Escape from Havana

By Michael Gonzalez

A returning Middle East combat veteran disillusioned with life finds himself in a new battle to find love. His life is turned upside down when he visits a Caribbean Island, which is taboo to American citizens. A nocturnal serendipitous meeting with Reina sends Ace on an Adventure more perilous than the Afghanistan war! The two struggle against culturally different governments at odds as they attempt to unite their lives, minds and hearts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 8, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499045192

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Michael Gonzalez.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2014911982

ISBN:   Hardcover   978-1-4990-4520-8

   Softcover   978-1-4990-4521-5

   eBook   978-1-4990-4519-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 09/17/2014

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

552425

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

About The Author

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to the Cuban people here and on the Island of Cuba. To the family of Luis E. Garcia Quintana Badia. My friend. His lovely wife and great cook Mirtha G. Miranda Martinez. Sons, Alain Garcia Quintana Miranda. Luis E. Garcia Quintana Miranda and Luis A. Garcia Quintana Gil. Now that was a mouthful. Without their kindness and patience this book would not have been possible. Two professionals that I appreciate. Julissa and Nicolette. Tony Gerli for her technical support. Finally to Jean Kelly for her unconditional encouragement.

CHAPTER 1

It was Friday afternoon. Ace was deliberating on the choice he had made. He had signed up with a popular Internet dating service. Tonight would be his first date or, who knows, perhaps his last. He wasn’t building up his expectations. He laughed at himself for thinking about bringing along some Mace on this date for protection. He remembered laughing at the humor of some of the ladies’ profiles. One creative lady stated she lived in a gated community. She posted a photo of a jail cell. Ace hadn’t heard of any female serial killers on any of the dating sites. There were some gold diggers of both sexes. Certainly there were inappropriate incidences reported and, in some cases, incidences that were unlawful.

In Corpus Christi, a tall handsome former actor, ex-successful stockbroker with a beautiful waterfront home turned out to be bad news. It seems he got his kicks from using date rape drugs on women. The women had no idea they were being filmed or anything else that was being done to them. Eventually, two women came forward. The police investigated and found the videos in his home of many more women, and subsequently, the man was arrested and jailed for a long time. In Los Angeles, a woman on a dating site did not take lightly to being two-timed by a suitor. She castrated him. Fortunately, he was the beneficiary of modern medical technology and had them reattached.

Ace wasn’t wishing for this much drama on his first date. The fleshpots of Bangkok had seemed strangely alluring with all their temptations. The reality was that no matter how shapely and beautiful these smaller brown-skinned women were, there was no way Ace could bring himself to be intimate with them. Ace remembered the stories of sailors contracting unheard-of diseases and never being permitted to return to the United States. Perhaps they were not true, but they were enough to make him think it just wasn’t worth it.

There were several dancing spots in Naples, Florida. Dining on the Gulf of Mexico was always a pleasurable experience. Ace’s date for the evening would be driving north from Marco Island. They would be dining at La Playa, a lovely beachside restaurant with turtle nesting sites between the restaurant and the water’s edge. Ace had read it’s probably best for both parties to drive separate cars for their first meeting. That way, if things did not go well, they wouldn’t have to depend on the other for a ride.

Ace knew his date was a looker. That was a given from her photos. She was 5'10" tall. She had long straight red hair and legs that made him forget about the battlefields of Afghanistan. Ace didn’t consider himself an intellectual, but he was easy to talk to. He only opened his heart once to a young girl, and it ended up devastating him. In this new city, he would get a fresh start.

There was valet parking at the restaurant. Ace wanted to sit at the bar so he could watch her walk in. As he drank his coconut rum and coke, he hoped she was as lovely as her photos. It didn’t take long to find out. Through the entrance she approached wearing a sleeveless one-piece purple-and-green jumpsuit with a plunging neckline. Many heads turned. Yikes! Ace thought to himself. His father would have described her as having the many shaplies. At that moment, a pleasant conversation for some reason was the last thing on Ace’s mind.

Ace stood up and was greeted by a captivating smile—the kind of smile that strongly suggested every drop of seed coming from his manhood belonged to her. To his surprise, he was able to say hello to Cassandra without stuttering, staring, or drooling. She commended him for looking like his photo and not trying to post a younger photo of himself. She described having a date with a man who was obviously older than his profile stated and showed. When she questioned him why the difference, he explained everyone said he looked like his son, so he used his son’s photo.

Cassandra ordered a cosmopolitan as they waited at the bar for their table. She wasted no time in telling Ace her life’s story. Somewhere between being raped by the high school captain of the football team and the seduction by her literary professor, the waiter mercifully escorted Ace and Cassandra to their table. With sand under his feet, Ace felt as if he was back in Playa del Carmen, Mexico at the Blue Parrot Inn. It was another twenty minutes before Cassandra came up for air and asked Ace where he was from. Ace told her he grew up on the edge of the Mojave Desert.

