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I took a shower and dressed in the clean clothes. I flipped the television on and dug into the food.
My cell phone rang. It was Rosa.
“I just got off the phone,” Rosa said. “I got another list of Salzar’s properties, but there’s only one property on it that’s north of the Orange Bowl. It’s not a good neighborhood.”
I got the address from Rosa and told her I’d get back to her. I scrounged in my purse and came up with Slick’s cell phone
number.
“Yeah?” he answered.
“It’s Devil Woman.”
There was a moment’s pause. I’d caught him by surprise.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“The Fandango.”
“No you’re not. You never checked in.”
“Where are you?”
“Coral Gables.”
They were probably back to following Salzar. Salzar lived in Coral Gables.
“Do you know anything about Bill and Hooker?” I asked.
“Haven’t seen them.”
“I know where they are.”
Okay, so this was sort of an exaggeration. I knew where they might be located. The thing is, I needed to get Slick’s attention.
“And?” Slick asked.
“And I want you to go get them.”
“Have you planned out any of the details of this rescue?”
“I figured that was your arena.”
“I’m not much of a break-down-doors, shoot’em-up agent. I’m more of a sneaky, listen-at-doors agent.”
Easy to believe from what I’d seen. “Look, I don’t care how you do it,” I said. “Bring in the Marines, for crying out loud. Just do it.”
“All right, here’s the truth. It would screw up everything. I’m after Salzar, and I’m not going to tip my hand by staging a Waco to rescue your brother.”
“Here’s my truth. I’ve got the bomb, and I’m going to FedEx it to Cuba if you don’t help me.”
Silence. “I don’t believe you’ve got the bomb,” Slick finally said.
“I’ll phone you a picture tomorrow morning. You have a picture phone, right? In the meantime you should be thinking about a rescue operation.” And I disconnected.
Then just for the hell of it, I dialed Hooker’s cell phone and let it ring until his message service came on. I finished the food and watched more television. I slept in my clothes, waking every couple hours with a start. At five o’clock I gave up on the sleep thing and checked out. It was still dark, and the lot was eerie, lit by overhead halogens spooked up by fog. I checked the trunk for the bomb and took off. I thought I was probably less than an hour from Miami. My timing was good. I’d be able to check out the address Rosa gave me just as it was getting light.
The closer I got to the address, the more depressed I became. Houses were squalid cinder block cells. Windows were barred. Exterior walls were covered with gang graffiti. Trash collected against buildings and on roadsides. There were no lush gardens. No rows of palms. The yards surrounding the stucco bungalows were barren, the dirt hard packed and cracked from sun exposure.
