F Wilson - Deep as the Marrow

“No,” Salinas said. “I do not think that will happen. You see, he did not fulfill the terms of the arrangement, therefore he cannot expect the return of his possession. Besides, it is more… how do I say?… discreet if the possession is never seen again.”

Dan closed his eyes and repeated his mantra: The big picture… forget the details… always look at the big picture…

He swallowed. “Will you be as thorough regarding the other components of the apparatus?”

“Of course. It is a small apparatus. No one will miss the parts.”

“No one must connect you or your business with it.”

“There will be no trace. How can I be connected with something that never existed?” How indeed?

Dan hung up and retched. forget the details… always look at the big picture…

How the hell did he get himself involved in this? He had to ask himself how many people at DEA hated Winston and his plan.

Easy answer: Everyone. How else do you react to someone who has condemned your career, your life’s work to extinction?

But how many had considered conspiring with the enemy to put a stop to Winston? Maybe a few. But he knew of only one with the guts, only one who cared enough about his duty and his country to follow through with it.

Daniel J. Keane.

But were his reasons so purely idealistic? He wanted to think so, but in his most honest moments, at 3:00 a.m. when he found himself wide awake and staring at the clock, his mind taunted him, whispering that he was motivated not so much by principle as by self-preservation.

He’d devoted most of his working life to the DEA. And now that he was finally in line to be administrator, Winston was planning to render the agency obsolete, and Dan’s entire career irrelevant. The DEA might continue to exist, but only as a shell, a vestigial organ, of as much consequence as the human appendix.

Had he made a deal with the Devil merely to salvage his career? No. He couldn’t accept that. He was better than that. But then another question would arise: When you join forces with the enemy, don’t you become the enemy?

But he hadn’t joined the enemy, he was only using the enemy. He had a noble goal. A goal so noble and lofty that he’d allow a child to die so that he could achieve it?

“I’ll make up for it,” he said softly. “I swear on the lives of my children and grandchildren that as soon as this is over, I will devote every waking moment of the rest of my life to hunting down Carlos Salinas and his kin and putting them away.” No doubt Salinas thought he had an ally high up in the government. He was wrong. Very wrong.

10

Carlos slammed down the handset and signaled to Llosa to turn off the tape recorder.

“Our contact has hung up. I believe I upset him. Did we get a good recording?” Llosa pulled off his headphones and gave a thumbs up.

“Excellent. Now get hold of that pendejo, MacLaglen. Tell him I must speak to him immediately.” As Llosa crossed the room to the secure phone, Carlos leaned back and closed his eyes.

Mierda! This was what he had feared. MacLaglen had not frightened the doctor enough. The federales were now involved. Which meant it was time for a quick cleanup. Get rid of the child and MacLaglen’s two helpers—kill them, bury their bodies deep where no one will ever find them. Carlos knew where a new parking lot was being paved in Alexandria. A perfect spot for disposal.

He wished he could include MacLaglen in the paved grave as originally planned, but the cabron had outmaneuvered him.

He sighed. Ah well, not so bad. MacLaglen was a professional. He was a good risk. And he’d pushed the doctor far enough to get the chloramphenicol into Thomas Winston. That was what mattered The President was entering the hospital. When that news reached home, Emilio Rojas would be pleased.

Now Carlos had to hope the medicine would do its work. Whatever happened, it was out of his hands. The doctor’s confession only meant that the cleanup would begin earlier than anticipated. This was no problem.

Llosa finished speaking into the phone and turned to face him. He spoke in Spanish. “I paged him and left a message on his voice mail. He should be getting back to us any minute.”

“You told him to call back immediately?”

“Just as you directed.”

“Very good. Follow the usual routine when he calls.” Llosa nodded and left.

And Carlos sat and wondered: Did the doctor really believe that we would not find out about him? Did he realize that he had ended his daughter’s life when he confessed? What a reckless, foolish man.

11

Poppy sweated behind her Minnie Mouse mask, doing some curls with her dumbbells in the front room while Katie watched cartoons. When she heard a car door slam out front, she glanced out the window. Her heart suddenly twisted in her chest, then took off like she’d just snorted a gram of crank.

“Oh sweet Jesus! It’s Mac!” She heard a kitchen chair fall over as Paulie bolted into the room.

“What? Where?” Panic chased her to the center of the room.

“Outside! He’s coming in!”

“Shit!”

He pointed to Katie. “Get her out of here! I’ll clean this up! Move!”

Poppy grabbed Katie under the arms, lifted her, and rushed her toward the guest room.

“What’s wrong?” Katie said. “Why are you so scared?”

Poppy placed her on the bed and shut the guest-room door. “It’s our boss. We can’t let him know that we let you walk around without your blindfold.”

“Why not? I only—” Poppy placed a finger over Katie’s lips and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Shhh. Boss’s rules. You gotta be real quiet while he’s here. Quiet like a mouse. Okay?” She stared at Poppy and matched her whisper.

“Okay.”

“Great.” Poppy hid those big blues behind the blindfold. Her shaky fingers fumbled the knot a couple of times, but finally she got it good and snug around Katie’s head.

“Okay.” She pulled off her Minnie Mouse mask. “Now lie back and let me tie up your arms.”

Katie’s lip pushed out and she sobbed. “I don’t wanna be tied up.”

Oh, Jesus, Katie, Poppy thought, biting her own lip. Don’t give me a hard time now. Not with Mac about to come through the door.

“Shhh! Please, Katie, you gotta be quiet. Remember how I said you had to be quiet like a mouse? Well, you gotta be tied up too. Boss’s rules. And he don’t like his rules broken.”

Katie sobbed again and her voice got louder. “But it hurts!” And that was when she heard the front door open, and heard Mac’s voice. She couldn’t catch the words, but it was him.

Oh, Jesus, don’t let him come in here yet. Just give me another half a minute.

“Okay, okay. I’ll tie you real loose, okay? It won’t hurt, I promise you, but you gotta look like you’re tied up, see? Boss’s rules, remember? You don’t want to get me in trouble, do you?”

She shook her head. “No…”

“Okay, then. Quick now. Lie back and let me do what I gotta do, and I promise you, it won’t hurt.”

Katie sniffled a little, but stretched herself out on the bed and put her hands out to be tied.

“You’re a good little soldier,” Poppy whispered.

But now her bad case of fumble fingers had got even worse. She could barely hold the cord, but somehow she got it twisted into things that looked like knots.

“Okay. You’re tied. Do they hurt?”

Katie shook her head.

“Great. Now I’ll just—” Poppy glanced at Katie’s feet. Her heart had been racing since she spotted Mac’s Jeep outside, but now it kicked up to light speed. Katie’s left foot was in a little white sock, but the right one was… bare!

“Jesus, where’s your bandage?”

Katie wiggled her five exposed toes. “I guess it fell off.”