How unexciting, she replied. She asked, What does one do in the Mojave Desert?

I hunted buzzards and horny toads, Ace answered.

Ironically, a half hour ago, he had felt a kinship with the horny toad. Now he just wanted to escape. He wasn’t expecting to have a conversation on the state of America’s economy. Hopefully, it would be something more interesting than Cindy Crawford’s furniture collection at Rooms To Go. He was glad he hadn’t mentioned going out dancing. Ace was a good listener. He asked questions. He was supportive of her interest. Somehow, the blackened grouper didn’t taste as good as usual.

The final straw for the evening was when Cassandra said, I’m sorry, Ace. I was hoping you would help me forget about my last boyfriend. It’s just not working, Ace.

Ace’s mouth dropped slightly open. Just when he thought that the evening couldn’t go downhill anymore, it did. To the point of ridiculousness. All Ace could do was laugh, almost in a hysterical manner. He just couldn’t stop. He hadn’t laughed that hard since he was with his high school buddies. People were starting to stare at him, but he didn’t care.

Cassandra was embarrassed and perhaps displeased because she wasn’t the center of attention. Finally, she had had enough of Ace’s laughter and told him if he didn’t stop, she would leave. This only made him laugh harder. She got up and stormed out, leaving Ace with tears of laughter instead of boredom. Cassandra had no idea that she had helped Ace. After being in the war, Ace’s sense of humor seemed to reappear after being dormant for several years.

The waiter asked Ace if everything was all right. Ace told him it had never been better and asked for the bill. As Ace drove home, he wondered if women on this dating site had to endure what he had just experienced, except with men. He really couldn’t classify all women in Cassandra’s category. He thought it might be a long time before he might try this dating site again.

Ace was an attractive six-foot-two Latino. He never thought of himself as being handsome. Being in good health and condition were more important to him than his looks. He knew he still had some baggage left over from the death of his friends, the war, and the loss of a special girl in his life. He tried to remember what his mother always told him. She had the patience of Job. She taught him no matter what happens to him, his reactions were more important than that event. His mother’s words gave him strength that he drew upon many times during the war and in life.

CHAPTER 2

Ace weighed his options for the rest of the evening. He loved dancing. Adventure and romantic movies were always on the top of his list. Let’s see, he thought to himself, trying to decide what to do. He had had enough drama for the evening, so he decided to stay home and watch a movie. He wondered. John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara in The Quiet Man? Or possibly Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail? He loved the plot in the latter—how things started out shaky between them and then slowly blossomed.

Ace lived about five blocks from the Gulf of Mexico and one block from Tamiami Highway. Ace was a nurse. After living in the desert and serving in the dry heat of Afghanistan, he never wanted to live in the desert again. He had signed up with a traveling nursing association. He wanted to see new places, hoping it would help him forget about the past. The association paid traveling expenses and housing in his new locations. He had been on many assignments and enjoyable places. Ace didn’t believe in carrying debt. Although he wasn’t rich, he did pretty well what he pleased, especially traveling. He knew, eventually, he would probably settle in one place—with a home and furniture—but he didn’t know where or when. He was considering Naples.

His apartment was comfortable and located close enough so that he could walk to the hospital where he worked. Sometimes he would fly a charter out of Marco Island. It would take him about an hour to fly south to Key West.

In Key West, he didn’t need a car. He loved the tiki bars in Florida. They were located on the water. He enjoyed watching the pelicans diving for fish. He had become an expert on judging if they had caught fish or not. When the pelicans flew together, it reminded him of aircraft in a bombing formation. The ospreys were magnificent predators, seldom missing their prey. He would sometimes laugh watching the ospreys tear apart their prey. Sometimes they would perch on top of an antenna. The falling fish guts didn’t make the owners below the antennas very happy. The turquoise to green to blue waters never tired him.

Ace was in nursing school for two years, three years in the army followed by two years with the nursing association. The two years of being a traveling nurse started to quench his thirst for continuous adventure. He was feeling in a frame of mind to be with one person in one place. Once again, he chuckled to himself about the events he experienced with Cassandra. He felt Naples was a place he could settle down. Ace wondered how people spend their whole life in a Minnesota or Chicago. Sure they had natural beauty and cultural events—it’s just that snow wasn’t for him. Cold is cold. Cleaning snow off driveways or scraping ice off car windshields wasn’t Ace’s idea of a quality life. He loved long walks on the beach under a warm sun. He would never put that on his profile on the dating site because so many already said the same thing. Having a rum runner overlooking the water’s edge helped keep things in perspective for Ace.

Ace remembered a sign in a tiki bar that read: "If at first you don’t succeed,