{"id":1589,"date":"2026-08-22T04:38:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T04:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1589"},"modified":"2026-08-22T04:38:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T04:38:48","slug":"scott-mckays-the-necessary-men-episode-4-landfall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1589","title":{"rendered":"Scott McKay\u2019s The Necessary Men<\/i> \u2014 Episode 4: Landfall"},"content":{"rendered":"

W<\/span>elcome back to the world of Mike Holman.<\/em><\/p>

If this is your first stop, here\u2019s what you need to know: Mike Holman is the independent journalist, podcaster, and inveterate maker-of-enemies at the center of Scott McKay\u2019s bitingly satirical thriller series \u2014 four novels (so far) chronicling one man\u2019s habit of ending up in the middle of the very stories the rest of the media is too scared, too compromised, or too incurious to tell. Catch up on the whole series, read past episodes, and find links to every book at \u201cThe Mike Holman Novels at\u00a0<\/em>The American Spectator\u201d and soon, see the video-novel version of this and the previous books at\u00a0MikeHolman.com.<\/em><\/p>

Read more Trump is Combining Geoeconomic and Kinetic Warfare Against Iran<\/a><\/p>

We\u2019re now serializing the fourth Mike Holman novel, <\/em>The Necessary Men, right here at <\/em>The American Spectator \u2014 new episodes dropping every Wednesday and Saturday. The full book goes on sale September 26th at Amazon and the new MikeHolman.com\u00a0site, and you can\u00a0pre-order a signed copy right now.<\/em><\/p>

Where we left off: The plot to free Cuba is taking shape and looks promising with a major backer with a surprising background, but problems on the home front have developed. Mike prepares to take a silent lead on the ground in Cuba, starting with a very key piece to the puzzle.<\/em><\/p>

Here are Chapters Seven and Eight of <\/em>The Necessary Men.<\/em><\/p>

\n

\"Black<\/figure>\n<\/p>

Chapter Seven<\/h2>

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada \u2014 March 23, 2026<\/em><\/p>

\u201cNow,\u201d said Rick Graves, the Sentinel Security operator who was conducting most of the briefing for Douglas and Selena at the little office of Sino Solutions in a nondescript office park outside the Vancouver city center. \u201cLet\u2019s get into Conduit, because once you\u2019re in country it\u2019s the only comms app you\u2019re going to use. And after that I\u2019m kicking you guys out of here. Your flight leaves at eight tomorrow morning.\u201d<\/p>

We\u2019d spent a whole day getting car-washed by the Sentinel Security folks, and my head had begun to spin a couple of hours before.<\/p>

I looked over at Marisol\/Selena, because after all, I\u2019d been told, the key to a good cover is that you stick to it 24\/7, even when you don\u2019t have to \u2013 to see how she was holding up. It didn\u2019t surprise me that she was as bushy-tailed as she\u2019d been when we\u2019d gotten off the plane in Vancouver the day before.<\/p>

Marisol\/Selena was having the adventure of her life and getting paid more than she\u2019d ever made before. She told me, essentially, that she came from a family which had busted their asses to rise from dirt-poor to working class, and I got a very good sense that this opportunity might have been the best thing anybody among the de la Villas \u2013 Jimenezes \u2013 had been given in any of her people\u2019s lifetimes.<\/p>

One thing I caught, and I reminded myself to ask her about when I thought about it, was that she kept humming that song I\u2019d noticed her humming at the elevator. Boom-badaba boom-badaba. What I heard of that song, from listening to her hum it, sounded catchy.<\/p>

I\u2019ll admit that I envied her for keeping herself entertained. What we\u2019d been through, with four different briefers, Graves being the main one, was an entire three-ring binder full of tradecraft.<\/p>

And not particularly exciting tradecraft, at that.<\/p>

Graves had said that Cuban intelligence, the Direcci\u00f3n de Seguridad del Estado, was real, active, and specifically trained to watch for foreign operatives. DSE\u2019s main tell-spotting techniques were financial anomalies, like foreigners spending above their apparent means, and that was why we were going into Gibara with an unreasonable amount of gear packed in expensive luggage.<\/p>

\u201cYou\u2019ll need all this stuff,\u201d he said, \u201cbut more than that, they need to clock you as somebody who works for a very, very well-financed company, so anything you bring in afterward, like creature comforts, electronics, whatever, doesn\u2019t attract attention.\u201d<\/p>

He insisted that I study the 250-page dossier covering the basic principles of logistics that was in the three-ring binder.<\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s your required reading on the plane,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it does not come with you when you get on that boat in Duncan Town.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI got it,\u201d I said.<\/p>

Graves collected our wallets, phones, my wedding ring. Those all went into a Faraday case he said would get FedExed to PGFI\u2019s offices. Our stuff was replaced with different wallets, ID\u2019s, credit cards, health insurance cards.<\/p>

\u201cYou\u2019re going through security as Douglas Thibaud of Winnipeg,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s your footprint from here on into the flip.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI got it,\u201d I said.<\/p>

And Enrique Conti, another of Sentinel Security\u2019s guys, took us through behavior. He spent a lot of time impressing on Marisol that she had to be Puerto Rican, not Cuban, because if she was too fluent in the local idioms, slang, and so forth, they\u2019d clock that.<\/p>

\u201cRemember,\u201d he said, \u201ceverybody there, especially at the beginning when they don\u2019t know you and don\u2019t trust you, is a potential informant. Life is a funhouse mirror for these people. Which you already know. But be mindful of that.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI got it,\u201d said Marisol\/Selena.<\/p>

\u201cBut don\u2019t be so mindful that you come off as local. You aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cJust be boring,\u201d said Graves. \u201cYou\u2019re Canadians. They\u2019re expecting you to be boring.\u201d<\/p>

Graves told us we\u2019d get local SIM cards when we got to Gibara, but that was OK because Conduit would work with those and it would still encrypt. They\u2019d tested that completely, he said.<\/p>

\u201cOnly use Conduit,\u201d he said. \u201cNo calls home. Use Conduit. Emails? Only send work stuff. Don\u2019t put anything on paper or digitally which suggests you\u2019re anything other than a boring Canadian project manager from Winnipeg.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m writing a book about this operation,\u201d I said.<\/p>

\u201cYou mean Mike is, Douglas. You aren\u2019t writing shit.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cGuess Douglas is keeping very, very detailed notes about his project, then,\u201d I said.<\/p>

\u201cAnd Selena keeps a diary,\u201d said Enrique. \u201cWe\u2019ll get you a diary book and you can keep some notes in that. But what you keep is personal experiences. Not anything that would clock as intel.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cBe boring,\u201d said Graves. \u201cBoring is safe. Boring is where you live.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI got it,\u201d I said.<\/p>

At dinner, which was at a Denny\u2019s a few blocks from the company apartment where we were staying, Marisol grilled me about my life.<\/p>

Not my life. Douglas\u2019s life.<\/p>

All my answers were boring. And when I did the same to her, all of her answers were boring. We were just two boring Canadians, though one of us was originally Puerto Rican, sawing away at our hamburger steaks.<\/p>

And then it was an early turn-in, and an early trip to the airport with a mountain of luggage to carry to the Uber.<\/p>

Check the bags, get on the plane, four and a half hours to Toronto reading about logistics. Late boring lunch \u2013 I was back on Eastern time at the Toronto airport \u2013 of chicken and pasta, washed down with a Crown and Sprite.<\/p>

