Into The Frying Pan

The sunset at our backs as we leave for Punta Gorda.


We step off the boat and make sure the guns are tucked away. The deck hand looks at us as he stands, holding the sides of his head at the sight of Agaki's bloody body. I turn and walk and hear Lou behind me. The boy on the boat says something to Lou, who in return tells him that it is not our problem.
Agaki is one of the people in this adventure that I actually enjoyed. Now this whole thing has killed him as well.
I feel Lou's hand on my shoulder, "His satellite phone... did you see it?"
"No." I tell him as I walk toward the club, "he didn't have it on him, and I didn't think to look at the people getting off."
"Neither did I."
Lou is walking beside me now. "We don't need it." He looks straight ahead and talks through his teeth, just in case someone is watching us. "I don't think they planned on him being alive." He does a quick look behind us, "I think they wanted to see who was here to meet him... and they did."

We walk in silence up toward Dominican's to look for Loco.
"You better go wash your hands, Lou."
He looks down at the drying bloody mess on his left hand. The right hand is clean. We get inside and Lou hits the head. I step up to the bar and order a couple of beers and a couple of shots of local hooch. The dinner and drinks crowd is gathering again. I see one or two faces from the water taxi, but could be standing right next to someone that was on the boat and not know their face.
"Better?" Lou holds his hand up for inspection.
"Yeah... I guess. What the fuck are we going to do now?"
"Do you see Loco?" Lou takes his shot and downs it, chasing it with a few chugs off the beer.
"Nope. Just these tourists, and a couple of killers that are probably watching us." I shift the gun in the waist band of my shorts and it falls out and hits the floor. "Oh shit... "
I leap off my stool and crouch down to pick it up. While I am going to grab it the cold steel barrel of a shotgun is pressed unceremoniously to the side of my face.
"Do not move, Senior."
I look to my left and see shined shoes and a uniform. The barrel gives me a shove and then lifts under my chin until I am standing. I am looking face to face with a man my age with a severe lack of character and a big gun to make up for it. Beyond him are three others in uniform with weapons at the ready. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that I am in deep shit. He shouts a quick order to one of his men and they move into action. One of them grabs my pistol from the floor, the other two brace Lou, who gives them no trouble... not yet anyway.

"A man is dead... " He says to me in a thick accent. "You have a gun, a killer most definately."
"No, Pedro, I am a mechanic and sometimes pilot. And that man on the boat was stabbed, not shot."
The shot gun spins like the man is in a parade and the butt of it catches me in the solarplexes. I drop to my knees and try to breathe. It is the only thing I can think of at the moment, that and the stars I see.
"Sálgalos sólo!" A voice calls from the side of the bar. I hear rushing foots steps and guns cocking.
"Estoy con estos hombres. ellos están bajo mi cuidado." The voice says... I think. Lou helps me out with what I am thinking.
"It's the cavalry, Jake, just stay down and catch your breath."
Loco calms the men, calls them off. When I finally stand, I put both hands on my hips and breath as deeply as the pain allows. "Well... I found Loco."

"You boys get into trouble while Loco is gone. You should stay on the boat with Blanco, my friends."
"Shhhh, Loco, lets keep our accomodations private, okay?" Lou tells him.
Loco holds my new pistol in his hand, "Keep from sight, my friend. Those Federales, they not listen to me again. I tell them you watching your DEA and that you keep the money flowing. You know this means... ? What this is?"
"Well, I can guess."
"These Federales make more pesos collecting from traffickers than from our government. I tell them you making money flow. That they stay far away from you so you do your work."
Lou gives him a slap on the back and pushes a shot his way, "That is quick thinking, Loco."

