Smugglers 4 - South Beach Heat by Gerald McCallum Read Free Book Online Page B

department all together including the Chief. They had very little to do. They were either old and close to retirement or young and stupid with nothing to do. Being a cop in town meant they were all badge heavy rednecks. They had grown up in the Keys, and either their grandparents, parents or themselves  had been or were involved in the smuggling business. If you stopped one of these cops to ask how far Key West was, he would tell you and pull off without saying another word or even goodbye. You just didn’t talk to strangers. Someone may see you and misunderstand and take you fishing out to the Ditch. It didn’t matter who you were, what you did for a living, or who your mother and father were.
    They were all having Bloody Marys on the dock when Patrick from the Pipefitter came out to invite them out on his boat for a ride and drinks, and then maybe they would go to lunch. Everyone agreed to go.
    Nikki and Glenn went home and changed, got something for drinks, suntan lotion and then got on The Pipefitter. Glenn told Patrick what happened yesterday and advised him to take everything off the boat that wasn’t legal, the bush, crack, money or guns, and leave them in his dock box.
    When they left the dock the sun was hot, the ocean and sky were blue and the drinks flowed like water. They were only out about an hour when they were pulled over by the Water Patrol.
    Glenn knew they just didn’t do this, not to a fifty-footer or bigger, and this was a fifty-footer. They boarded, went below, and went through drawers, closets, tool boxes, everything. They rummaged around for over thirty minutes. They gave Patrick a ticket for an unlocked through hole fitting, from the holding tank to the ocean. It could only be open or unlocked while out at sea. They finally left, but everybody on board knew what was going on. They were all involved, the Water Patrol, the Coast Guard, the DEA, and the Sheriff’s Department, but not the town cops. They were too close to everybody on the Keys. They had grown up here and would tell someone, who would tell Glenn what was going on. That was why the town cops were always kept in the dark.
    The Pipefitter continued out to sea, and the drinking also continued, but everyone was quiet and uneasy. All six of them knew there was something amiss. The DEA knew something they weren’t sharing, but they had an idea that Jim and Glenn were connected some way, somehow. Patrick thanked Glenn for telling him to put his stuff in the dock box.
    They went to lunch at a Bar and Grill then headed home. The laughter was at a minimum. The stop had taken the partying out of everyone. They returned to the dock, had a couple more drinks on the Pipefitter, and then went home. Glenn and Nikki returned to her apartment.
    “Glenn, what’s going on? Why are we being stopped every time we go out no matter whose boat we’re on?” inquired Nikki.
    “I don’t know. Because I was Jim’s best friend I guess,” replied Glenn.
    “Bullshit! Don’t try to get me to swallow that shit. I don’t have to eat the whole cow to know its beef. You and Jim were dirty or you’re dirty! I’ve been here fifteen years, and I’ve never seen anything like this before. This is like a knife fight in a phone booth, there are no winners. They’re after you for something. Glenn, I must know now and for sure, was that money cool or not? There are more people involved than just you and me,” she exclaimed.
    “Nikki, I told you it was nothing, but the fact that I knew Jim and was his friend,” Glenn replied again.
    “Bullshit! Go home, Glenn. I need to be alone to think,” she said. Glenn went upstairs to his apartment.

 
     
     
    CHAPTER 8
     
     
    At around 2 o’clock in the morning Nikki was awakened by yelling and screaming on the dock. She got dressed and went out on the dock with a flashlight. There were people on the dock about half way down and all on the south side. She ran down to them and asked, “What’s going