by Sam Hawken
Guadarrama shook his head. ‘Jack, those girls are both dead.’
Jack sagged against the chair and a wall of black rushed up at him from a dark undercurrent in the vaults of his mind. His ears filled with the sound of his rushing blood. The room tilted on its axis and only steadied when he forced it to. Guadarrama was watching him. He did not want his face to betray him.
Marina. Marina.
Jack’s mouth felt mushy and words were difficult to form. ‘I don’t believe you,’ he managed. ‘You have no proof.’
‘I don’t have to have proof,’ Guadarrama said. ‘I know the Zetas better than anyone, and I can tell you that they are not alive. águila killed them.’
‘It’s not true.’
‘Then tell me, Jack: where are they? Where did they go?’
‘I’m going to find out.’
‘You’re going to get the truth from águila,’ Guadarrama said.
‘I will.’
‘And how will you get the truth from him if you can’t find him? Do you think it’s so easy to track down a man like águila?’ Guadarrama bent low to catch Jack’s eye. ‘águila will not be found unless he wants to be found. And he does not.’
‘What do you know about águila?’ Gonzalo asked.
‘What do you want to know? His age? His favorite color?’
‘You know where to find him.’
Guadarrama nudged Jack on the shoulder. ‘You should listen to your friend. He’s turning out to be smarter and smarter.’
Jack looked at Guadarrama. The terrible pressure in his chest was fading. ‘Is it true?’
‘Yes, it’s true. I don’t know where he is this very minute, but I do know where he will be in three days. That’s almost as good, don’t you think?’
‘Tell me,’ Jack said.
‘Even if I tell you, what makes you think you’ll be able to do anything about it?’ Guadarrama asked. ‘You are our prisoner. All it takes is one word and you’re gone forever. No one will ever know you were here.’
‘You brought me here because of águila,’ Jack said. ‘You wanted me to know.’
‘On one condition,’ Guadarrama said. ‘You must kill him.’
‘I have to know the truth from him first.’
‘I told you the truth: those girls are gone. All that’s left to you is revenge against the man who took them. Is this what you want?’
It hurt less the second time he said it, like a phantom pain reawakened. He paused. ‘Yes, it’s what I want.’
Guadarrama moved very close to Jack. ‘If I tell you what you want to know, then I must know that you will finish the job. águila dies. No matter what else, he dies. Otherwise we will bring you back here and we will make another film. We will have to use the plastic.’
Jack did not look away. ‘Just point me at him.’
FOURTEEN
THEY RODE WITH THE BAGS OVER THEIR heads, but this time in a seat behind the driver. Jack could feel the cool of the air conditioner venting against him, Gonzalo at his side, an unseen man on the other. Guadarrama was not with them. That much he knew for certain, because Guadarrama had said goodbye and buena suerte after they were hooded and marched out of the house. Jack knew he would never see Guadarrama again.
On the drive he turned Guadarrama’s words over and over again in his mind. The things he had said and the things unspoken. He still felt the heartbreak, but it was tempered by a festering anger. Already that anger had boiled over and consumed Guadalupe and Fregoso. Now he would turn it on águila, but only if he knew the truth.
The SUV rolled onto gravelly, pitted ground and Jack heard a snatch of music from outside the closed windows. They were back in Boys’ Town. ‘Get ready,’ said one unseen man to another.
Now the truck slowed to a stop and the doors were thrown open. Jack was caught by the arm and hustled out into the evening air. It felt dry and hot after the air conditioning, though in the night the land cooled. Jack was turned around roughly and he felt a key being applied to his cuffs. His hands fell free. The bag was slipped off his head. ‘Don’t watch us go,’ said a voice in his ear.
Jack heard the doors slam and the SUV accelerated away. He waited until the sound of its big engine faded completely before he looked to Gonzalo and dared turn toward the street. They were in the open space where they had first been taken. They were alone.
‘Are you all right?’ Gonzalo asked.
‘I’ll be fine,’ Jack said, and he rubbed his wrists. They were raw.