We take a table near the back of the establishement and watch the people, looking for someone that might be looking back. The men that killed Agaki had to be here, waiting for us, watching.
"Who do we look for, seniors?" Loco asks between draws on his beer.
"Don't know, Loco. We saw our friend wave, and ran to him. The damage had been done before we set eyes on him, so we don't know who did it." I take a shot and then roll the shot glass on it's edge awhile.
Lou waves to the barkeep and holds up three fingers. The man brings three more beers and three more shots our way. "Loco, we need to make it to the islands off of Punta Gorda and meet our friend's boat. But we need to make it out of here without these people knowing about it. We don't need them to know that Whitey is involved, or about the Morgan. It needs to be as secretive as possible."
"You want I should go speak to Blanco for him to take this danger? It should be a choice, okay?"
"Yeah, Loco, you go talk to Whitey. You tell him what is up. You tell him the money he got today should pay for the danger." Lou gives him a shove in the right direction, but grabs the last inch of his sleeve to stop him. He picks up the shotgun from the bar, "You might need this."

Lou is busy talking to a little cutie that stepped up to the bar just as Loco walked off toward the marina. I watch as two of the men I presume were off the water taxi casually leave the restaurant and take up following Loco.
"Hey... Lou, hey, those guys are the guys." I turn and see him kissing on this girl, or so he would hope. She has a real deep voice. "LOU."
"What?"
"I think I found our guys."
"Good, you take care of it."
"Come one, Lou, let's go."
"Busy."
"Jesus."

I check the load in the gun for the fifth time and step out of the restaurant into the darkness. I can see Loco out on the marina heading for the boat, and the two men hiding in the shadows just after the gated entrance, the gate propped open with a large rock. One of the two men slinks up onto the pier and then waves the other up. In the single light that hangs over the entrance I see the glint of a blade... just for a moment. It is going to be another blood bath, and Loco and Blanco are the guests of honor. Shit.
I make may way down to the marina, never taking my eyes off the two men as they work their way down to the Morgan. Loco is on board now, talking to Blanco. Even if these men don't kill the two of them, they will overhear what we are going to do and the damage will be done.
I am on the pier now, hoping that none of these timbers squeek. The two men are aside the Morgan now. One of them motions to the other to look around and keep watch. I hit the deck and roll toward one of the big wooden storage boxes at the head of each slip. I don't think is sees me.
I do my best to make it toward the Morgan unseen before it's too late. But it is not to be. The man on watch sees me and then takes a shot. I stand, gun levelled at this man who stands twenty feet down and to my right. Three shots, boom... boom... boom, followed by a shotgun blast that propells the intruder out and up on the dock from the Morgan, the blade of the knife catching the light as it spins around over head and then disappears into the waters of the bay.
"LOCO?"
"What the FUCK?" There is a lot of swearing, then he appears from the safety of the Morgan.
"It's okay, Loco, I got the other one."
"No shit... you guys are okay?"
"Well, I am okay, Lou is up at the bar talking to someone."
"These are the guys?" He watches my approach in the darkness until we are side by side, standing over the body of the man I shot. It is questionable weather or not this man is dead until I try to find a pulse... unsuccessfully. The man Loco shot is surely dead, with a hole through his chest you could pass a coffee can through.
I motion to his body, "Nice shot."
"Si."
"No shit."

Lou comes running down the dock, gun drawn. I am surprised he doesn't do a quick roll with his entrance. "You guys okay?" The Kimber sweeps back and forth until I tell him that the bad guys are down.
Lou walks over to the man with the hole in his chest, "Jesus... what did you shoot this guy with, a cannon?"
"Double aught buckshot, it makes nice hole, eh?" Loco smiles as he admires his handy work. "Who says never take a shotgun to knife fight, eh?"
"Good one, Loco."

With Blanco informed on what was going to happen, or what we thought was going to happen, we ready the Morgan for a quick trip to the islands off of Punta Gorda. Loco does his best to smooth things over with the Federales we had been introduced to earlier in the day. He was happy to hand the two dead bodies over as the killers of the man on the water taxi. I have to say that killing that man was particularly satisfying, knowing that he had a part, or was directly responsible for Agaki's death.
As the sun sets at our backs, we set our sails and make for the islands. We run without lights for the couple of hours we will be at sea. When we near the islands we will have to drop the sails and run on the engine so we remain unseen on the horizon. The fiberglass ship should have little or no radar profile, and allow us to sneek up on the situation. I have a feeling that we won't be seeing Bear on the same terms as before. With all that has occured we are heading straight into danger, either by his hand or by someone elses.