The Quality of the Informant

'You will if you want the checks,' Sandy said.

'No, young lady, we damn well won't,' Lockhart said. 'Texans don't do business that way. You'll come to the U.S. to do the final deal or it will not be done at all.' His eyes bugged with hostility.

LaMonica's hands made a 'go easy' gesture and he winked at the security man.

'I'll expect to hear from you soon,' said Lockhart. He turned and trudged along the edge of the pool and through the hotel lobby.

'I'm not going across,' Sandy said. 'I told you I wouldn't go and I wasn't bullshitting. I have the creeps just being here in T-Town. You've heard the stories about the feds kidnapping fugitives and driving them across. I'm not going to take a chance on going back to eating off a plastic tray and sitting in a room with fifty bull dykes just to watch a television program.'

LaMonica leaned closer to her. 'You're not looking at this realistically,' he said. 'These people are ready to pay. You and I will get twenty-five thousand fucking dollars apiece! We will be out of this shitty border scene. I'm talking about freedom, Sandy. A ticket out.'

Sandy's fingernails played a tune on her lower lip.

'I'll be with you every step of the way,' LaMonica said confidently. 'We can pull it off without any problems. I know we can.'

'I've heard that before,' Sandy said. 'Besides, you don't give a shit about me or any other woman. For you, women are just something to use.'

'We're both going to be there. We're both wanted in the U.S. I'm not asking you to take any risk I'm not taking. In fact, if something happens I'll let you hand me up. I'm giving you my permission to tell the cops I forced you into the operation against your will. You can cut a deal and testify against me. I'm giving you my permission to do that if anything happens. I swear.'

'Deal or not, I've still got an escape warrant that would put me back in the joint,' Sandy Hartzbecker said. 'That's what it all comes down to.'

LaMonica grabbed her arm. 'No,' he said, speaking through gritted teeth. 'What it all comes down to is that fat motherfucker Lockhart sitting across the border with fifty grand wrapped in rubber bands and whether we go over and take him off or just sit here and listen to one another talk about it. I'll tell you this much: With or without your help, I'm going to go up there and try to take the man's money. I'll hold a gun to his head if I have to.'

Sandy pulled her arm away. She stood up and faced the pool. She watched the two human dolphins as they continued to splash around. It was a long while before she spoke.

'I want Mr. Cool to be there with me,' she said. 'That way I know I won't get ripped off.'

LaMonica grimaced. 'Involving other people in our business is suicide. It's unnecessary.'

'It's the only way I'll do it. I mean that.'

LaMonica sat for a while without speaking. 'Okay,' he said finally. 'You're risking as much as I am by letting him in on it. Go ahead and call him. Tell him we'll do the deal at the Sandstone Motor Lodge on Interstate Five just south of San Diego. He should get a room there day after tomorrow and wait for us.'

Chapter 20

They were less than a hundred feet from the border, waiting in a line of automobiles.

LaMonica's mouth and throat seemed to become drier and drier as they approached the international boundary. His mind was on the sleeping bag in the trunk that contained the phony traveler's checks. He wore a straw sombrero with the word Mexico stitched across the brim.

Sandy squirmed in the passenger seat. 'I should have walked across,' she said out of the side of her mouth. 'You could have picked me up on the other side.'

'Too complicated,' LaMonica said. He stepped on the accelerator and the car advanced. 'Just relax. Look the cop in the eye,' he said.

'What are you bringing into the U.S.?' the younger border patrolman said, standing at the driver's window. His olive green uniform was starched, neat; a brass nameplate over his pocket read 'C. Roberts.'

LaMonica flicked the brim of his silly bat. 'Just this,' he said. Turning to Sandy: 'And I'm afraid the wife is bringing back Montezuma's revenge.' Sandy shook her head as if she were embarrassed.

The patrolman smiled. He stepped back from the car and waved them across the line.

LaMonica accelerated into the stream of traffic heading north toward San Diego. Sandy held out her hands. They were shaking. 'Look at me.' she said.

LaMonica flipped the sombrero onto the backseat. 'That hat is worth a million bucks,' he said. 'It's all they look at.'

Less than fifteen minutes up the road LaMonica steered onto a freeway off ramp. At the end of the ramp he turned left and followed a bridge that doubled back across the freeway. He pulled up in front of a motel, a two- story rectangular affair with a coffee shop. Having parked the car, he strolled into the registration office. The woman behind the desk was gray-haired, hefty and wore a flowered dress. Her eyeglasses hung precariously on the top of her nose. She handed LaMonica a registration card and a pen. He signed it 'C. Roberts.'

In the motel room, LaMonica stood at the window while Sandy relaxed in a chair. 'I thought we were going to meet at the Sandstone Motel,' she said with a puzzled look. 'I told Mr. Cool to meet us there.'

LaMonica pointed out the window. 'The Sandstone is just across the freeway,' he said. 'Your man is already there. That looks like his Caddy parked in the lot in front of that room.'

LaMonica walked to a nightstand. He picked up the phone and dialed an area code and a number.

'Teddy's Bar,' Mora said.

'I need a favor,' LaMonica said.

'Shoot.'

'I want you to drive up toward San Diego. Stop at the Sandstone Motel Lodge on Interstate Five. There's a telephone booth next to the registration office. I'll call you on that phone. Make sure you travel clean,' LaMonica said.

'Gotcha,' Mora said. 'Can you give me a clue as to what the hell is going down?'

'I don't like to talk on the phone,' LaMonica said. 'I'll tell you when you get here.' He hung up.

The air was filled with the gentle thunder of waves.

Sea gulls, none of which looked the least bit overfed, made swooping attacks on edible items along the strand, then fluttered back to the grassy hillocks above it where Carr and Kelly had been hiding since morning. The birds seemed to launch themselves without urgency, as if to keep from getting bored.

It was high tide, nearing dusk, and Carr's legs felt numb and stiff. Maintaining a low crawl position among the chaparral, the T-man and his partner faced the portion of shore that included Teddy's Bar. They were far enough away that binoculars were needed to make out the faces of those coming and going from the modest establishment but close enough so that when the wind was right, they could hear the sound of Mariachi music coming from the open front door.

Carr looked at his wristwatch, a habit he had always tried to avoid on surveillances because it seemed to make time slow down.

'We're gonna have to move in closer as soon as it gets dark,' Kelly said. 'If Teddy slips by we could still be up here with these sea gulls tomorrow morning. Wouldn't that be a goddamn knockout punch? Being up here all day peeing in the bushes waiting for Teddy to make a move and we miss him when he leaves?'

Carr smiled. 'Sounds like you're not enjoying our little fishing trip.'

'On the contrary!' Kelly said sarcastically. 'How could I say it hasn't been just barrels of fun being down here in Baja dodging sea-gull shit. I've particularly enjoyed having a pound or so of sand wedged up the crack of my ass all day. Not to mention the third degree sunburn I've developed on the back of my neck. Golly, I haven't had so many kicks since my double hernia.'

A light colored Mercedes sedan made a dust cloud as it came down the road. Carr grabbed the binoculars.