And De Fun Don't Done (35 page)

They sped further out into the gulf as the approaching clouds got blacker and thicker, taking up almost the entire sky now as they swirled and tumbled menacingly into each other. Distant flashes of gold among the grey and black showed lightning was cracking and Norton didn't have to be some smartarse, drunken Australian, posing as a meteorologist, to know there was a bad, flash storm approaching. He'd seen things like this before along the Diamantina and other parts of the Australian outback. This could even be a cyclone. Or a hurricane. Oh well, thought Les, turning to the two Evinrudes throbbing away behind him. If this thing couldn't outrun
it, nothing would. A mile or two further on and Norton's curiosity as to why Laverne kept looking at the sky for dolphins was satisfied. Ricco cut the throttle back and a plane flew over them at no more than a hundred feet, if that. It was white with a blue and yellow trim, single wing and engine with extra fuel tanks slung under the wings and the latest Kevlar pontoons instead of wheels. The plane wiggled its wings twice as it went over the boat, then twice again, and if Les was any judge kept going on full throttle towards the Main Pass, which was now just a smear of high-rises in the distance.

Despite the roar of the outboard motors Les distinctly heard Ricco curse. ‘Jesus goddamn Christ! Sonofa- fuckin-bitch!'

Ricco gave Laverne a tight look; she was expressionless. A few seconds later they had more company. A white helicopter with a wide orange band around it went belting and clattering overhead and if it wasn't in hot pursuit of the plane it was definitely going flat out in the same direction. Norton didn't say a word; he hardly had time to even think of one. Ricco shoved the throttle full forward, spun the big boat around and took off after the plane and the helicopter. In a few seconds he must have been doing close to eighty mph. Laverne turned to Les and gave him a weak smile. Les smiled back naively and raised his beer.

Despite his supposed naivety Norton was starting to get a bit toey. It wasn't hard to tell what was going on. Ricco had come out to meet the plane for some sort of a drop and had brought Les along for the ride. Unfortunately the coastguard must have got onto it. Probably it wasn't supposed to have worked out like this. Probably it was supposed to have gone over as smoothly as normal then when the job was done a nice day would have been spent out on the gulf having a good time. Now the shit had hit the fan and Les was stuck right in the middle of it. But not only that. It had completely blackened over now and streaks of lightning lit up the entire sky accompanied by crashing explosions of thunder. They moved on another couple of miles when a burst of cold wind
buffeted the boat. Above them it looked like millions of gigantic plastic bags of coal were swirling and tumbling in the air. There was another streak of lightning accompanied by an almost deafening clap of thunder, then the wind and rain hit the boat at the same time. Norton had never experienced anything like it. At first it blew the boat sideways but Ricco got it back on course as the rain came down in sheets along with a dramatic drop in temperature. It was now becoming somewhat of a hairy situation. If they didn't get hit by lightning first the boat could sink or get flipped over. There was no time to be worrying about the coastguard, they had to reach land and in a hurry. The obvious thing to do would be to turn south and go with it, but Ricco, for some reason, was speeding across it in the direction of the Main Pass. No matter what he was doing it was all hands to the pumps. Norton tossed his drink over the side and got to his feet; there was that much noise he had to get about two inches from Ricco's ear.

‘What do you want me to do?' he yelled.

‘Just keep an eye on those doors underneath. Make sure they don't pop.'

‘Nothing else?'

Ricco shook his head grimly and stared ahead into the storm. ‘I'll ride this out. Christ!'