On the TV at the airport lounge? CNN. Boring.<\/p>

Until I saw something that made me chuckle. Here was Peter Chang, and he was passionately demanding that Donny Trumbull keep his \u201cHands off Cuba!\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWhat\u2019s so funny?\u201d asked Marisol.<\/p>

I pointed at the TV. \u201cOur boss,\u201d I said.<\/p>

She smiled and went back to her raspberry salad.<\/p>

Then the flight from Toronto to Nassau, boring airplane meal, more boring logistics reading, arriving just after 10 p.m. Lugged the bags to the Uber to the airport hotel, slept, lugged the bags from the Uber through the charter gate at the airport in time for the 9 a.m. flight on a little Cessna to Duncan Town, and found out it wasn\u2019t ready to leave.<\/p>

And it wasn\u2019t ready to leave at 10 a.m., either.<\/p>

\u201cWatch the bags, will you?\u201d I asked Marisol\/Selena.<\/p>

\u201cSure,\u201d she said.<\/p>

I found the pilot and asked him what the problem was.<\/p>

\u201cThe mechanic was late this morning,\u201d he said, \u201cand we have to exchange a part. Should be back soon.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cHow soon is soon?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt be eye-ree,\u201d he said. Which didn\u2019t make me happy. But I was Douglas Thibaud of Winnipeg, and I was a boring schmoe there to do a job, so I sat back down on the floor of the charter gate amid a mountain of our bags, in my brand-new J. Crew cargo pants somebody bought for me in Vancouver.<\/p>

Then I heard the song. Boom-badaba, boom-badaba<\/em>. A reggaeton tune. Marisol\/Selena lit up, got up, and ran over to the gang of Dominicans who had it playing on an old-school boombox one of them was carrying. She was dancing; they were dancing.<\/p>

That was not boring. A little stressful, actually. That was something the DI thugs, the Cuban intelligence agency people who were extremely good, I\u2019d been told, might note down.<\/p>

If any of them were around. Which Graves said I should assume was the case.<\/p>

I looked around the charter gate area and didn\u2019t see anybody who\u2019d register as Cuban intelligence. But what did I know?<\/p>

I thought about yelling at her. But that would be even more notable. Whatever damage she was doing, she\u2019d already done.<\/p>

The song was in Spanish. I couldn\u2019t make out any of the lyrics. But it was fast and a little angry.<\/p>

She hung out with the Dominicans for a little while, and then their plane was ready to take off, so they were leaving. They all hugged her, and she came back and sat down.<\/p>

\u201cThat song,\u201d I said. \u201cI noticed you humming it a couple of times. What is it?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOh, that,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s Manolo Pendejo<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cManolo. Like Manolo Candela?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOh, yeah.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cSo it\u2019s a protest song?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cPretty much. No, very much. It\u2019s brutal.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s catchy.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThey tell me people get arrested for listening to it down there,\u201d she said. \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t stop anybody.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s a big hit? I know nothing about reggaeton other than that Bad Bunny dude wears a dress and it doesn\u2019t make sense.\u201d<\/p>

She laughed.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s like a garage hit. There\u2019s a guy in Miami named Omar Duran. He has a band called Con Fuego and they released this song as an indie thing and it\u2019s totally viral.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIn Miami.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cEverywhere. Like all over the Caribbean they\u2019re listening to it. It\u2019s blowing up.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThis is a big deal for you,\u201d I said, about to launch into a low-key reprimand for drawing attention. \u201cI understand why, obviously\u2026\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNo, it\u2019s more than that. I went to high school with Omar. We\u2019re old friends.\u201d<\/p>

\n

\"Illustration<\/figure>\n<\/p>

Finally, the pilot showed up and proclaimed his plane airworthy. I paid a couple of the guys standing around at the charter gate to help us load our bags on the little plane. They fit\u2026 barely.<\/p>

And then we were off.<\/p>

Duncan Town isn\u2019t a city. It\u2019s not even a town. The best I can do is call it a settlement; what\u2019s more accurate is to call it a fishing camp at the bottom tip of Ragged Island, a sliver of land which looks out of place at the bottom of the Bahamas just 78 miles from Gibara, Cuba.<\/p>

The population of Duncan Town was 70.<\/p>

Note that I said, \u201cwas.\u201d When the Cessna landed on the turned-over anthill that Duncan Town had become, that number had increased by probably 30-fold.<\/p>

Sentinel Ports Management and Sentinel Construction had rolled in with barges and trailers and built a man-camp big enough for three or four thousand people, though Gus Minor, a fellow \u201cCanadian\u201d Sino Solutions employee who\u2019d served with Hal Gibson in Iraq and Afghanistan \u2013 he\u2019d actually been Major Minor when he got out, getting cashiered for the same refusal to take the jab that had gotten Hal \u2013 told us they were only housing half that many.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m sorry we held you up,\u201d I said, as I shook his hand. Gus had met us as the plane taxied to a stop in front of the little airstrip control shack. They were building a bigger one next to it. And behind the new shack I could see a couple of road graders and a paver and two asphalt trucks; this little grass airstrip was about to graduate to a bigger league.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s fine,\u201d he said, \u201cbut let me talk to this guy real quick.\u201d<\/p>

I looked past the construction equipment, and I could see a concrete pier that looked like it was functional but half-finished. A mobile crane on treads was coming back down the pier, directed by a guy waving flags to keep it straight as it navigated the narrow roadway. At the water end of the pier was a small freighter I gathered was our transportation into Cuba. On the land end was a small forest of shipping containers. I saw a few guys spray-painting containers with a large stencil, and when they pulled it back, a Canadian maple leaf logo was visible. On other containers they were applying a different paint-and-stencil treatment, and that yielded a big gold star and four little gold stars below it inside the maple leaf.<\/p>

Sino Solutions\u2019 logo. A little extra detail to feed the Cubans, I guessed.<\/p>

\u201cHey!\u201d I heard Gus bark, \u201cLemme talk to you a second.\u201d<\/p>

I turned to see Gus, towering over our pilot. \u201cThis shit?\u201d he was saying. \u201cThis isn\u2019t what we\u2019re paying you for. You\u2019re two hours late. And because you\u2019re two hours late, that boat is two hours late. You get me?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt was a mechanical\u2026\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNo, asshole. You fix your mechanical on your time. Not mine. You\u2019re gettin\u2019 paid a lot of money to make that run from Nassau, and it\u2019s not too much to ask that you do it on time and on schedule. You understand? This happens again, and you\u2019re fired.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOK,\u201d said the pilot, though he hesitated, like he had more to say. \u201cI understand.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cDon\u2019t be late again. All right? Here endeth the lesson. You hungry? I got some really good jerk chicken in the cantina tent down that way.\u201d<\/p>

The pilot smiled and headed in the direction Gus had pointed. Gus came walking back over to us. A couple of SPM guys were loading our bags onto a flatbed golf cart.<\/p>

\u201cJerk chicken, huh?\u201d I said. \u201cSounds pretty good. We got time to\u2026\u201d<\/p>

\u201cSorry,\u201d he said. \u201cThat boat shoves off as soon as we can get you on it, which is now. We\u2019re already late to Gibara before sundown, which means offloading is dangerous. But I did set you up with some grub to go. They\u2019ll get you taken care of in the galley.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cCool!\u201d said Marisol. Er, Selena.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s a solid operation you\u2019ve got here,\u201d I said.<\/p>

\u201cWait until you see it in a week,\u201d said Gus. \u201cAll right, I hate to be rude, but I\u2019m kicking you off my FOB. Boat\u2019s leavin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>

