Cuba Read Online Free PDF Page A

The cigarettes will be
    manufactured here and marketed worldwide under
    American brands. The Americans will finance
    everything; Cuba will get a fifty-percent share of the
    business, across the board.”
    “Is this Chance serious?”
    “Apparently. The tobacco companies think their days
    are numbered in the United States. They want
    to move off-
    shore, escape the regulation that will eventually put
    them out of business.”
    Hector sat silently, taking it all in as the
    uniformed players on the field played a game with
    rules. What a contrast with politics!
    Mercedes was a treasure, a person with access to the
    highest levels of the Cuban government. She brought
    Hector Sedano information that even Castro
    probably didn’t have. The big question, of course, was
    how she learned it. Hector told himself repeatedly
    that he didn’t want to know, but of course he did.
    He glanced at the woman sitting beside him. She was
    wearing a simple dress that did nothing to call
    attention to her figure, nor did it do anything
    to hide it.
    She was a beautiful woman who needed no
    makeup and never wore any. Every man she met was
    attracted to her, an unremarkable fact, like the
    summer heat, which she didn’t seem to notice.
    Extraordinarily smart, with a nearphotographic
    memory, she had almost no opportunities to use
    her talent in Cuban society.
    Except as a spy.
    “Will Maximo be at
    Mima’s
    party tomorrow?”
    “He said he would.”
    “Should I be shocked if he acts possessive?”
    Mercedes glanced at him, raised an eyebrow.
    “He would not be so foolish.”
    Well, just who was she sleeping with? Hector glanced
    at her repeatedly, wondering. She appeared to be
    concentrating on the ball game.
    The only thing he knew for sure was that she wasn’t
    sleeping with him, and God knows he had thought about
    that
    far more than any priest ever should. Of course,
    priests were human and had to fight their urges, but
    still…
    Castro … Of course she slept with himshe was his
    mistressthat was how she got access. But
    did she love liim?
    Or was she a cool, calculating tramp ready
    to change horses now that Castro was dying?
    No. He shook his head, refusing to believe that of
    her.
    Where did Maximo fit in? As he sat there
    contemplating that angle, he wondered how Maximo
    saw her?
    Mercedes left after watching Ocho pitch an inning.
    He faced three batters and struck them all out.
    When the game was over, Hector Sedano stayed in
    his seat and watched the crowd file out. He was still
    sitting there when someone shouted at him, “Hey, I
    turn out the lights now.”
    The darkness that followed certainly wasn’t total.
    Small lights were illuminated over the exits, the
    lights of Havana lit up the sky, and lightning
    continued to flash on the horizon.
    Sedano lit another cigar and smoked it slowly.
    After a few minutes he saw the shape of a man
    making his way along the aisle toward him. The man
    sagged down on the bench several feet away.
    “Good game tonight.”…The man was the stadium keeper,
    Alfredo Garcia.
    “Yes.”
    “Your brother, El Ocho, was magnificent. Such
    talent, such presence.”
    “We are very proud of him.”
    “Why do you call him El Ocho?”
    “He was the eighth child. He has the usual half
    dozen names, but his brothers and I just call him
    Ocho.”
    “I saw that she was here, with her security guards
    circling. … What did she say?”
    “What makes you think she tells me anything?”
    “Come, my friend. Someone whispers in your ear.”
    “And someone is whispering to Alejo Vargas.”
    “You suspect me?”
    “I think you are just stupid enough to take money from the
    Americans and money from Alejo Vargas and think
    neither of them will find out about the other.”
    STEPHEN COONTS
    “My God, man! Think of what you are
    sayingff”…Alfredo moved closer. Sedano could see
    his face, which was almost as white as his shirt.
    “I am thinking.”
    “You have my life in your hands. I had to (rust