Orinoco: An adventure story

1988.

Chapter 1

Dane Martin’s eye was immediately drawn to the Maserati. He knew that once his best friend Tommy Garner finished working on it, he would get top dollar for it.

He moved confidently to the car as if he already owned it and found that the door was not locked and the alarm-system had not been set, there was even a spare key behind the sun visor.

Whoa man! This guy’s got more money than sense. He told himself as he drove the red beauty away. He did not have far to go to the underground parking basement that he had rented and although he regretted not having the chance to drive the Maserati onto the highway, he was pleased to get his prize under cover.

Tommy rushed forward as soon as the automatic garage door had closed.

Fantastic man! Where did you find this? He asked with his eyes gleaming in anticipation.

A couple of blocks away at the Majestic Hotel; this was one careless owner. The car wasn’t locked, it didn’t have the alarm on and there was a spare key behind the visor.

The Majestic? But those dudes have got valet parking; why would the car be out on the street?

Don’t ask me, man; more money than sense I’d say.

Tommy slipped behind the wheel and looked at the registration tag.

Hey Dane! Did you see who the owner is?

Dane was opening the trunk. Sometimes there was good saleable stuff in the trunk.

He was about to ask about the owner but his attention was caught by a large valise and he pulled it onto the ledge of the trunk. It was heavy, over forty pounds.

Come have a look at this Tommy!

Tommy came quickly. What’s up?

Dane clicked the latches and the valise sprang open spilling money into the car trunk.

Hell Tommy! This is totally awesome; must be about a million bucks here.

Yeah man, are we in trouble? Tommy said warningly.

What’s trouble about finding a million bucks?

Trouble is when the million bucks is in a car owned by Emilio Draco.

"The Emilio Draco?"

How many do you know? Tommy asked.

Shit! That really is trouble. That guy will kill you as soon as look at you. I heard that he had a guy rubbed out because he leaned on his Cadillac.

You’ve done a little bit more than leaned on his Maserati, Dane. We’ve got to get out of here.

We can’t leave the Maserati here, Tommy. That would be like handing Draco our business card. As far as I know, Espinoza works for Draco and I rented this place from him.

Let me re-spray the damned thing, Dane. You can’t drive it out not even to dump it. I’ll spray it racing green and change the registration plates. Then we drive it out and dump it.

How long will that take, Tommy?

Twenty four hours. The job doesn’t have to be perfect just so we can get the car away from here.

Get started on it, man. I’ll go up to our apartment and pack some of our stuff. I’ll move the Maserati tonight and we’ll hit Mexico tomorrow morning. I’m packing everything into the Ford pickup. It’s the only legitimate wheels we’ve got.

What are you going to do about the money?

If we get away at all, pal, it will be because we have the money to finance our moves.

Okay Dane, I’ll meet you at the pool hall as soon as I’m done with the Maserati.

Why meet at the pool hall?

We can’t hang around our apartment just in case there’s a surveillance camera that picked you up while you were lifting the Maserati.

Hey man, I’m not an amateur! You know that I always check out surveillance cameras before I do a lift.

Yeah Dane, I know that but I also know about Murphy’s Law which says if anything can go wrong, it will.

Okay, Okay, I‘ll see you at the pool hall but only after I’ve dumped the Maserati. Give me a call as soon as you have finished spraying. I’m not waiting for it to dry. I’ll drive it out and dump it. It can dry in its own time.

What are you going to do with the money?

You remember those backpacks we bought for that trip into the woods with Jenny and Annie?

Do I remember them? How the hell could I forget them? That is one perfect example of Murphy’s law. Two hot chicks ready to rumble and we’ve got to camp where there is a hungry Grizzly bear anxious to investigate our supplies.

He seemed to be even more interested in our two extra large sleeping bags. Dane pointed out.

Yeah, okay I admit that was my fault. I just figured that the insulation of the bags would keep the frozen chickens cold until Annie cooked them. Tommy admitted.

That Annie! Who could have imagined that she could climb a tree that fast! She didn’t even use her arms. I could swear that she just ran up the tree trunk.

