David Lindsey - The Rules of Silence

Calo watched the guy as he began checking out the Navigator as if he were unfamiliar with it. The guy looked up and looked around. What was this? Was he going to steal it? Then the guy walked up to the door and pointed his remote key lock at it; the Navigator squeaked, and the guy opened the door.

He still had one leg outside on the pavement when Calo moved around the rear bumper of the Navigator and blocked the door just as the guy tried to swing it closed. Instantly Calo's automatic was in his face.

“Don't breathe, ”Calo said. “Are you alone?”

The guy nodded yes.

“Who are you?”

“Elias Loza.”

Calo moved the barrel of his automatic to Loza's mouth, touching his lips. Now he saw that Loza had been carrying a bag, and it was sitting in the seat with him.

“What's in the bag?”

“Camera.”

“Armed?”

The guy nodded yes.

“Where?”

Loza looked down. “Right here.”

Calo moved the barrel between Loza's eyes and reached in and found the automatic in the front waistband of his pants. He was surprised to see it was the same gun he'd jammed down between the car seats for Titus. He hit the clip release, but it was empty.

“Where the fuck'd you get this?”

Loza didn't even have to guess if the name would have any meaning. “Jorge Macias.”

“Where is he?”

“Look, I don't have anything-”

“Where!?”

“Over there… other side of the shopping center… one of those houses…”

“What are you doing here?”

Loza told him.

“What's the address over there?”

Calo was already pulling out his phone as Loza gave him the address.

“Another man with him? ”Calo asked.

“Yeah.”

“Anybody else?”

“No.”

“Where're they headed?”

“I don't know.”

Calo hit Loza in the mouth with his gun so fast, the barrel was already back between his eyes by the time Loza could react.

“No no no…, ”he pleaded, blood pouring from a busted lip and a tooth knocked out of his gums. “Oh, oh, shit, ohhh… really, no no no

… I don't know where the hell they're going. I don't… I don't know anything about this…”

With his eyes focused on Loza's eyes, the barrel of his automatic still pressed between Loza's eyebrows, Calo spoke fast to Burden and told him everything.

“And the bad news, ”Calo said. “I'm holding the damn gun with the mole on it.”

“Check the gun, ”Burden said. “Is the mole still there?”

“What's your signal say?”

“Says it's about five hundred meters west of you.”

“Really? ”Calo shoved Loza over and told him to curl up on the floor. Loza did as he was told, moaning, moaning, and Calo held the gun up to the interior light. It took him almost a minute of searching to decide it wasn't there.

Burden got into the Cherokee with Rita and the others, and they headed across the expressway, where Janet and Ryan took charge of Loza, driving away with him in the Navigator to check out Macias's safe house and make sure Titus hadn't been left there.

Calo returned to his car, and Rita continued in the Cherokee with Burden and Kal. In the backseat alone, she listened as the three men discussed the best way to handle the encounter with Macias. But before they could even get out of the massive parking lot, the signal left the address to which they were headed six blocks away.

“Calo, ”Burden said, watching the LorGuide, “get in behind him again. I don't know what's happened to the damn mole, whether it was moved from the gun deliberately or accidentally, but we have to play it safe and assume Macias doesn't know we're still with him. First thing, though, try to get close enough to the signal to get a sighting of the Honda. We've got to find out if it's carrying the signal, or if Macias has managed to somehow put it on a decoy vehicle.”

After that, the transmissions fell dead, and everyone was glued to the LorGuides.

Again Macias got into the back and Titus drove, following directions that took them through the neighborhoods to Loop 1 South, where they headed for Oak Hill. Titus took stock of his situation. It wasn't good. Now that the mole had taken off for San Marcos, and Burden's people had no visuals on Titus, he was on his own. He knew that Burden had had a small crew to begin with, and if everything was going according to plan, there was no one else to spare for this little unexpected development. Another blindside for Burden.

Macias had made it plain that Titus's life was only as good as Macias's own personal security. Titus understood that, but what happened when Macias decided he was safe? And how safe would he have to be before he made his decision about what to do with Titus? No matter how many times he went over it, Titus couldn't see how there would be any profit in it for Macias to kill him when he no longer needed him.

On the other hand, Titus didn't know what other factors waited in the background that might completely change that simple deduction. God knows he had seen reversals in spades during the last few days. Despite the fact that he told himself his odds were better as a hostage if he remained optimistic, he found it impossible. Right now the darkness outside was a pretty good metaphor for the way he was feeling about his situation.

“Watch the speed limit, ”Macias said behind Titus's head. “No cops.”

Titus checked Macias in the rearview mirror. He was still monitoring the traffic behind them. He was nervous, maybe feeling a little better now that he thought he had some breathing room. But Macias was a realist. He knew that the margin of his advantage was hair thin.

Titus wanted to try to get some feel for his state of mind. He wanted to hear him say something, maybe give Titus a little insight into his intentions.

“There's not any money in San Marcos, is there, ”Titus said. “I'll bet there's not even another Navigator there.”

“That's his problem, ”Macias said. “He'll deal with it. You've got a different set of problems you need to think about.”

They were moving through the incorporated village of Oak Hill on the southwest edge of Austin. In a few minutes Macias had a decision to make. Either way, the traffic was about to get scarce, and it was going to get easier to spot a tail.

“How are you going to make sure Luquin's dead? ”Titus asked.

“After seeing the spook show that was going on back there at that house, I don't think I have to worry about Tano being alive tomorrow morning. It looks like everybody wants Luquin dead. It's his time. When dogs smell blood, they all turn on the bloodiest dog first.”

Now they were at the intersection.

“Keep going straight here, ”Macias said, and they stayed on Highway 290. That would eventually take them to Fredericksburg or San Antonio. Titus guessed San Antonio.

“What I want to know is, ”Macias said, “how the hell did you find Garcia Burden?”

Titus told him the truth, without using names.

“And you went to see him the very next day?”

“Right.”

“How?”

Titus told him the truth again.

Macias shook his head. “And that was just three days ago?”

“Right.”

Silence. He heard Macias hiss under his breath.

“Only Garcia Burden could fuck up nearly two months’ planning in just three days, ”he said. “ Completely fuck it up.”

Well, not completely, Titus thought. Macias was still holding a gun to his head.

They left the city and the suburbs behind. The lights in the flanking hills gradually diminished with the churning numbers on the odometer. Mostly now it was only darkness on either side of the highway.

“How far are we going? ”Titus asked.

“Don't worry about it, ”Macias said.