Genesis, Part XXI

[Robbie C.]

“You know, lieutenant, we could use the money I got from those cigar runs for Otis Forsythe to front the Cash operation.”

“It’s all been vouchered?”

“Every crumpled dollar bill.” Sonny chuckled. “Actually it’s all in fresh twenties and fifties. I think dirty money offends Otis’s code or something.”

Sitting next to him, Rico nodded. “It makes sense, Lieutenant. It’s money we already have in property, it doesn’t require any special permission, and it’s using their green back at them.”

Sonny watched Castillo’s eyes as Rico spoke. He knew they were close, but he also didn’t want to overplay his hand. Getting Cash would take them one step closer to the Mendozas. Maybe not the whole thing, since Cash was strictly small time and the Mendozas would need to launder more money than he was capable of handling. But it was a way in.

“What about the CI? Gustavo Mendoza.”

“He’s getting us nowhere, lieutenant.” Sonny sighed. “He just keeps telling stories about how he might have heard something or maybe seen something, but none of it ever pans out. Maybe if we…”

“Switek’s workin’ him as hard as he can.” Rico shot Sonny a quick look. “But the kid’s still loyal. In the end he’ll give them up…”

“But it’ll take too damned long. Those bodies outside Kilowatt are the Mendozas’ work. I’d bet my badge on it.”

Castillo looked up, and Sonny saw the heat in his eyes. “You might be, detective. Have the paperwork ready for me to sign by this afternoon. And if you arrest Dixon Walker, do it the right way. It has to stand up in court if we hope to turn him.”

“How do you want to work this, partner?”

Sonny thought as he scrolled the requisition form into his typewriter back at his desk. “We gotta wait for old Two-Tone to page you, right? As soon as that happens, we’ll set up the meet. I don’t know if you want Cooper there, since this isn’t supposed to be his thing.”

“Solid. Maybe we can get Gina and Trudy to make the arrest. That way Burnett don’t get burned, either.”

“Yeah. Better them that Gorman and Dibble. I don’t think there’s a polyester convention in town this week. They’d stick out even in Rizzo’s.” He started to say something about Switek and Zito, then caught himself. “No. Gina and Trudy are our best bet.”

“Castillo’s gonna want a wire.”

“Yeah. I guess he will. I’ll get with Switek and set something up.” Hitting the last keys, Sonny punched return a few times to roll the form out of the battered IBM. “You take that to Castillo, and I’ll talk to Stan. And let me know the second Paulie pages. We can’t miss with this.”

“Sonny? Be cool with Switek.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Getting up, Sonny handed Rico the form and headed for the small lab attached to the squad room.

He found Stan Switek sitting at the small workbench with a small soldering iron, making what he guessed were final adjustments on some new gadget or another. “Hey, Switek! You gonna have time to wire me up in the next day or so? We got a meet coming with a money guy, and…”

“Sure. I’ll just drop everything I’m doing and get right on that.” There was a bite to Stan’s voice that brought Sonny up short.

“Thing is, I don’t know when the meet’s gonna be. We’re still waiting on a time and place from Rico’s CI. I wanted to let you know so you could get something ready.”

Stan set down the soldering iron with a sigh. “See all that?” He waved his hand in the general direction of plastic bins filled with unidentifiable bits of electronics. “Got any rig you could need in there. What do you need?”

“Something small with decent range. I don’t know if the lieutenant’s gonna have you run it or not, so if you’ve got something Tubbs could run it would be handy.”

Grunting, Stan dug through one of the bins and pulled out a small microphone connected to what Sonny assumed was a small transmitter. Then he turned and found a modified tape recorder/receiver combination. “That should do the the trick. They’re already linked, so there’s nothing to tune or adjust. Leave Tubbs in the car and you’ve got range of maybe five hundred feet give or take.” He sat back down without looking up. “Just take it with you and drop it off when you’re done.”

