When the men finished unloading the lumber and left, Ramon went immediately to Johnny and Ed.-“Senors, you have been so good to me and I hate to leave before the job is finished, but the letter was from my Mama and she says I must come home as soon as possible.-If I could please have the wages I have earned, I will leave immediately.”
“We’ll be truly sorry to see you go, Ramon.-You’ve been an excellent worker and we’ve all come to think of you as a friend.-Are you sure you must leave so soon?”
“Yes, I am so extremely sorry; but I must.”
“Well, let me check the daily log.-I believe I owe you for thirteen days at sixty dollars a day.-That would be a total of seven hundred eighty dollars.-I don’t have but about eighty dollars in cash and the bank is closed.-They close at noon on Thursdays.-I can get it for you the first thing in the morning.-Will that be all right?”
“I would have liked to leave today but maybe in the morning will be soon enough.”
-*-- *-- *--
At about that time, Garcia was placing a call to the boss in Owensboro to tell him that they had located Mendez at the O’Reilly place.-They gave him exact directions to the site.-When they hung up, Jorge signaled to the driver of the black Lincoln Town Car.
“They found Mendez.-So, Whitehead, if you want to see first-hand how I deal with traitors, let’s get going.-You can drive and I’ll do the dirty work.- Then we’ll need to get the hell out of there.-We may have to leave dealing with Alvarez until a little later.-Things will be pretty hot for a while and they haven’t been able to find him just yet.-But he will be dealt with.-You can take that to the bank.”
Jorge took the suitcase from behind the couch and opened it.-The semi-automatic weapon was nestled in the fitted case inside.-He checked the clip and saw that it was fully loaded.-Then he closed the case and headed out the door with it, with Whitehead close behind him.-Laquidera climbed into the passenger side of the big black Lincoln Town Car, Whitehead scooted under the wheel, and they were on their way to Fordsville to deal with Ramon Mendez.