\n

\"Dark<\/figure>\n<\/p>

The crew of the Sunset Harvest<\/em>, a ship name I thought was a bit on the nose but perfectly in line with Pierce\u2019s sense of humor, was irritated at us when we boarded.<\/p>

Or irritated about us, I guess, would be a better way to put it.<\/p>

Nominally, as the project manager in Gibara, I was the boss of these guys. Or at least of the dozen or so of the port workers who were catching a ride and then having to unload the ship.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s not really you,\u201d said one young guy who was scarfing down jerk chicken from a Styrofoam to-go box in the galley like Selena and I were. \u201cThe thing is, we\u2019re not getting the big solar-powered portable lights for the pier for a couple more days, and so because they don\u2019t have any power there, we\u2019re going to have to unpack our mobile crane, offload it, then offload the containers onto the port, all in the dark. That\u2019s not how you do it. I guess it\u2019s a good thing this isn\u2019t a union shop \u2013 the union would lose it over something like this.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWell, you\u2019ve got some<\/em> lighting, right?\u201d I asked him.<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019ll make do, but it\u2019s\u2026 not the usual way to go.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWhy not dock and then unload in the morning?\u201d Selena asked him.<\/p>

\u201cAnd waste six hours? Nope. Not on this project. As soon as everything is on the pier, we untie, and it\u2019s back to Ragged Island. Everything you saw? Those containers? All of that has to go to Gibara, plus there\u2019s a lot more coming.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s a distribution hub?\u201d I asked. I hadn\u2019t read that in the operations plan.<\/p>

\u201cWhat, Gibara? Nah. But they say Gibara is the headquarters, so we\u2019re loading Gibara up first. It\u2019s getting the full dose of everything so we turn it into a showplace and everybody else gets to see what it looks like.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cVery cool,\u201d said Selena. And the young guy gave her a smile.<\/p>

\u201cAnyway, a little freighter like this, you generally don\u2019t want to go all out in the open ocean, so there\u2019s only so much time we can make up with speed. Everybody\u2019s antsy about beating the sunset.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cAgain,\u201d I said, \u201cI\u2019m sorry about holding you guys up.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cLike I said, it\u2019s not really you. But the crew\u2019s gonna be up all night making the return trip back to Duncan Town, and our guys are probably gonna end up racking out on the pier.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cBecause we\u2019re gonna have to guard the cargo. People in Gibara are probably desperate. They\u2019ll loot the containers. If we\u2019d come in in the daylight we\u2019d be able to break the containers down and start distributing and warehousing the supplies and equipment. Won\u2019t be time for that tonight. Not in the dark. So we stand watch, and then we break it down in the morning, and hopefully we\u2019ll have it done by the time the boat comes back with a fresh load of stuff. Or else we get backed up again, and the whole schedule starts falling apart, and then Gus comes down here and blows a gasket. Or worse, Mr. Gibson gets here and sees a shitshow, and then all hell breaks loose.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cHal\u2019s not in Gibara?\u201d I asked.<\/p>

\u201cNot for a couple more days. He\u2019s in Cayo Cruz. There\u2019s an operation getting stood up there, too.\u201d<\/p>

It struck me that this kid knew more about the operation than I did, but on the other hand he\u2019d been in it. I hadn\u2019t.<\/p>

\u201cI thought we were doing an air component to this,\u201d I said.<\/p>

\u201cWe are. But the little airstrip west of Gibara is just a grass nothing, and it\u2019s derelict. We can\u2019t land shit there. So part of what\u2019s in our cargo is materials and equipment to grade it and pave it quick. Then we\u2019ll be able to airlift out of Santo Domingo and Nassau, and that\u2019ll take some of the pressure off.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cHow long does it take to do a runway?\u201d asked Selena.<\/p>

\u201cOh, with this? Maybe four or five days, depending. We\u2019ll hire a bunch of locals to help us; if they\u2019ll actually work, it\u2019s possible we could get it moving faster.\u201d<\/p>

I finished my chicken and went up to the deck of the ship, which was loaded with containers. There was a disassembled mobile crane tied down at the bow that I could see. We were steaming pretty much due south; the mid-afternoon sun was gradually beginning to decline toward the horizon on the starboard side.<\/p>

The sea was calm, and we made good time.<\/p>

But the Sunset Harvest<\/em> didn\u2019t dock until the sun was completing its dive below the horizon.<\/p>

And when it did, the crew chief for Sentinel Port Management \u2013 a guy named Jason Belcher, who, like most of the rest of the fake Canadians on this trip, was ex-U.S. military, and I got the impression Belcher had been a special operator of one stripe or another \u2013 pigeonholed me.<\/p>

\u201cHey, umm, Mr. Thibaud,\u201d he said.<\/p>

\u201cCall me Douglas!\u201d I blurted out, recognizing how awkward that came out.<\/p>

\u201cYeah, right\u2026 Douglas. Anyway, look \u2013 I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve got a lot of, y\u2019know, paperwork that you need to get started on, so why don\u2019t you guys get your stuff and go check in at the hotel? We\u2019ll take care of all this in here.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIn other words, you don\u2019t want the project manager to see all the dangerous shit you boys are gonna do to get that boat unloaded, so you\u2019re getting me out of your hair. Right?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cA hunnert percent.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s fine. You sure you don\u2019t need anything?\u201d<\/p>

He shrugged.<\/p>

And a couple of his guys helped us get our bags off the boat, depositing us on the pier. I watched a crew team with a forklift driver assemble the mobile crane, while a few others were on ladders stringing a bank of what looked like oversized Christmas lights from one light pole to another. Two other guys were pulling a portable generator off the boat with an ATV, and I was tempted to ask the ATV driver if he could hook us up with a ride to the hotel.<\/p>

And realized that was not a good idea.<\/p>

\u201cHow are we going to get this stuff to the hotel?\u201d Selena asked.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019d rather make one trip than two,\u201d I said.<\/p>

\u201cDo we know where it is?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYeah. It\u2019s not hard. We get off this pier to the street up there\u2026\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThere\u2019s a street?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYou\u2019ll have to take it on faith since you can\u2019t see it in this dark, but yeah.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cAy, dios mio<\/em>,\u201d she said.<\/p>

\u201cAnyway, we go to the street, take a right, and then a left at the corner, and it\u2019s one block away. The Ordo\u00f1o is a landmark, apparently. We\u2019ll spot it pretty far off.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOkay,\u201d said Selena. \u201cSo you want me to take\u2026\u201d<\/p>

We sorted out our stuff, and using some of the bungee cables they\u2019d packed in my gear, I was able to construct a rolling contraption to manage the heavier suitcases. But both of us were laden with luggage, and Selena pulling and Douglas pushing, both of us wearing spandex Sharper Image headbands with battery-operated headlamps \u2013 I gave thanks that I was now Douglas Thibaud, because Mike Holman would have found the wearing of such a contraption far too dorky for toleration \u2013 we set off.<\/p>

And I was right about the hotel. No trouble finding it at all.<\/p>

The suspicious looks from the locals peering at us from various stoops and balconies were only a little unnerving.<\/p>

Selena thought so, too. I calmed her down by noting that there wasn\u2019t a single item in our possession which was actually ours, so if somebody wanted to rob us, we didn\u2019t have to feel a thing about it.<\/p>

I expected to get robbed. I wasn\u2019t. I also expected to get accosted by beggars and scam artists, because that had been part of the brief. But in the dark, that didn\u2019t happen either. We made it to the hotel, huffing and puffing and sweating like pigs, without major incident.<\/p>

And a little guy behind the concierge desk greeted us as we struggled through the open doors of the hotel. Which was really a charming Art Deco palace, or at least it had been not so long ago.<\/p>

