Naked in Havana (27 page)

I could hear every breath rattling in the back of his throat. I stroked his forehead and pleaded with him to hold on.

Was I doing the right thing? Perhaps Mendez was wrong, if I had taken him to the hospital surely there would have been one doctor who would have helped us.
If he dies, you’re to blame
, I told myself.

And what about the house and the club - the safe? I was leaving behind everything we had.

Yes, but what choice do I have? I thought. What good is all of that to Papi when he’s dead? And Mendes was clear enough about it, wasn’t he? He said it would be chaos in the hospital tonight. Another two hours and you could be in Miami, in a big American hospital.

Well, whether I was right or wrong, it was too late to go back now. “Why are you helping me, Reyes?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“You seemed so angry with me the last time I saw you.”

“This is different. Anyway, what made you think of me?”

“I just knew. I was right, wasn’t I?”

He smiled. “Yes, you were right.”

When we reached the airport Reyes drove straight through some gates a hundred yards from the terminal and then out onto the airstrip. There were no guards. We drove across the grass to some hangars on the other side of the field.

There was a Cessna parked to the side of one of the runways. A crowd of people were clustered around it, they all had suitcases and they were shoving money at the pilot, who stood under the wing trying to push them back. As we pulled up, he tore himself away. “I thought you weren’t coming,” he said to Reyes.

“You have everyone?”

“They’re all here, Reyes.” He had a strong Texan accent. He looked like a World War II veteran: he had grey hair and a battered aviator’s cap.

“I have two more for you,” Reyes said.

“Jeez, I don’t know, that could take us overweight.”

“It’s worth another five hundred.”

He grinned. “Why didn’t you say so? I’m sure I can fit them in somewhere.”

Chapter 37

I looked in the back of the plane; there were four people, one of them was the snake-hipped woman I had seen him with at the club the night of the bombing. I felt a stab of jealousy.

“Your friends?” I said.

“Actually, only one is a friend. The rest are associates.” He grabbed the two suitcases from the back of the Chevy and threw them in the front of the cockpit next to the pilot. “Take care of those, Mac.”

“I know what to do.” Mac went over to the car and peered into the back seat. “Jeez, he doesn’t look so good. Is he dead?”

“No, but he will be if you don’t stop yammering and help me get him into the plane.”

“Did you shoot him?”

“No, I didn’t shoot him, for God’s sake. He’s sick. Now come on.”

They hauled Papi into the back of the Cessna. I was about to clamber in beside him when Reyes grabbed my arm and pulled me back. “In another hour you’ll be in Miami. Mac's going to call in on the radio, make sure there’s an ambulance waiting for you at the airstrip. When you get to the hospital, ask for this guy.” He scribbled a name on a piece of paper and handed it to me. “His name’s Epstein, they say he’s the best there is. He’s some kind of surgeon. If he can’t fix your old man he’ll know someone who can. He owes me a favour. Good luck.”

“Good luck? Aren’t you coming with us?”

“I’m not leaving here because a few guys are burning slot machines. I might even join in--I hate the damned things.”

“You’re not serious?”

“Sure I am.”

“But what’s in the suitcases?”

“Money. Times like this, you have to make sure someone’s taking care of the cash. The cargo in the back are just favours. I’ll call them in one day. Not you, princess, yours is for free.”

“But what about you? What about...us?”

“Us? End of the road for you and me, I think.”

He couldn’t just put me on a plane to America and walk away, could he? “But you can’t abandon me now. I need you.” I took a deep breath. “I love you.”

He laughed. “No, you don’t. And if you do, you’ll be over it by morning.”

I had never imagined, ever, in my most lurid fantasies, that when I finally got to tell a man that I loved him that he would just shrug it off like this. If I had had a gun, I would have shot him.

