"Jose Luis!" Chief Norberto screamed at the top of his lungs watching with glee for the man to cringe.
"Yes, Capitan!" Jose Luis snapped his sharpest salute and made a gallant attempt to suck in his gut.
"What have you found out about our gringo friends? Anything we should be concerned about?" Norberto wasn't concerned in the least, but the DGI appeared to be.
"Sadly, no. I've been watching them and all they do is go diving and eat at Jimmy's. I searched their boat and found nothing but articles about ancient astronauts and sunken cities. I bugged the salon and they talked about their dive plans and nothing else. Very boring." Jose Luis stifled a yawn, covering his mouth as he said the last bit. "I almost fell asleep."
"You fell asleep on duty?" Norberto screamed. He was also bored and playing cat and mouse with Jose Luis passed the time.
"No, no, no! I said I "almost." Stupid talk about diving for ancient alien technology and giants. It was so boring, but I did not fall asleep. I took notes." Jose Luis was too tired for another dressing down by his boss.
"You took notes?" Norberto's voice dropped and his tone registered excitement.
"Yes, Capitan. Many notes. Would you like to read them?" Jose Luis was confused.
"Are you kidding? Sounds incredibly boring. Regional Headquarters is demanding a report for the DGI. Type up what you've been doing and attach the notes in full." Norberto loved a convenient solution to a problem he didn't want to face. "Let them read the reports if they like!"
That is what made him such a good peacekeeper—he had no qualms choosing convenience over morality.
***
Carlos "El Oso" Gutierrez threw down the newspaper and snarled, a low guttural sound. The headline read: Massive Protests Against GMOs. He could sense the other patrons in the restaurant of the famous Hotel Nacional of Havana Cuba darting wary looks in his direction.
He didn't care.
At six foot nine inches, three hundred and twenty muscled pounds, he didn't have to. Let them look. They all knew who the gigantic bald man in the white pinstripe suit was—they also knew for whom he worked.
El Oso returned to poking gingerly at his poached eggs on toast. He decided the whites weren't runny enough and threw his napkin on the plate. Instantly, one of the waiters assigned to him stepped quietly forward in starched whites and removed the plate without a sound. Another filled his water glass while a third exchanged his coffee for a fresh cup.
His second course was served almost immediately. Whisked to his table by gracefully silent waiters. The steak was bloody, rare to almost raw. He proceeded to knife great chunks of the red meat into his mouth, producing a perceptible gnashing sound as he ate.
The Bear hated whiners. He loathed weaklings. He harbored a genetic predisposition against complainers. He despised anyone who stood in the way of progress. Evolution was the path to the future—join in or get out of the way.
"I trust you find the steak to your liking?" The Maitre d' had sent over one of the newer waiters to enquire of their guest.
El Oso found himself to be perturbed. Not by the interruption so much as by the man himself—soft and whiny, a weakling dedicating his life to serving others and not doing a very good job of pleasing his masters. Everyone on staff at the hotel knew that El Oso regularly downed three or more steaks at a sitting.
Without taking his eyes off the plate, El Oso reached out and took hold of the front of the servant's starched shirt, apron and tie in one massive paw and twisted until the collar and tie threatened to choke off his windpipe. Pulling the man toward him until their noses were touching, El Oso exhaled into the waiter's face and grunted: "More."
Red faced and shaking, the man made some wiggly gestures with his arms to the other waiters after El Oso let him go—a second extremely rare cut of meat was promptly and gingerly delivered to the table by a different waiter.
Sweat began to run down El Oso's temples as he ate and he could feel the perspiration start to break out all over his body. It was beginning again.
It was bad.
He had to go see El Hombre Delgado today.