We weren’t too far behind her if I recall. Tommy recollected.

It was a great way to spend a romantic evening. Shivering up a tree while the bear ate all our supplies; it was small wonder that they never gave us another date.

So you were saying about the backpacks? Tommy asked.

Yeah, I figure that we pack the money in them; your half-million in your pack and the other in mine.

Hey that’s right! I’m a half-millionaire now, ain’t I? Gee, I’ve never had so much money in my life.

Yeah man and our lives won’t be too damn long if we don’t get a move on. Get on with the spraying I’m going to do the packing.

Dane carried the valise down to the subway and took the short trip to their apartment.

The apartment was not anything grand and they had lived in it ever since they had graduated from the local high-school. Both Tommy and Dane were orphans and had been close friends from the moment they met in the Catholic orphanage.

Our Lady of Perpetual Succor Orphanage was in a largely Hispanic neighborhood and as a result the two boys from Anglo-Saxon parentage gravitated to each other. Both spoke a very slangy but fluent Spanish picked up from their peers but apart from that accomplishment which did little to elevate their grade average, they were indifferent students and scraped through to graduation without any distinction whatsoever.

Tommy did well in machine shop and Dane did well with the girls.

Dane was tall dark and sort of handsome but he had a dazzling smile that won him many female adherents. He was known for his lack of commitment to any particular girl but that didn’t keep the others away.

Tommy was shorter with a snub nose and gingery hair. He was known to be a nice guy but his generous supply of facial freckles kept the girls from becoming too serious although some of those that would have liked to get closer to Dane hung around with Tommy in the futile hope that Dane would notice them.

Dane threw the money and their passports into the two backpacks and packed clothing into an old carpet bag that he had used on the only vacation he had ever taken in his life. He had gone with Mary-Jane Cooper to Hawaii leaving an unhappy Tommy behind. Mary-Jane Cooper had been one of those girls that had hung around with Tommy so as to be near Dane. Tommy had become quite infatuated with her but she only had eyes for Dane. Dane had not even known that she was alive until at seventeen her figure had blossomed and suddenly he noticed her. Tommy had always looked up to Dane but something changed inside him when Dane seduced Mary-Jane. When Dane dumped Mary-Jane and moved on, Tommy would have loved to have been there for her but she was so upset that she ran away without even saying a word to Tommy.

Dane was sublimely ignorant that he had done anything to hurt Mary-Jane let alone Tommy.

Dane lugged the three pieces of baggage down to the Ford pickup and stowed the two backpacks behind the seats and left the carpet bag on the passenger seat. He drove to the pool-hall and parked the Ford where he could see it from the bar.

He couldn’t see Tommy anywhere but it did not concern him too much. He got himself a beer and suggested a game of pool to one of the pool-hall regulars.

The regular did a workmanlike job of beating Dane so Dane was not too upset when his cell phone rang and Tommy said. Hey man, that car is ready; racing green, as ordered.

Okay, I’ll come get it. You follow me in the Ford. I’m going to dump the Maserati out at the old quarry.

He drove back to the garage and found Tommy cleaning up after the job.

Hey man, you didn’t wear gloves! Your prints are going to be all over that car. Dane said as he approached. Dane always wore gloves when stealing a car.

Don’t worry, dude. We’re not sticking around. The cops are much less of a problem than Draco.

It’s Draco that I’m worried about Tommy. He’s got so many cops on his payroll that he’ll hear about who ripped off his car before the precinct sergeant does. I’d like to get a head start on him but that won’t happen if he knows who he is chasing.

Okay dude, chill out! I’ll wipe the damn thing down.

Make sure you cover every spot that you might have touched, Tommy. Remember, Draco plays for keeps.

Tommy spent several minute wiping down the car. Damn it! Now I’ve smudged the paint job.

Don’t worry about it. Nobody is going to see it in the dark and by morning we’ll be knee deep in senoritas.

Dane threw the Ford keys to Tommy.

Don’t try to keep up with me, Tommy. Just head out to the old quarry and I’ll see you when you get there.