‘I thought it… I thought it was all over,’ Gonzalo said, and he put his hands on his knees and wavered.
Jack put his hand on Gonzalo’s back. ‘Hey, hey, hey. Don’t pass out on me now. We made it. We’re alive.’
‘You don’t know how close we came, Jack.’
‘I know,’ Jack said. He looked north and then east. Some of the cantinas were closed. He checked his phone and saw that it was nearly four o’clock in the morning. He also saw that he had eight missed calls and a handful of messages. He left those alone.
Down the street, a pair of figures moved slowly through the cast illumination of a lone streetlight, supporting each other. From a distance, Jack and Gonzalo must have looked very much the same.
Gonzalo straightened slowly, though he was unsteady on his feet. ‘We have to get out of here,’ he said.
‘They’re not coming back,’ Jack said.
‘It is not them that I’m worried about. If the Golfos know so much about us, Jack, then the Zetas know, too. The only thing we can know for certain is that they haven’t found us yet, but that will change. They could be watching my apartment now. They could be watching the ways to the border.’
‘I’m not going to run,’ Jack said. ‘We know where águila is going to be. He’s gonna tell me the truth.’
‘Do you really believe that, Jack?’
‘You don’t?’
Gonzalo dropped his gaze. ‘I don’t know what to believe. The Golfos have no reason to lie. If they say the girls are dead then you have to at least consider the possibility that they are dead.’
‘They are not dead!’ Jack shot back.
‘Jack—’
‘Guadalupe sold them to águila. He brought them here. Right here. How many places are there to hide in Boys’ Town? Marina could be a hundred feet from where I’m standing right now, and she’s alone and she’s scared, but she knows I’m looking for her. I’m looking for her! And if that son of a bitch won’t tell me where he took her then I’ll do him worse than I did either of those two scumbags I killed already. Do you hear me?’
Gonzalo was quiet. ‘I hear you.’
‘We’ll stay at Bernardo’s house tonight. Tomorrow you can swing by your apartment and see if anyone’s put a watch on it. We just have to wait now. Three days.’
‘Jack…’ Gonzalo said.
‘What?’
‘Nothing. Let’s go.’
They trudged up the unpaved thoroughfare. Many of the cribs were closed up, the prostitutes having finished their working hours. A few places were still open, but soon they would close and Boys’ Town would be a dead zone.
Gonzalo’s car was where they had left it, though the spaces along the road were bare. Jack rode shotgun and Gonzalo got behind the wheel. It took three tries for the engine to catch, but finally it did and they pulled away from a shuttered strip club and turned up the street.
Jack watched the police station as they went by. At this hour it was as still as it had been at the height of the evening. Maybe it was empty. Maybe that was all policing meant in Mexico: empty buildings, empty uniforms to be filled up with whatever happened along. He felt a spasm of anger toward Guadalupe and Fregoso, but they were gone now and would never wear a badge again. A part of him felt he should be remorseful for that, but he wasn’t and that would have to do.
‘Let’s have a little music,’ Jack said.
‘My radio is broken,’ Gonzalo said.
‘Of course it is.’
FIFTEEN
‘Coffee?’ Jack asked Gonzalo.
‘Please.’
‘I’m making eggs and they have some bacon left.’
For a while they ate without talking, but finally Gonzalo spoke. ‘It would be best if you stayed here, out of sight,’ he said. ‘The less you are seen in public, the less chance for something to happen.’
‘You mean the less chance one of the Zetas will try to kill me.’
‘As you say.’
‘When do you want to get in touch again?’
‘We have three days,’ Gonzalo said. ‘There is no hurry.’
Gonzalo got up and Jack watched him. ‘You’re sticking with me on this, aren’t you?’ Jack asked.
‘Of course.’
‘It’s just that I’m getting the feeling you’d rather call it quits.’
Gonzalo did not look at him. ‘After what happened last night, I think you can forgive me. To be taken by narcos…’
‘We made it out all right.’