\u201cHola, se\u00f1or y se\u00f1orita!\u201d<\/em> he said. \u201cYo\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>

\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t happen to speak English, would you?\u201d I interrupted him, and then realized I had a translator right next to me. Selena\u2019s look of frustration told me she realized it too.<\/p>

\u201cI do,\u201d he said. \u201cMy name is Claudio, and welcome to the Hotel Ordo\u00f1o. Checking in?\u201d<\/p>

I wanted to give him a snarky response like \u201cwhat gave it away?\u201d seeing as though we were carrying half a ton of luggage. But I didn\u2019t. \u201cDouglas Thibaud and Selena Jimenez, Sino Solutions,\u201d I said. \u201cI believe you have two rooms.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWe have more than two,\u201d he chuckled.<\/p>

\u201cOh, you\u2019re not busy?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWe have no power, se\u00f1or<\/em>. Is not good for tourism.\u201d<\/p>

Just then, one of the three candles on the concierge desk flickered and died.<\/p>

\u201cEs mierda<\/em>,\u201d Claudio muttered, tilting another candle and spilling the wax all over the concierge desk as he tried to relight the dead luminary.<\/p>

\u201cLook, I don\u2019t know where you have us, but with all this gear what I\u2019d maybe rather do is get a room on the lowest floor you have.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, se\u00f1or<\/em>,\u201d said Claudio, giving up on his dead candle and attempting \u2013 and failing \u2013 to peel the wax off the desk. \u201cThe third floor is the only open floor tonight. Hotel policy.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019ll give you a hundred dollars Canadian to change the policy,\u201d I said.<\/p>

I could see Claudio actually turn up his nose at the idea he\u2019d be catching a tip in loonies.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, se\u00f1or<\/em>,\u201d he said.<\/p>

\u201cThen that hundred dollars covers you helping me lug all this stuff up to the room, right?\u201d<\/p>

He knew he couldn\u2019t turn that down, so he nodded and smiled \u2013 it was an awfully plastic smile, I thought \u2013 and produced a paper form.<\/p>

\u201cIf you will just fill this out,\u201d he said.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s in Spanish,\u201d I said. \u201cUh, Selena?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019ll do it,\u201d she said, stepping forward. And Claudio gave her an ancient Ticonderoga pencil that looked like it saw its best days when old Fulgencio was still the jefe<\/em> on the island.<\/p>

And when she started pressing down on the form to produce something out of the dull graphite point of that pencil, it snapped in half on her.<\/p>

I started laughing. Claudio looked like he was about to have a panic attack for about two-thirds of a second, and then I could see his indifference wash back over him.<\/p>

\u201cLo siento,\u201d<\/em> said Selena.<\/p>

\u201cYou got another pencil?\u201d I asked him.<\/p>

\u201cNo, se\u00f1or<\/em>,<\/em>\u201d he said.<\/p>

One of the items they\u2019d provided me with in Vancouver was a Mont Blanc pen. I actually had three of them, two stuffed in my luggage somewhere.<\/p>

\u201cHere you go,\u201d I said, handing it to Selena. She filled out the check-in forms for both of us while I dragged the bags to the foot of the stairs, realizing what a bitch of a project it would be to get all that stuff to the third floor.<\/p>

\u201cElevator isn\u2019t working, I take it,\u201d I joked to Claudio.<\/p>

\u201cNo, se\u00f1or<\/em>,\u201d he said.<\/p>

Not much for a sense of humor, that Claudio.<\/p>

Selena tried to give me back the pen. I nodded to Claudio, so she gave it to him.<\/p>

\u201cGracias!\u201d<\/em> he said. And hustled to help me carry all our stuff up the stairs to our third-floor rooms.<\/p>

\n

\"A<\/figure>\n<\/p>

And forty minutes later, and a bottle of allegedly purified water that was hotter than I was having been guzzled from the minibar, I briefly considered unpacking the pile of luggage strewn on the floor. Given that the only light in the room was coming from my headlamp, I quickly gave up on that idea.<\/p>

I opened the window, not so much in the expectation it would do anything about the stifling heat of the room but in hopes that it would do something about the mildewy smell of the place.<\/p>

And it did. The smell was suddenly worse.<\/p>

I guess I didn\u2019t notice the pungent odor on the streets as I was hauling our rolling train of luggage up the road from the pier, but it was hitting my nostrils like an invading Mongol horde.<\/p>

Trash. And shit. And more trash. Even in the pitch dark, I could see that the source of the odor was literally everywhere on the streets. There was a decent ocean breeze filtering through the window, but it seemed to be pushing the stench into the room rather than carrying it out.<\/p>

I looked at my phone, and it was 9:30. I figured maybe the thing to do was to soak in the tub, as the water would be tepid and that\u2019s how I could cool off. And then maybe find my way to sleep at some point.<\/p>

So I peeled off my utility shirt, my work boots and my cargo pants, and turned the tub faucet dials, and\u2026<\/p>

\u2026nothing.<\/p>

Nothing from the sink, either.<\/p>

And when I looked at the toilet, it was dry as a bone.<\/p>

\u201cOh, shit,\u201d I said.<\/p>

And got dressed again, and I went down to the concierge desk. Claudio wasn\u2019t there.<\/p>

\u201cHello?\u201d I called out. The only light in the lobby was from a garbage-can fire across the street. Three gangster-looking kids in bandannas were standing over it, passing a joint between them.<\/p>

Then a little old guy popped up out of nowhere, scaring the shit out of me.<\/p>

\u201cQu\u00e9?<\/em>\u201d he said.<\/p>

\u201cHi. Do you speak English?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNo habla ingl\u00e9s,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>

\u201cOh. Well, there\u2019s no water,\u201d I said. \u201cNo agua?\u201d<\/em><\/p>

\u201cAgua? No agua,\u201d<\/em> said the old man.<\/p>

\u201cWhy is there no agua<\/em>?\u201d I asked. \u201cPor qu\u00e9 no agua?\u201d<\/em><\/p>

What came in response I didn\u2019t understand a word of. So I stopped him with a finger pointed upward.<\/p>

\u201cStay here,\u201d I said, and I ran back up the stairs.<\/p>

I knocked on Selena\u2019s door.<\/p>

\u201cS\u00ed,\u201d<\/em> I could hear her saying.<\/p>

\u201cHey Selena? It\u2019s Douglas. Any chance you could come downstairs?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThere\u2019s no water,\u201d she said.<\/p>

\u201cI know. Claudio\u2019s not at the desk. The guy who\u2019s there now doesn\u2019t speak English. I\u2019m trying to ask him why there\u2019s no water, and I can\u2019t understand what he\u2019s telling me.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Five Quick Things: Is the Lindsay Clancy Case a Windfall for the GOP?<\/a><\/p>

The door opened, and Selena was wearing a tight tank top, a pair of gym shorts, and a pair of flip-flops. She had a little better idea how to dress for a hot hotel room than I did.<\/p>

\u201cCome on,\u201d she said. And we went downstairs.<\/p>

The old guy told us that the town\u2019s water main broke four days earlier. And then the public works director quit. They didn\u2019t have anybody around who knew how to fix the main, the old man said, so people were going up to the reservoir with donkey carts and gallon jugs. And he said the hotel staff would have water in the toilets by morning because Claudio was going up there that night and getting enough water to fill the hotel\u2019s cistern.<\/p>

I just laughed.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m gonna go back to the ship,\u201d I told Selena.<\/p>

She shrugged. \u201cYou OK if I head back up?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cSure.\u201d<\/p>