“You’re still in love with that pretty boy of yours and you probably always will be. I was hooked for a while but I’ve finally seen sense. Besides, the revolution needs me. And if Fidel doesn’t, I’m damned sure Lansky or the US government will. Whenever people start tearing up parking meters and burning down casinos, that’s when I generally stand to make a profit. So I can’t leave, even if I wanted to.”

“But what will I do?”

“Oh I know you, you’ll think of something. Any woman that can answer back to Meyer Lansky will figure it out. When you get back to Havana you can call me up, we’ll all go out and have a drink with Fidel and Che and have a laugh about all this.”

I did something I never thought I would ever do. I pulled his face towards me and kissed him as hard as he could. It was as passionate a moment as I had ever had with any man, as I had ever dreamed of having. His arms went around me and the kiss went on and on. His body was pressed against me so tight it was as if he was trying to impress his shape forever on my memory.

Finally he pulled away. “A nice performance, princess, but I’m not buying it. You’ve made a fool of me once, I’ll not let you do it again. You know the rules.”

“But this time I mean it.”

“You mean until the next time. Listen, you’re like me, you’re selfish and you’re scheming and you’re out for number one. I thought for a while that we would make the perfect couple, but after seeing you with Angel that night, I think maybe it would just lead to a whole world of hurt.” He dragged me towards the plane. The night reeked of aviation fuel and the close creeping jungle. “I’ll be honest with you,” he said. “I’ve never felt like this about any woman before and I hope to God I never do again. You damn near reformed me. And where would be the fun in that?”

Mac cleared his throat in the background. It was time to go. Papi was more important than this man, but I was determined to have the final word. “You son of a whore,” I hissed, which was about the worst swear word I knew, and it sounds better in Spanish. “I was right about you, everyone was right!”

“Of course they were. I earned my reputation, just like you did.” He pushed a wad of notes into my pocket. “This might help tide you over.”

He turned away. I grabbed his shirt. “Don’t, please! Come with us. Come with me.”

He unhooked my fingers. “Get on the plane, princess. You need to get your father to a hospital. “

“I hope you die screaming.”

He grinned. “There, that’s better. That’s the way I’ll remember you best. Goodbye, princess.”

He got in his car and drove away across the tarmac and out of my life.

For now.

Chapter 38

I watched them wheel Papi into surgery. The door swung closed behind him, leaving me alone in an empty white corridor.

I slumped onto a plastic chair and wrapped my arms around myself. The duty nurse stared at me. Was she curious or did she feel sorry for me?

I closed my eyes and made myself a silent promise; somehow we would survive this. We would get through this nightmare and go back to Cuba and rebuild our lives. It didn’t matter about Fidel or Lansky or the rest of them. Like Papi said, dictators come and go. We would ride it out.

But if Papi did not come out of that operating room, what was I going to do?

I wished Reyes was here.

Did he ever really love me, or had he always just been playing me? I still couldn’t be sure. Well, I wouldn’t give in to sorrow today, or tomorrow. It would have to wait until I had time for it, when all this was over.

I took stock: for the moment I had nowhere to sleep, very little money, and the only man I could ever rely on might not come out of that operating theatre. Everything we had was on the other side of the Florida Strait, and God alone knew what was happening there. They were the facts of it and there was nothing I could do to change that right now.

First, I needed Papi back. Then we would work out the next step.

I found a crumpled bundle of notes in my pocket. I had forgotten that Reyes had given me his money. It wouldn’t go far, but it would be enough for now, for a week or two. By then Papi would be better, we would be on our way back to the new Cuba, everything would be fine.

This would all seem like a bad dream.

I had learned a lot for my eighteen years; I knew to play piano from the heart, I knew that I could stand up to gangsters and stay calm in a crisis, I knew the difference between love and pride. And if everything went to hell from here, I knew that I would survive.

We would both survive. We would go back to Cuba and rebuild our lives, and when we did, I would find Reyes Garcia, wherever he was, and I would win him back.

END OF BOOK 1

Book II

Naked in LA

Coming 5 November