‘That was good luck, not good planning,’ Gonzalo said. ‘If it had been águila’s men who took us from the street, we would not be having this conversation. They would have found us hanging from an overpass. If we had all our arms and legs it would be a miracle.’
‘The Golfos have our back,’ Jack said.
‘The Golfos are using you to get something they want for free,’ Gonzalo returned. ‘If you kill águila then it’s a win for them. If he kills you, they lose nothing and can try again. They did not help you out of the kindness of their hearts. It’s a joke to them. A game.’
‘It’s not a joke to me,’ Jack said.
‘That’s exactly why they find it funny.’
Gonzalo left the kitchen and Jack followed. ‘You know, I don’t care why they did what they did. I’ll be glad to kill águila. If that makes me a stooge then I guess it makes me a stooge.’
‘Goodbye, Jack.’
‘Goddamn it, don’t you walk out of here like this!’ Jack shouted. He still held his plate in his hand and he gestured with it violently, as if he was going to smash it onto the floor. ‘The Golfos gave me a gift and I’m gonna use it!’
Gonzalo turned on him. ‘Fine, Jack! We’ll do it, then! We’ll go get águila and we’ll find your stepdaughter and everything will be perfect again! Then you get to go back to Texas with everything you want and I have to remain here with the consequences.’
‘Are you afraid? Is that what it is?’
‘Of course I’m afraid! I’m terrified! Were you not there last night? You listened to everything they said, but you heard nothing. You are convinced that everything will turn out exactly as you believe it will, but wishing does not make it so, Jack. Wishing does not make it so.’
‘Then why are you even helping me?’ Jack demanded. ‘And don’t give me any of that bullshit about how Mexicans have to look out for each other! I’m not a Mexican and you’re not obliged to me for anything.’
‘Because—’ Gonzalo cut himself off. His hands moved in front of him as if he were tussling with his own words. ‘You don’t know what it’s like, Jack. You live in Laredo and you read about us in the news, but you don’t know. I want things to turn out the way you want them to. I want to find your stepdaughter and her cousin and I want there to be peace for one family for once. Instead we get this.’ Gonzalo pointed to the floor where the dried blood had pooled and the lonely flyer, sodden through, pasted to the vinyl tiles.
The anger left Jack. He held the plate between his two hands, suddenly ashamed of his fury. His face flushed. ‘It’s going to happen,’ he said quietly. ‘We’re gonna have a happy ending.’
‘It’s already too late for that,’ Gonzalo said, and his voice was bleak. He turned away.
‘Gonzalo, we’re going to make this work,’ Jack called after him. ‘Somehow we’ll make it work.’
Gonzalo raised his hand in farewell, but he said nothing and he did not look back. He passed through the broken front door of Bernardo’s house. He pulled it shut behind him.
SIXTEEN
ASTRIDENT KNOCKING AT HIS APARTMENT door stirred Gonzalo out of sleep instantly. He reached for his gun on the bed stand and felt immediate relief when it came into his hand. He sat up, waiting, and then the knocking came again.
Gonzalo slipped from the bedroom into the front room and to the door. He pressed his eye up against the peephole. Framed in the circle of glass was Lieutenant Casiano.
He hid the gun under the cushions of the couch and called, ‘I’m coming!’
When he opened the door he saw that Casiano was alone. The man looked at Gonzalo in his shorts and T-shirt and a little smile tugged at his lips. ‘Sleeping in?’ he asked.
Gonzalo did not even know the time. ‘I don’t have anything else to do,’ he said.
‘Now you do. Captain Alvares would like to see you.’
‘What about?’
‘May I come in?’
‘Of course,’ Gonzalo said, and he stepped back to allow Casiano into the apartment. The lieutenant looked very neat in the messiness of the front room and Gonzalo was embarrassed. ‘I should get dressed,’ he said.
‘A good idea.’
Gonzalo retreated to the bedroom and put on his working clothes, the slacks and the jacket over shirtsleeves. He put on a green tie. In the bathroom he washed his face and dragged wet fingers through his hair to make himself presentable. When he returned to Casiano, he found the lieutenant still standing where he had been before. ‘I’m ready,’ Gonzalo said.
