around here.
Amazingly enough, she climbed up the steps and banged on the door. He let her rap it a few times, then said, “It’s closed. Sunday.”
“What?” she said in English. All attitude this chick.
“You want a mink coat?”
She flipped him the finger and said something that didn’t sound too encouraging.
“How about we start with a big pitcher of sangria over at the Floridita?”
She stopped again, thought about it, turned around. She was checking him out. He yawned and stretched his legs out, cool as a Popsicle.
“Americano, huh?”
“Home of the brave, baby.”
“Yeah, right, Ernesto Junior here wants to buy me sangria at El Floridita, Papa’s favorite saloon. You’re just another Hemingway sucker, chico.”
“A who sucker?”
“Never mind. What happened to your lip?”
“You should see the other guy,” he said, liking how fast it came out.
“Yeah, that doctor. You broke his jaw. You’re the one who caused all that trouble at the hospital, right?”
He looked at her.
“You were there? I thought I’d seen you before.”
“My sister is head nurse there. She’s the one who told you about the embassy.”
“So you—like, what, followed me over here?”
“Don’t flatter yourself, chico. I had some business at the embassy, too—something to deliver for my brother.” She pulled a manila envelope out of her shoulder bag.
“Stick it under the door,” Gomez said.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“It’s full of money.”
“Oh,” he said, thinking, definitely not a working girl delivering cash to an embassy.
“So, adios,” she said, sticking the envelope back in her bag. He wondered how much money was in there. He could grab it and run. The Malecon was only a block away. He could melt into the crowds. Could she catch him wearing those bright yellow fuck-me shoes? I don’t think so.
“Hey, wait a minute, baby! Where you going?”
“Back to work.”
“You work on Sunday? Christ.”
“My brother has a club. I work there.”
“Yeah, what do you do?”
“Whatever it takes.”
“Hey, that sounds good. Can I come?”
“It’s very exclusive. Members only.”
“I could join.”
She laughed so hard it pissed him off.
“You think I can’t afford it?”
“I know you can’t afford it. It’s the most expensive club in Havana. On the other hand—”
“What?”
“My brother might like you.”
“Why’s that?”
“He likes guys who like to beat the shit out of other guys. They’re always useful.”
Five seconds after she put two fingers in her mouth and blew the loudest whistle he’d ever heard, the biggest, blackest Chrysler Imperial on earth pulled up in front of the embassy. The driver, some muscleman in a black T-shirt, reached over and swung the door open for her. She hopped in the front, leaned over, and gave the guy a big kiss.
Gomez didn’t see her sliding over for him up front so he climbed in the back. The car was mint, like just off the showroom floor. Even had that smell.
“What year is this?” Gomez asked as the guy took off down the narrow street.
“Fifty-nine,” the guy said, and turned around and smiled at him. Big gold tooth up front. “Esta bueno, no?”
“This is my cousin Santos,” the chick said, squeezing the back of the guy’s neck. “Sorry, I don’t know your name.”
“Gomez.”
“I’m Ling-Ling,” she said.
“Ling-Ling,” Gomez said, liking the sound of it. “You know how Chinese people name their kids?” he asked. “They throw all their silverware up in the air and name the kids after the sound it makes when it hits the floor. Ling-Ling, huh? Sounds like a salad fork.”
Nobody said another word until they pulled up in front of a big wooden gate set in a high pink wall. Gomez had been following their route on his map. They’d driven all along the Malecon with the Castillo del Morro on his far right, looking like an ocean liner entering the stormy harbor. Big rollers came in from the Atlantic, crashing over the seawall at Punta Brava, the spray misting the Chrysler’s windshield.
Now they were in the shady El Vedado section where all the big old houses were. Most of them built sometime before 1959 B.C. Before Castro.
Gomez and the chick climbed out.
“Hasta manana,” her cousin said, slapping his meaty brown hand on the door a couple of times. Guy must have been wearing ten gold bracelets. Gomez watched the Imperial slide off into a tunnel of green branches hanging dark and heavy, brushing the top of the car as it slid away.
“Well, this is it,” Ling-Ling said, pushing a button in the wall and waving up at one of the video cameras.
“What’s the club called?” Gomez asked as the heavy doors started to swing inward.
“The Mao-Mao Club.”
They stepped through the gates, and Gomez said, “This isn’t a club, it’s a jungle.”
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? We have every kind of bird and animal. Even jaguars and leopards.”
“No kidding,” Gomez said, trying not to sound scared. He seemed to remember somebody getting eaten by a leopard in a movie.
After five minutes of ducking under trees and climbing over banyan roots that had buckled the old walkway, they came to another gate. This time, the gate swung open automatically into a courtyard and there was a little Chinese guy standing there in red silk pajamas. He had a silver tray in his hand with some kind of drink in a tall silver cup.
“Every new guest receives one,” Ling-Ling said. “It’s called Poison. Try it.”
“I love poison,” Gomez said, and took a sip. It was the best thing he’d ever tasted in his life.
“You make this stuff?” he asked the Chinaman. The little fellow giggled and scurried away. Probably doesn’t speak a word of English, Gomez thought, hardly surprised.
“This way,” Ling-Ling said. “My brother is probably at the bar in the casino.”
They walked around a pool about half the size of a football field that had a huge splashing fountain in the middle of it. The fountain had some guy with a giant pitchfork riding in some kind of Roman chariot pulled by a bunch of dolphins and whales. Guy had his arm around this mermaid. Biggest damn mermaid tits you ever saw. Solid gold? Had to be.
Gomez heard a shriek and saw a girl climb out of the pool, naked, and watched her get chased by this old fat guy into one of the cabanas that lined both sides of the pool. The girl was wearing the same kind of gold collar around her neck as Ling-Ling.
He noticed that a lot of the cabanas were occupied and most of them had the thick striped curtains closed. He also saw more beautiful girls wearing gold collars at the far end of the pool. He took another swig of his drink and tried not to stare too hard.
