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Boat traffic was still heavy in the Kemah channel, both inbound and outbound. Those who had been on the water all day were returning. Those who were not fans of the Texas heat were heading out to enjoy slightly cooler late-afternoon and evening weather. Gorgonio was on the aft deck with Barbara. Nestor watched them like a red-shouldered hawk watching a squirrel.
The distance from the fuel dock to the Kemah Boardwalk at the end of the channel was approximately a half-mile. At no-wake speed, the trawler entered Galveston Bay fifteen minutes after refueling.
Boaters heading into the bay for a day of fun peeled out of the channel and into the bay, leaving the deep channel clear of most boat traffic. With too much draft to cut across the bay, Reymundo had to follow the channel to the gulf. He goosed Miss Jana up to eight knots. He’d turn south in roughly forty-five minutes, down the Houston Ship Channel to the gulf. It would be another two hours before they cleared the jetties and headed for Florida. Reymundo was happy to be leaving Texas behind him. Every minute, every mile he was from Texas, the better. It brought him that much closer to Jana.
On the aft deck, Gorgonio sat between Barbara and the door to the main salon. She asked if she could go in and get water. Gorgonio put his hand on the girl’s leg and held her. “Have some of this instead,” he said, offering his tequila bottle.
“No, thank you.” She tried to pull away from his grasp. “Please, I just want some water.”
Gorgonio kept a firm grasp on her leg. “What are you going to give me if I let you go? Maybe a little show? Why don’t you take your top off?”
Barbara struggled to break away from Gorgonio’s grasp, but his grip was too tight. The pain was shooting up her leg. Gorgonio slid his free hand up her midriff and under the bikini top, cupping her breast. “Nice,” he said as he squeezed her.
Nestor stepped onto the aft deck. “Let her go.”
“Go to hell.”
“I said, let her go.” He hit Gorgonio’s arm with his knee, breaking the hold he had on the girl.
“Fuck you, Nestor.”
“Remember what Rafael said. The girls are off-limits. Don’t touch. Look, she’s scared to death. You asshole. Why can’t you leave them alone?”
“Soon, all those hoes will have more dicks in ‘em than a urinal at a Dolphins game. Don’t know why I can’t do them. What’s a couple more times?” Gorgonio took a big drink of Tequila from the bottle.
“You touch them, and they’ll jump overboard. They’d rather kill themselves than let you slobber over them. Don’t blame them. You’re a pig.”
Gorgonio was several inches taller than Nestor and outweighed him by fifty pounds. He stood up and stepped toward Barbara. Nestor pulled her away and got between them.
“I’ll fuck you up,” Gorgonio said. “Then I’ll take that bitch down to a cabin and fuck her. Hard. Ain’t nobody stopping me.”
Reymundo suddenly stepped between them and grabbed Gorgonio by the throat, pinning him against the bulkhead. “Nestor, take the girls below. Stay with them. Gorgonio, you didn’t learn from the last trip? Don’t mess with the girls. Don’t mess with me. Got it?”
Gorgonio rubbed his neck, glaring at Reymundo. “You do that again, I’ll kill ya.”
“Oh yeah?” Reymundo said with a laugh. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard you say since I’ve known you.” He picked up the tequila bottle and tossed it off the back of the boat. “Why don’t you sit down and sober up. Forget about the girls. It ain’t happening.” He shot Gorgonio one last dirty look and headed into the main salon.
“Look out!” Nestor yelled.
Reymundo turned just as Gorgonio came at him with a four-inch knife. He swung the knife wildly at Reymundo’s head. Reymundo jumped slightly, extending his right foot squarely to Gorgonio’s throat. The kick’s force knocked him back several feet before he dropped to his knees, clutching his throat. Reymundo landed on his feet, ready to strike again. Gorgonio fell forward, struggling to breathe.
“Shit,” Nestor said, “I ain’t never seen anyone move that fast or kick like that. Jesus! Is he going to be all right?”
Reymundo rolled Gorgonio onto his side. His lips were beginning to turn purple. “Jesus is right. I don’t think so. I must’ve smashed his windpipe.”
“There’s nothing we can do?”
“Unless you or one of those girls is a doctor, I don’t think so.”
Reymundo and Nestor stood over Gorgonio’s now motionless body. The girls, who were still at the top of the steps, slowly walked up for a closer look.
“Is he dead?” Eva asked in Spanish
“If he isn’t, he soon will be,” Reymundo replied in Spanish.
“What are we going to do with him?” Nestor asked.
“Assuming he’s dead or dies, we’ll slide him off the boat. Let’s wait until tomorrow. I want to be far enough offshore he won’t float back. The guy at the fuel dock saw us all on the boat. If Gorgonio washes up, and Joe IDs him, the cops will want some answers.”
“It was self-defense, that’s for sure. He was after blood. I can tell you that. Where’d you learn to do what you did? All I saw was him swing the knife and, in a flash, he was on the deck.”
“I’ve been studying martial arts since I was a kid. My brother owns a gym where I train.”
“Damn. Well, you gave him every chance. Maybe it’s better. It’s done. I think he woulda been a problem all the way to Florida. He said he’d kill me if I tried to stop him from having the girls. It was bound to happen. I’m glad he didn’t get you, or me.”
