Doug was practically walking on air. He knew that this was the story that would make him a star. He made a decision to take at least nine months, or as much as a year, about all he could afford, off from his job to work on the manuscript. He owed that to himself and even more so to Pilar and her marvelous family.
Evans spent nearly the entire drive to Fort Lauderdale thinking things through. He would ask Sally for a leave of absence to write the book. If she refused, he would quit.
He reached the office just after 6:00 p.m. and headed into Sally Hughes’ office. He owed her the courtesy of a heads-up on the book thing, but he also needed permission to take the story with him. After all, he was still a South Florida World employee.
Sally, alone in the office, was still sitting at her desk, sucking on a Starbucks iced coffee through a straw and staring at her computer screen. He knocked as he entered. Forewarned by the inquiries about Doug in the last week, she knew he must have something and wanted to take it elsewhere.
“Forget the Cuba CIA story,” she said tongue in cheek. “We’ve got a lead that Jay Z is opening a night club and the Cuban government is giving him permission. I need you on that.”
“I want to take a leave of absence, to write a book,” he blurted out.
Wondering if she had been too effusive in her praise of Doug, Sally glanced up from her screen. “I’ll approve five days in Havana,” she said, acting like she had missed his point.
“No, Sally, I really intend to write this book,” Evans said. “I want to do serious journalism, and I should start before—”
“You get too old and jaded, like me,” she interrupted.
“And before I have to work for your douchebag deputy Xander Lavin.”
Sally walked over to Doug and gave him a bear hug that felt a little like an invitation. “Get your ass out of here. Go write your book, and if you don’t sell it, come back and be a whore again.”
“Thanks, Sally. You’re the best. I’ll let you know if anyone takes it.”
Evans spent the next few weeks filling in the missing pieces. He reconnected with Salazar, grilling him about the parts of his story Salazar had conveniently left out, getting what he needed, or at least all he expected from him.
He made a list of people to interview who would be able to fill out the details he needed. First on the list was Chip Thompson.
It took him all of forty-five minutes to locate a home address through Palm Beach County property records. He found a street address that fell within The Club at Ibis, a large gated community really located in Palm Beach Gardens, but with a West Palm Beach address.
After several unreturned calls over a two-day period, he finally reached Thompson at his home in the posh Hawks Landing neighborhood.
“Chip Thompson, I’m Doug Evans and I’d like to speak to you about a story I’m writing that concerns events that happened at GTMO in 1958 involving you, Pilar Ruiz, and Héctor Salazar,” he said.
Thompson’s stomach clenched. Shit, Salazar’s rantings had caught someone’s attention. He agreed to meet with Evans at a steakhouse on Okeechobee Boulevard to try to sell his side of the story.
Over the next few weeks, Evans interviewed Thompson, at times growing furious when he knew Thompson was lying. Doug also visited with several secondary sources given to him by Pilar. He also returned to the Hernandez estate in Key Biscayne twice to talk separately to Teddy, Ernesto, and Consuela. Over dinner in New York his former professor at Columbia who was an expert on Cuban affairs refreshed his memory on the historical details of Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement.
Evans had an opportunity to revisit the late 1956 voyage of eighty-two rebels led by Fidel Castro, his brother Raúl, and Che Guevara who sailed from Mexico to Cuba to organize the revolution against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. The voyage was a disaster. Because the overcrowded yacht arrived several days late, they missed the advantage of meeting rebel forces awaiting them with food and arms. Their boat also ran aground near the wrong landing place, forcing the rebels to abandon most of their equipment. They fled toward the safety of the mountains named Sierra Maestra. But they were tracked down, surrounded, and nearly annihilated by the Cuban Army. Most of the rebels were killed or captured. The rest scattered and fled in separate little groups seeking to reassemble in the jungle-covered mountains. Only Fidel Castro, his brother, Raúl, Camilo Cienfuegos, a wounded Che Guevara, and a small number of other men eventually found each other in the mountains.
It is likely that one to two dozen, mostly educated, rebels became the core of the guerilla army that began the Cuban Revolution. Then, as they recruited peasant soldiers, the men saw firsthand the extreme poverty and terrible situation of the rural populations who suffered from joblessness, lack of education, and medical and social services under Batista’s dictatorship. A few women revolutionaries were drawn to the rebels and assisted Fidel’s operations. The well-known Cuban activist Celia Sanchez joined Castro and became his close friend and most valuable aid. She organized the transport of supplies of food, clothing, and arms to the rebels in the inaccessible Sierra Maestra and assumed a leadership role in his battles. Evans wondered if this legendary woman, and other women mentioned by the professor, had a role in helping his heroine.
Although he had never been worried that Pilar’s story was embellished, he was relieved that it fit seamlessly into the events of the Cuban Revolution. Of course, the remarkable part was that it added a new personal layer to the historical events.
It was an exciting moment in his life and his career. Evans thought he had gathered all the information he needed and was eager to tell his story.