Motor Mouth

looks like everyone’s back on the boat,” I said. “Hopefully there wasn’t too much damage.”
    A third Jack magically appeared on the bar.
    “Wouldn’t bother me if the whole friggin’ boat went down,” Simon said. “This operation is turning into a lost cause. If it was me, I’d write it off and go home.”
    “Your employer doesn’t feel that way?”
    “My employer’s on a mission.”
    “I bet Ray Huevo isn’t happy about this fire. I’m surprised he didn’t get off the boat with everyone else.”
    “Ray isn’t here. Ray’s out of town. Him and his two clowns.”
    The bartender was standing in front of us, polishing glasses. “If you’re talking about Rodriguez and Lucca, I just saw them in the parking lot. I took a bag of garbage to the Dumpster and walked past them.”
    Simon turned his attention to the bartender. “Are you sure?”
    “Yeah, they were sitting in their car. Black BMW.”
    Yes! Excellent. Hooker and I could sneak up on them and rescue Gobbles.
    “I need to talk to them,” Simon said.
    No! Not good. Talk could mean
make them mysteriously disappear if they don’t come up with the right answers
. That would hinder my ability to rescue Gobbles. And I needed the police to find Rodriguez and Lucca with the murder weapon.
    “Probably just a look-alike,” I said.
    “I saw the tattoo on his neck,” the bartender said.
    “Lots of thugs have tattoos,” I told him. “Look at this guy next to me. I bet he’s got a tattoo.”
    “Not on my neck,” Simon said. He stood and dropped a couple twenties onto the bar. “Sweetheart, I’m going to have to cut out on you.”
    “Boy, that’s too bad,” I told him. “I had plans. I was going to make you
real
happy. I was going to do things to you that don’t even have names.”
    He slid a bar napkin my way. “Give me your number, and I’ll call you when I get off work.”
    “Yeah, but the moment will be gone then. I’ll be all cooled off. I don’t stay hot forever, you know.”
    “This won’t take long.”
    “Okay, I don’t do this for everyone, but I’ll let you look down my shirt if you forget about the guys in the lot. Take it or leave it.”
    “That’s it? Look down your shirt?”
    “Hey, I’ve got good stuff hidden away under this shirt.”
    “I’ll look down your shirt,” the bartender said. “I’ll even throw in a beer.”
    “Why are you so interested in those guys in the lot, anyway?” I asked Simon.
    “I want to talk to them.”
    “That’s it?”
    “Yeah, more or less.”
    “Can’t you talk to them some other time?”
    He grinned at me. “Boy, you want me bad. Guess you don’t get around much, huh? When was the last time someone slipped you the old salami?”
    Now there was a pretty mental picture. What woman doesn’t have romantic fantasies about a man who refers to a penis as a salami?
    “It’s been awhile,” I admitted. And that was true. “Guess that’s why I’m so hungry for your…uh, salami.”
    “I’d like to accommodate you,” Simon said, sliding off his stool, “but I have to do this first.”
    I jumped off the bar stool and crossed the patio to Hooker.
    “We have a problem,” I said to Hooker. “The bartender just told the chip buyer’s expediter that Rodriguez and Lucca were in the parking lot.”
    “Expediter?”
    “The gorilla at the bar. They’re Americans, but they’re living in Zurich. And Ray has definitely disappeared.”
    We crept into a thicket of shrubbery at the edge of the lot and watched as Simon rapped on the BMW’s driver’s-side window with his gun barrel and persuaded Lucca and Rodriguez to get out of the car. They stood talking for a couple minutes. Looked amicable. Simon gestured that they should go to the boat, and Rodriguez shook his head no. Rodriguez didn’t think that was a good idea.
    Bang
. Simon shot Rodriguez in the foot.
    “Fuck,” Rodriguez said. And he sat down hard on the pavement.
    I jumped back when the shot went off, and I felt myself go light-headed. Hard to watch someone get shot with such cold calculation. Of course, I’d just whacked the poor guy in the knee with a flashlight, but it had seemed different at the time. I put my head down and did some deep breathing.
    Even at this distance, in the dark, I could see Lucca was dumbstruck, eyes glazed.
    “Do something,” I whispered to Hooker. “We can’t afford to have Rodriguez and Lucca disappear. We need them.”
    “Darlin’, the gorilla has a gun.”
    “So do