“I’ve got you to thank for that, Nestor. You may have saved my life. If he’d had another step or two towards me, he might have gotten his knife in me before I could’ve turned around. Thank you, mi amigo.”
“No problem. I’m glad I was still up here.”
Reymundo put his finger under Gorgonio’s jaw. “I don’t feel a pulse. I’m no expert, but I think he’s dead. Let’s leave him here until it gets dark, and we’ll move him out to the deck. Tomorrow night we’ll toss him over.”
“Tomorrow night? You going to leave him on the deck all day?”
“Unless you have a better idea? Like I said, I don’t want him floating up on a beach.”
“I understand. Can we find something to weigh the body down with?”
“Maybe the anchor from the dingy or the chain. I can replace it later.”
“That’d work,” Nestor said.
Reymundo stared at the lifeless body lying on the deck. “You know, I don’t feel a hint of remorse. I might later, but right now, my responsibility is those four girls. This is what I’m thinking. Do you remember how to use the washer and dryer on the boat?”
“Sure.”
“Take the girls below and let them shower. Give them the leftover dresses to wear and put their clothes in the washer so they’ll have clean clothes tomorrow. Better yet, show them how to work the machines. Let them do it. Change the bedding on the bunks too. Have them wash the old sheets. Those beds have had their share of people in them the past week. Give the girls clean sheets.”
“They’d like that.”
“Maybe you should explain to the girls what happened. Tell them he was not a good person. They probably figured that out. Go ahead and tell them what we’re going to do with him. Tell them they’re safe now. I need to get back to the bridge. I’ve been gone way too long. Thank God the boat has an autopilot.”
“Okay, Skipper. I’ll tell them. I’ll get them washing clothes too.”
Reymundo checked Gorgonio one last time. “When you get the girls going, come back up to the bridge.”
“Aye, aye.”
Reymundo returned to the main bridge and checked for boat traffic. A tanker was coming up the channel, but it was still quite far away. The autopilot had kept him on course.
With plenty of daylight remaining and limited traffic in the ship channel, Reymundo bumped the throttles up. The big Cheoy Lee jumped to nine knots on command, where he eased off to maintain the speed. In just over an hour, he’d make a gradual turn to port, and it would be a straight shot through the jetties into the Gulf of Mexico.
“I think the girls got the hang of the washer and dryer,” Nestor said when he returned to the wheelhouse. “They were impressed that the boat had washing and drying machines.”
“We’re almost to the ferry crossing. Another five miles and we’re in the gulf.”
“I’ll be glad when we get home.”
“Me too. Hey, did you move our friend?”
“No. He’s right where we left him.”
“Do me a favor. Take one of the dirty sheets and cover him up.”
“Will do.”
“I appreciate it.”
“Oh, Barbara asked me to thank you for what you did to Gorgonio,” Nestor said. “She was scared. Funny, I don’t know if she’s a hoe or not. I haven’t asked her. Maybe I don’t want to know. I have a feeling she’s done some hoe’n, maybe not much. Anyway, she may give it up to a paying customer, but she sure didn’t want Gorgonio to take it. If she had, or if Gorgonio had gone for one of the other girls, this might not have happened.”
“I’ve never killed a man before tonight. Right now, it doesn’t bother me. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to kill him. It was going to happen sooner or later. Better it happened sooner. I don’t like rape.”
“You okay with the girls doing it for money?”
“If they want to, sure, I’m okay with it, but not if someone is making them. It should be their choice.”
“Like you made them when you did the cruise with our girls.”
“I only did one of those cruises. I thought Jana was getting girls who wanted to do it. I had no idea they were trafficked. They worked the frat cruise on their own, but it was either the boat or the titty bar.”
“What about Barbara and the other girls? You going to make them have sex?”
“You’ve been doing this for a long time. Why are you so concerned all of a sudden? Is it Barbara?”
Nestor’s brow furrowed. “She kissed me. When we got downstairs. I mean, she kissed me hard. Thanked me for saving her from Gorgonio. I don’t know if she’s playing me. Don’t really care. I like the way it feels when she looks at me. No girl ever treated me like she treats me. Oh, a few would pretend when they wanted a favor, but I could tell. With Barbara, I’m not sure. All I know is, I don’t like her being forced into becoming a hoe – here on the boat or anywhere else.”
“What about the other girls, Nestor? You okay with them being hoes?”
“Yeah, I’m like you, Skipper. If they want to do it, I’m okay with it, but forcing them into it, keeping them on drugs so they do it, that ain’t right. I’ve been running Rafael’s girls a long time. Being around him and the other guys, it didn’t seem so wrong. This is the first time it’s, um—”
“Personal?”
“Yeah, personal. I’m sorry, Skipper, I don’t know if I can force Barbara into hoe’n.”
“What if she’s okay with it?”
“Man, I guess it would be okay. But I sure wouldn’t like it. That’s kinda funny, isn’t it? Me not liking it after I’ve forced so many girls to do it.”
“It’s been a long day. I can handle the watch for a while. You get some sleep. With or without Barbara, I don’t care. Just try to relieve me early if you can.”
“I will. You sure you don’t mind if Barbara stays with me?
“Not at all. Be nice.”
“Aye, sir.”