Don Winslow - The Power of the Dog

Art pulls over, gets out, yanks Adan out of the car and pushes him down on his knees. Art draws the. 38 from his holster and enjoys the look of fear that comes into Adan’s eyes. He raises the gun, then smashes it into Adan’s face. The first blow cuts the cheek under his left eye, raising an ugly, bleeding welt. The second one breaks his nose. The third one splits his upper lip and breaks two teeth.

Adan topples over with a groan, spitting blood out of his broken mouth.

“That’s just so you know I’m serious,” Art says. “Fuck with me and I swear to God I’ll beat you to death. You understand me?”

Adan nods.

“Who approached you about setting up Parada?”

“Nobody, it was an-”

Yeah, it was an accident, Art thinks. And it was an accident that Tio walked out of prison, an accident that Antonucci gave you absolution. Everything was a fucking accident. Art jerks him up by the hair and smashes the gun butt against his ear.

“Who approached you to set up Parada?”

What the hell? Adan thinks. It doesn’t matter now.

“It was Scachi,” he says.

Art nods. That’s what I thought, he tells himself.

That’s what I thought.

“Why?”

“He knew it all,” Adan says. “Just like me.”

“He knew about Cerberus?”

“Yes.”

“How about Red Mist?”

“That, too.”

Art hauls him back up, marches him to the car and shoves him back in.

It’s time to go to the bridge.

Callan gets in position.

He takes the heavy sniper rifle from its bag, then attaches the tripod and the infrared scope and screws on the silencer. He lies down in the dead grass and sights in on the bridge.

There ain’t gonna be nothing to it. As soon as Keller hands Barrera over, Sal will look up and nod and Callan will take out Keller.

Then just walk away.

Sal will swing by, pick him up on Park Boulevard and take him to Nora. Get their new passports, go to L.A., get on a plane to Paris.

A new life.

He settles in and gets himself ready to kill Art Keller.

Operation Red Mist comes home.

The Cabrillo Bridge spans Highway 63 where it bisects Balboa Park.

Art parks the car just to the west, by the bowling green where the old people come, dressed all in white, to play their slow game in the afternoon sun. He opens the car door and pulls Adan out by the elbow, shows him the. 38 holstered on his hip and says, “Please make a run for it.”

Then he pushes Adan out on the west end of the bridge and they start walking east toward the main part of Balboa Park.

The stone of the bridge glows softly gold under the amber lanterns.

To his right Art sees the downtown office towers and the huge red neon sign that reads HOTEL CORTEZ, which dominates the skyline.

Beyond that are the harbor and the ocean and the Coronado Bridge, rising up like a dream from its base in Chicano Park in Barrio Logan, where he grew up. To his left is the chasm of Palm Canyon, the redwoods and star pines looming above the west side of the highway behind him, the San Diego Zoo to the northeast.

Straight ahead is Balboa Park, with the California Tower rising above two tall palm trees like the top of a wedding cake. The bridge itself runs into the Prado, the long broad walkway between the museums and gardens, and at the end of the Prado a tower of water shoots into the night sky from the Balboa plaza.

He’s taken this walk many times.

So they killed Father Juan as part of Red Mist, Art thinks.

And Hobbs ordered it.

For the first time in a long time, Art has perfect clarity.

He sees it all now.

Callan sights in on Keller’s forehead, then his chest, then his forehead again. Make it a head shot, Scachi had told him. The narcos shoot turncoats in the head.

Art sees headlights swirl ahead of them as a car turns in the big circle in the middle of the Prado and then comes toward them. The car, a black Lincoln, stops at the east end of the bridge.

Art sees Scachi get out and open the back door. Hobbs gets out slowly, leaning heavily on his cane even as Scachi steadies him. Then Scachi walks around the back of the car and opens the other door and Nora gets out of the car gracefully, like a woman who’s used to having doors opened for her.

He feels Adan’s arm tense.

Then someone else gets out of the car and he blinks.

The man has aged. His hair is silver now, and so is his mustache. He’s thinner, but he still carries himself like an Old World gentleman.

Ever gallant, Tio takes Nora by the arm.

Adan sees her and smiles.

She looks lovely, all the more so in the soft light. It’s as if she’s gained her vitality back, her femininity. He tries to run to her but Art holds him back. It doesn’t really matter, though, because she’s coming to him.

Don’t get too close.

Is what Callan’s thinking as Nora crosses the bridge. Just get Barrera and walk back to the car. She don’t know what’s going to happen. There’s no reason to let her know. He hopes she’s back in the car by the time he has to pull the trigger.

She don’t need no more blood splattered on her.

They meet just west of the middle of the bridge.

Scachi walks ahead of the rest, comes up to Art and says, “No offense, Arthur. I need your weapon.”

Art slides his jacket back and Scachi takes his. 38 and tucks it into his own belt. Then he turns Art around, makes him lean against the bridge railing and frisks him. Finding nothing, he waves for the others to come ahead.

Art watches Tio come toward him with Nora on his arm. Like he’s walking her down the aisle, Art thinks.

Hobbs lags behind.

Tio looks at Adan’s bleeding, broken face and says to Art, “You haven’t changed any, mi sobrino.”

“I should have put one in your head when I had the chance.”

“You should have,” Tio agrees. “But you didn’t.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I came so my nephew would know he was being delivered to safety,” Tio says, “and not to be murdered. It looks as if I’m just in time.”

He hugs Adan, both hands behind his head, being careful not to get blood on his suit. “Mi sobrino, Adan, what have they done to you?”

“Tio, it’s good to see you.”

“Take the handcuffs off him, please,” Tio says.

Art steps behind Adan, takes the cuffs off and nudges him forward.

Hobbs looks at Art and says, “You’re a man of your word, Arthur. You’re a man of honor.”

Art shakes his head. “Not really, no.”

He grabs Hobbs and spins the old man in front of him as a shield, his left hand at Hobbs’ neck, the other behind his head. One twist will kill him.

Scachi pulls his gun but is afraid to shoot.

“Put the guns down, Sal, or I’ll break his fucking neck.”

“You do and I’ll kill you.”

“Okay.”

Sal lays his gun on the bridge.

“Now mine.”

Sal lays Keller’s. 38 down beside his. Then he looks up at the ridge behind Keller and nods.

Callan sees it.

He puts the crosshairs squarely on the back of Keller’s head and takes a deep breath.

Change your life.

Art says, “Nora, toss one gun over the bridge and give the other to me.”

Adan laughs.

Until Nora goes and throws one of the guns over.

“What are you doing?!” Adan yells.

She looks him square in the eye.

“I was the soplon, Adan. It was always me.”

Adan’s head snaps back. “I loved you.”

“You killed the man I loved,” Nora says. “And I never loved you.”

She hands Art the gun.

Sal looks over his shoulder and yells, “Shoot!”

Art spins to face the shooter.

Scachi pulls a second gun from his waistband and trains it on Art’s back.