Sonny looked from the jumble of electronics to Stan and back again. Before they would have bantered back and forth, maybe cracked a joke or two. But this… He wasn’t sure what to make of it, but could tell from Stan’s posture there wasn’t any point in asking. Instead he gathered up the gear and muttered something about maybe seeing him later before heading back to the squad room.

Rico was waiting by his desk. “Signed and ready to deal, partner. Looks like Stan set you up right.”

“Yeah, but there wasn’t much talking. He said you could run the thing.” Sonny set the recorder and wire down on his desk. “He wasn’t in the best mood.”

“Would you be?”

Sonny started to snap, then took a deep breath. “No. No, I probably wouldn’t be, Rico. But we were just doing our jobs.”

“Maybe he’s got a different idea of what that means.” Rico raised his hands. “Look, I ain’t taking sides. But Zito did get killed. And you pushed too hard.”

“It’s part of the job, Rico. Making the hard calls.”

“Yeah. But you also gotta take the heat for those calls, partner. We don’t get to pick which ones.” Rico was about to continue when he stopped and grinned. “And the pager just went off. I think we’re in business.”

 

“And that’s the short of it, lieutenant. Cash wants to meet at Rizzo’s tonight.” Sonny looked at his watch. “It’s Wednesday, and Noogie says the girl he’s hot for always dances tonight.”

Castillo nodded. “Switek is on assignment. Tubbs, you’ll run the wire. Gina, Trudy, you’ll go in before Crockett and provide backup.”

Trudy snorted. “Remind me to wear my armored panties. We’re gonna get the hell pinched out of ourselves in there.”

“Stay close to the bar. The guy at the door won’t let anyone get carried away.” Sonny chuckled. “It’s bad for business.”

“What about LaMonte?”

“Noogie won’t blow anyone’s cover, lieutenant. He knows the drill. Besides, he’ll be focusing on his DJ gig.” Sonny shook his head. “Little freak’s good at it. From what I hear, club revenue goes up at least 25% when he’s in the booth.”

“Once the deal goes down, Tubbs will send Gorman and Dibble in to make the arrest.” Castillo looked up. “That’s not open for negotiation. We bring him in and avoid a scene. Walker has an active warrant from Financial Crimes, so it’s natural for them to take him in. Have them arrest Crockett, too. We need to preserve his cover.”

‘Maybe we should play him a bit…”

“No. Bring him in. Walker isn’t the kind who does time. He’ll turn on all his clients to avoid Radford.”

Sonny nodded, but inside he was fuming. Leaving Cash in play might get them to the Mendozas with something they could act on. But he knew the look on Castillo’s face all too well, and getting a shot at the Mendozas his way wasn’t worth a suspension.

Back at their desks, he gave Rico a look. “I’ll go pull the money out of property. You might want to set Stan’s rig up in the Caddy and make sure it’s good to go. I’ll have Lester tape the wire up for me. I think he’s somewhere back there.”

“Solid.” Rico checked his watch. “We got a couple hours before the meet.”

“Yeah.” He looked over at Gina. “When I get back, you wanna get together with Trudy and go over the game plan? I don’t want to stick the two of you in Rizzo’s any longer than necessary.”

Gina nodded, and he thought he saw a familiar glint in her eyes. “I appreciate that, Sonny.”

If she was going to say anything else, it disappeared in a cloud of cheap cigar smoke. Gorman, his bald head shining in reflected fluorescent light from the ceiling fixtures, ambled across the squad room. “Lieutenant says we’re making the arrest this time out,” he announced in his grating voice. “Dibble’s down drawing the shotguns. Where do you want us?”

“We’re gonna go over it as soon as I get back from Property, but Tubbs will be running the tape outside Rizzo’s. He’ll give the go order. Maybe you two girls can set up in a van close by so you can see him flash his headlights.”

“Sounds good to me.” The tip of his cigar glowed bright red as Gorman drew in smoke. “Be good to get off stakeout duty, even if it’s only for a couple of hours.”