Les settled up against the doors beneath the cockpit and kept an eye on them and anything that looked like it might come loose as the full fury of the storm lashed the boat; it was even worse with Ricco belting the thing along as fast as he possible could. The only good thing was that Norton's teeth were chattering and he enjoyed feeling freezing cold for a change. Laverne settled down opposite Les; from somewhere she'd found a white plastic jacket. Ricco was still lashed to the wheel in his designer T-shirt and shorts. Norton had to give it to him, he had balls and he handled the boat admirably under the circumstances; of course a bad result if you blow things, like getting shot or going to gaol, certainly gives you a bit of incentive. Although you could hardly see ten feet, Norton looked up at the pitch black sky and hoped the bloke upstairs
wasn't that dirty on him to leave him floating in the murky warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Ricco made it to the Main Pass as the flash storm continued. Although the thunder and lightning was just as horrendous as ever and he was cold and soaked to the skin, Les felt a noticeable sense of relief. They turned left and seemed to be heading north towards downtown; although visibility was still atrocious Les thought he could make out some tall buildings in the gloomy distance. Ricco slowed the boat down. There were no other boats around and certainly no sign of either the plane or the helicopter. You could bet they'd be halfway to Louisiana by now. Norton decided to get to his feet and see what Ricco was up to now. Ricco still had his eyes peeled across the rain-lashed water then he switched on some sort of a scanner in front of the wheel. It looked like a spider's web of white lights and one bright red dot. Les noticed Ricco smile as he picked up the red dot and turned the boat in the direction it was showing up on the scanner. They went about two miles and Ricco began slowing down the boat some more. The light on the scanner got stronger and despite the wind and rain still howling around them Ricco managed to bring the boat to almost dead slow and keep it steady on course.

‘Hey Laverne,' he yelled. ‘Get your ass up here and take the wheel.'

Laverne was on her feet now also. ‘I'm there, Ricco. I'm there.'

‘And keep it steady. Dead steady.'

‘Okay.'

Laverne took over the wheel, Ricco grabbed a boat hook and stood on the right hand side of the boat, one hand on the rail, the other holding the boat hook as the wind threatened to blow him overboard.

Les thought for a second then walked unsteadily over to him. ‘You need a hand?'

Ricco looked at Les impassively for a moment then nodded his head. ‘Yeah. Get ready to open those two doors for me.'

‘Righto.'

Les got ready next to the two doors beneath the cockpit. A minute or so later Laverne yelled out to Ricco. He reached over the side with the boat hook and dragged in a thick, green, canvas bag; flotation rings were attached to the side and there was a waterproof red light blinking on top. It was about a metre and a half long by about a metre square. Ricco hit a switch and the light stopped blinking. As soon as he did that, he slung it to Les who had the doors open, Les slung it straight inside and quickly locked them again. Laverne handed the wheel over to Ricco, who wheeled the boat straight around in the direction of the marina and motored along with the storm now running behind them. Les heard Ricco laugh and saw him rough up Laverne's rain-splattered hair in a friendly fashion. He sensed Les watching him, turned around with a grin on his face and winked.

With the storm running behind them it was much smoother now. They travelled on, not going too fast, then of all things the storm seemed to disappear as quickly as it came up. The further they went the calmer it got till eventually the wind died away completely, the water in the keys glassed over and the sun came out again. Next thing Norton was almost sweating. He was about to say something to Ricco when three dolphins began circling the boat. Ricco was travelling at the speed limit of eight mph and one came right up alongside the boat, so close that Laverne was able to reach over and pat it as it ‘whooshed' air and water up at them. Laverne squealed with delight, even Ricco laughed and Norton laughed too as he looked straight down the dolphin's mouth at its big pink tongue, its row of tiny white teeth and the pink fleshy mouth almost like a duck's bill. If Les wasn't mistaken, the way the dolphin had its mouth open and the look in its eye it was almost as if it was laughing back at them. Then the dolphin joined the other two and they started leaping up and down in the calm waters, almost as if they were putting on a display especially for the visitors. This went on for a while till a motor cruiser went past,
going faster than it should, and they moved off further up the key.

There was an all-round sense of relief in the boat now. Not only had Ricco retrieved whatever was in the bag, but they'd come home safely through the eye of a violent mini-cyclone and in a sense were lucky to be alive. Les had half an idea what was in the bag and was entitled to start calling Ricco a bit of a dropkick for getting him involved. But right now he was happy to be heading back to dry land and into some dry clothes. So for the time being Norton opened the ice-box and proposed a toast to both Ricco's seamanship and the dolphins. This was readily accepted and from there it was a merry drink all the way back to the marina. There was no sign of cops or anything, no helicopters, no one at all really. Ricco berthed the boat, Les and Laverne moored it and they proceeded to get off.

‘What would you like me to carry, Ricco?' asked Les, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. ‘The canvas bag with the light or the ice-box?'

Ricco kind of smiled. ‘You can bring the ice-box.'

