Free Who'll Stop The Rain: (Book One Of The Miami Crime Trilogy) by Don Donovan Page B

kinda thing for a while till he ran
into these dudes from Key West. A crew. You know, street guys."
    "What
about them?" she asked. "The Key West guys."
    "These
dudes were down, lemme tell you," Flaco said. "They pulled jobs all
around this area. Up in Lauderdale, too. They took Chicho in 'cause they needed
somebody who knew the territory up here. Knew his way around, you know what I'm
sayin'? Somebody who … well, you know … like … their man in Miami."
      His dark eyes grabbed Silvana's and told
their own tale. The tempo of his voice picked up and his tone rose by about
half an octave. Excitement flew off him like the sweat from his head, and he
was contagious with it. Silvana bought into it, started nodding, and was
surprised to see how anxious she was to hear the rest of it. She was slowly
according Flaco a little bit of respect.
    "What
Chicho told me was, everything they did was golden. Never got caught. Man, I
mean their jobs were tight! Like a fucking gearbox, you know what I'm sayin'?
Where everything meshes perfect?" He clasped his fingers together to
emphasize the perfection of meshing.
    "You
know anything about any recent jobs he might've done with these guys?"
    "Yo,
I saw him last week, you know what I'm sayin'? Like around Tuesday or
Wednesday. He said he had a big one comin' up. Real big. Didn't tell me any
more about it, though."
    "A
big one?" Silvana questioned. "With the Key West crew?"
    "Yeah.
Or, well — I guess it was. I mean, he didn't come right out and be like,
'I'm gonna do this big job with my Key West boys,' you know what I'm sayin'?
I'm just guessin' it was them. Far as I know, he never worked with nobody else
in that league."
    "You
ever meet any of these guys? Any of the Key West guys, I mean?"
    "Well,
there was one. About two, three weeks ago. I ran into Chicho outside of La Luz.
This bar over on Northwest 12th Avenue. He was with this dude I never seen
before. Real stocky, tough-lookin' motherfucker. Mustache. Mean-ass look on his
face, you know what I'm sayin'? Tells me the dude's from Key West."
    A
chill took hold at the base of Silvana's spine. She could feel the info she
needed taking shape somewhere beyond the horizon, juuuust out of sight.
    "What'd
you talk about?"
    "Nothin'
much. Jus' 'what up' and that kind of shit. Then they go in the bar and take a
booth. Gettin' down with each other over a coupla beers."
    "This
guy have a name?" Silvana asked.
    "Yeah.
Logan, it was."
    Silvana's
heart picked up its pace and she took a couple of quick breaths through her
mouth. A name.
    "And
what about Chicho? You got any idea who put him down?"
    "None
whatsoever. I didn't even hear about it till Saturday night. Far as I can tell,
nobody knows who done him."
    "Maxie?
Could he have done it?"
    "Shit,
he could have. But why would he? Chicho was like the goose layin' the golden
egg, you know what I'm sayin'? He's losin' all kindsa money to Maxie and payin'
him off every week. Why would Maxie want to put the fuckin' brakes on
that?"
    Silvana's
thoughts exactly. "I don't know," she said. "Maybe Chicho said
something to him. An insult, maybe. Guys have been smoked for a lot less."
    "Yeah,
I know. But it woulda had to been pretty bad to make Maxie take him out. Shit,
the dude just came up with two hundred K that me and Yolexis collected for him
Friday night. Came right up with it."
    "You
know Andrés Borraga? The guy who got dusted with Chicho? The guy with the
shotgun?"
    "I
seen him around before, you know what I'm sayin', but I can't place him. I
didn't know his name."
    "You
see him Friday night when you went to the house on Tenth Avenue?"
    "Yeah,
he was there."
    "He
didn't recognize you? Didn't say 'Hi, Flaco'? Chicho didn't introduce you? Come
on! Help me out here."
    "I'm
tellin' you, no. I seen him when I went in, sittin' in the chair watchin' the
TV. He was like, 'Yo, dog', nodded at me, and went back to the TV."
    "But
he knew you."
    "Yeah,
he knew me. And I knew him. Just no names is all, you know