. I opened up the suitcase and took the tablecloth and my gun out. I put the gun on the nightstand and took the tablecloth down the hall to the laundry shoot. I went back to the room and sat down on the bed. I tried but couldn’t seem to make sense of what had just happened. I picked up the phone and called Freeze at Cuisine.

"Cuisine," Freeze answered.

"Freeze, it’s Nick. Is Black there?"

"No, I thought he was down there with you? What’s goin’ on?"

"Some shooting went down at Black’s club. And — "I said, but Freeze interrupted.

"Hold up, Nick. Wanda and Bobby are here, I’m gonna put you on speaker."
Great.
"Nick, you still there?"

"I’m here."

"Now what happened?" Freeze asked."

"There was a shooting at Black’s club. Bandits killed a DEA agents and took Shy with them when they left."

"What!" Freeze said.

"They took Shy."

"Took her where?" Wanda asked excitedly.

"I don’t know." I replied.

"Start at the beginning, Nick. What happened?" Wanda asked.

"I saw a guy I knew, he turned out to be DEA. He wasn’t there looking for Shy, he was just meeting somebody there. One of the people he met recognized me, when he saw me kill shot the agent and started shooting at me. Shy pulled out a pump from under the bar and started shooting back. One of them got behind Shy and grabbed her on the way out the door."

"Did you recognize any of them, Nick?" Wanda asked.

"No."

"What they look like?" Freeze asked.

"One Hispanic male, South American, I think. The other one was white. The Hispanic man’s been shot."

"Damn!" Freeze said, "This is fucked up."

"What happened then, Nick?" Wanda asked. "What about the Police?"

"I got out of there with Shy’s pump and left the cook to deal with the cops."

"Okay, he’s a good man, he knows how to handle the situation," Wanda said.

"That depends on who shows up," Freeze said.

"Where are you staying?" Wanda asked.

"Lucayan Beach."

"Okay, stay there. I’ll call you back after I talk to the cook."

Before Wanda discounted the cal I heard Bobby say, "What’s he been down there, four hours?"

THE STORY CONTINUES IN THE MIKE BLACK SAGA BOOK TWO