Tod Goldberg - The Reformed

“You know the only time the Americans really got their asses handed to them on American soil? Right where we’re standing. The Seminoles opened up a can on the Americans right here in Florida. And you know how they did it? They came at them from all angles, and they weren’t wearing stupid uniforms. You’d think we would have learned something from that.”

“You might have noticed during training that we weren’t given a lot of information on key losses in American history,” I said.

“Which is why we’ve spent the last several years getting our asses handed back to us in Iraq,” Sam said. “All this time, and no one gets that you don’t have to have a uniform to kill someone.”

Sam was particularly agitated this morning. It might have been a direct result of it being morning, or it might have been related to the fact that he set fire to his favorite Tommy Bahama shirt while we were welding the paintball guns-of which we both had two pistols each at present, while Fiona was planning on making a grand entrance with her whip-or maybe he just didn’t like the idea of going into battle with a faceless opponent.

“Sam,” I said, “Father Eduardo knows who in his employ works for the Latin Emperors, or at least did. We’re not stepping into this blind.”

“I dunno, Mikey,” Sam said. “I feel like this is a situation outside our comfort zone. Who knows how many moles are in that place? We could be walking into a slaughterhouse with paintball guns and Fiona’s buggy whip.”

It was true. I had to trust that what Father Eduardo had was more valuable to the Latin Emperors with him alive-and with us alive-than dead.

“A bunch of dead bodies is not good for anyone’s business,” I said. “We’re not disposable people. Junior’s going to realize that as soon as he sees my face. I have a feeling that will change the way he does business.”

Gangsters and terrorists are used to dealing with people who are scared of them. When you traffic in fear, you expect people will bend to your threats, and thus you’re able to get things done by reputation alone. The difference today would be that Sam, Fiona and I wouldn’t exactly be shaking in our shoes. Barry might have some problems, but we’d already made a plan for that.

When we reached the office building, I placed a small bug on the stucco wall adjacent to the door and then leaned down to tie my shoe. I didn’t bother trying to make the bug look any more indistinct than it was already-it was the size of a flattened marble, but flat like a magnet-since it had only one purpose: to record Junior’s conversation coming in and out of the building. “If you can hear me, Fiona,” I said, “honk twice.”

From across the street, two quick beeps rang out.

“Let’s go to work,” I said to Sam.

I pushed the double doors in and walked up to the reception desk while Sam stood still by the door. Leticia was on the phone, but when she saw me she hung up abruptly. “Hello,” she said, just another day of her life. “It’s nice to see you again, Mr…” she looked at her appointments, but my name wasn’t on there.

“Solo,” I said. “Father Eduardo is expecting me.”

“You’re not on the calendar,” she said.

I looked down at her calendar and saw that Junior Gonzalez had actually been penciled in. I had to hand it to Leticia. She was good at her job.

“He won’t mind,” I said.

She swallowed hard. “He’s got an appointment at eleven,” she said. “You should come back later.”

“Sweetheart,” I said, “do you see my friend back there?” I stepped aside so she could see Sam.

“Yes,” she said. “Mr. Teriyaki?”

“Kuryakin,” I said. “Mr. Kuryakin. Mr. Kuryakin is going to shoot you in the face if you don’t let me in to see Father Eduardo. It’s not personal. It’s just what he’s been told to do. You can understand that, right? Doing what you’ve been told to do? You do what you’re told, don’t you, sweetheart?”

She swallowed hard again. “You don’t understand,” she said, her voice a hoarse rasp. “People are coming who will kill you.”

“I admire that you want to save my life,” I said. “But don’t you want to save yours?”

“No,” she said. “I let you in, I’m good as dead, anyway.”

“What about your son?”

“How do you know about my son?”

“How does anyone know anything these days? It was on TMZ.”

Leticia slid her hands beneath her thighs. It was something a small child might do when nervous, and I realized Leticia wasn’t that old, really. A sad remnant of a life lived too quickly. “I can’t go,” she said.

“Leticia,” I said, “isn’t there another building you could visit right now? You don’t need to leave the state. You don’t even need to leave campus. Just put up a note that says you’ll be back in ten minutes and transfer your calls to voice mail. I’m here to help you. I really am. If I wanted you to be dead, you’d be dead. I don’t want that. I just want you to let me in, and then I want you to disappear until you think you should come back. I think you’ll know when that is. Won’t you?”

Leticia nodded slowly, and then I saw something dawn on her. “That girl?” she said.

“That girl,” I said.

“You really don’t want to hurt me, do you?”

“I really don’t,” I said, “but my partner will unless you leave.”

It was important that Leticia not know precisely what to believe, but also that she should believe me. She wanted out. We knew that. But I didn’t want to give up too much. Not yet, at least.

Leticia grabbed her purse and started to get up. “Wait,” I said. “Give me your cell phone.”

She reached into her purse, fished her phone out and set it on the desk. She kept her eyes on me the entire time. Not scared. Interesting.

“You like what you see?” I asked.

“Why aren’t you wearing a mask?”

“Because I don’t care who sees me,” I said.

“You’re not a bad person, are you?”

“No time to find out,” I said.

“That scar on your face,” she said, “you get that shaving?”

Testing now. Even more interesting.

“You have five seconds,” I said.

Leticia stepped around her desk and walked past me. Sam opened the door for her, and she never once looked at him.

“Tough girl,” Sam said.

“Let’s hope she’s not stupid,” I said.

We walked down the hall toward Father Eduardo’s office. There was a conference room on the right, followed by three offices along the left-hand side of the corridor before you reached Father Eduardo’s office at the end. I stuck my head in the first office and saw a young man of maybe twenty-five holding a Bible in his lap talking to a boy of no more than sixteen. The young man was dressed in a crisp white shirt with a tie. The name on the slider outside the office said CLIFFORD TURNER on it. Up the hall, I saw Sam enter another office and introduce himself as Chazz Finley, as we’d planned.

“Excuse me,” I said, and Clifford looked up at me.

“Help you with something?” he said. He didn’t seem annoyed, but clearly he was in the middle of a conversation and wanted to get back to it.

“Mike Michaels from the mayor’s office,” I said. I gave him the toothy smile every city employee with an ounce of desire to be a state employee can employ at a moment’s notice.

“Okay,” he said.

“I’m going to need you to clear out of your office for the next hour,” I said. “The mayor is coming in for a meeting with Father Eduardo, and we’re going to need your office to set up the media.”

“What?” he said. “I’m in the middle of a counseling session here.”

“I see that. I see that,” I said, “but it’s been a change of plans. Leticia just found out, the sweetheart, and so she’s busy trying to find us some space elsewhere. But when the mayor says jump, you know how that is.”