Standoff

Epilogue

It’s a core belief of mine that you can’t trust advertising. It’s all retouched, right? But then I got a look at Juliana naked and I have to admit that the reality was every bit as desirable as the orange-juice fantasy on the side of the bus. Put it this way — if she were a Big Mac, I’d eat Big Macs.

I gazed down on her tan body, the blue-white sheet twisted into a loose column that lay across a hip, a breast and an arm. She enjoyed the attention and gave me her ‘blue steel’ look, part pout and all seduction. “This would make a great picture for your portfolio. You want me to get a camera?” I asked her.

“No.” She shook her head and smiled that knowing, over-sexed smile I was becoming familiar with. I took her lead, leaned over the exposed breast and traced the edges of her aureole with the tip of my tongue, which hardened pretty much instantly into ridges of coffee-colored pleasure crowned with a chocolate nipple. And then the playtime turned into something else as she grabbed me, rolled her tan leg to one side and, keeping her eyes on mine, guided me inside her.

I wasn’t going to fight it.

Sometime later, when the sun was well and truly overhead and we needed to come up for air and sustenance, we hit the pool, slipped into the warm water and waded up to the bar overlooking Montego Bay.

I gave the barman a nod, a young black guy by the name of Innocent with dreads and a silver skull hanging from his earlobe, and made the multi-lingual gesture for two drinks. Already regulars‚ a vodka, lime and soda and a Maker’s Mark materialized on coasters in front of us.

“What shall we toast?” Juliana asked me.

“Indecision,” I suggested.

“Still haven’t made up your mind?”

I gave her an ambiguous smile and took a long sip.

My phone started ringing, one of those waterproof models. I took it out of my back pocket. It displayed a photo of Arlen and Marnie, Anna’s sister, on the screen. Marnie’s arm was casually draped across Arlen’s shoulder.

“Hey,” I said to my boss and pal.

“Hey yourself,” Arlen replied.

“So you got it?”

“Just hit my desk.”

“How’s Gomez?” I asked.

“Fine. No long-term damage. He told me to tell you that next time you need a partner … ask someone else.”

“What about Perez?”

“I heard he’s gonna pull through well enough so that we can kill him all nice and legal with a lethal injection.”

“Where they holding him?” “They” being the feds.

“It’s a secret. There’s been a move to reinstate public hangings. People want to throw garbage at him while he swings.”

The depth of feeling was understandable. Perez was the very worst example of the human species. Apostles wasn’t much better, but he was entertaining worms and beyond reach.

“What about Daniela and Lina?” I asked.

“They won’t come out of it much better than Perez.”

They didn’t deserve to.

“You still with Apostles’ daughter?” Arlen wanted to know.

I turned to look at Juliana. She was chatting to a slim Asian woman who’d swum up to the bar. My keen powers of observation noted that the newcomer’s bikini was as brief as Juliana’s, though not as full in the cup area. “Yeah.”

“I’m sure you know what you’re doing,” he said.

“That’s a first.”

“You know how the media would react to it if they ever found out you were sleeping with the enemy’s daughter?”

“Why would they care? I’m no one.”

“I care.”

“You haven’t met her. Don’t judge.”

A black woman swam onto the seat beside me, her hair piled up on top of her head and held in place by her sunglasses. She ordered a mojito. A small diamond stud twinkled in her nose. She caught my extended glance summing up her figure — tall, lean and dangerous. “Hi,” I said to be neighborly.

“Bonjour,” she replied, all smiles.

“What?” said Arlen.

“Nothing — just doing my bit for international relations here.”

“Getting back to this letter … You seriously want to resign your commission?”

“That’s what it says.”

“We haven’t talked about this. It’s out of the blue. I’m going to do you a favor and sit on it a while. You take your time. Think about it. I’ll clear things here. And when you’re ready to come back, you let me know.”

“Don’t hold your breath.”

“I know you, Vin. You’ll get bored and restless.”

“I doubt it,” I said as another Maker’s Mark materialized on the bar in front of me.

“From the lady,” said Innocent, nodding at the Asian woman who was looking at me, giggling about something with Juliana. I gave her a nod.

“So what are you gonna do?” asked Arlen.

I leaned back in the seat with drink in hand and enjoyed the view to my left and right. The black woman caught me feasting on her a second time. Busted. I shrugged her an apology. She reacted with a smile, shrugged right back, sipped her drink through a straw and I felt her leg brush against mine under the water.

“Arlen, I think I’ll just live the dream for a while, you know? Live the dream.”