Greg Iles - The Devils Punchbowl

from the deep pocket of his robe, touches a hissing jet of butane to the tobacco, and draws deeply. An acrid scent fills the room.

“Mr. Mayor,” he says, exhaling purplish blue smoke. “Did you know that when you line people up in front of a pit to shoot them, ninety-nine out of a hundred kneel meekly and wait for the bullet?”

Jiao’s eyes remain on me; Sands’s bizarre question seems not to have shocked her, or even registered at all.

Sands exhales the rest of the smoke, then leans his chair back on two legs, which creak under his weight. “Down the line walks the executioner. The shots grow louder, the bodies fall, but still the prisoners wait their turn. It’s beyond me, really, but that’s human nature. Once in a while, though, you get a man—or a woman—who won'’t wait. Sometimes they run, or leap into the pit after someone they knew. But rarest of all is the man who turns and fights. He hasn’'t a gun or a knife or even a club, but when he hears those shots getting closer, something in him knots tight and says, ‘By God, I'’ll not go down like that,’ and he turns with his teeth bared and his nails raking and goes for the man come to kill him.” Sands grins. “I’'ve cheered those bastards every time.”

Jiao watches me with grave attention.

“Is there a point to this story?” I ask.

Smoke drifts up from the tip of Sands’s cigarette, and his eyes smolder with apparent fascination. “You know there is, mate. That'’s

you.

You’re the one in a hundred. Jessup was a fool, but you’re a bloody scrapper.”

Holding Annie’s face in my mind’s eye, I stare back with impassive eyes, as though Sands has shot far wide of the mark. “I used to be that guy,” I say with seeming reluctance. “And in the right circumstances—given something worth fighting for, like my family—I still would be. But this is about money. I have all the money I need. If I lose it, I can earn more. I already lost my wife to cancer, okay? I can’t replace my little girl.”

Sands’s eyes narrow, but he says nothing. Jiao turns to him as though for help in understanding some obscure mammal, but Sands suddenly slaps his knee and laughs out loud. Behind me, Quinn permits himself a chuckle. Still laughing, Sands points at me as if to say,

Listen to this guy. Isn’t he something?

“Why don'’t you let me in on the joke?”

Sands is belly-laughing now, even though his laughter seems to annoy Jiao.

“I too am confused,” she says finally.

Sands wipes his eyes on the sleeve of his robe, then sets down the front legs of the chair, leans forward, and points a thick forefinger at me. “You can’t fool me, Cage. Go on! You’ve made a career out of sticking your nose into other people’s business. You’re coming after me. Of course you are. I should have seen it last night. You never even had a choice. It’s your nature.”

“Is this true?” Jiao asks, her translucent eyes on me.

“Course it is,” says Sands. “That'’s why he sent his kid out of town. And his sainted mother.”

“I told you why I did that.”

“Bollocks! Whoever picked up your kid blew through this town like the fuckin’ Secret Service. They iced Quinn’s men like they were corner boys. If you wanted out of this town, you’d be

gone.

But you’re still here, aren'’t you?”

I shrug. “This is the biggest weekend of the year for the city. I have obligations.”

Sands pulls a mocking face. “I thought you didn't care about the job.”

“I'm still a man of my word.”

“My point exactly. You must have taken an oath when they swore you in. I'’ll have to get a copy of that.” Sands’s levity disappears like bubbles in a tube of blood. “Who got your women out of town, Mr. Mayor? The FBI?”

I shake my head. “No. Those men work for a private security company I’'ve dealt with in the past. They have no government or law enforcement connection whatever. They’ll guard anybody for the right price. Even you.”

Jiao rises silently and takes two steps toward me. A scent like warm caramel reaches my nostrils. “Please do not involve yourself in our business. I can see that you care about your family. It would be unfortunate for everyone if you allowed your priorities to become confused.”

“I haven'’t,” I tell her, trying to blot out the memory of Tim’s mutilated corpse. “I promise you that.”

“We very much want our property back.”

Yeah, I got that.

With her feline gaze still on my face, Jiao reaches out and takes hold of my hand. Then she looks down, turns my palm up, and traces out the lines that curve across my skin. Her exotic face becomes somber, as though a cloud has passed over a terra-cotta figure. She looks over her shoulder at Sands, then back at me. I try to penetrate the blue-green portals of her eyes, but I can’t. At last she drops my hand, murmurs something softly in a foreign language, then leaves by the same door she entered through.

“What was that about?” I ask.

Sands raises his eyebrows. “Who knows? I'm guessing she saw something linking the two of us. Or thinks she did, anyway.”

“What did she say?”

“I have no idea. Nor do I give a fuck.” With his flint-hard eyes on me, the Irishman stubs out his cigarette, then lights another, drawing deeply. When he leans forward and speaks, exhaling smoke with every word, I'm reminded of how Tim characterized him in the cemetery. “Listen to me, mate. I’'ve done things for kicks you wouldn'’t do to save your own life. I’'ve lived in places where nightmares are scenery, killed too many people to remember. Man, woman, child—it makes no difference. After you'’ve gone where I have, you understand: There are no civilians. Not on this stinking planet. Now, I gave you the rules last night. You cross me, I act—immediately and irrevocably.”

“I haven'’t crossed you. I’'ve only done what any father would do.”

“Father,” Sands echoes thoughtfully. “I suppose

your

father could serve as de facto hostage for now. While we see where you really stand.”

“I can live with that,” I say with apparent resignation, even as my heart begins to race. “You don'’t mean as a prisoner?”

Quinn laughs behind me.

“No need for that,” says Sands. “We know where to find him.”

“All right. Look—”

“Tell him about the USB drive,” Sands says.

“Jessup made a copy of the DVD he stole,” Quinn says. “Part of it, anyway. He made it while he was still on the boat. We need you to find that too.”

“Why didn't you tell me that last night?”

“We didn't know last night, did we?” Quinn says angrily. “We’'ve been going over the computer logs, and we just found it. He copied nearly two gigabytes of data from the DVD drive to something attached to a USB port. It was probably a thumb drive, but we don'’t know. You just keep your fucking eyes peeled.”

Real exasperation enters my voice. “How am I supposed to find this stuff? I don'’t even know what I'm looking for. How do you know he didn't e-mail a copy of the data to a dozen people?”

Sands shakes his head slowly. “He couldn'’t access the Internet from where he was. It would have set off an alarm.”

“Plus there’s no record of that in the logs,” Quinn says.

“He could have done it from his car, couldn'’t he? From a notebook computer.”

“If he had done, he would have e-mailed it to

you.

Do you have my property, Mr. Mayor?”

“No!”

“Then stop worrying about things we’re not worried about.”

“Okay. Fine. If that’s all, I have somewhere to be.”

Sands looks at his watch. “The first race? You’ve already missed it.”

“I should still make an appearance.”

The Irishman makes a clucking sound with his tongue. “What you

should