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“We needed a key for the handcuffs.”
Bill opened his eyes. “Adult entertainment?” He put his hands to his head. “Wow, killer headache.”
“Your sister delivered poison pizza to the bad guys, and we ate it,” Hooker said.
“Did I tell you? Barney always comes through,” Bill said. “She’s been rescuing me for years.”
“Not a minute too soon for me,” Hooker said. “Things were about to get really ugly.”
“Hooker sang like an American Idol wannabe,” Bill said. “They tied him to a chair, gave him one punch in the face, and he told them everything they wanted to know.”
“Yeah,” Hooker said. “I told them we buried the canister about ten feet into the jungle about an eighth of a mile upstream. I thought that would keep them busy. Bill was sure you’d ride in with the Marines and save our asses.”
“The Marines were booked,” I said. “Fortunately, Judey was available.”
“I figured this was the day Salzar would find out I sent him on a wild goose chase, and he’d order his goons to come back to beat the living crap out of me,” Hooker said. “He wants that canister real bad.”
“It’s filled with a chemical nerve agent,” I said. “SovarK2. It’s estimated that it contains about six million lethal doses. If dispersed as a gas over Miami it would kill tens to hundreds of thousands of people. It turns out Slick and Gimpy are with one of those three-letter government agencies, and they’ve been trying to retrieve the canister and nail Salzar.”
“Had me fooled,” Hooker said.
“Me too. And I don’t entirely trust them. I could use their help, but they worry me.”
“I don’t know anything about this,” Judey said. “Nobody tells me anything.”
“When Maria dove down for the gold, she also found a canister. We didn’t know it at the time but it turns out it’s a chemical bomb.”
“The bomb we’ve been carrying around in the trunk?” Judey said.
Hooker looked over at me. “In the trunk?”
“I was worried about Salzar finding it. So I went back and got it and it’s…in the trunk.”
Everyone turned and looked at the backseat, as if they could see through it into the trunk.
“This trunk?” Hooker asked.
“Yep.”
“You’ve been riding around with a chemical bomb in the trunk?”
“Yep.”
“I hate to change the subject,” Bill said. “But they still have Maria.”
“I don’t know where she is,” I told him. “We ran through all Salzar’s properties, and we didn’t turn anything up. No Maria and no gold bars.”
A car parked next to us and a middle-aged, balding guy got out and walked into the smut shop.
“I know him!” Judey said. “That’s my dentist.”
“Wait a minute,” Hooker said. “I want to go back to the bomb in the trunk. How did you get it out of Cuba?”
“Chuck helped me. And his friend Ryan.”
“They flew to the island, got the bomb, brought it back, and put it in your trunk?” Hooker said.
“That’s the big picture.”