It took ten minutes to go over the details with Gina and Trudy, and an extra ten to make sure Gorman and Dibble knew who to arrest and make them understand they had to take Burnett in as well. “I gotta keep that cover going,” Sonny said, trying to hide his annoyance as he gave the explanation for the third time. “It’ll go down in court as mistaken identity or some bull. Enough to look good on the record but not fake enough to raise eyebrows.”

“Sure. I get it.” Dibble chuckled and slapped Gorman on the shoulder. “We get to arrest a sergeant.”

Sighing, Sonny pushed back from the conference room table. “I gotta get moving. Let Tubbs know when you’re in position and wait for his signal. We only get one shot at this, girls. Don’t mess it up.”

Rico was waiting by his desk. “Chumps,” he muttered. “They know what they gotta do?”

“I hope so, Rico. Just make sure they get in position and know when to move in.” He looked at his watch. “And that took longer than I’d planned. Gina and Trudy are probably already in position, and you and Mutt and Jeff are gonna have to haul ass if you want to get in position.”

“What’s your signal?”

“Let’s make a deal. You hear that, send ‘em in. If there’s gunfire, something went wrong. Gina and Trudy will clear just after the arrest.”

 

In the end it went better than he’d hoped. Cash had gulped down the bait, and screamed about his innocence when Gorman and Dibble hauled them both away in cuffs. Sonny kept up the act until Cash was shut in an interrogation room, then he had Rico unlock the cuffs and rubbed his wrists with a wry grin. “Couldn’t have gone better if we’d written it ourselves.”

“Yeah. I guess we’re about due, aren’t we?”

“Pretty much, Rico.” He kept rubbing his wrists. The cuffs hadn’t been that tight, but something about the feel of the cold metal against his skin kept lingering. “Did anything else come in about those bodies outside Kilowatt?”

“Not that I heard. Last I saw Homicide was still twiddling their thumbs.”

“Yeah, and we didn’t turn up squat on Zoro, so we ain’t doing any better than they are.” He shook his head. “I just can’t shake the feeling, though. The Mendozas had to have a hand in it. No one else uses .45s. Or is that particular about how they off someone.”

“They’re still ghosts, Sonny. Not a whisper of anything illegal anywhere.”

“That’s how you run a, what do they call it, multi-generational criminal enterprise. You’re careful.”

Rico laughed. “You been reading a dictionary again, partner?”

“No. Just watched The Godfather the other night when Elvis had a belly ache. He gets grumpy when he’s off his feed.”

“I bet he does.” Rico scratched at his chin through his trimmed beard. “So you think the Mendozas are the mob now?”

“No. Nothing like that.” They were in the squad room now, and he nodded to Gina and Trudy. “Great work, ladies. Hope you didn’t get groped too much.”

Trudy shook her head. “One fool tried, and now he’s gonna have to adopt if he wants kids. You got Cash squared away?”

“Dibble and Gorman are taking a run at him in interrogation now.” He shook his head and turned back to Rico. “I’m not saying they’re mob, but they’ve been in the game a long damned time. They know how to move. Hell, the grandfather was one of the best of the rum runners.”

“It’s gonna take more than a family tree to convince Castillo, Sonny.” Rico waved his hand toward the stack of folders on his desk. “And we got too many cases as it is. Gun runners. The investigation into the Cruz family. Some random tip about a big coke buy. You name it, it’s in there.”

“I know. And you’re right, Rico. I just…I just can’t shake this one.” Slumping in his desk chair, Sonny closed his eyes. He knew Rico was right on every level. They had too many cases, not enough people, and nowhere near enough time. He also knew Rico had been damned lucky with Internal Affairs during the whole Proverb case. From his own experiences with the goons in IA, he knew you came away a bit gunshy for a time. And the last thing he wanted to do was drag his partner down a rabbit hole he was digging himself. “Anyhow, maybe the lieutenant will drag something out of cash or Gustavo might come through.” He shook his head. “How’s the Cruz case coming? I heard you got a meet coming up with the older son.”

