Bandits (1987) (33 page)

Franklin
wait up!

The guy had his flight bag in one hand and was unlocking the car door with the other. He had it open and was getting in by the time Jack reached him.

Wait a minute, will you?

Franklin hesitated and then came out, leaving the flight bag on the seat, raising his hands as high as his shoulders.

Jack pushed the door closed, out of the way. Franklin, what
'
re you doing?

I was going.

With them? After what I told you?

No, not with them. I have to go be on the boat.

You
'
re stealing the guy
'
s car? What '
re you gonna do with it?

Leave it there
I don
'
t know.

Wait a minute
what
'
d you tell those guys?

I told them I quit and said good-bye.

Yeah? And what
'
d they say?

Nothing.

Franklin, Jesus Christ . . .

Lucy was coming. He could hear her leather sandals slapping on the cement, coming in a hurry. He glanced around. Franklin
'
s gonna swipe their car. You believe it?

We haven
'
t met,
Lucy said, looking at Franklin as she came past Jack, between the Mercedes and the car parked next to it, offering Franklin her hand. He brought his hands down slowly and Lucy took one of them in both of hers. I '
ve heard a lot about you, Franklin. I had a friend who was Miskito we treated at Sagrada Familia. You know the hospital for lepers? He stayed with us a long time. His name was Armstrong Diego. Did you happen to know him?

Jack watched Franklin shake his head. The guy seemed a little awed or surprised.

Colonel Dagoberto Godoy
'
s men killed Diego,
Lucy said, and some of the other patients, with machetes.

We
'
re standing here talking,
Jack said. Franklin, what was the colonel doing?

Nothing.

What do you mean, nothing?

They laying there, that
'
s all.

All right, Franklin, is the money in the car? . . . You
'
re taking everything, aren '
t you?
Franklin seemed more resigned than cornered. Jack watched him nod his head, twice. Just like that. Ask him a question, you got an answer. Jack said, You are?
And saw him nod again, twice. I have to give you credit, Franklin, you '
re a pretty cool guy.
Jack brought up the Beretta and held it level with the man '
s Creole Indian face. Now you give us the keys. Hand '
em to Lucy.

Franklin
'
s eyes didn
'
t move from the gun barrel. He gave Lucy the keys without looking at her, letting her take them out of his hand. Jack didn '
t look at her either, paying close attention to the man '
s eyes, his solemn expression, until he saw Lucy beyond Franklin at the car '
s rear deck. Lucy was looking at the ring of keys, selecting one.

Franklin said to him, If she opens it . . .

What?

She
'
s going to be dead.

Jack said, So will you if you move.

Lucy
'
s voice said, He has enough keys.

She won
'
t be dead from me,
Franklin said, but she
'
ll be dead.

They stared eye to eye, Jack trying to hold the pistol steady. I mean it. Don
'
t move.

But Franklin was turning as Jack said it and now he yelled at him, Franklin, goddamn it!
Aiming the automatic at the man '
s back and seeing Lucy, bent over, looking up, straightening as Franklin reached her, Franklin saying something to her and taking her by the arm. Jack saw her eyes, her startled look. He moved past the side of the car to the rear deck. Franklin was taking the keys from her. She was giving him the keys, glancing at Jack now as he reached the back end of the car and saw Franklin slipping a key into the lock.

She said, Jack. Don
'
t touch him.

Franklin, on his knees, placed the palm of his hand on the down-curve of the trunk lid, turned the key with the other hand, and let the trunk come open gradually, a few inches. He hunched in close to look in.

Lucy said, barely above a whisper, It could be wired to explode.

How does he know?

He thinks it is,
Lucy said. They
'
ve done it before. There was a priest in Jinotega, he opened his trunk and was blown to bits.

He was gonna let you open it.

But he didn
'
t.

They watched Franklin raise the lid slowly, holding it, letting it come up a little more, feeling the tension of the mechanism. With the trunk open about eight inches he put his arm in to the shoulder, his face in profile against the cream-colored sheet metal, composed, feeling without seeing, his fingers working in there. He began to straighten then, getting his feet under him, raising the trunk lid with his shoulder as he stood up and turned to show them what he was holding, a hand-grenade, with one end of a straightened coat hanger hooked to its ring.

