Livewire

Chapter 24

Kyle walked from his flat towards Hector's bar, sweating in the dry evening heat. He was still annoyed about what Emilio said. So what if he kept frequenting Hector's? It was hard to find somewhere like that in the city. Somewhere he felt isolated and secure. He never really opened up to Hector about anything anyway, and knowing he was cartel he definitely wouldn't be open about the heist.

Why had he been so insistent about it? There was a lot of hatred for the cartel in some of the barrios, but it almost seemed personal for Emilio.

The usual crowd was in the bar, sitting at their favourite tables. Hector was leaning against the countertop, with glasses perched at the end of his nose, reading a newspaper.

He looked up when he saw Kyle step in. "Muchacho come here." He tapped the newspaper with his finger and slid it over. "Come read this."

Kyle looked at the headline. 'El Mysterio del Contenedor Perdido.'

His stomach dropped. It was like the floor was yanked out from under him. How was this in the papers already? "What's this?"

"Eh, can't you read? Some cabrones robbed a container off the back of a train."

He played dumb. "Whilst it was moving?"

"Obviously not. Why don't you actually read it?"

"Your English is much better than my Spanish Hector. Can't you just translate it for me?"

Hector rolled his eyes. "Ok, ok." He poured him a glass of whiskey. "A container of premium whiskey was stolen from the train on its journey from the port here in Veracruz, to Mexico City. The container was reported missing upon arrival by local businessman Don Herrera, who was expecting the delivery. He blamed the port in Veracruz for not loading the container onto the train. They blamed the shipping line for not delivering the container in the first place, who then blamed the courier in England. Basically blame went all the way back to the distillery in Scotland, but when they actually checked the paperwork - everything looked fine. So at this point la Policía got involved."

Kyle blew out through his mouth to feign surprise.

"They questioned the train driver who remembered there was an unusual stop on his route. He didn't think anything of it at the time because it was just a red signal. Nothing unusual. The police contacted the signalling control centre whose story was a little different. They said the train stopped because of a fault. They say they called the driver, who told them he was fixing the fault. Police believe the container was lifted while the train was stopped. They have arrested the driver, suspecting him to be in collaboration with the robbers. Now they are asking for any information."

He swigged the whiskey to keep his hands busy. "That's quite the story."

"Si. But what the police don't know is that Don Herrera is a..." Hector paused and rubbed his chin, "close friend of Baldo. The shipment of whiskey is actually an ongoing gesture of good will between them."

"Oh really?" His palms were sweating and the glass was slowly slipping through his grip. He placed it onto the counter. "Doesn't the cartel have its own area of the port? Why use conventional shipping?"

Hector's eyes drew into narrow slits. "How do you know that?"

He almost choked. Why did he say something so foolish? "My friend Emilio. He's a stevedore in the port." A lucky save.

Hector's eyes returned to normal size and he nodded. "Oh si, of course. I forget you actually have other friends in the city. Anyway, I know Baldo will not be happy about this robbery. He will already have people outside of the police investigating it."