 

“What do you mean they picked him up?” Esteban Morales gripped the receiver hard, his knuckles turning white.

The voice on the other end of the line was hesitant. “I…I don’t know why, boss. Just that we saw Metro-Dade hauling that halfwit Cash and some other dude out of Rizzo’s in cuffs. Two detectives, and they stuffed them in squad cars.”

“Find out why and report back. And Carlos? Do it quietly.” Esteban ended the call, then punched in the number. “Jefe? We have a problem.”

 

The night was perfect. The moon was a silver disk in the sky, bathing the balcony in soft light. Miguel Mendoza sat in one of the wicker chairs, watching Holly Martin look up at the sky. “You can actually see the stars out here,” she said, tipping her head back.

“Yes. Although some of the newer houses have obnoxious lights in their back yards and along the water. I don’t know how long it will last.” He paused, letting his mind wander back. “Growing up there were only a handful of houses here. Enrique and I used to pretend we lived in the middle of nowhere. A ranch house or some kind of colonial plantation, depending on which old movie we’d seen the night before.”

“I…”

The buzzing of the cordless phone cut her off. Snarling, Miguel snatched it up. “This better be good.”

Esteban’s cool voice filled his ear. “Jefe? We have a problem.”

He covered the mouthpiece with his hand. “I won’t be a moment, Holly. It’s an issue at the warehouse.” Getting to his feet, he stepped back inside the house and partly closed the glass door. “Speak.”

“Metro-Dade picked up Cash and another man at Rizzo’s tonight. I have a man looking into the arrest, but I thought you should know.”

“You did well.” Miguel clenched his jaws, glad he’d cut off all dealings with the money launderer. “Was is about that stripper or something else?”

“We don’t know. It was detectives who made the arrest, though. Not uniforms.”

“Let me know when you have something. I’ll let Rickey know.” Ending the call, he dialed Enrique’s apartment number. When it rolled to the answering machine, he snorted. Of course he’s out. It’s Saturday night. Where else would he be? “Ricky, it’s Miguel. Deliveries might be late Monday. There was an issue at the warehouse.” Anyone else listening to the message would think it was normal distributor business, but Enrique would know to stop all runs until further notice.

He stood in the gloom for a moment, composing himself. Walker didn’t actually know enough to do any damage to his organization, but it was still a problem. He doubted the man would hold his tongue, or if he did it wouldn’t last past booking and his first night in Dade County.

Looking out, he saw Holly’s slender body highlighted by the moonlight. Much to Enrique’s amusement he hadn’t slept with her yet, even though she’d made it clear she wanted him. No, there was one thing he wanted to do first. One last thing to accomplish before the family business went to the next level. And then…she’d be his reward. No, his prize. Because without her, the step couldn’t happen.

“I was wondering if you’d gotten lost…”

“No. It just took longer than I thought.” He took her in his arms and kissed her, feeling her body warm and firm against his. “There’s been an accident at the warehouse. No one was hurt, but it’s going to throw our schedule off by at least a day.”

She nodded, not meeting his gaze. “So you have calls to make…”

“Eventually.” Her long hair tickled the backs of his hands. “How do you like working for those clubs?”

“It’s ok, I guess.” She smiled up at him. “I mean, I’m good at it, but with three clubs it’s hard to focus on one thing. And the owners are always changing their minds. Most of them don’t even come to their own clubs, so they don’t know what’s going on.”

“I imagine that’s frustrating. Especially when they don’t listen to you.”

“How did…”

“I felt the same thing with my father before he stepped away from the business. He wasn’t talking to the clubs or bars, but thought he knew what they needed. And he ignored me, even though I was the one getting the sales.”

“I don’t know why he’d do that. You’re good at what you do.”

“Pride. An old man’s pride. You can’t underestimate what it does. And so many of those clubs are just ways for rich men to spend their money and pretend to be young men again.” He smiled, touching her cheek. “How well do you know South Beach?”

