The Rules of Silence

by David Lindsey

  During all of this, the radio and telephone traffic between Burden and Kal and the others at the guest house was continuous. Rita Cain was watching the LorGuides with them, but she didn't have access to the audio transmissions. Whatever she understood about what was happening she had to piece together from only one side of the conversation. And they were being careful about what they were allowing her to hear.

  In Burden's van all eyes were on the LorGuides, watching the Navigator as it sped down the highway with its blips from the moles on Titus and on Macias's bodyguard, who Titus had tagged the night before.

  When the Navigator slowed as it approached the Highway 2222 exit, and then turned and headed toward the city, Burden said, “Oh, shit.”

  Norlin leaned in close to the monitor. “I don't believe this.”

  Calò, driving the chase car, saw it, too. “What do I do, García?”

  “Just keep your distance—and wait.”

  Burden snatched his phone and started dialing the cell number of the man he had left on the shore below Luquín's safe house. The phone rang and rang and rang.

  “There's no way he's going to answer, ”Burden said. “He's going to think the call is to wave him off for some reason, and he's waited too long for this.”

  Then he started dialing Titus's cell phone, knowing that Macias had surely taken it away from him. No answer. That wasn't a surprise, either. They could only stare in stunned silence as the two signals closed the distance between them and Luquín's house.

  “Why the hell's he going back? ”Norlin asked.

  “He's left something, ”Burden said. “It's got to be that. Information, probably, that he can't let get away from him.”

  “Jesus, ”Norlin said. “You've got to get somebody over there.”

  “There's no one left.”

  “Calò's behind them.”

  “He's got a LorGuide in his car, and I'm going to need him out there in the dark if they leave. Baas is headed to the airstrip with the body of the other guard in Titus's Rover. Your people are holding their surveillance van, waiting to hear from us, and besides, they're not trained for what they might encounter when they get there. Tito and Cope are headed to the airstrip with the bodies of the guys from the Pathfinder. Cope could pull away, but he's already fifty minutes out, at least.”

  “What about one of the guys at Cain's house?”

  “I'm not taking a single gun away from Cain's wife.”

  The inside of the van was hot from the heavy load of humming electronics. It was cramped, and everyone was sweating.

  “What's going to happen to her if you pull off one of those guards? ”Norlin said.

  “I wouldn't send just one over there, and if I send two, then that leaves only one with Rita.”

  “Look, everybody's dead anyway. Who's left to go after her?”

  “Where's the guy who took the pictures? ”Burden asked. He waited for Norlin's answer, just for emphasis. “The guy didn't figure into our body count for the planning. I'm just not taking any chances with that one.”

  Norlin said, “You just going to let whatever—”

  “That's right, ”Burden interrupted stoically. “There's nothing we can do about it. We wait it out. Cain'll just have to take his chances.”

  The van pulled to the side of the highway near the Highway 2222 exit and stopped.

  The silence in the guest house changed. Rita had seen Titus's signal leave the restaurant, too, and she had managed to keep quiet. Her personal anxieties aside, she knew perfectly well that she could unwittingly misinterpret anything she might see. She knew that a lot of it wouldn't make sense to her and that her instincts wouldn't serve her well, that they would even be counterintuitive to the circumstances.

  But when she saw Titus's signal leave La Terrazza with the signal of one of Luquín's people, a signal that she knew Titus himself was responsible for planting, she began to feel as if her own restraint would cause her to explode.

  “I want to talk to García, ”she said. She didn't yell. Her voice didn't quiver. There were no histrionics. But everyone in the room turned and looked at her.

  “Any problem with that? ”she asked calmly. But it was the calmness you reached when you've traveled to the other side of drama. It was the calmness of unshakable determination, and everyone knew it instantly.

  “Uh, ”Herrin said, and looked at Kal.

  “Here, you can use these, ”Kal said, offering a set of headphones that she had not been allowed to use earlier.

  “I want a private conversation with him, ”she said.

  Herrin gaped at her again.

  “I mean, you're all listening to each other on those, aren't you? ”she asked.

  “Yeah, ”Kal said, wishing he didn't have to admit it.

  “Well, I want a private conversation with him.”

  “Look, ”Kal said, “he's right in the middle—”

  “You're not saying no, are you? ”Rita asked. She had stood up from the chair where she'd been sitting.

