Death Times Two

  Chapter 19

  For the next couple of days, I kept myself busy with a flood of mindless shit. I had no idea what Panko’s little test was going to be. I tried out several scenarios in my mind, but nothing jelled. Sunny and I ate, drank, and made love. Only so the time wouldn’t be completely wasted.

  On Thursday night we went to see the new incarnation of HIGH FLYER. The fill-in guy on the guitar was pretty damned good, but he wasn’t Shorty and everyone knew it. Still Pam pumped in a little extra heart and soul and they pulled it off. Shorty watched with the cast resting in the spilled beer on the table. He told me the hand was actually coming along nicely. He figured six weeks at the outside before he’d be picking again. In the meantime, he could hang wall paper as long as he took some regular breaks and lots of Ibuprofen to stem the aching in the joints. Glen seemed stoical for the moment, but when I got close to him I could feel the anger simmering into a rage. I didn’t want to be around when it hit full boil.

  The next morning the phone rang. Panko wanted me to come by his office alone. “Safest place to talk,” he told me. If that was the case, I figured he had someone sweeping the place for listening devices on a regular basis. Not a bad idea when you’re in his business. I left the Taurus on the boat. After all, we were about to become real tight buddies, and I doubted the walls were thick enough to muffle the explosion of a .38 at close range.

  Sherry still had the lush jet black hair, the insane cleavage and another spray-on dress, just in a different color. She smiled. I melted, and she led me to the President’s office. Lurch was in his familiar spot doing the knife thing again. I got the message again. There was a fireplug clone against the other wall. He shot me an “I’d love to fuck you up” look. I guess dumb muscle is easy to replace if the price is right.

  “It is good to see you Dr. Fleming. You are looking fit and eager. I am in still need of your signature on that contract, but we will leave that for another time. By the way, we are secure here. The exterminator comes twice a week to check for those nasty bugs.”

  “So I’m betting it’s time for me to become your errand boy?”

  “I prefer the word associate. If all goes well, perhaps it can graduate to partner. I assume you keep your boat in running condition at all times. She is certainly a handsome craft, although a bit small. We have checked her out and she seems quite capable. I also know that you are a licensed captain so I am certain you will not object to a short sail up the Bay. You may take Glen if you prefer. He has also demonstrated some skills on the water.”

  I had no idea what was coming next. A “sail up the Chesapeake Bay,” especially before the weather turned cold, was a dream voyage for me. It had been over ten years since I had traveled these waters. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. But I knew there was a catch. I just didn’t know what it was. At least not yet.

  “All large endeavors begin with small foundations. No more than half a dozen boxes for the first run, none much over twenty pounds. You should be able to store them with little trouble. Office supplies, that’s what we call them. We even keep spares in the basement, under lock and key, of course. They are quite safe from prying eyes.”

  “Leo,” I shook my head, “what exactly is in those boxes of ‘office supplies’? I need to know what kind of risk I’m taking and I’m still not sure for who.”

  “My, my, Dr. Fleming, but you are impatient. Suffice it to say that if you’re caught, you will spend considerable time as a guest of the state, perhaps even the federal authorities. However, I have the utmost confidence in your discretion and your resourcefulness. We have made this very simple. You will not fail and you will find yourself shopping for a larger yacht very soon.”

  Okay, I thought. This is the test. I’m going to pack over 100 lbs. of pure heroin onto KAMALA and transport it to some port in Maryland. Suddenly I’m as dirty as they are. Then they can use me as their mule and put a bullet in my head when it’s convenient. I always wanted a burial at sea, but the Bay gets mighty cold in the winter. I have a more Bahamas state of mind.

  He gave me the rest of the details and told me to make sure the boat was ready. I had to able to move at a moment’s notice. I left the office and smiled at Sherry. She smiled back. Maybe I wasn’t getting that much older.

  I was afraid to use the phone for much. If they had checked out my boat like Panko said, they must have been on board. One or more of those “nasty little bugs” the President had referred to might be living in some obscure part of KAMALA. I didn’t check for now. If they were listening, I might even be able to use that to my advantage. I called Glen and we decided to meet between his classes at the school. I told him I’d bring lunch.

  Two Big Macs and supersize fries, big iced tea, and even a couple of apple pies. Hey . . . a meal fit for a king . . . or maybe a dying man’s last request. I hoped it was the former. The gym was empty except for one guy wailing away at a bag. We went out into the reception area. Hell, they could have bugged Glen’s office, too.

  “So here’s the drill. We wait for a call. It should come soon. They bring in six boxes of ‘office supplies,’ -- most likely bricks of heroin – and load them on KAMALA. We leave the dock and head up the Bay. I’m assuming it will be at night. We bypass Solomon’s and Annapolis, to the Patapsco River and put in at the Boater’s Haven, a marina near Fells Point in Baltimore. It’s maybe 240 nautical miles. Assuming we leave somewhere around dawn, we’d make landfall in 36 to 40 hours. We leave in the dark and arrive in the dark. Panko called the dock master a friend of theirs. Gave me a name and description. We offload the stuff and head back home.”

  “Why do I have the feeling you’ve got plans I haven’t heard yet?”

  “Because I do, but first I need some advice . . . and we are going to need some assistance from some outside sources.”

  “And do those ‘outside sources’ come with uniforms and guns?”

  “I damned sure hope so.”

  It was the first time I’d seen a legitimate smile on Glen’s face in days. Before I got back to the boat, I found one of the last existing pay phones on the planet and called Bill.