Dane slid into the front seat of the Maserati and drove out of the garage while the automatic door was still opening. He shot under the door with just enough clearance to avoid losing the windshield.

Tommy methodically switched off the lights and locked up the garage after one last lingering look at the stolen cars in various stages of reconstruction.

He drove the Ford pickup at exactly the speed limit ignoring the highway and following the original road to the old quarry.

Dane cruised down the highway and arrived at the old quarry in a few minutes. He found a spot to park the Maserati so that although it was not hidden, it would not be easily seen by the occasional passing traffic.

He jumped out of the car and smeared green paint all over his driving gloves.

Damn it! That’s a new pair of gloves! He cursed as he looked at his damaged hand covering. He was so busy looking at it that he did not notice two men slipping toward him through the evening shadows until they were close enough for him to see the guns in their hands.

Put ya hands up, buddy or you gonna develop some unwanted ventilation. One of them grunted at him.

Dane took in the situation in a glance. Two guns against an unarmed man were not good odds but Dane reasoned that they were not going to leave him alive anyway. He threw the paint soaked glove directly at the eyes of one man and dived at the knees of the other.

The armed men had been confident that no-one was going to make a move with two pistols pointed at them. They were not ready for Dane’s sudden action. The wet paint on Dane’s glove was heavy with solvent and this splashed directly into the eyes of the gunman. He screamed with the pain of it and dropped his gun as he clawed at his eyes.

The other man fell backward and struck his head on one of the many rocks lying about the disused quarry. Dane snatched up the gun and turned in time to see the blinded man step over the lip of the quarry hole and plunge thirty feet onto the rocks below.

Dane gathered up the other pistol and slipped it into his waistband near the small of his back.

He walked out onto the road and kept walking until Tommy finally arrived.

Tommy pulled over and Dane stepped into the pickup after heaving the carpet bag in back of the pickup.

Where’d you get the gun, Dane?

Some goons were waiting up at the quarry. One of them dropped this so I figured he wouldn’t need it any more. You never know when a gun might come in handy.

I thought that you said that we don’t use guns in our business? Tommy asked.

Yeah, I did, but this is Emilio Draco’s business and the game is played with guns.

D’you know how to use one?

Sure I do! Just like in the movies, you make sure the safety catch is off, point it at the other dude and pull the trigger.

And what do you do when the bullets are finished?

Throw it away and get a new one?

"Stop kidding Dane, this is serious! Draco doesn’t play games. He’s going to send men against us that make a living out of killing people with guns. Some of them can knock a fly off the wall with a bullet. We can’t hit a barn wall!"

So what are you suggesting that we do, man? Surrender so that he can kill us? I’d rather shoot back and miss than stand there and let him do whatever he wants.

Okay, Dane, maybe we should hand everything, including the money, over to the police.

"What in hell have you been smoking, Tommy? Draco owns a substantial portion of the police force. Even those that aren’t in his pay, if only we knew who they are, can’t protect us from those that are in Draco’s pay. We can’t even give the money back to Draco because he will still have us killed purely for the sake of his image. He cannot accept that anyone could rip him off and live."

This argument raged throughout the night as Dane drove to Brownsville and as dawn was breaking Tommy conceded that running was their best chance of survival.

I know what your trouble is Tommy. Dane said callously. You don’t want to leave the town where Mary-Jane lives. When are you going to get it through your head that she will never be interested in you? She barely tolerates you within fifty feet of her. What makes you think that she will suddenly change and decide to date you?

You ruined her for me, Dane! We were getting along just fine until you decided to take her on that vacation to Hawaii.

I did that for you buddy! I was trying to show you that she wasn’t for you. She was just using you. She’s a cold-hearted bitch and the only reason she wanted me was because she wanted to show the other chicks that she could do what none of them could. That’s why I dumped her as soon as we got back from Hawaii: to show her that she didn’t own me.

You dumped her because you had sex with her and there was no more challenge for you in her.

And that’s exactly where you are wrong, Tommy. I never had sex with her. She wanted a ring on her finger before she would put out. Me, I don’t have to buy a cow because I get my milk for free.