\n

\"Circular<\/figure>\n<\/p>

At the pier, I saw that the boat was gone. In fact, I could still see its lights as it was making the turn out of the bay.<\/p>

\u201cCan I help you, Mr. Thibaud?\u201d said Belcher. He was supervising his guys doing\u2026 something with one of the shipping containers, pulling some large boxes on rollers out of it.<\/p>

\u201cNot really,\u201d I said. \u201cThis place is in worse shape than we thought.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty bad. This pier is\u2026 we\u2019re not using it anymore. Tomorrow we lay down a new pier.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYou know they haven\u2019t had running water in four days, right?\u201d I asked him.<\/p>

\u201cNo shit. What happened?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWater main broke. They don\u2019t have the tools or equipment to fix it.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cReally? We have some repair clamps in one of these containers\u2026 hey Snake!\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYeah, boss?\u201d said a very large, very bald dude with a snake tattoo making its way up his neck.<\/p>

\u201cYou got the waterworks container open yet?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNah. Why?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cBecause they ain\u2019t got no water here. Main broke. They can\u2019t fix it.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cShit,\u201d Snake laughed. \u201cAll right. Find out where the break is and we\u2019ll go out with the ATVs and get on that.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m going with,\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019m not sittin\u2019 in that fuckin\u2019 hotel room with no air and no water and nothing to do.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cSuit yourself. They tell you where the break was?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNot a clue. Maybe we\u2019ll go find the local jefe<\/em> and ask him.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOr maybe we\u2019ll ask this guy,\u201d said Belcher, pointing to a dumpy little fellow in a white seersucker suit and greasy blue t-shirt who looked like he was dressed up as Sonny Crockett from Miami Vice<\/em> for Halloween. Right down to Don Johnson\u2019s fruity espadrilles.<\/p>

Gibara Sonny had parked his ride, and he was walking toward us through the boatyard, gawking at the shipping containers Belcher\u2019s guys had managed to stack up into a little hotel space, setting up tenting and cots to sleep on that night.<\/p>

\u201cOh, Jesus,\u201d I said. \u201cGet a load of this cat.\u201d<\/p>

Belcher chuckled and then waved at him. \u201cHola<\/em>,\u201d he said.<\/p>

\u201cHola!<\/em>\u201d said the man, as he pushed a few wavy hairs across his bald scalp and then addressed us in not-half-bad English. \u201cI am Aldo Pupo, Party Secretary for the town of Gibara. You are with LCTC, yes?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d I said, taking over and shaking his hand. \u201cDouglas Thibaud, Sino Solutions. How are you this evening, sir?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI am very fine. I see that you have filled our boatyard with containers. These will need to be moved\u2026\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOh, we\u2019ll move \u2018em,\u201d I said. \u201cWe\u2019re waiting for daylight so we can do a more efficient job of unloading \u2018em, and it\u2019s a little safer. You\u2019ll see a lot of activity, plus our supply ship is going to be back here mid-day tomorrow. Hey, listen, I understand you\u2019ve had a water main break. If you\u2019ll tell us where that is, we can get a crew over there and we\u2019ll get that repaired for you.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cFor this, you would have to talk to Luis Contreras, our director of public works. But he hasn\u2019t been seen in two days.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s not a big deal,\u201d I said. \u201cJust tell us where the break is. We need the water turned back on as much as anybody else does. I\u2019m sure when Mr. Contreras gets back, he\u2019ll be very happy that he\u2019s got a working water system.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cSe\u00f1or, I am not sure\u2026\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOr maybe there\u2019s somebody else we can call up who can point my guys to the water main,\u201d I said, pulling my money clip out of my pocket. It was loaded with loonies \u2013 Canadian dollars.<\/p>

I could see Pupo\u2019s eyes light up.<\/p>

\u201cNo. You\u2019re right,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m the boss here. I take care of this. You ride with me, yes?\u201d<\/p>

And he turned toward his white \u2013 well, it wasn\u2019t very white anymore \u2013 Toyota Corolla that looked like somebody had rescued it from a Mississippi junkyard. \u201cCome,\u201d he said.<\/p>

\u201cHang on,\u201d I said. \u201cHey Jason, you got your guys\u2026\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYeah, just a sec,\u201d said Belcher, and then Snake and another guy showed up in a couple of ATV\u2019s pulling flatbed trailers with large metal chests strapped down.<\/p>

\u201cLead the way,\u201d said Snake. \u201cLet\u2019s get this done.\u201d<\/p>

Pupo gave me a big smile. \u201cCome,\u201d he said. \u201cThis way.\u201d<\/p>

\n

\"Man<\/figure>\n<\/p>

Chapter Eight<\/h2>

Gibara, Holguin Province, Cuba \u2014 April 10, 2026<\/em><\/p>

Jack Gray was ex-CIA, and he\u2019d done things all over the world he couldn\u2019t talk about. But Jack had gotten out in the early days of the Joe Deadhorse administration \u2013 he said he had a very bad feeling about what the Agency was becoming and he wanted to preserve something of a moral compass \u2013 and had gone to work for Sentinel Security.<\/p>

Jack had been one of the crew in Liberty Point when Pierce first built the place. He was an electronics expert, among other things, and he\u2019d set up the whole counter-surveillance protocols for the city. That was a big deal, because the Venezuelans had been very blind to exactly what kind of assets Pierce had amassed in Liberty Point \u2013 and they\u2019d been even more surprised when they invaded and found out they were badly outgunned.<\/p>

I\u2019d met him when I was down there. Liked him. Good guy. He knew everything there was to know about tequila; one night at the bar at the Grand Waica Hotel in Liberty Point, he told me he was eventually going to start an agave farm in South Texas.<\/p>

Since then, Jack had moved up a good bit in the company, and he\u2019d gotten an executive job in Sentinel Security\u2019s Houston office. But he took a leave of absence to become a fake Canadian working for Sino Solutions down in Cuba when our project got going.<\/p>

So the morning after we fixed the water main, Jack knocked on my door.<\/p>

\u201cHey, Jack\u2026\u201d I started to say, as I opened the door.<\/p>

\u201cMr. Thibaud,\u201d he said in a friendly voice which didn\u2019t match the look on his face, \u201cI\u2019m Gray Jackson, Sino Solutions. This is Bart Stepman, my assistant. You got a few minutes for us?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cCertainly, Gray,\u201d I said, opening the door and letting Jack in.<\/p>

He put his finger to his lips, telling me to shut up. And he pointed to the balcony, telling me to go out to it.<\/p>

So I did.<\/p>

And a few minutes later, Jack joined me. He held up a Ziploc bag with four rather scary-looking small devices in it.<\/p>

\u201cI didn\u2019t even think about the bugs,\u201d I said. \u201cHope I didn\u2019t talk in my sleep, not that I got much of that.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThat room is a freakin\u2019 sauna,\u201d he said. \u201cWhy didn\u2019t you sleep at the FOB?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWhat, the tents you guys set up by the pier? I could have. The party boss insisted on dropping me off at the hotel after we fixed the water main, a little after midnight. He kept going on and on about how nice this place is, and I didn\u2019t have the heart to tell him I was gonna sleep on a cot in a tent in a boatyard instead.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cHuh,\u201d said Jack.<\/p>

\u201cAnd I definitely didn\u2019t have enough energy to walk anywhere else,\u201d I said.<\/p>