‘Follow me.’
Casiano had come to his door alone, but he was not on his own. Parked on the street level was a Humvee with a mounted gun. Casiano opened the rear door and motioned Gonzalo in. Gonzalo obeyed. Casiano got in the front just ahead of him. The legs of the soldier on the gun came down between the rear seats.
They drove away. The Humvee had an incredibly stiff suspension and every ripple and gouge in the road translated directly through the wheels into Gonzalo’s tailbone. The man on the gun swiveled his weapon left and right, crowding Gonzalo when he turned so that he was pressed against the door.
‘You didn’t say what this was all about,’ Gonzalo said to Casiano.
‘There have been some new developments. The captain wants you to be aware of them.’
With that, Casiano said no more. The ride was hot and grew no smoother until finally they were in El Centro and the police station came into view. Beyond the barricades the Humvee’s brakes grated and the big vehicle slowed to a stop.
Casiano was out of his seat and holding the door for Gonzalo before Gonzalo could even touch the handle, as if this were a limousine and Casiano his driver. Gonzalo felt guilty for asking questions at all.
He found Captain Alvares where he always did, though his desk was not so clean anymore and the paperwork had seemed to accumulate into a solid wall that threatened to overtake the small working space the man had left. Alvares rose to shake his hand and offered him a seat. ‘It’s good to see you,’ he said.
‘I’m not sure why I’m here,’ Gonzalo said.
‘It’s good news,’ Alvares replied. ‘You will be happy to know that I have expedited your processing. You’re at the top of the list for testing and retraining. Also, I have been authorized to offer you a small stipend. It is not a replacement for a full salary, but it is at least something.’
Gonzalo sat with his hands in his lap. ‘Why me? What did I do?’
‘You impressed me. I passed that on to my superiors.’
‘I did very little. Only what you allowed me to do.’
‘There is also this,’ Alvares said, and he handed a thin folder over the wall. ‘Look.’
Gonzalo opened the folder. When he looked inside he nearly dropped it. A sheaf of ph
otographs spilled out onto the floor. He hurried to gather them up, but the first image was seared into his brain: Guadalupe, bound with duct tape around the legs, arms secured behind his back, his torso a mass of blood out of which the handle of a knife protruded.
There were other pictures. Fregoso in his bed with a gunshot wound over his brow, the pillow beneath his head sodden. Gonzalo closed the folder. ‘Guadalupe and Fregoso,’ he said thickly.
‘Yes. Killed. Their bodies were reported yesterday. Guadalupe was partially mutilated.’
‘Any suspects?’ Gonzalo asked.
‘Narcos, of course. This man águila you were talking about. He must have found out that you had been questioning Guadalupe and disposed of him. The same for his partner. You were right to suspect them of corruption. Now they are no longer this city’s problem.’
Gonzalo swallowed. ‘I’m not sure I can take credit for something the narcos did.’
‘You smoked them out.’
‘But I didn’t find the girls.’
‘Yes, there is that,’ Alvares said, and his face fell. ‘Now we’ll never know.’
Gonzalo handed the folder back to Alvares. The captain put it away.
‘Thank you for your confidence in me, Capitán,’ Gonzalo said. ‘I hope I won’t disappoint you.’
‘If you play your cards right, you’ll be the first Municipal Police officer returned to duty. That will make all the difference in your future career. And you’ll have my personal recommendation.’
‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘Tell me that when you’re back to work you’ll help me find this águila. We have two murders to pin on him and two disappearances. And who’s to say what else he has done?’
‘I’ll be happy to go after him,’ Gonzalo said.
‘It’s good to be on the right side of the law,’ Alvares said. ‘Guadalupe and Fregoso learned what it’s like to be on the wrong one.’
Gonzalo dried his palms on his pants legs. ‘Yes, sir,’ he said. ‘They did.’
SEVENTEEN
THE PHONE RANG. IT WAS GONZALO. ‘I was wondering when you were going to call,’ Jack said.