Hostage in Havana

Then they sprayed the water with automatic weapon fire, including a few shots which landed not far from her. But obviously they’d lost sight of her in the low mist, if they’d ever seen her at all. So she kept going. Her emergency pack. The gun, the money, the passport, was still strapped to her body. She could feel everything.

Then she realized. The sky was brightening. Daylight would be her enemy.

Alex pulled herself through the water.

A jetty blocked her view of the landing area, but she noticed another cove about a hundred yards beyond it. Slowly she moved through the water. Getting to land now was her only priority.

By this time the sky was lighter, but the shore remained dark. She continued to pull herself toward the cove, but could not make out the topography. She didn’t know if it was an area of sand, rocks, or even jagged coral, which could slice her shoes and feet. She pulled herself along for several more minutes until, finally, her feet touched the bottom.

It felt like soft dirt, mixed with sand and the occasional rock. That was good. She proceeded slowly. She knew a foot or ankle injury now would be disastrous. Next thing she knew, she was wading. First shoulder deep, then waist deep, then ankle. Then, alone and nearly at the point of collapse, she was on a strip of sand that formed a small pleasant beach. She staggered to a small stand of palm trees that would give her cover. Then she collapsed.

Bienvenidos a Cuba. Welcome to Cuba.

FORTY-ONE

The sun was one hour higher in the morning sky when Major Ivar Mejias of the Policia Nacional Revolucionaria stood on the beach, his arms folded angrily in front of him. He spat on the ground. He was filled with frustration and rage. On the surface, this should have been a routine operation, picking off some contrabandistas as they hit the Cuban sand, grabbing them as they came off the boats or dropped their cargo. He had done this dozens of times in the past, whenever he had received a tip.

But today the bullets had flown for no reason and everything had turned ugly. Now he would have some higher-ups taking a close look at the way this had been handled, poking their long noses into his butt, to use the expression that was common in his bureau, and that was exactly what he didn’t want. Worse, the affair might now get turned over to the Ministry of the Interior, whose security division dealt with espionage and sabotage. A little of that – and this whole affair would be beyond his control.

He cursed again.

Two of Major Mejias’s men needed first aid and were waiting for ambulances. Both had flesh wounds. Thank God, Mejias muttered to himself, none had been killed or seriously injured. His “men” were little more than boys, if the truth were told. They were conscripts. All young Cuban men owed service to the state and were assigned to either the army or the police. Lately, he was getting a real snootful of these country chicos working out of his headquarters in Havana.

Defense of the socialist motherland is every Cuban’s greatest honor and highest duty, went the slogan. But a few brains would have been useful under the conditions Major Mejias had encountered today.

He sighed as he looked at his troops, who were just now realizing the severity of the firefight they’d been in. They were a mixed blessing, these kids. They respected authority and were affable. But they were rubes, most of them straight out of the sugar or tobacco fields. Well, so much the better for some of the things Mejias was trying to accomplish in some of Havana’s darker corners. They weren’t in any position to look over his shoulder and cause trouble and they could stop a bullet here or there to make his unit look good.

He walked the beach. He looked at the impressions in the sand where bullets had struck. For these smugglers, the living ones and dead one, whose bodies were laid out on the beach, he didn’t have much sympathy. But he would have to process them in a humane way, which was a nuisance.

The hothead who had started the shooting was dead. But the others were bandaged and being held by his young officers, who stood over the prisoners and held them at gunpoint. The surviving invaders were in shock and not inclined to run anywhere.

The major looked out at the water. A Cuban Navy patrol boat, which had arrived in the last few minutes, had seized the skiff and brought it to within fifty feet of shore. It bobbed gently in the waves now, looking innocent.

Mejias glared at it with anger. All the prisoners spoke Spanish, but Mejias had no doubt where they’d come from. Where do the invaders always come from? The north. Well, thanks to the heads-up ahead of time, he knew exactly where these men would land. That’s what had made the gunfire so unnecessary. Inside, his fury only deepened. He had rounded up his officers and had come all the way out from Havana to deal with this. And now it was royally loused up.

One of his sergeants walked over to him. Mejias had the reputation for a nastiness that is particular to small angry men in military hierarchies. They’re like steers that aspire to be bulls but lack the necessary equipment. Hence they feel they had to make up for it with attitude, and incidents like this one didn’t increase Mejias’ charm quotient.

The sergeant stood there, waiting to speak.

Mejias turned to him. “What is it, sergeant?” he asked.

“One of the prisoners says there was a female passenger, sir.”

Mejias looked surprised. “What?” he asked.

“A woman, sir.”

“One of their girlfriends?”

“No, sir. A passenger.”

“?Cubana? ?Norteamericana?” he asked.

“The skiff captain said she was probably American,” the young policeman said, “but she spoke good Spanish.”

Mejias looked away in disgust, then looked back.

“Well, then,” he said. “American. So we’ll have to find her, won’t we? Before anyone else does. Before she can cause trouble.” He motioned rudely to the water. “Or, if we’re very lucky, we’ll find the corpse.”

FORTY-TWO

From the stand of palm trees where she hid, Alex looked toward the area where Leo’s boat had come under attack. She could see the reflection of yellow and red lights flashing on the water, so she knew some activity was continuing. She thought back to the botched landing, the gunfire, the three-man crew, presumably now dead, and then to having no alternative but to dive into the water.

What stayed in her mind most, however, was the shot that Guarneri had sent in her direction. She knew he had not meant to harm her. It had been tough love in its most primitive form. He knew that if there was any specific target on the boat he was probably it. But if they were all to be riddled by bullets, he wanted to allow Alex the chance to survive. Hence, his shot had been meant to get her out of the boat.

It had worked. And it had probably saved her life. Yet there was still something about the man that didn’t add up.

She continued to lurk under the trees, surveying, catching her breath. Not a human was in sight, but she knew that would change quickly if anyone knew that a woman had bailed out of the boat. She needed to get as far away as she could, and as quickly as possible.

She walked up the beach, away from the water. There were not many footprints in the sand, but she carefully stepped in the prints that were there, lessening the chances of being followed. She came to a narrow road that followed the coast. She began to walk. She knew Havana was to the west, so she headed in that direction. Across the street was what appeared to be a small farm. No house in sight, just some scraggly fields and, beyond that,