Death Echo

I’d be working another job,” Mac said. “See you around, boys.”
    Holding Emma close, Mac headed for the door.
    â€œHey, ease up,” Lovich said quickly. “You want to take some cock-rider along, we don’t care.” He stared at Amanar. “Do we?”
    â€œC’mon, Mac,” Emma said, pouting. “I have a passport. I’m between jobs, between husbands, between everything. I just want to finally have a little fun.”
    â€œYour family won’t mind?” Amanar acted like he had just noticed that Emma was in the room.
    â€œYou talking to me?” she asked.
    â€œAm I looking anywhere else?” Amanar retorted.
    â€œBabe,” she said, smiling and stretching slowly, “I’m here because I don’t want a steady man, don’t want a steady job, don’t want two kids, and don’t want a white picket fence in the ’burbs. You feeling me?”
    The two cousins looked at each other. They spoke quickly in the old-country language.
    All Mac understood was the word Temuri, because it was repeated several times, in a louder voice each time.
    A curse? A name? Stoneface, maybe? Mac wished he knew, but languages hadn’t been his area of expertise.
    Emma looked bored, but the tension in her body told Mac that she was listening to every word. He hoped she understood more than he did.
    â€œI hear you,” Amanar said finally to his cousin, “but I don’t like it.”
    Lovich nodded and looked at Mac. “You in?”
    â€œIf you’re smuggling anything to Canada, tell me now,” Mac said.
    His voice said that this demand wasn’t negotiable.
    â€œNah,” Lovich said. “We leave that to the Indians.”
    â€œBullshit,” Mac said. “I grew up here, remember?”
    â€œHey, we changed,” Lovich said. “Money’s not as good, but we sleep a lot better.”
    â€œIf I find any extra cargo,” Mac said, “it’s going to the bottom.”
    â€œBlackbird is clean,” Amanar said. “You want to go over it, you’ll have plenty of time before you hit Canadian waters. How you use your time is your problem.”
    Mac thought about it, then nodded. “I want twelve thousand now, eight thousand when we board tomorrow. For expenses. I’m not signing off on any fuel slips for a yacht I don’t really own, haven’t chartered, and haven’t been hired as a transit captain on.”
    Amanar smiled at Lovich, who headed for the office safe.
    â€œCash is smart,” Amanar said. “The new owner is the eccentric kind. Wants his privacy. So don’t be hitting the bars tonight, bragging about this job.”
    â€œMen in bars are looking for women,” Mac said. “I’ve got mine.”
    Emma stretched up and nibbled on his ear. “Sure do, babe.”
    Mac returned the favor, with interest, as Amanar counted out the money Lovich had fetched. While Mac counted bills, Emma went back to her invisible act.
    The bills were hundreds. Nonsequential, used hundreds, anonymous as dirt and a lot more valuable.
    The hell they’ve cleaned up, Mac thought.
    But he kept his mouth closed, finished his own counting, and stuffed twelve thousand dollars in hundreds into his front jeans pocket. After the round of mutual nibbling, it was a tight fit.
    When he was done, Mac put his arm around Emma, her hand returned to his back pocket like a homing pigeon, and they headed for the door as a unit.
    â€œBefore first light tomorrow,” Amanar said.
    â€œEight thousand on the dock,” Mac said.
    â€œDon’t count it until you’re inside,” Lovich called out.
    â€œIf you think I’m that stupid,” Mac said without turning around, “you’re a dickhead for hiring me.”
    The door closed behind them.
    Voices erupted in the office.
    â€œWalk slower,” Emma said, nibbling on his ear. “It’s hard to hear.”
    â€œYou understand that racket?”
    â€œEnough to get words here and there. Sounds like bastard Russian of some kind. Almost a dialect. For sure those yutzes haven’t been to Moscow lately.”
    Slowly, nibbling between every other step, Emma and Mac walked out to the parking lot. The more she heard, the less she understood.
    It can’t be the same Shurik Temuri. Last I saw a bulletin about him, he was selling arms to a separatist splinter group in the Ukraine .
    Nobody had known which