Chapter 12

Max was up, as promised, not long after sunrise. He made a big pot of coffee for everyone and left it on the stove. Then he poured a mugful for himself and one for Anna and went up to the wheelhouse. He paused a moment on deck and looked out at sea.

There were a few white clouds, but once the sun had completely risen it promised to be a mostly bright blue sky, the kind they always showed on the Caribbean tourist ads and brochures. They had lucked out with good weather. A storm would have been all they needed to make things much harder. Max patted his pocket and his little Saint Anna in thanks again.

“Thanks.” Anna smiled when Max handed her one of the mugs.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

“Steady as she goes, Captain,” Anna reported. “Steady as she goes.”

“Good.” Max nodded as if he really were in charge. He looked at the radar screen. The following blip was still very much there. Max looked around and out the rear window. The Coast Guard boat was just far enough away that it could not be easily seen.

Anna suddenly spoke up. “What do you think about the change of events with Ms. Parker last night?”

“Wow, you know, that was a surprise.”

“Now I know I wasn’t being paranoid or something, thinking there were boats following us every time we took Cofresí out.”

“The way she played her part at the tuna plant, that woman should have a career on stage.” Max shook his head. “I’ve got to ask her what she would have done if I had stayed.”

“You really need to ask?” Anna laughed.

“You don’t like her much, do you?” He smiled.

Anna paused, as if she wasn’t sure. “I let her sleep in my cabin last night. Maybe I was just feeling sorry for her. But she’s really not my kind o’ gal.”

Max laughed. “You know, not my kind either, really. I think she’s too much of an overachiever for me.”

Anna pointed out a window toward the deck. “Speaking of overachievers, there’s Captain Jim checking with our chickens for eggs. He must be going to make us all breakfast again, but who does he need to impress?”

“Certainly not me.” Max shrugged. “But, you know, some people just do what they do. Part of that old southern hospitality in him maybe—feed us all. Or maybe it’s good ol’ Yankee dependability.”

“Right, like you.”

He thought a moment, and he sipped some coffee. “Yes, I suppose.”

“You know, last night you could have been down there drinking rum with the guys. If he were still the captain, my father certainly would have done that. But you stayed steady by your post with me. I like that about you.”

“That’s just me.” He shrugged. “You’ve been piloting us steadily all night. You’re so steady and dependable. You know, I like that about you.”

Anna looked around, and their eyes held for a moment.

Then someone opened the wheelhouse door from outside, and they looked around.

It was Cofresí. He looked just a bit disheveled, but he had put on his white suit coat and straw hat as he almost always did. “Ah, Señorita Anna, el Capitán Max,” he said. “It is a sad morning for me, but a good one with the progress of our mission, I think.”

Anna nodded her agreement. “I checked the weather forecast on the radio just a while ago. Good weather all the way to Key West. On that front, we’re all set to go.”

“Bueno, good.” Cofresí smiled. He reached into his inner coat pocket and pulled out a folded map. He held it open, and Max and Anna moved to where they could also see what was on it. The map was of Key West and its harbor area that actually surrounded three sides of the central town. There was a spot marked with an X at one point where the water met the land. It was on the gulf side, a little north of Mallory Square.

Cofresí put an index finger on the X. “There is a deserted dock right there,” he said. “I will have a truck and some men waiting on the street right by the dock when we get in tonight. There are street lights, but not much else. Señorita Anna, can you find it with no problem?”

“Hmm…” Anna thought a moment and studied the map as if she didn’t know she was probably now going to head right into the big Navy base that stood out prominently just south of Mallory Square. “I see the coordinates written in the margin there,” Anna said. “Yes, of course. I’ll find it just fine for you.” She took the map from Cofresí and put it with the other papers that had guided her to their rendezvous with the Cuban boat the night before.

“Bueno, good.” Cofresí’s face lit with just the barest hint of a smile. “Then my poor brother will be home.”

“Lo siento,” Max said. “Again, I am so sorry for your loss.”