  “What I'm saying is, ”Kal responded, “that I'll ask him if that's something he can do right now.”

  “You do that.”

  Kal put his headphones back on, bent his head, and walked away from the group, talking in a low voice. They all waited, concentrating on the screens or just about anything else. All except Janet, who was looking at Rita with the beginnings of a bemused smile on her mouth.

  Kal turned and reached into his pocket and took out a cell phone.

  “Push talk, ”he said, handing it to Rita.

  Rita took it and walked to the other side of the room. She wanted to go outside to the patio, but she knew that wouldn't be allowed.

  “Yeah, ”Burden said.

  “What's happening?”

  “Titus and Macias are still talking.”

  “That doesn't tell me what's happening.”

  “It looks like Macias is on to us. He's holding Titus until he can get a guarantee that we'll let him go.”

  “And then what?”

  “He's agreed to leave Titus with the Navigator and talking on a cell phone as proof to us he's alive, and while that's happening he drives away and we let him go.”

  She could tell by his voice that he was being deliberately blunt with her. She wanted to play it straight? He'd play it straight.

  “And where are they now?”

  “They went to the place where Macias was staying with Luquín.”

  “Why?”

  “We think Macias wants to recover some stuff he doesn't want to get away from him before he makes his escape.”

  “Macias doesn't know that you were going to kill Luquín, does he.”

  “Yeah, he does now.”

  “Is Luquín dead?”

  “We don't know.”

  She couldn't believe what she was hearing. “And what are you doing about this?”

  “Not much we can do. We're just waiting so Macias can do his stuff and then leave Titus somewhere with the Navigator like he's supposed to do.”

  “Supposed to do, ”she said. It made her heart crawl right up into her throat. “Supposed ”had never carried so much import, had never sounded so flimsy and menacing.

  “I can't sit here and watch this, ”she said. “We know exactly where Titus is, don't we?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I want to be as close as I can get to him.”

  “You are as close as you can get to him.”

  “Not as close as you.”

  Silence.

  “You're staying as close as you can, right? ”she continued, pressing her point, “without endangering Titus's life, without screwing up the situation?”

  Silence.

  “Then I want to be where you are.”

  “Impossible.”

  There was a moment when neither of them spoke, and Rita swallowed the bile in her throat and smothered the rage in her head. But she resisted the temptation to give in to her gut instincts. She had seen enough of how Burden operated to
know the behavior he exhibited himself and probably respected. If she was going to get what she wanted, she had to meet him where he lived.

  “Let me tell you what's impossible, ”she said with the kind of evenness under duress that Burden himself was known for. “I'm not a fool. I know that you can't guarantee Titus's life and safety. This isn't your nightmare. It's ours.

  “But … if anything happens to him, and I'm not as close to him as reasonably feasible, then … it's impossible that I will keep my mouth shut about all of this. If anything happens to that man, and I am not as close to him as you are capable of getting me … then it's impossible that I will not drag you and whoever's behind you through the media for years . If I'm forced to sit here and watch my husband's death—if that's what it comes to—as if it were a goddamned video game … then it's impossible that you will ever again know the anonymity that you're so damned proud of.”

  She paused.

  “And yes, ”she added, “I remember your threats—rather, your good counsel, your cautionary word. And no, I'm not intimidated.”

  She stopped. There was silence in the room behind her and silence on the other end of the cell phone. Her anger had scorched her face, and she could feel it burning.

  “Give the phone to Kal, ”Burden said.

  She started to go on, to say, Well, what the hell are you going to do, then? But then she realized that she had said all that she had meant to say, and she had meant all that she had said. He had better believe that.

  She turned around and held the phone out to Kal across the room. He came over and took it and turned his back to her as she stood right there while he said, Yeah, and, Yeah, and, Okay, and, Got it.

  He turned around, pocketing his phone as he looked at her.

  “Come on, ”he said.

  Chapter 54

  Titus could almost hear Macias thinking. The headlights of the Navigator panned over the cliffs and hillsides as they twisted their way through the hills toward the city. To their left they could see the lights of the houses close and high above them on the dark hillsides. To their right they caught glimpses of the river far below them and the lights of the homes on the broad, upward-sloping valley on the other side, where Titus lived and Rita waited anxiously for him.