MK-two,
Franklin said, they call a pineapple.
He looked at Jack, offering him the grenade, and grinned. You don '
t want it? Okay.
He slipped it into his coat pocket.

Jack said, You
'
re a kidder, aren
'
t you, Franklin?
He didn '
t know what else to say to him: the guy standing there with a grenade in his pocket; the guy could '
ve let Lucy blow herself up. She was saying that to him now . . .

Why did you stop me?

Franklin, still grinning a little, a trace of it left, shook his head, Jack watching him. The guy didn
'
t know what to say either, turning to the open trunk to raise the lid all the way up. Lucy looked in. She said, Jack?
He moved closer and saw two full-size aluminum suitcases inside lying flat, side by side.

Chapter
27

ROY GOT OFF THE ELEVATOR and stood looking at 501 in the alcove. He stared hard, but the door wouldn
'
t tell him a goddamn thing. So he followed the open hallway around to the other side of the courtyard, came to 509, and heard the phone ringing inside. Then he couldn '
t get the goddamn key to turn. The phone kept ringing in there. Roy hit the door with the heel of his hand, kicked it, yanked the knob toward him as he turned the key, and the door gave up and clicked open. He left it like that, got to the bedside table, and picked up the phone.

Who
'
s this?

Cullen
'
s voice said, Roy? It
'
s me. You all are still there, huh?

I think so,
Roy said. Lemme look. Yeah, we
'
re still here.
He brought the phone away from the table, as far as the cord would let him just enough so he could look out the door toward the elevator.

Nothing doing yet?

Naw, we
'
re just sitting here fucking the dog, Cully. I expect same as you, huh? How '
s adorable Darla?

She
'
s fine as can be.

You wash yourself good after, you hear?

I was thinking,
Cullen
'
s voice said, if I asked a doctor what he thought . . .

Roy watched the maid appear with her cartload of towels and stuff, over there on the other side.

You know, if I should take part in any kind of activity where I
'
m liable to become too excited or you get that ass-clutching feeling, man, you don '
t know what '
s gonna happen . . .

The maid was creeping along toward the elevator, like she was sneaking up on it. Her head turned now, looking into the alcove at 501. The maid standing there, waiting.

You know what I mean, Roy? I
'
m pretty sure he
'
d tell me I shouldn '
t ought to do it, with my history. Considering, you know, the old ticker isn '
t what it used to be. See, but I don '
t want to let you all down. . . . Roy?

That maid wasn
'
t moving from 501.

Roy said, If you
'
re gonna die, Cully, you may as well do it right there.
He put the receiver on the phone, still watching the maid, laid it on the foot of the bed and left the room.

One of the aluminum cases lay flat on the bar in Lucy
'
s mother
'
s sun parlor. Jack touched the polished metal. He picked up his drink, his third vodka since arriving with Lucy, the first two finished off while she counted the money and they had the stand-up talk, argued, and finally reached an understanding. Now he was alone in the room. Very likely for the last time.

He
'
d left his car in the hotel garage for Roy. Later told himself it was the wrong time to be thoughtful; but now realized it didn '
t matter. Roy would be here soon, whether he drove or took the streetcar.

They had opened both aluminum cases still lying in the trunk of the colonel
'
s new car. In each one a white T-shirt covered the stacks of currency: sleeveless T-shirts made of a thick, layered material Franklin believed was called soft body armor, bulletproof, that some of the contra officers wore. Jack remembered wanting to get out of there. The feeling, waiting for the colonel to appear. Wanting to know why they were standing there talking and then realizing, as Franklin pulled out one of the cases and handed it to Lucy, it was their deal. It was between the two of them and no one else; half to the Miskitos and half to the lepers. Jack wondering if it made sense. Still wondering, after all this, who were the good guys and who were the bad guys.

He heard Lucy
'
s steps on the hardwood floor of the hall before she appeared in the doorway.

Roy
'
s here.