\u201cSo you slept on that bed? In this heat?\u201d<\/p>

I laughed.<\/p>

\u201cActually, when the water came back on, I filled up the tub and soaked in there. Conked right out.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNot a terrible idea. So anyway, these are the bugs the DSE planted in your room, and they go back to the FOB where we\u2019re going to spoof them with room traffic that we\u2019ll generate with AI. That little travel clock on your nightstand? When the digital readout of the time is green, that means the system is running, and you can speak freely. When it\u2019s red, just don\u2019t say anything they might mark as unusual or noteworthy, just in case they plant more bugs. Be boring. You\u2019re Canadian, after all.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cSo I\u2019ve been told.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s not really a big deal. You\u2019re basically just gonna be in the room to sleep, right?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cUntil the power comes back on, maybe not even that.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYeah, exactly. I\u2019ll be honest, racking out on that cot, with the breeze on the pier, was\u2026 what the fuck is that smell?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s Gibara.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOh my God. This is a big job,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>

Jack, er, Gray, and his guy left. I unpacked some of my bags, getting a bunch of gear I figured I\u2019d need, and then I made my way down to the lobby with my backpack in tow.<\/p>

\n

\"Drawing<\/figure>\n<\/p>

The staff \u2013 at least the three of them who were working \u2013 all greeted me with genuine warmth. I could hear a small generator humming from somewhere nearby, and I could see an extension cord running along the floor of the lobby. There were a bunch of box fans whirring away, circulating the warm morning air throughout the ground floor.<\/p>

\u201cMr. Douglas,\u201d said a woman who told me her name was Tina, in an English that was intelligible but heavily accented, \u201cwe heard you got the water back on. Your first night here!\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOh, that\u2019s no big thing,\u201d I said. \u201cWe brought the parts you needed for fixing the water main, so, y\u2019know.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNo, is a very big deal,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have no water for\u2026\u201d<\/p>

\u201cCinco,\u201d<\/em> said another of the hotel staffers, an older woman whose name tag, in blue Marks-A-Lot, said Antonia.<\/p>

\u201cFive days, s\u00ed<\/span>,\u201d said Tina.<\/p>

Just then, Marisol, er, Selena, came down, dressed like she was going on a safari. Tan utility shirt, tan shorts, work boots, red bandanna.<\/p>

No pith helmet, thank God.<\/p>

Tina invited us to get some coffee. They\u2019d laid out some muffins and fruit; that would do for breakfast.<\/p>

I\u2019d read that the Hotel Ordo\u00f1o had the best food in Gibara. One bite of that muffin and I instantly hoped that wasn\u2019t true.<\/p>

\u201cYou can\u2019t judge it with no electricity,\u201d said Selena.<\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s fair,\u201d I said.<\/p>

\u201cSo what are we doing today?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019re going to walk down to the FOB and check in,\u201d I said, \u201cand see if they need any help. They\u2019ve been breaking down those shipping containers since dawn. The boat will be back around two this afternoon, so the big thing will be to clear the pier for the next round of stuff. That\u2019s going to be mostly trucks and heavy equipment, and then they\u2019ll put the empty containers from the pier back on the boat.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cSerious operation,\u201d she said.<\/p>

\u201cSpeaking of that, did you get your travel clock?\u201d<\/p>

She smiled.<\/p>

\u201cUh huh,\u201d she said, stabbing a chunk of melon with her fork and eating it.<\/p>

By the time Selena and I had walked down to Belcher\u2019s FOB, the pier was gone. Belcher and his guys had gone at it with jackhammers and dropped it into the drink; edges and corners of it were somewhat visible at the waterline. And as we approached the boatyard, they were pulling the beat-up, corrugated roof off the port office building facing the street. A little crowd of Cubans had shown up to gawk from the street at the LCTC guys as they worked.<\/p>

\u201cHey, Doug,\u201d said Belcher. He was walking back from a little forest of shipping containers toward the port office, carrying a large toolbox.<\/p>

\u201cHowdy, Jason,\u201d I said. \u201cWhat are we doing now?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWell, we\u2019re going to rebuild this roof, because what\u2019s going in under it is going to be a little more valuable than to go into hurricane season with that protecting it. Got some steel roofing panels going in, and then we\u2019ll install the solar array and the satellite downlink hub. If these knuckleheads do their job, we\u2019ll have it done in time for the boat coming back.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYeah? How are you gonna unload the boat with no pier?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThe boat\u2019s bringing the pier. Got eighteen sections of pontoon decking coming in, and we\u2019re going to fit \u2018em together and bolt \u2018em to the shore, and then we\u2019ll have a pier that can hold the heavy equipment that\u2019s coming in. But honestly, this setup isn\u2019t gonna make it. We\u2019ll use this for a week or so, and then you\u2019re gonna have to get us a whole new situation. Here\u2026\u201d<\/p>

And he brought me inside the port office, a beehive of guys with drills and claw-hammers working away at ripping out all the walls.<\/p>

\u201cLittle redecoration?\u201d I asked.<\/p>

\u201cJack pulled eight bugs out of these walls,\u201d said Belcher. \u201cI have no idea what these people think they were recording. This might be the least busy port in the Western Hemisphere. Anyway, we\u2019re tearing it down to the studs and we\u2019ll re-hang the sheetrock and make this a proper base building. Now\u2026\u201d<\/p>

And he showed me a large printed satellite map they\u2019d stretched out on a card table, pointing to a spot a few blocks to our south.<\/p>

\u201cOK, do you see this spot here? It sort of juts out into the bay a little? There\u2019s a bunch of open space along it here. And across the street there\u2019s this thing here.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWhat, where it says Torre\u00f3n de la Avanzada de la Tener\u00eda?<\/em>\u201d I asked.<\/p>

\u201cThat means Tanner\u2019s Outpost Tower,\u201d said Selena. When I looked at her, she shrugged and smiled.<\/p>

\u201cEarnin\u2019 that big money already, huh?\u201d I said, and fist-bumped her.<\/p>

\u201cWe went and got a good look at it, and that\u2019s an old fortress which is mostly ruined, but I want to get Sentinel Construction \u2013 I mean Sino Solutions \u2013 in there and rebuild it with the big 3D construction printers in a few days. We can set up our broadcast tower on top of that thing and do a proper corporate office, and we can turn that shore into a wharf and set up the cranes\u2026\u201d<\/p>

Belcher launched into a detailed explanation of what he wanted to do not just with the tower but more specifically with the 80-meter-wide waterfront that stretched some 360 meters from the gas station on one end to the bend in the road on the other.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019ll go see Sonny Crockett,\u201d I said. \u201cHis office is just up the street.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOh \u2013 if you\u2019re gonna go see him,\u201d said Belcher, \u201cbring him this.\u201d<\/p>

And it was a little ice cooler with a six-pack of iced-down bottles of La Bala beer.<\/p>

\u201cHow about that?\u201d I said. \u201cWho can turn down a care package like that?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOh, and I\u2019ve got a golf cart coming for you this afternoon,\u201d Jason said. \u201cSelena can be your chauffeur and you can go around like a big shot.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cAll right, then,\u201d I said, smiling at Selena. She smiled back.<\/p>

So I brought Pupo, the Communist Party secretary, the capitalist Cuban beer as a peace offering. He\u2019d just come into his office, and instead of his Miami Vice<\/em> suit he had a guayabera and a pair of tan linen slacks on.<\/p>

And while everywhere else in Gibara was already sweating in the morning heat, Pupo\u2019s office was cold enough to give a body hypothermia. I brought him the La Bala, shook his hand, introduced him to Selena \u2013 and watched him turn very friendly as he shook her hand.<\/p>

