Friendly Persuasions
Chapter 21
Our counterattack was going much better than expected. The topic de jour in the streets was The Family, every jour it seemed. We’d been especially careful not to attack voodoo per se, only Marie Claire’s organization. Now rumors swirled about her involvement in facilitating the Columbian drug flights. Somebody had leaked the story to the media and it was growing legs. Uncomfortable questions were being asked of the Haitian government and few answers given by the officials responsible for law and order.
Things were also heating up between ordinary citizens and Mama’s followers in Port-au-Prince. There had been some confrontations between university students and them, nothing violent, but certainly vocal. In other cities, there was less of a hubbub, but some rumblings were beginning to be heard that wondered what Mama was truly about and what she was up to. The throne of the Voodoo Queen of Haiti was beginning to crumble and her reign coming to an end, or so we hoped. She was on the defensive, but not yet on the ropes. She was still a dangerous opponent and had some fight left in her. There were a few more rounds to go in our match of wits.
More of our planted stories appeared in the news. It seemed fake news was prevalent in Haiti too. At the station’s instigation, one newspaper was doing a cartoon strip about Mama. It was actually called Mama Mambo. She and the other characters of The Family were depicted as greedy leeches sucking the life blood out of mother Haiti’s emaciated body. Desmond was a popular character and brunt of jokes. Now even the illiterate could understand our little prods and join in on the fun. It was all ill natured and that was our intent. The station had pulled out all the stops to turn things to our advantage. It was damn good at gaming the game. Frank and I had done our bit for the cause as well. And the feedback from Frank’s sources suggested Mama was not pleased in the slightest with our pushback. However, the fat lady wasn’t ready to sing her swan song just yet.
***
Desmond had been a busy boy, preparing for the upcoming ceremony. He had a few deadly tricks up his sleeve and that was a trick in itself since he was wearing a short sleeved dashiki. He needed a couple of his zombies to go fishing in the coral reefs offshore for an ingredient for what turned out to be the centerpiece of the show. He corrected himself and thought voodoo ceremony instead. Show was too commercial to suit his mother, although he believed the word to be wholly accurate. He was paranoid to the point that he was convinced his mother could read his mind. That was a scary thought and he immediately tuned out the negativity and contempt he had for the spurious religion. One couldn’t be too careful or truthful around Mama. Not if they wanted to live!
***
Dick received the small letter as he ate breakfast. It was hand delivered to his hotel. He knew it wasn’t a Night Letter because of the time of day. And he was relieved. However, Mama knew where he lived and that alone was worrisome enough.
He closely inspected the envelope for telltale signs it might be a letter bomb, albeit a small one, but one that could still maim. There was a return address, no grease stains or other indicators on the front or back of the envelope to make him suspicious. He gently ran his fingers over it to detect wires or a tiny battery and found none. The only remarkable thing was that it was heavily scented with perfume. He thought it safe, so he asked the waiter to open it. Always practice safe security was one of his favorite mottos, although it wasn’t grammatically correct.
It was a formal invitation from Marie Claire with the date, time and location of the voodoo ceremony. He looked forward to the event since he’d be a guest of honor; however, he wasn’t quite sure what that meant under current circumstances. No worries, Mama had come through as promised.