David Lindsey - The Rules of Silence

Titus struggled with a memory, a recognition. A child… what did he know about a child? Jesus Christ! He remembered… Burden had told him a harrowing story about Luquin… and a little girl… and her father. Artemio. Ospina.

He looked around at the man, who was still holding Macias's head wedged between his gun barrel and his hand, and he was looking at Titus. What the hell was going on here?

Something else caught Titus's eye. A cell phone on the table was ringing. The sound was turned off, but a red light stuttered… stuttered… stuttered.

“Is this your phone?”

The man said nothing.

“It's ringing, ”Titus said.

“Yes, I know.”

Titus's phone rang in Macias's pocket.

“Let me get that, ”Titus said. “That's my phone. This guy's kidnapped me…”

“No, ”Macias said, his eyes walled as he rolled them at the man holding him. Then he spoke to him in Spanish, and the man cut his eyes again at Titus.

“I don't know what he's saying, ”Titus said, suddenly terrified at Macias's ploy, “but he and Luquin had been extorting money from me, and they've killed my friends… Wait… wait. I know, you work for Garcia Burden, don't you?”

At the mention of Burden's name, he saw recognition in the demon's eyes. And there was no mistaking the recognition in Macias's eyes, either. Though Titus was actually out of his field of vision, Macias's eyes were rolled in his direction, wide with stunned discovery, as if those two words dazzled with revelation in the shadowy room, like the visionary writing on Belshazzar's wall.

“I hired Garcia to get me out of this thing with Luquin and Macias. Maybe he hired you-”

This wasn't working fast enough, wasn't advancing his argument fast enough.

“These pictures, ”he said quickly, “I know about those pictures. Just a few days ago, in San Miguel, Garcia told me. She's the daughter of a guy Garcia knows. Garcia was explaining to me what kind of a man Luquin was, wanted me to know what I was up against.”

Everything froze. No sound. No one spoke. This information had done something to the demon that nearly sucked the air out of the room.

And then Titus heard a single, faint snick.

The little pistol had misfired.

Macias and the man both realized what had happened a millisecond before Titus did, and in a flash Macias's right fist drove one, two, three times into the man's upper thigh near his naked groin as Macias charged in a powerful burst of energy, carrying the man backward, both of them falling over the coffee table and onto the floor. Macias dropped the small switchblade as he scrambled for his gun and came up with the gun before the man could recover and just as Titus hurled the laptop across the sofa, catching Macias flat in the chest, knocking him into a backward stagger. He fell back against the giant television screen but kept his balance and came up with the automatic leveled at Titus, who had barreled across the room to within a few feet of him.

Again everything stopped. Everybody was breathing hard, wired, adrenaline pumping.

“Okay, ”Macias said. “Pick up the laptop. ”He only had to move the automatic inches to cover both men. “Try to throw it again, and I'll kill you. I've got nothing to lose now. ”To the naked man: “Is Luquin dead?”

“Almost. ”He was holding his thigh, blood all over the sofa.

Macias motioned to Titus to move toward the front door. “We're leaving, ”Macias said to the man. “You finish what you came here to do. Don't leave that son of a bitch alive.”

Clutching his wounds, the man watched them as they made their way through the entry hall to the front door. Before Titus opened the door, with Macias's automatic again jammed into his kidneys, he glanced back. The pale light from the television flickered on the bloody sofa. The man was gone.

Suddenly, after an agonizingly long silence, Titus's signal moved out of the house.

“Unbelievable. ”Norlin was on the edge of his chair, his neck craning toward the screen.

“The bodyguard's signal's not moving, ”a technician said.

“You think they killed him? ”asked the other one.

Burden gazed at the screens, ignoring their questions.

“You think Cain is alone? ”Norlin asked.

Burden punched the send call on his cell and waited. No answer. He shook his head. “No, he's not alone.”

The blip made its way through the neighborhood and then turned left at Highway 2222 and headed west.

“Coming our way, ”said a technician.

“We've got a choice, ”Burden said to no one in particular, thinking out loud. “Macias has an escape plan. Always. Just for him. Whatever it is, he's headed for it now. He assumes the car's tagged, so he'll be dumping it. He's going to think he has to keep Cain as insurance. If it goes on like this, it could end in a confrontation. We don't know what happened back at Luquin's, maybe a shoot-out. Don't know if Artemio's dead. Don't know if Luquin's dead. Police may be on the way. And that means discovery. If there's a shoot-out trying to get Cain back, that means discovery. If Cain is killed, even without a shoot-out, that means discovery. If Macias kidnaps him, that means discovery and possibly Cain's death, too.”

“You want to let him go, then?”

“If we can guarantee Cain's life, yes, ”Burden said. “If we can guarantee silence for this operation, yes. We have to. Even though it means that someone's going to have to deal with the son of a bitch again sometime down the road.”

“Calo's in behind them again, ”a technician said.

“One more thing, ”Burden said. “Now the gun in the seat is in play again. If it hasn't already been found and dealt with.”

“Man, that is such a risk, ”Norlin said. “That is such a risk. He'll get killed if he tries to use that thing. Hell, we don't know if he can use it. Why the hell did Calo do that?”

“I don't know that it was the wrong thing to do. It might save his life.”

“Shit, it's going to get him killed.”

“I don't know, I might've done the same thing. There was opportunity, and not a lot of time to think. It was a choice.”

Burden's phone rang, and he snapped it up and answered.

“Garcia Burden, ”Macias said. It was just a statement. “Hello, Jorge.”

“This explains a lot, ”Macias said. “I couldn't figure out why so much careful planning was falling apart so fast.” “Is he still alive?” “Who?” “Cain.” “Yes.” “Let me speak to him.”

Macias held the phone beside Titus's head. “Tell him you're alive.”

“I'm okay, ”Titus said.

“You hear that? ”Macias asked.

“We need to talk about where we stand, Jorge.”

“Go ahead. I can't wait to hear this.”

“Is Luquin dead?”

“He probably is by now.”

“What's the situation there?”

“Call your fucking crazy man and ask him.”

“I've been trying to.”

“Well, he looked like he was very busy.”

Silence.

“You've been wiped out, ”Burden said. “That's where you stand.”

“Keep going.”

“We want to make a deal. We'll stop right here, and you can walk away. But Cain walks away, too. Very simple. On the other hand, ”Burden added, “if he dies, you die. Guaranteed.”

“Maybe I'll just take him with me, ”Macias said.

“That's not an option.”

Macias already knew that Burden would say that. But maybe they disagreed about what Macias's options were. He wasn't going to tell Burden, but Macias thought that there was some room to be flexible here. Burden would not be bargaining if Macias didn't have a good shot at doing what he wanted to do here.

“How do you propose to do this? ”Having to ask the question galled him. It was like asking permission, admitting that Burden had the upper hand. For the moment, at least. But his humiliation was nothing compared to the raw rush of fear that gripped him. He had come so close to being killed, and now he had this one last opportunity to save his ass. He couldn't make any mistakes.