\u201cWhat can I do for you, Mr. Douglas?\u201d he asked, as we sat down.<\/p>

\u201cYou have a generator around here, I guess,\u201d I said, turning to see his 70-inch TV on the wall opposite his desk and noticing that Peter Chang was on MS NOW. \u201cHands off Cuba!\u201d Peter was bleating, and the chyron was scrolling, \u201cBURRO, TRUMBULL CONTINUE TO DENY IMPENDING CUBA INVASION.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s in the courtyard. Propane! I have a supply in Exuma. The Party\u2019s offices must have power. To serve the people. You understand.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOh, certainly,\u201d I said. \u201cListen, our operation is going to be a little bigger than what your main pier can handle. That\u2019s really for fishing boats; it\u2019s not a commercial port pier.\u201d<\/p>

He tilted his head as though what I\u2019d said to him was an insult.<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019re replacing the pier with a larger and safer structure,\u201d I said. \u201cIt\u2019s a pontoon pier in sections, and it\u2019ll accommodate a lot more material coming in.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cMaterial?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cBuilding materials, construction equipment, supplies, foodstuffs, power transformers. We\u2019re going to install new street lights equipped with solar panels and batteries on your light poles so that you\u2019ll have working street lights that don\u2019t depend on your power grid. We\u2019re going to build out that old crop-dusting airfield southwest of here into a working airhead. But there\u2019s something I need from you.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWhich is?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWhose property is the Tanner\u2019s Outpost Tower?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThe which?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cTorre\u00f3n de la Avanzada de la Tener\u00eda,\u201d<\/em> said Selena. \u201cLa ruina.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

\u201cOh, the Tower,\u201d said Pupo. \u201cIt belongs to La Direcci\u00f3n Provincial de Patrimonio Cultural de Holgu\u00edn<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>

I looked at Selena.<\/p>

\u201cThe historical society,\u201d she said.<\/p>

\u201cCan we get a meeting with them? We\u2019d like to restore it \u2013 repoint the mortar, clear the vegetation, install proper drainage, document and preserve the gun slits, restore the roof, the whole bit. And then attach a modern building to it. Or am I talking to the right guy now?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThe right guy? I\u2019m the right guy.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWhat I\u2019m asking is whether you\u2019ve got the power to call the historical society guy in and tell him this is happening and not to interfere with it. Because we want to fast-build a harbor and port facility away from the downtown area here so we\u2019re not clogging the streets with heavy machinery, and we\u2019ve identified this area, the tower and the waterfront across the roadway from it, as the best place to set up shop. If I have to talk to somebody else, I will, but I\u2019d really rather just go through you.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI see,\u201d he said.<\/p>

\u201cI mean, honestly, back home in Canada the way we\u2019d do something like this is I\u2019d hire you as a governmental relations consultant\u2026\u201d<\/p>

Pupo didn\u2019t understand what I was saying, so I looked at Selena.<\/p>

\u201cConsultor de relaciones gubernamentales,\u201d<\/em> she said to Pupo.<\/p>

\u201cAhhhhh,\u201d he said. \u201cYes, yes. I\u2019m your man.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cLike I said, what we want to do is put that building back in commerce. Eventually it can be a welcome center or some other kind of tourist facility, but while we\u2019re here we\u2019re going to rebuild it and use it for LCTC\u2019s port operations. I just can\u2019t get bogged down in red tape. If I need to do some extra convincing of, y\u2019know, whoever, then I can. But the way this is gonna work is we go fast, fast.\u201d<\/p>

Peter was still on the TV talking about Trumbull and his bloodthirsty imperialism toward Cuba, and touting the partnership between China and the Cuban government to \u201cput right what 60 years of an American embargo has destroyed.\u201d<\/p>

Pupo was glancing past me to the TV.<\/p>

\u201cYour boss,\u201d he said.<\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s right. And he\u2019s right. We\u2019re going to have to pull together and show the American administration that we can make this situation work, because their argument is that socialism has failed in Cuba.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt has not<\/em> failed!\u201d said Pupo.<\/p>

I looked at Selena. She looked back at me. I looked back at Pupo.<\/p>

\u201cWe need to build out that port facility,\u201d I said. \u201cAnd we need to have assurances that nobody is gonna show up with the police shutting us down. You\u2019re the guy who can make sure that\u2019s not gonna happen, right?\u201d<\/p>

Pupo gave an enthusiastic nod.<\/p>

\u201cGood man,\u201d I said, putting out my hand for a handshake. He took it.<\/p>

\u201cWhat else can I help with?\u201d he asked.<\/p>

\u201cOhh, there\u2019s gonna be plenty,\u201d I said. \u201cThe port is just the first piece. Tomorrow or the next day we\u2019ll start on the street lights, so if you can make sure nobody gets in our way when we start doing that, it\u2019ll be great. We\u2019re going to be hiring some of your local folks to help with that, and they\u2019re gonna start at 400 dollars Canadian per month. I take it that\u2019s OK\u2026\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYes, yes,\u201d he said, nodding his head like a donkey.<\/p>

\u201cRight. Well, I\u2019m gonna be in and out of here bothering you.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOkay,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I was under the impression Se\u00f1or Cabrillo would be my main contact with LCTC.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThe thing is,\u201d I said, \u201che\u2019s got two dozen other towns that he\u2019s working with. I\u2019m Gibara. So if you need anything that I can\u2019t deliver, then we can take it to Mr. Cabrillo. But I\u2019m pretty sure I can get you taken care of, whatever you need.\u201d<\/p>

There was a pause. I got the impression Pupo had an ask that he wanted to make, but he didn\u2019t want to make it of me. So I let it drop.<\/p>

\u201cOK, then,\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019m going to get back to our boatyard. But either I or Selena here will periodically check back in with you. Listen, anything you need from us, you just ask, and we\u2019ll see what we can do, all right?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cS\u00ed<\/span>,\u201d said Pupo, his face registering that stupid grin of his again.<\/p>

\u201cAll right,\u201d I said, standing up. \u201cEnjoy that beer. I had some. It\u2019s not Molson\u2019s, but it\u2019s pretty good!\u201d<\/p>

He shook hands with us again \u2013 Pupo really liked shaking hands \u2013 and as we left, Peter was still on Pupo\u2019s big TV, continuing to harangue the MS NOW host, a very attractive black lady I\u2019d never heard of, about the impending American invasion of Cuba.<\/p>

\n

\"Circular<\/figure>\n<\/p>

Things started happening quickly after that.<\/p>

The water was flowing again, but by First World standards its quality would have been a scandal. One of the people I had in my \u201cSino Solutions Resource Directory\u201d was a lady named Bernadetta Moreno. She was Venezuelan; she\u2019d been one of the leaders of the opposition movement there before the Madeira government fell, but instead of going into politics \u2013 the thing about that government falling was that politicians were getting assassinated left and right, and Bernadetta\u2019s husband, who\u2019d been released from prison when the government collapsed and de la Vega took over \u2014 forbade her from running for office.<\/p>

And that was fine, because Pierce had snapped her up and set her up as the CEO of a consulting\/engineering firm specializing in restoring and upgrading water systems. She\u2019d worked on the water system in Georgetown, Guyana, came up with some improvements in Liberty Point and set up the systems in the little towns around it, and in Venezuela they were working on a whole bunch of projects around the country.<\/p>

And Pierce had basically demanded that Bernadetta get on board the Cuba project. It didn\u2019t take much convincing; Bernadetta loved the irony of it given what the Cubans had done to her country as Madeira\u2019s enforcers.<\/p>

