David Lindsey - The Rules of Silence

“Why the hell's he going back? ”Norlin asked.

“He's left something, ”Burden said. “It's got to be that. Information, probably, that he can't let get away from him.”

“Jesus, ”Norlin said. “You've got to get somebody over there.”

“There's no one left.”

“Calo's behind them.”

“He's got a LorGuide in his car, and I'm going to need him out there in the dark if they leave. Baas is headed to the airstrip with the body of the other guard in Titus's Rover. Your people are holding their surveillance van, waiting to hear from us, and besides, they're not trained for what they might encounter when they get there. Tito and Cope are headed to the airstrip with the bodies of the guys from the Pathfinder. Cope could pull away, but he's already fifty minutes out, at least.”

“What about one of the guys at Cain's house?”

“I'm not taking a single gun away from Cain's wife.”

The inside of the van was hot from the heavy load of humming electronics. It was cramped, and everyone was sweating.

“What's going to happen to her if you pull off one of those guards? ”Norlin said.

“I wouldn't send just one over there, and if I send two, then that leaves only one with Rita.”

“Look, everybody's dead anyway. Who's left to go after her?”

“Where's the guy who took the pictures? ”Burden asked. He waited for Norlin's answer, just for emphasis. “The guy didn't figure into our body count for the planning. I'm just not taking any chances with that one.”

Norlin said, “You just going to let whatever-”

“That's right, ”Burden interrupted stoically. “There's nothing we can do about it. We wait it out. Cain'll just have to take his chances.”

The van pulled to the side of the highway near the Highway 2222 exit and stopped.

The silence in the guest house changed. Rita had seen Titus's signal leave the restaurant, too, and she had managed to keep quiet. Her personal anxieties aside, she knew perfectly well that she could unwittingly misinterpret anything she might see. She knew that a lot of it wouldn't make sense to her and that her instincts wouldn't serve her well, that they would even be counterintuitive to the circumstances.

But when she saw Titus's signal leave La Terrazza with the signal of one of Luquin's people, a signal that she knew Titus himself was responsible for planting, she began to feel as if her own restraint would cause her to explode.

“I want to talk to Garcia, ”she said. She didn't yell. Her voice didn't quiver. There were no histrionics. But everyone in the room turned and looked at her.

“Any problem with that? ”she asked calmly. But it was the calmness you reached when you've traveled to the other side of drama. It was the calmness of unshakable determination, and everyone knew it instantly.

“Uh, ”Herrin said, and looked at Kal.

“Here, you can use these, ”Kal said, offering a set of headphones that she had not been allowed to use earlier.

“I want a private conversation with him, ”she said.

Herrin gaped at her again.

“I mean, you're all listening to each other on those, aren't you? ”she asked.

“Yeah, ”Kal said, wishing he didn't have to admit it.

“Well, I want a private conversation with him.”

“Look, ”Kal said, “he's right in the middle-”

“You're not saying no, are you? ”Rita asked. She had stood up from the chair where she'd been sitting.

“What I'm saying is, ”Kal responded, “that I'll ask him if that's something he can do right now.”

“You do that.”

Kal put his headphones back on, bent his head, and walked away from the group, talking in a low voice. They all waited, concentrating on the screens or just about anything else. All except Janet, who was looking at Rita with the beginnings of a bemused smile on her mouth.

Kal turned and reached into his pocket and took out a cell phone.

“Push talk, ”he said, handing it to Rita.

Rita took it and walked to the other side of the room. She wanted to go outside to the patio, but she knew that wouldn't be allowed.

“Yeah, ”Burden said.

“What's happening?”

“Titus and Macias are still talking.”

“That doesn't tell me what's happening.”

“It looks like Macias is on to us. He's holding Titus until he can get a guarantee that we'll let him go.”

“And then what?”

“He's agreed to leave Titus with the Navigator and talking on a cell phone as proof to us he's alive, and while that's happening he drives away and we let him go.”

She could tell by his voice that he was being deliberately blunt with her. She wanted to play it straight? He'd play it straight.

“And where are they now?”

“They went to the place where Macias was staying with Luquin.”

“Why?”

“We think Macias wants to recover some stuff he doesn't want to get away from him before he makes his escape.”

“Macias doesn't know that you were going to kill Luquin, does he.”

“Yeah, he does now.”

“Is Luquin dead?”

“We don't know.”

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. “And what are you doing about this?”

“Not much we can do. We're just waiting so Macias can do his stuff and then leave Titus somewhere with the Navigator like he's supposed to do.”

“Supposed to do, ”she said. It made her heart crawl right up into her throat. “Supposed ”had never carried so much import, had never sounded so flimsy and menacing.

“I can't sit here and watch this, ”she said. “We know exactly where Titus is, don't we?”

“Yes.”

“Then I want to be as close as I can get to him.”

“You are as close as you can get to him.”

“Not as close as you.”

Silence.

“You're staying as close as you can, right? ”she continued, pressing her point, “without endangering Titus's life, without screwing up the situation?”

Silence.

“Then I want to be where you are.”

“Impossible.”

There was a moment when neither of them spoke, and Rita swallowed the bile in her throat and smothered the rage in her head. But she resisted the temptation to give in to her gut instincts. She had seen enough of how Burden operated to know the behavior he exhibited himself and probably respected. If she was going to get what she wanted, she had to meet him where he lived.

“Let me tell you what's impossible, ”she said with the kind of evenness under duress that Burden himself was known for. “I'm not a fool. I know that you can't guarantee Titus's life and safety. This isn't your nightmare. It's ours.

“But… if anything happens to him, and I'm not as close to him as reasonably feasible, then… it's impossible that I will keep my mouth shut about all of this. If anything happens to that man, and I am not as close to him as you are capable of getting me… then it's impossible that I will not drag you and whoever's behind you through the media for years. If I'm forced to sit here and watch my husband's death-if that's what it comes to-as if it were a goddamned video game

… then it's impossible that you will ever again know the anonymity that you're so damned proud of.”

She paused.

“And yes, ”she added, “I remember your threats-rather, your good counsel, your cautionary word. And no, I'm not intimidated.”

She stopped. There was silence in the room behind her and silence on the other end of the cell phone. Her anger had scorched her face, and she could feel it burning.

“Give the phone to Kal, ”Burden said.

She started to go on, to say, Well, what the hell are you going to do, then? But then she realized that she had said all that she had meant to say, and she had meant all that she had said. He had better believe that.