“Muchas gracias.” Cofresí nodded to Max, then turned and nodded a farewell to Anna too before he went out on deck and back toward the galley.

“God,” Anna exclaimed after she was certain he was out of earshot. “Is he going to be playacting his sorry-assed self all over my boat for the rest of this voyage?” Then she laughed and raised her coffee mug to Max. “Great acting on your part, too.”

Max raised his mug and toasted her.

“Lo siento.” Anna smiled. “When did you learn that?”

“It means ‘I’m sorry,’ right?”

“It does.”

“Ha, I know a lot more than you might think. I’m one smart Yankee, and don’t ever lose sight of that. You did a great acting job too, pretending you’re gonna land us at some deserted dock in the dark when we’ve just been told by a government agent that we’ll be escorted into a goddamned Navy base.”

They both laughed and clicked their coffee mugs together again.

Then Max was serious. “God, it will be good for my family to be rid of Cofresí. Who knows what else he might have going on at the plant? I haven’t even looked at the financial reports he sent me. Who knows how real they are? Maybe we’ll never even know everything. But he’ll be gone, and we can start new with people and a plan of our own.”

Anna hesitated for moment. Then she spoke up. “Last night his assistant told you she was quitting…and in fact did quit, right here, too. I bet when we get back to Mayaguez you just might have to run the plant for a while and straighten out whatever mess it’s really in.”

Max laughed. “Never thought of that when I said yes to my uncles. I’m a musician, an artist, and a teacher, an academic. God! Running a tuna plant will stand out in conflict with everything else on my resume.”

“I hope my resume’s still on file in Cofresí’s office,” Anna said. “If not, I can give you a new one.”

“Sure, though I’ve gotten to know you well enough not to need one…”

Anna waited for him to say more, but he didn’t explain what he meant by that statement. She didn’t ask, and a silence fell.

Then a movement on the deck caught her eye. “Oh, there goes Ms. Parque de Bombas out to sun herself on the deck again.”

“Yes, I see.”

This day, Ms. Parker still had on the cutoff jeans and T-shirt she had worn the night before. She also carried her bag.

“Got her radio with her too, I bet,” Anna said. “Actually, that’s reassuring.” Then Anna glanced around and down at the floor behind her. “Even though that damn trombone case and gun are still with us here.”

Max thought a moment. “If we move it, or hide it, Cofresí might get suspicious. We better wait on that.”

Anna looked at him. “That thing is freaking me out as much as I’d be freaked if we really were transporting a dead man’s bones.”

“You got your saints and gods in here, too.” Max gestured toward the little plastic statues. “Hopefully they can even things out, balance all the bad karma from the gun.”

“It’s a really nice case, and I’m sure a good gun,” Anna continued, “but when the shit starts going down tonight, that sucker’s going overboard before Cofresí gets his hands on it again.”

Max laughed. “Consider you have your captain’s permission on that, for sure.”

“Good.”

“Okay,” she said. “It’s time I let you take over now. I’ll go down and see what Captain Jim’s cooking up in the galley. Hopefully he found enough eggs.”

“Send some up for me,” Max said. “And tell Captain Bob it’s his turn up here in two hours.”

“Aye, aye.” Anna saluted, and they both laughed again.

She left and went down to the galley, where she found the atmosphere totally oppressive. The casket prevented anyone from eating with their plates and mugs on the table. It was only Cofresí and the two older captains, but the big casket left little room for them all. Cofresí looked sad, and he sat hunched over the plate he had balanced on his knees. The two captains were looking pretty sad, too. Besides both being hung over, they were completely buying into Cofresí’s charade.

Captain Jim had made scrambled eggs and sausage again, and he had made arroz con frijoles for it to be served over. Anna prepared herself a plate. “Maybe you guys could find a way to play cards together today to help pass the time away,” she suggested.

“No,” her father disagreed. “It would kinda be disrespectful to the dead.”

“Never play cards over a dead man’s coffin,” Captain Jim agreed. “Oh, my God…”

“Sorry.” Anna shrugged. Then she excused herself and took her breakfast on into her cabin.