Page 49 of The Gambler
“Gramps I need your plane.” He was running and motioning the boys to follow him as he went. He asked gramps a million fucking questions but the old man didn’t have anything more for him. “How the fuck can she fly into Cuba, isn’t that restricted airspace?”
“Not if you go through Canada. Who’s she?” Well fuck.
He gave the old man the rundown and then hung up the phone.There was a mad scramble as they headed out to the hangar where gramps kept his fleet of planes. Andros was making calls, trying to find any and everything he could about the situation.
Her mother hadn’t been of any help when he’d given her the location, so he was basically going in blind.He didn’t even blink when she told him that yes of course Jenna knew how to fly a plane. That answered the question of how the fuck she’d been able to take his plane. Seems his little flower was just full of surprises; he was in turns proud of her and pissed the fuck off.
He knew where she was landing but then what? How the fuck was he supposed to find her after that?
In the end he’d left one of his men behind to comb through the files again, in the off chance that they’d overlooked something. She had a huge fucking head start and he was afraid they’d get there too late. Gramps was waiting at the hangar when they arrived. “What’re you doing here old man?”
“I’m coming along for the ride boy, now instead of wasting time arguing let’s go. You’re gonna need my contacts once we land, it’s not the same over there as it is here. We don’t have jurisdiction of any kind, if you know what I mean; we’re gonna need all the help we can get.”
He had a point but Androswasn’t too sure about having them both in danger. When had his life been taken over by these two anyway? He had a woman who doesn’t listen for shit apparently, and a meddling old man. In the end gramps got his way, which was no big surprise.
He didn’t let himself think about her, or what danger she might’ve put herself in. All the way on the flight, he kept trying to figure out who and where. He’d never heard of Bonata having any connections in Cuba, but then again he’d never been too interested in the other man’s dealings.
He felt stifled, caged and on the brink of losing his mind, as he paced back and forth on the jet. No one was saying anything; each man understood the severity of the situation. He hadn’t shared any of what her mother had told him, not quite sure that he wanted the word to go any farther than him.
He’d sent a man after the hit man just before leaving, since the guys had found him in a hole in DC. Hopefully he’d get word of that little issue being taken care of by the time they landed.
There was too much shit going on at once. Apparently Jenna had done enough on the computer, so that all the senator needed to do was follow the crumbs she’d leftto retrieve the missing files and carry on with her expose`. The older woman had tried telling him this news as he was going out the door. He really didn’t care about any of that shit at this point; all he cared about was finding her and bringing her home.
It was the longest fucking flight in creation. First, because there was such short notice, they ran into a snag. After that was taken care of it was the bureaucratic bullshit the Canadian government wanted in order to give them the go ahead. Gramps did come in handy there, because Andros had no patience left at this point to deal with anything. He was about ready to take off with or without their okay, which gramps assured him would just get his ass shot down out the sky. That only added another layer to his fear for her. She was headed into enemy territory in more ways than one.
Gramps had a bead on the jet, and that was about all they had when they landed in the Havana heathours later. It was already morning; the sun was high in the sky. The only thing that kept him calm was the hope that maybe, whatever she had planned was for the cover of night. He was already making plans in his head to put some kind of tracking device on her ass as soon as they got back home
“Okay, we ask questions, someone had to see this shit land. We’ll go from there. No matter what it costs, get me the information.” Gramps was already on the horn trying to find her. There was the obvious language barrier that caused even more delays and added to his frustration, but throughout it all he kept a cool head.
He believed now more than ever, that she hadn’t come into his life just to leave. When Alice had told him about her all those years ago, momentsbefore she took her last breath, he’d had no interest in this unknown girl whoever she might be. He wanted his sister to live.
When she’d gone, the hate and venom had taken over. He’d put her words out of his mind, and on the rare occasions that they’d popped up over the years, he’d shoved them to the back of his mind. As time went by, he’d put it aside as his sister just trying to comfort him. It would be just like her to try, even as she lay dying in his arms.
Now to know that his Jenna was real, very real; to have had her, smelt her sweet scent; watch her beautiful face as she laid sleeping. He couldn’t imagine going on without her.
“If anything happens to her here, I’ll finish what the fucking spooks started.” He checked the glock that gramps’ crooked ass contacts had let them slip through customs in Canada. He wasn’t sure how things had been squared away here in Cuba, and not for the first time he was glad the old man had insisted on coming. He would’ve found a way no doubt about that, but it would’ve taken him much longer.
“Nothing’s gonna happen to our girl stay cool son. There’s been only one sighting of a foreigner fitting Jenna’s description. She was seen half an hour ago heading into a cantina in the town square.”
Andros was moving before the old man was through speaking. He didn’t want to ring the alarm so to speak, so their search was being done very hush-hush, just in case the one she was here to kill was on the lookout as well.
From what he’d learned from her mother, she was expected to show up and find a code or some fuck for this person, but that was before Bonata had been taken out. If this guy, whoever he is, knew that Bonata was gone, he might get antsy.
Everything they did had to be done inconspicuously and under the radar, which wasn’t the easiest thing for five American men in Cuba. They were bound to stick the fuck out in their suits in this hot as fuck place. Not to mention he was sure the shades he’d put on to cover the kill lights in his eyes couldn’t do anything to hide the predatory gait to his stride.
“Where the fuck did all these people come from?” The streets were crowded for such an early hour and everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere.
“It’s tourist season boy, just because we’re not allowed to come here legally doesn’t mean other peoples aren’t. It’s a hot spot for the young and adventurous. Maybe one day we can come back under better circumstances, haven’t been here in a while myself but it used to be the place back in my day.”
He gave gramps a glare from behind his shades and slid down in his seat. He was tied in knots with worry and the old man was talking about vacations and shit.
The place was a dump to put it nicely. There were broken windows and chairs, the bar was drooping and the floors hadn’t seen a mop in decades. The sign outside said they were rooms for rent. Andros headed for the backstairs while the others played tourist.
They took up seats in the far corner with the door in their view. He wasn’t sure how the fuck he was going to find her,knock on everyone’s door maybe? But he didn’t want to ask for the American woman who’d checked in an hour ago.
It was true that more and more Americans were travelling here these days, but still, it might sound the alarm if so many of them were suddenly descending on this place. He needed to get in and out as soon as possible, hopefully with his little assassin in tow.
He did what he did best as soon as he reached the landing upstairs. He became smoke, keeping close to the walls with his ears pricked for any sound that might carry. The first two out of the ten rooms were an easy nix. The accents coming through the walls were all native. One seemed empty after two minutes of listening.