“I know every inch of it. Clubs, coffee shops, galleries. You name  it.”

“Find me a spot.”

“What?”

“Find me a spot for a club. Someplace close to things people want to see. Someplace where there hasn’t been a club before. I’d rather start fresh than try to erase someone else’s mistakes.”

“Why me? I…”

“You know the area. You know the business. The clubs you work with all got more successful when you started promoting them. And I trust you.”

She looked at him for a long moment, and a cold feeling started balling up in his stomach. She’s going to say no. She’s going walk out and… And then she kissed him. Hard.

 

Ricardo Tubbs switched off the interrogation room’s speaker and grinned. “Another couple of minutes and that chump will be pissing himself.”

Sonny Crockett nodded, sending a thin steam of cigarette smoke toward the ceiling. “Yeah, but none of it’s helping us. This guy must have washed cash for every lowlife in the greater Miami area who couldn’t swing an offshore account.”

Rico scratched an itch through his beard. He was still adjusting to the look, but the ladies seemed to love it and it felt like it made Cooper a shade more menacing. Something he needed these days with the new crop of dealers. “Yeah. But that raises the question. Why would the Mendozas use a punk like this?”

“Insurance. A way to clean cash in a hurry. Hell, maybe they just like his cologne. But the word we keep getting is they’re using him somehow. We just gotta figure out how and then convince him to roll on them.”

Rico looked through the glass at Dibble and Gorman. “At least those two make convincing Financial Crimes cops.” He looked at his Rolex and frowned. “I’d love to watch the whole movie, but we gotta get moving. We got the briefing on the Cruz meet coming up. You know…prime time.”

 

OCB shifts to God’s Work, Child’s Play and Missing Hours

 

“Do you think he’ll keep his mouth shut?”

Esteban looked at his fingernails for a long moment and shook his head. “No. Maybe at first, but as soon as they threaten him with prison he’ll talk. No question. They’ll put him in Dade County first. We don’t have people there, but most of his other customers do. Especially the Dominicans.”

Miguel Mendoza nodded. The Lame Bull was almost empty this early in the day, and he appreciated the quiet. Last night with Holly had been nothing short of amazing, and he’d been reluctant to leave the bed the next morning. But business was business. “It sounds like you already have something in mind.”

“I do. We can let the Dominicans know discretely that we heard Cash was going to give them up. I know he handles money for the 8 Ball Kings. They’re a viscous bunch, and if they thought he was going to give them up…”

Miguel nodded. He’d heard of the Kings. Not as organized as the Double Treys, they still moved a reasonable amount of product and defended what they considered theirs with a fury. They’d been feuding with a couple of smaller Columbian gangs for the past year or so. “Do it. It’s always better to have someone do our dirty work for us.”

“Exactly. I’ll have Lupe reach out.” There was a pause. “I’m worried about Victor, boss.”

“I know. He exceeded orders at Kilowatt. I thought you’d parked him at the third boathouse?”

“I did. But I’m hearing things. It seems Victor likes to talk. A lot.”

“Maybe we should give him something to do.” Miguel paused, then smiled. “But he’s your man, Esteban. I let you run your people your way. I trust you’ll handle the situation. But first we need to take care of this Cash.”

“Once Lupe makes contact I think it might take a couple of days for things to move forward.”

“That’s not a problem. We don’t have any major shipments coming in. Just a load of cigars.”

Once Esteban left, Miguel let his breath out in a long, slow hiss. Almost, but not quite, a sigh. Cash was a problem he didn’t need. Not now. Not when he was about to take the next step.

“Deep in thought as always, brother.”

The sound of Enrique’s voice made him jump, then laugh. “You know me too well. And when I think I lose track of everything else.”

“But not Holly. You forget one thing. Girls always talk. And from Tiffy’s end of the conversation I think you made an impression last night.”

Miguel felt his cheeks turning warm. “I thought you’d stopped seeing her.”

