Tower of Terror

1

They followed Rosario Blancanales through the crowded, neon-bright streets of Miami's 'Little Havana,' never getting too close, but never letting Blancanales out of sight. The Latin nightlife of the district moved around them, young women in tight skirts, macho young men in disco finery, the groups of big-bellied older men standing in front of cafes, laughing.

Carl Lyons leaned across the front seat of the van and adjusted the passenger-side rearview mirror. The nightlife didn't fool him. Many of those macho young men trained in the Florida Everglades, grunting through swampwater as their instructors fired machine-gun bursts to keep their heads down. Those older fellows, who looked like grandfathers, were cold killers. Betrayed at the Bay of Pigs, some of them financed their dreams of recapturing Cuba through the smuggling and sale of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. If any of them was to learn the identity of Rosario Blancanales, or see into the interior of the closed van carrying Carl Lyons and Herman 'Gadgets' Schwarz, there would be death. The FBI had lost several agents in the streets and alleys of Little Havana. The agents simply disappeared.

We're searching for explosives, not drugs, Lyons thought. But we'd never get the chance to explain.

Blancanales stood a few car lengths behind the van, talking with a fat man in a polyester leisure suit named Hector. Lyons watched them in the rearview mirror.

'What're they talking about?' Lyons called back to Gadgets.

'Hector's got the information,' Gadgets answered from behind the curtain that screened him from view. In the back of the van, Gadgets monitored the body-transmitter that Blancanales wore. Every word he spoke and almost all of Hector's words were transmitted to the van. A tape machine recorded the dialogue. Gadgets also maintained communication with the FBI Emergency Task Force assisting Able Team.

'How's the Politician making out?'

'Okay, I think. Wish my Spanish was better, those guys are talking real fast. And it's Cuban Spanish, so I don't know what I'm hearing — this is it! Hector says he's going to make a call. He has to make a phone call.'

Lyons watched the man step to a pay phone, dial a number. Blancanales glanced down the street to the van. Lyons touched the brake pedal twice: flash-flash.

'Rosario's talking to me,' Gadgets told him. 'Everything's cool. It might be a go.'

'Wish there was some way we could talk back.' Lyons didn't like Blancanales being on one-way contact only.

'He's got it under control, he didn't need our back-talk,' Gadgets smiled. 'Hey, the man's returned.'

Lyons watched Blancanales and Hector cross the street. They got into a Cadillac. 'Where are they going?'

'Hector says he'll take Rosario to the man who's got the information. It'll cost him a thousand dollars.'

'I don't like it.'

'No buenois correct. Price is right, but what's with the car ride?'

'Gadgets, you come up front. You drive in case I have to jump.'

'Be cool, Lyons. If the Politician's going along, he must feel okay about it. We'll just wing it.'

'But I don't feel good about it. Getting in the man's car could be a quick ride to a hole in the ground. Pass me the Ingram and a couple of mags. Leave the gun in the wrapper.'

Lyons wore a .357 magnum in a shoulder holster. But he believed in choosing the right tool for the job: a rifle with a scope for long shots; a pistol for tight shots; and when needed, a weapon for the middle range, which in this case was a silenced Ingram machine-pistol, requisitioned from the CIA arsenal.

Gadgets passed the plastic-wrapped weapon through the curtain. Then two extra magazines, thirty 9mm rounds each. As Lyons followed Hector's Cadillac through the Miami streets, he checked the silencer's mounting and jacked a round into the chamber. He flipped on the safety.

'What's going on with Anders?' he asked Gadgets.

'Keeping his distance. You want to talk to him?'

'Yeah.'

Mitch Anders headed the Emergency Task Force. They worked in cooperation with the Able Team, providing back-up assistance whenever needed. But right now, Lyons didn't want assistance. Gadgets passed a hand-radio to Lyons, who spoke in double-talk code. 'Politician's with the man. We're winging it. You stay away.'

'Got it,' Anders answered. 'Two blocks away, minimum.'

Lyons followed the Cadillac into a run-down area of warehouses and industrial buildings. The streets were empty except for parked semis and trailers. Lyons flicked off the van's lights, stayed a block behind the Cadillac. When it stopped, the ex-LAPD cop parked the van behind a truck.

'What now?' he asked Gadgets.

'Hector's saying his friend lives above the warehouse. They'll go up and talk to him.'

'It's a trap! Stay with the van, I'm on my way.' Lyons grabbed the Ingram from the floor.

'Wait! Rosario's got him. Lyons!'

'What?'

'Rosario's got him, says for you to come on up.' Gadgets laughed. 'Can't trick El Politico. He knows an ambush when it's in front of him.'

'Let me have two hand-sets.'

With the Ingram and the small hand-radios, Lyons ran to the doorway where Blancanales held the small, plump man up against the wall.

'What's happening, man?' Lyons put one of the radios into Blancanales' free hand.

'He and his friends were going to take me, ask me about my questions.' Blancanales put a 9mm double- action Browning against Hector's throat, just an inch above the bright pinks and blues of his floral-print shirt. 'I think he was going to sell me to the man I wanted to ask about.'

Lyons stripped the plastic bag off the silenced machine-pistol, scanned the alleys and doorways near them. Blancanales questioned Hector in rapid-fire Spanish, prodding him with the Browning. Hector answered, cringing.

'When we walk in there,' Blancanales indicated the door to the warehouse, 'they'll take me. Hector's friends.'

'Is there another way in?'

Hector answered in English. 'Through the back.'

'You take us in there,' Lyons told Hector, pointing at him with the Ingram. 'If you want to live, you take us in quiet, we ask our questions, and then we leave. No one gets hurt. We'll even pay the thousand dollars. What do you want to do?'

'The man you wish to question is not here. I have not seen him since I sold him the ship. But I can tell you he does not smuggle drugs. He says he does, but he does not...'

There was the sound of shots in the building. Hector froze.

'What's going on?' Lyons demanded.

'I don't know,' Hector answered, 'but my son is in there.' He looked in panic at Lyons and Blancanales. 'My son knows more about this man that you want. Maybe he can answer your questions!'

'Lead the way,' Lyons ordered.

They ran through a passageway sparkling with broken glass, stinking of urine, Hector slightly ahead, the well-built, light-footed Lyons and dark Blancanales following. There were more shots inside.

In the alley behind the buildings, there were three cars — two new Cadillacs and a year-old Lincoln. Though plump and over fifty, Hector moved fast, dodged between the cars. A form stepped from the shadows. Hector threw himself down as a shotgun blast smashed the Lincoln's hood.

Zipppp! Lyons's Ingram ripped the man like a silent chainsaw. Hector ran to the