The Informant Read Online Free PDF Page B

to worry about the Ruckers.
    Mas Betancourt had passed along word to Kelly’s people that the Ruckers had to be dealt with one way or another. The Ruckers’ money, efforts, and energy belonged to Kelly Lorenzo and to this deal he had entered into with Mas Betancourt. There could be no breaking away until this deal was completed. The Ruckers hadn’t seen it that way.
    Kelly, though still dealing dope, was a fugitive, in hiding and on the move, no longer on top of things in New York; and to the Ruckers, that meant he was owed less respect, less loyalty. Furthermore, the Ruckers had found a secret stash of six kilos of white that Kelly had hidden in the refrigerator of a young white model living in Chelsea, one of many women in Kelly’s life.
    The disappearance of the white heroin had almost cost the model her life, until Kelly’s people learned that it wasn’t the woman but the Ruckers who had taken it, shipped it to Baltimore, cut it, selling it there and in Washington, D.C.
    The theft of those six keys was something Kelly Lorenzo could not let go unanswered, not if he wanted to remain a leader. If Kelly’s respect was shaky among his men, it would affect his deal with Mas Betancourt. Mas had sent word to Kelly to settle this problem as soon as possible.
    And now the babalawo had said, “The trouble will pass. Soon.”
    Mas Betancourt relaxed.
    The consultation with the babalawo continued. The consultation was called a registro. The babalawo sat on the floor. An estera , which was a small straw mat, was between his spread legs. He would rub sixteen tiny pink and white seashells between his hands, drop them four times on the straw mat, and read the shells according to the pattern they made when landing.
    He read only those shells landing with the outside facing him. Each pattern was called an ordún and had an assigned number and name known only to the priest.
    Mas Betancourt and the babalawo both wore collares , yellow-and-green bead necklaces, to protect them from evil. The necklaces were worn always, except when bathing or having sexual intercourse.
    There was very little white heroin available on the streets of New York now. There was some brown from Mexico, but the addict craved his white, and at the moment, what white he could buy was barely one percent. Blame the shortage on informants, who were betraying shipments to law enforcement and customs. Informants, who were costing importers and distributors men, money, smuggling routes.
    Mas Betancourt, with help from Kelly Lorenzo, was going to bring in five hundred kilos of white heroin, and there would be no way for him to lose it. No way at all.
    He told the babalawo of his plan, and the tiny black priest listened, sixteen small pink and white seashells in his hands. The priest listened and read the shells.
    Mas said, “I buy five hundred keys in Marseilles, fifteen thousand dollars each for uncut white. I will pay seven and a half million dollars just for the dope. Part of the money will come from the blacks. Jacquard says he can get the load to Barcelona easily. No problem.
    “In Barcelona, I break the shipment down into twenty loads, twenty-five kilos each. I have twenty couriers, twenty mules. Each takes twenty-five keys, which means I don’t lose the entire load. I do this to avoid informants, betrayals. Each mule leaves at a different time, different route. Instead of bringing it all in at once, I bring in a trickle at a time.
    “Each mule gets one thousand dollars a key. Twenty mules means I pay each one twenty-five thousand dollars. That means a half-million dollars to them. I pay all expenses: hotels, transportation, bribes. One million dollars will cover all of that.
    “I figure it takes one year to plan and do all of this. One year’s expenses plus nine million dollars.
    “Each of the twenty mules will have three checkpoints between Spain and America. At these checkpoints, they telephone one of my lieutenants. There’ll be a code word, so we’ll