“No.” The younger Mendoza slumped into the chair recently occupied by Esteban. “Oh, I thought about it. But there’s something about her. No, it’s not just one something. It’s several somethings.”

“How much did she tell you?”

“Just that the Mendoza talent for love-making didn’t seem to pass my older brother by.” Enrique laughed. “And she said something about a club.”

Damn it. Ah, well. “I was going to tell you once things were further along.”

“I know. To be honest, I knew you were up to something when our cash flow was going up and you weren’t running around like a madman trying to find a banker.”

“I’ve been watching those assholes, Ricky. The old, rich men who throw their money at those places like they do strippers. And then I remembered what Newton Blade had said about clubs and concerts being the best ways to clean money. Why should we pay someone else to do something we could handle ourselves?”

“A fair point. But we don’t know the first thing about clubs.”

“No. But Holly does. South Beach clubs at least.” Miguel leaned forward in his chair. “Look. We can buy booze from ourselves, police the product moving in the club, and book acts and stuff as we like.” He narrowed his eyes. “But we keep product in the place to a minimum. If we don’t draw attention, things work better.”

“It makes sense. It will take time, though.”

“I know. But we have plenty of money to throw at the problem.”

“You amaze me, brother. I think you’re the first man I’ve ever known who is building a club to get a girl.”

Miguel laughed. He hadn’t thought of it that way, but in some ways it was true. “I’d been thinking of this before Holly, but I think this works even better. If she appears to be the owner…”

“Less attention. We’re just, what do you say, investors.”

“Discrete investors. It also means we don’t have the rely on Jesus as much.”

“True. He’s been quiet so far. Keeping to his end of the deal. But I don’t know how long that will last. I’ve been talking to a couple of his pilots. Guys who want to move over to our crews instead of shuttling fat fucks who think they can fish. They say he’s starting to look at go-fasts again. And to talk with people he shouldn’t. Like Columbians.”

“Are they still trying to cut into his cigar trade?”

Enrique shook his head. “It turns out that was a lie. He’s been cutting them in on the trade. A ‘I help you if you help me’ kind of thing. At least that’s what the guys I’m talking to think. One of them had his brother killed by the Revillas, so he don’t care too much for the boys from Bogota. Jesus is being more careful than he was. But…”

“First Santos, now our own uncle.” Miguel clenched his teeth, fighting to keep anger off his face.

“That is one bit of good news. I think we might have located another source. He’s Peruvian, and says he can get top-grade powder fifty kilos at a time. I met him in the Bahamas on our last run that way. He comes recommended by Montoya and one of the Carreras.”

“How much?”

“He’s reasonable. Thirty grand a kilo, but he guarantees eighty-five percent pure. At least. We might be able to talk him down if we buy bulk. My impression is he’s got more supply than people can handle right now.”

“Good. Make a buy and see how it feels.”

“Even with the halt?”

“That will be taken care of in a couple of days. It seems the Dominicans don’t like the idea of one of their bankers ratting them out.”

Enrique chuckled. “I bet they don’t. Do we know how Metro-Dade got onto him?”

“No. And that does concern me. Check your people, but do it quietly. I don’t think we have any rats, but with a ship our size…”

“…One might slip aboard anyhow. I get it. Should I check the Cubans, too?”

“If you like. But I’ll be looking them over, too.”

“I’ll leave it to you, then. Last thing I want is to piss one of those quiet bastards off and have him feed me my eggs. I’m still using them too much.”

Miguel chuckled. Then his eyes got serious. “We’re at a next step, brother. I think we’re about to move past what grandfather accomplished for the family. This club will be our Pelican’s Nest.”

“I think you’re right. Hell, I know you’re right.” Enrique reached across the table and gripped his brother’s forearms. “And like grandfather, we fight to keep what’s ours.”

“That we do, brother.” Miguel smiled, aware of a warm feeling filling his chest and touching his eyes. “That we do.”