‘Aye-aye, skipper.'

Although the coast appeared clear it barely took five minutes to have everything off the boat and into the boot of the Mercedes, including the green canvas bag. Norton figured it was going to be a fairly quick getaway because Ricco didn't bother to comb his hair, neither did Laverne. Ricco dropped the boat's keys in at the office and they drove off.

They didn't appear to be heading back towards the highway, instead Ricco went left at the marina back along the water's edge. The road was fairly narrow but the houses, set among trees and landscaped estates on either side, were impressive, especially the ones overlooking the ocean. Every now and again they'd splash through huge puddles of water, so the flash storm must have dumped plenty of rain on this part of town too as it passed over. Ricco and Laverne weren't saying a great deal, though they certainly seemed happy enough about
something. Norton had a fair idea what and he was going to have to say something or Ricco would think he was a complete and utter goose. He was also going to have to be a little diplomatic and give Ricco an out. Les thought for a moment before catching the Mafia man's eye in the rear vision mirror.

‘Okay, Ricco. I think we'd better get something straight between us, and don't bullshit me, either. The least you could have done was told me you went out there to do a bloody dope deal. Thanks a lot — mate.'

‘Hey,' Ricco sounded genuinely offended. ‘What are you talking about? Dope deal?'

‘Well, what are you going to tell me's in that bag? Your bloody laundry?'

Ricco and Laverne looked at each other and it was all they could do to stop from bursting out laughing. ‘Well, in a way, Les, you could say that. Yeah, you could say that.'

Now it was Norton's turn to look and act offended. ‘Anyway, whatever it is, it's none of my business. So don't worry about it. But next time, just bloody tell me — alright?'

Ricco had to concede that Les had a point. Les also hadn't panicked and he'd done the right thing. ‘Hey, Les, don't sweat it. Things just went a big wrong, that's all. I'm sorry. But I said I'd take you boating. And I got you back alive, didn't I?'

‘Yeah,' nodded Les. ‘You're a regular Indiana Jones. So where are we going now?'

‘Round to my buddie Angelo's house. I gotta call in for a moment.'

And odd look flashed across Laverne's eyes when Ricco mentioned his buddie Angelo. ‘Angelo?' inquired Les.

‘Yeah. Angelo Licavoli. You heard of him in Australia?'

Les looked at Ricco for a second then turned to the window. Yeah. Just a bloody bit. If it was who Les was thinking of, he'd been on the news just about every night
for the last two weeks before Les left Australia. Angelo ‘Big Lick' Licavoli. He was the biggest Mafia Godfather in New York and controlled everything. They also called him the ‘Teflon Don' because the cops could never make anything stick to him. But now the FBI had him on conspiracy, tax evasion and a whole host of other charges, mainly through an informant taking witness protection, and this time it looked like they had him. This was his last appeal and if he lost he'd get thirty years to life. The media had turned the trial into a bit of a circus because his daughter kept bobbing up on TV to say what a great man her father was and how all the cops were ‘nuttin' but doity finks'. Plus all the people in Licavoli's neighbourhood were rioting outside the courthouse, turning over cars and punching up TV cameramen and journalists, etc.

Les turned back to the rear-vision mirror. ‘No. I never heard of him.'

‘I didn't think you would,' replied Ricco.

Ricco didn't bother to turn the radio on so they drove, not quite in air-conditioned silence, because Ricco was happy enough rabbiting on to Laverne about what a good skipper and how clever he was; Laverne agreed wholeheartedly. Les got sick of the air-conditioning again, flicked the power button and wound his passenger side window down behind Ricco. They were driving right along the water's edge now, Les could quite clearly see the Keys through the now very lavish houses. Then Ricco slowed the car right down as they approached a monster on their left. It seemed to take up an entire block and looked almost like a Spanish fortress painted green on white. There were brick arches and parapets all over the mansion built up over a surrounding ten foot brick wall that looked thick enough to stop a tank. Every ten feet along the wall was a TV security monitor and although it was completely walled off Les noticed a private jetty with a monstrous white cruiser moored to it out the back. Ricco pulled up in a driveway set off the road in front of two massive wooden and iron gates. He reached out his
window and pushed a button on an intercom set in the wall.