Tonton (A Hunter Kincaid Novel)

One morning after breakfast, Marc hugged her and said he and Ringo were going into the city. When Ringo attempted to hug Malice as Marc had done, Malice pushed him away with a firm hand on his chest. Marc looked at her, frowning. Malice felt unsettled, almost jittery at Ringo’s attempt at emotion.

She said, “Ringo, I cannot do that. You were too long in the coffin, and I am a sòsyè. To do it would harm my spirit.”

Ringo stood where she pushed him. He looked at her, not blinking, and as still as a stone. She couldn’t feel if he was angry, or sad, or anything.

Marc’s eyes bored into her. He was angry. She would feel that even if she weren’t a witch. For Marc’s benefit, she said to Ringo, “I like you, Ringo, and maybe, in time, we will become closer. And you may stay here with Marc and I as long as you wish.”

Marc seemed to bring down his anger at her words. He tapped Ringo on the shoulder and said, “Let’s go to town.” Ringo didn’t nod at Malice or acknowledge her in any way. He turned and followed Marc out of the house.

Malice went to the liquor cabinet even though it wasn’t yet noon. She poured a large tumbler of Jack Daniels and tossed it back, then refilled the glass again and sat at the table, thinking about this new, troubling turn of events. After drinking the second and starting on the third, Malice knew that it might eventually come down to disposing of Marc’s newfound friend. The more she drank, the better that decision sounded.

During the next several years, their relationships improved, primarily because Ringo never again overstepped his place in Malice’s home. Things were running smoothly for everyone. Marc took Ringo with him for interrogations, and they began to share, then alternate questioning subjects.

Malice heard, and thought it was time for the young men to elevate their status. She talked to Papa Doc in private about the special situation, and Duvalier agreed. Both young men were to become Tonton Macoute, but as special officers. They would not wear the blue denim uniforms, and would perform special duties as needed.

The boys were so adept at it that Malice was personally commended by Duvalier and promoted to Commandante over all of Port Au Prince.

Marc and Ringo recruited and worked a ring of homeless youths as spies, and received a great deal of information ranging from nothing to highly valuable. To pay the boys, Ringo and Marc used information from them to steal money and jewels.

Ringo and Marc continued to grow. Both were well over six feet and two hundred pounds. If anyone gave them trouble, Ringo and Marc were swift and vicious, and always under the protective umbrella of Malice’s power.

Marc knew money was power, and he began a small smuggling operation across the shallow Massacre River into The town of Dajabon in the Dominican Republic. Using the same orphans who worked for him, he sent Ringo to the border to oversee the simple operation of wading the river carrying goods and returning with money.

Profits grew steadily, and Marc had the operation change to vehicles. Ringo went across and befriended the Customs officials, offering hefty payment to allow them to send vehicles through Customs at the bridge.

Before long, Marc and Ringo bought boats and used the seas to ferry even larger loads of people and drugs across the border. They increased to taking weapons as well, and for a price, almost anything someone wanted.

Marc often watched world events, and he felt they should learn English, so he and Ringo took private lessons, and even travelled to Miami, Florida, where they immersed themselves in the language for six months before returning to Haiti.

The end of it was when Papa Doc Duvalier died. A power struggle began before the white-haired dictator’s corpse was cold. Papa’s wife, Simone, and her nineteen year-old son, Baby Doc Duvalier, took control. Baby Doc assumed the title, Dictator for Life. Simone outmaneuvered the powerful heads of the Tonton Macoute to wrest power from them. She had Luckner Cambronne exiled to Florida. As for Malice, Simone always resented the close relationship between her and Papa Doc.

Malice was demoted back to head the prison, away from those in power who had helped her in the past. Malice became embittered, started drinking heavily, and began using drugs. She also worked spells and prepared vodou rituals to get back at anyone who she felt harmed her.

Malice had to be careful, for everyone knew that Simone was also a sòsyè, and had spies and informants throughout the country, especially near those she perceived as threats.

Marc and Ringo were little bothered by the changes at the top. The only trouble they had was when Malice took her anger out on them.

The hostility increased on her part, and she was infuriated at how prosperous the two young men were becoming while she was now little more than a jailer. One day as Ringo walked past her and she staggered into him, Malice shoved him away and hissed, “Don’t touch me, undead filth!”

Ringo moved away without a word, but Marc witnessed it. He filed the incident in his mind, but did not forget. Over the next decade, Marc and Ringo grew increasingly wealthy as they expanded their smuggling to incorporate all the Caribbean. They moved out of Malice’s home to a palatial estate in Pètionville, high in the hills overlooking Port au Prince. With Malice removed, Marc and Ringo developed casual, but good relations with Baby Doc, and especially his mother, Simone.

As Haiti continued its downward spiral, everyone knew something had to give. And it did, with Baby Doc, his wife, and Simone being ousted in a popular rebellion, causing them to flee to France for their own safety.

Marc and Ringo saw the power vacuum as an opportunity and extended their reach to South America, Mexico, and the United States. They traveled to those locations, forming networks and friendships that were advantageous. A chance meeting with a mustached, heavyset Columbian named Pablo Escobar changed everything.

Marc only met once with him face to face, and thereafter went through intermediaries, preferring to keep his name out of anything associated with Escobar because he saw from the very first that the Columbian was smart but reckless. Marc knew that every law enforcement agency in the world would have people listening and watching Medellìn, Columbia.

When Aristide regained power after being ousted the first time, Marc realized things could not continue the way they had been. The U.S. Military supported the new President, and Haiti was crawling with people from the CIA and DEA, all working clandestinely.

It was also the time that Malice came back into their lives. She was no longer employed, Aristide having personally ordered the firing. When the knock came and Ringo opened the door, Malice fell into the foyer, drunk and almost incoherent.

They nursed her for the next month, attempting to dry her out and break her dependence on narcotics.

She seemed to come around and acted more normal, even once patting Ringo on the shoulder.

It was short-lived. The two men were gone all day, and they returned to a Malice who had started drinking at breakfast and snorting lines of cocaine every twenty minutes throughout the day. She confronted them as Marc and Ringo walked into the living room.

Malice screamed in her adopted son’s face, spewing spittle and rank breath, “You yellow-eyed bastard, you cost me everything, you stole all my wealth! I’m going to turn you both in!”