So when we turned the water back on in Gibara, I filled a bottle of it from a faucet at the FOB \u2013 that was before Belcher installed Brita filters in all the sinks in the building \u2013 and emailed a picture of it to her, with a message: \u201cCan you help?\u201d<\/p>

She was on the boat into town from Ragged Island two days later.<\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s some operation you have there,\u201d she said, in her thick Caracas accent.<\/p>

\u201cWait until you see the one we\u2019re gonna build here<\/em>,\u201d I said.<\/p>

And then we were on my new gas-powered golf cart up the hill to the water treatment facility. Bernadetta got the full tour from the little guy who ran the place, which was about the size of a two-car garage, and she had a long discussion with him in Spanish that Selena didn\u2019t do a great job of translating because she had no idea what they were talking about.<\/p>

Which was OK, because I didn\u2019t understand it either.<\/p>

But what I did understand was the little guy\u2019s reaction, because the things Bernadetta was telling him first made him smile, and then he started getting emotional. He was nodding like a schoolkid, and she was gently explaining\u2026 something. Selena gave up trying to translate it.<\/p>

\u201cShe\u2019s telling him it\u2019s going to be all right,\u201d she said.<\/p>

\u201cHe seems to believe her.\u201d<\/p>

Finally, Bernadetta walked over to the case she\u2019d brought with her up the hill and opened it. I walked over and looked in. And I watched her pull out a section of pool noodle.<\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s a pool noodle,\u201d I said.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s not a pool noodle.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely a pool noodle.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt isn\u2019t, Mike.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cDouglas!\u201d said Selena.<\/p>

\u201cSorry. Douglas. This is a pig. The problem with the water system is that the pipes are old and made of iron and there is rust in them. We first scour the pipes with high-pressure behind these pigs, and they flush the system, and then we introduce phosphate and chlorine, and in a week, two weeks, the water will be first class. The system itself is sound. We add proper equipment and supplies for maintenance and Gibara will have water to rival Tampa or Orlando.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWell, that\u2019s good news.\u201d<\/p>

And after convincing everybody in Gibara not to touch their faucets for a day when the system was being purged with Bernadetta\u2019s pool noodles, she was quickly proven correct when the water got better and better. A week later she emailed me and told me Gibara\u2019s water was first-world quality based on the testing her new friend at the Gibara Water Garage had been sending her.<\/p>

The word got out about that, and the suspicious stares I was getting as Selena and I were tooling around in the golf cart started to turn.<\/p>

And I noticed the humming. First, the hotel staff, then Belcher\u2019s local port workers, then the Cubans Hal Gibson hired to clear, grade, and pave the old crop-dusting airstrip to turn it into a working airhead just to the southwest of town, then just about everybody was doing it. A bunch of teenagers in the park next to the Catholic church a couple of blocks from the hotel were dancing to a bucket-drum rendition of it when I walked by.<\/p>

\u201cMr. Douglas!\u201d they called out to me. I waved. And I went into the church to pray for the first time in a while. That Sunday I went to mass, and all the people I met wanted to shake my hand.<\/p>

Nobody spoke English. My Spanish was mostly hopeless. It didn\u2019t matter all that much. I knew what they were saying.<\/p>

The hotel staff was ecstatic when I managed to install one of those home-sized generators in the courtyard to replace the ancient one they\u2019d been making do with. It was enough to get the kitchen fully running again, and to fire up the AC and water heaters. I had a cold bed and a hot shower for the first time after a week in country; that was a nice win.<\/p>

Gibson, who had moved into the room next door, managed to trump me on generators. He brought a bigger one, and now the hotel had full power for everything. That was when the Sino Solutions guys came in and filled up the place, which was when I set up my office in the little ballroom on the ground floor.<\/p>

And I donated my generator to the church.<\/p>

I was holding office hours in the afternoons at the hotel, and the word got out about that. Soon there was a line out the door of the place, and I felt like a king holding court. People came from all over town asking for help with various miseries, and of course there was a continuous demand for juice.<\/p>

\u201cWhen is the power coming back on?\u201d they kept asking.<\/p>

And I had an answer, but it was one they didn\u2019t like all that much.<\/p>

Cuba\u2019s distribution network \u2014 the pole lines, the step-down transformers on the poles, the wiring connections throughout town \u2014 was like something out of The Walking Dead<\/em>. Not to mention that when you coupled the power transmission system\u2019s collapse with the country\u2019s political collapse, what you got was something a lot less technical in its explanation.<\/p>

People had been cutting sections of conductor off the lines and selling them for scrap metal. So there were literal gaps in the transmission lines.<\/p>

Right around the time Belcher brought a half-dozen big Caterpillar diesel generators off the boat into that boatyard next to downtown and trucked them to the power substation, he had his electrical guy walk the entire grid in Gibara, and the guy came back with the diagnosis.<\/p>

\u201cIf you throw the switch right now,\u201d the guy told us, \u201cthe power finds every fault and ground failure in the system simultaneously. You\u2019ll pour two megawatts into the dirt. Possibly \u2013 no, not possibly, almost certainly \u2013 start fires. Definitely blow up whatever appliances people still have. And potentially damage the generators themselves.\u201d<\/p>

So we held a job fair.<\/p>

Because before we threw the switch and lit Gibara back up, we had to go pole by pole through the entire town. We had to replace the blown step-down transformers \u2013 half of them were dead. We had to splice the sections where the conductor had been cut. We had to fix the grounding on the north end of town, which was completely gone. Then we had to check all the connections for corrosion.<\/p>

None of it was skilled work. It was just physical, methodical work under the supervision of Belcher\u2019s electrical guy and the three or four Cubans he\u2019d picked up who understood power systems.<\/p>

And four hundred people showed up at the job fair. Belcher put all of them to work, and Cubans in Sino Solutions hard hats were circulating all over town, happy as clams with their 400 loonies a month in salary.<\/p>

\n

\"Black<\/figure>\n<\/p>

It took about two weeks, but Belcher had his new pier on the south end of town. The local folks threw a fit over the idea that he would chop down the giant palm trees that were sitting on the waterside where his distribution yard was, so he dug them out of the ground and trucked them to the airfield, where they were replanted along the access road they\u2019d just built, and now the airfield started looking like an airport.<\/p>

Not exactly LaGuardia, but when Cessna Caravans and King Air 350s started landing a couple of times a day bringing people and stuff in from Nassau and Ragged Island and Santo Domingo and Montego Bay, that airfield started looking like something. Vladimir Soto, who got the job as the manager of the airfield \u2013 he\u2019d been one of the assistant guys at the main airport in Holguin but left to come and run our shop when he realized it would give him a 2,000 percent raise \u2013 told me a week after the thing was built that it was already busier than Holguin\u2019s airport was. Holguin had 350,000 people; the whole area around Gibara had about a fifth that many.<\/p>

Our joke was that we were going to call it Peter Chang International Airport. One of Belcher\u2019s guys got Grok Imagine to make a funny logo for it with Peter\u2019s giant caricature head making a big carnival-barker smile as it stuck out of the window of a plane with a caption under it that said, \u201cHands Off Cuba!\u201d<\/p>

\n

\"Small<\/figure>\n<\/p>

Coming Wednesday, August 26: Episode 5 of Scott McKay\u2019s <\/em>The Necessary Men.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

Catch up and follow along at \u201cThe Mike Holman Novels at\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>The American Spectator<\/strong>.\u201d Signed copies are available for pre-order at\u00a0MikeHolman.com!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>

Read more The \u2018Black Insurgent\u2019 and Americanization of Polish Society<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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