By the time spring rolled around, it was clear to me that Mundo had no interest in remaining a PanStar employee. I’d come to the end of the line with Bolo’s de facto heir. It was time for him to be removed from Brooklyn.
I gave Téo a call and asked him to meet me at Madiba that weekend. Sunday brunch.
“Bring Lali if you can,” I suggested.
“Lali has a standing tennis game every Sunday,” he reminded me.
“Alright, then,” I replied. “It’ll just be the two of us sorting things out.”
Téo hadn’t bothered to ask me why I was asking for this meet-up. He knew.
That Friday, Mundo showed up at PanStar at around seven p.m., looking for his money.
“How many runs did you do this week?” I asked. I already knew the answer.
“Five,” he replied, not even blinking an eye. “You had me moving every single day.”
“You did five runs this week?” I asked. “No subcontracting? You did all five runs yourself? In your Volvo?”
“I mean, I sent out people I trust,” Olmando amended. “I got the money to you, didn’t I?”
“That’s not the point, Mundo,” I explained. “You’re working for your uncle, and for me. There’s no subcontracting here.”
Mundo tried to brush it off.
“Okay, I got it,” he said. “I’ll do better from now on.”
“I don’t know if there is going to be a ‘now on’ for you,” I told him. “And I don’t have any money for you this week. You can pay your drivers out of your HQ money.”
Then I turned my attention back to my paperwork.
Olmando stalked out.
Téo and I met up at Madiba on Sunday. We could have gone to his old stand-by, Two Steps Down, but I wanted to have him a little off balance. He’d told me years ago that if Mundo fucked up, he’d ship him down to Bolo, and that was my objective for this get-together.
I decided to play it hard and direct- no cocktails to ease the mood, not even a beer. Just an English breakfast and the truth about Mundo.
Téo cut to the chase. It seemed as if he was going to let me have my say, no finessing needed.
“You have something to tell me, Hopeton,” he said.
“I do,” I confirmed. “And what I have to say will not come as any sort of surprise. Mundo is too unfocused for this line of work. It’s time for him to go.”
Téo briefly slipped into solicitor mode and asked me for specific examples. I had plenty of them.
Mundo has lost interest in protecting Bolo’s business.
He’s sending unknown subcontractors to do cash runs, and then lying about it.
Mundo and his workers are dealing heroin out of HQ.
He needs to be removed from anything involving drugs and money.
“I’m not surprised,” Téo said, quietly.
“I know you’re not,” I replied. “And that’s why I’m coming to you now, before it gets too far gone.”
“Sounds like we’re pretty much at that point,” Téo said.
“Téo,” I said, as gently as possible, “Remember when you said you were going to let Bolo have him for a while and then figure it out?”
Téo nodded. I knew he remembered our conversation, all those years ago.
“Well, that’s where we’re at,” I continued. “New York is not working. You need to get Olmando to Panama and let Bolo deal with that mess down there.”
Téo sighed, flagged down a waiter and ordered a gin and tonic. I ordered a cup of English Breakfast tea.
“I figured this was coming,” Téo admitted. “I’ve been preparing Lali for it.”
“What does she have to say?” I asked.
“She’s pissed,” he said. “She’s grilling him about grad school, but Mundo keeps saying now is not the time.”
“Just get him out,” I said, in a cut and dried tone. “Bolo’s got that real estate development crap going on. Send Olmando down to him and have Rafael put him to work. He can be a project manager, or something.”
“That is a brilliant idea, my friend,” Téo agreed. “Lali’s going to love that.”