She turned and he heard her steps again, fading.

The house was quiet. He stood listening. She wasn
'
t coming right back with him. As Roy walked in he probably asked what happened and she was telling him. Or as they came along the hall, Roy listening, stopping . . . Jack poured a scotch and moved toward the door with it. Hand it to Roy as soon as he came in. Take off his edge if he had that dead look in his eyes. It was one of those situations, if Jack didn '
t know what was going to happen, he '
d better locate something to use. His gun was lying on the bar. Roy would think it was funny if he tried to threaten him with it. There was a brass candlestick on the phone table that looked pretty good. . . . He heard them in the hall, their steps, and then heard Roy '
s voice. What?
That one word. No doubt about it, Lucy was telling him . . . talking to him as they came in the room. Jack tried to hand him the scotch.

Roy pushed it away. You let that nigger Indin have half the dough?
With the dead look in his eyes.

Jack placed the glass on the phone table, his hand and part of his sleeve wet. It was the other way around, Roy. It was Franklin gave half to Lucy. He '
s the one had it.

Roy was heading for the aluminum case lying on the bar. He had it? What does that mean? Those guys up in the room had it, too, and you know what the nigger did to '
em? He tell you? He popped '
em, man. Both guys, twice in the chest.

Jack said, Franklin?

Your pal you had the long talk with
'
s gonna do you a favor, go up and get the keys. He got the keys, all right, and shot '
em dead. And you let him drive off with a million bucks? Fucking Indin never even had on a pair of shoes before? Jesus Christ, Jack, what were you thinking?

Lucy said, He didn
'
t tell us . . .

Roy looked at her. Had you known, would you given him all of it? I
'
d like to know how you people think. He '
s gone that '
s it, huh? Jesus Christ, he even swipes the guy '
s car and you two watch him drive off.
Turning to the aluminum case Roy said, So what '
re we left with? I suppose you '
re gonna tell me she gets half. . . .
He opened the case, stared at the rows of currency. How much '
s this, a million even?

A million one hundred thousand,
Lucy said. She went into her straw bag, lying on the sofa, and brought out a pack of cigarettes.

Roy looked past her at Jack. You and I split half, or we cut this three ways? Fuck Cullen, he didn
'
t help none.

The way it turned out,
Jack said, you and I didn
'
t help much either. I told you, Franklin gave the money to Lucy. I was there, I saw it. He didn '
t give me any or say, here, this '
s for Roy. Uh-unh, he gave it to Lucy. She thought we should have a piece of it, but I convinced her otherwise. Take it to Nicaragua, '
cause that '
s what this whole deal is all about anyway.

Roy said, If bullshit was worth anything, Jack, you
'
d have the fertilizer market sewed up. What I see is, the schemers have been scheming again. Hell, I can hear you. Let '
s see if we can fuck old Roy. Tell him all the money '
s going to the poor lepers. . . .

Lucy was shaking her head. Roy, it is, it
'
s for the hospital.

He knows it,
Jack said, he
'
s looking for an excuse, that '
s all.

Roy said, Why even talk about it.
He closed the case and lifted it from the bar. If I can see it clear in my mind to take it off the Nicaraguans, I can surely take it off a you two, couple of lost causes.
He started past Lucy. You have any complaints, take it up with the police. Tell '
em what you been doing.

Jack put his hand around the brass candlestick, took it from the phone table to hold at his side.

Roy stopped a few feet away and opened his coat. What
'
re you gonna do, take a swing at me? Jack, I '
d shoot my mother for a million bucks.

Behind him, Lucy said, So would I.

She stood by the sofa holding her dad
'
s nickel-plated .38 in both hands, arms extended.

Jack saw her as Roy, in front of him, half turned to look back.

Roy said, Oh, shit, I forgot. You have your shoulder holster on? Show us. Jack, it
'
s like TV cops wear.

Lucy said, If you try to walk out with that I promise I
'
ll shoot you.

Roy said, Sister, if you had the nerve, you
'
d deserve the money.
He turned, took two steps toward the door.

Lucy fired and Roy screamed.