That’s what she’s been telling everyone but no-one believes her because they all know you. She’s still stuck on you, you know.

Only until she finds a better prospect; all the young chicks are like that. They watch too many romantic movies.

Dane pulled over.

I’ve driven all night and there’s Brownsville. You drive from here. Do you want breakfast in the States or in Mexico?

Let’s get a stack of pancakes and bacon. We ain’t gonna see that once we cross the border.

Go ahead, find where you want to eat. I figure we have to get used to eating Mex food sooner or later since we can’t come back to the States as long as Draco is around.

Predictably, Tommy chose MacDonald’s and they breakfasted on pancakes, maple syrup, bacon and plenty of American coffee.

This stuff is disgustingly unhealthy for you. Dane commented.

I don’t see you refusing to eat it. Tommy shot back.What time are we going to cross the border?

I figure that we wait until the crowd builds up. The border officials are not so likely to choose us for a full inspection.

What the hell do we do if they find us carrying a million dollars in currency?

It isn’t very likely. They look for drugs on this side and on the Mex side a hundred dollar bill goes a long way to opening doors.

So we got a lot of time to kill? How about we find a pool hall and play some pool?

What’s with this sudden craze for pool, Tommy? It’s not as if you are any good at it.

It soothes my nerves, Dane, as long as I am not playing for money.

Why in hell should that bother you now? You’ve got half a million dollars to play with.

Say, you are right! Maybe I should splash out a little. That always makes me feel cool.

Just don’t get carried away. Draco’s men could be on the lookout for big spenders.

They found a pool hall not too far from the MacDonald’s. It was early so apart from an occasional drunk sleeping under the tables, the place was devoid of customers.

Dane and Tommy fooled around trying trick shots (and mainly failing) to while away the time.

We’ll have to think about moving soon but I think that I want to hit the head first. Tommy, don’t do anything foolish while I’m gone.

Why do you always say that, Dane? You ain’t any brighter than I am. I’m a rich dude now and if I want to do something a little foolish with my money then I will.

Dane grabbed a newspaper and strolled to the head.

Tommy was amusing himself trying various angle shots when a newcomer came up to him and asked if he wanted a game. Emboldened by his new-found wealth, Tommy agreed to a twenty dollar bet.

I’m Tommy, pleased to meet you.

Yeah, I’m Joe. You ain’t from around these parts?

Nah, me and my pal Dane are headed for Mexico. We made us a pile on a business deal and we’re looking for some R and R and plenty of Mexican senoritas.

Hell, Tommy, you goin’ about this the wrong way. Joe said as he potted another ball expertly. The way to hit Mexico is in a boat. You live on board and you travel from port to port spotting all the senoritas on the beaches where they’s at their naked best.

Say, that does sound pretty cool! But Dane and me don’t know nothing about boats. Me, I like engines and wheels.

What do you have to know about boats man? If you know engines then it’s just like driving up the motorway ‘cept that this motorway stretches everywhere. Think about it!

Joe said as he finished off the game without Tommy having played a single ball.

The whole world opens ahead of you. You can go wherever you want.

Yeah but what about storms at sea? I hear they can get pretty rough; oh yeah and hurricanes?

You get a boat with all the latest equipment and you know about storms before they ever reach you. You just get the hell outta their way.

Hell that sounds cool! How much does a boat like that cost?

I know where you can pick up a ten-year old motor yacht with twin engines and fiberglass hull for a hundred thousand dollars. It’s complete with all the latest technology and ready to cruise right now.

Wow! A hundred grand? Gee, I could have made it if it was eighty grand. Tommy said putting on his best poker face.

The guy might take an offer as long as it is for cash: no checks and no bank financing.

Tommy was delighted with his own cleverness.

It’s got to have all the proper paperwork, Joe. He said warningly.

No problem. This one is as clean as they come.

Why is the owner selling it?

Hell, I don’t know that. I heard something about him having a heart attack on board but I don’t know if that is the reason he is selling.

Okay, can you take me to see this boat?

"Sure thing: just as soon as you pay me the twenty bucks you