  Following Macias's directions, they turned off and slipped down into the escarpment that led to a lower level of cliffs above the river. The dark streets twisted back upon themselves and were crowded with houses set close together and nestled into dense woods. Macias directed Titus back and forth on the streets while Macias and the bodyguard kept up a staccato exchange in Spanish. They seemed to be evaluating the feasibility of stopping at one of the houses, which Titus realized they must have driven past several times now. He could see from glimpsing between the houses that these homes were on the cliff high above the river.

  Was this where Luquín had been staying?

  “Do you know anything about how they were going to deal with Luquín? ”Macias asked. “Don't lie to me.”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Shit! ”Pause. “Pull over.”

  Titus stopped. They were looking at the house two houses up and on the right.

  “Luquín is in there, ”Macias said. “I've left a computer notebook in there. I might as well be dead now if I have to leave without it. ”He thought a moment. “They were going to kill him.”

  “Yes.”

  “And then what?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Shit shit shitshitshit, ”Macias was muttering.

  “Look, ”Titus said, “I do know that … well, this guy, Lender, his big deal is, you know, leaving no trace … that anything had ever happened. If Luquín is killed, I doubt they would do it in there if they could help it. They're going to want to leave the house clean, without any sign of anything having gone wrong.”

  Silence.

  “What's this guy's name again?”

  “Lender.”

  Macias said nothing, but he was thinking about this. He said something in Spanish to the bodyguard. They talked. More silence. “Vamos a ver, ” Macias said, and then to Titus, “We're going in.”

  Titus put the Navigator in gear, and they eased along the street and pulled into the driveway. The driveway to the garage was protected from the street by a high hedge, and when they rounded the corner they saw the black Navigator in the driveway.

  Macias swore. “Stop!”

  He and the bodyguard talked in Spanish some more, now whispering illogically.

  “Go on in and park, ”Macias said.

  Titus pulled up beside the other Navigator and cut the motor.

  “Get out, ”Macias said.

  They left the doors ajar, and the bodyguard started toward the front porch with his pistol ready at his side. They passed a knee-high privet hedge with Titus in between the two men.

  Suddenly the bodyguard hissed loudly. He looked back at Macias. “Lo hicieron, ” he whispered, and gestured at a lawn chair where a man was sprawled awkwardly, his head hanging back over the chair. “Rulfo, ”he said.

  Titus began to feel that strange, unreal humming sensation again. He couldn't believe he was doing this. He wondered what Burden and the others were thinking as they watched his mole sensor at Luquín's clifftop house. Were they sending help? Was there going to be a shoot-out after all, despite everyone's elaborate efforts to maintain silence?

  The bodyguard put his hand on the doorknob of the front door and twisted it slowly. He pushed carefully. The door eased open, and he followed it in as if he were part of it. Macias nudged Titus forward with his pistol. The bodyguard looked toward the pale flickering light that came from the room just off the main hallway. Television. Lots of light, big screen. The moment Macias cleared the front door, the bodyguard stopped again. He turned around and looked past Titus at Macias behind him and pointed to the hallway floor. Another dead man. Instinctively all three of them waited, listening.

  Nothing. Apparently the volume was off on the television.

  Wait. From the far side of the family room, water started running. The kitchen. The sound of the water in the sink would create a kind of white noise for the person standing there, so the bodyguard made a quick move to get across the opening into the family room, past the body in the hallway, and to the next opening that came into the back of the family room, nearer the kitchen.

  Titus's underarms were slick with perspiration, and suddenly he caught the odor of feces. Feces? He looked at Macias, whose eyes were fixed on his bodyguard as if he were the canary in the coal mine. The bodyguard motioned: One man.

  With that information, Macias urged Titus forward into the first opening at the same moment that the bodyguard stepped into the other one. At that instant, both Titus and Macias looked toward the bodyguard for another cue, but the man was stone still, looking around frantically. When he'd turned back after motioning to Macias, he'd lost his man.

  Fear defined him in that moment, and Titus knew that he knew that he was going to die. The only sound was the dull smack! of the slug hitting his forehead and blowing out the back of his skull, a sound weirdly soft and out of proportion to the sight of his head being flung back violently with a neckpopping velocity that knocked him off his feet. And because his head seemed to recoil at an angle, it was difficult to tell which direction the shot had come from.

  Titus went cold. The inexplicable physics of what he'd just seen added to the weirdness of the fact that he was even there.

  Then a figure like a demon stood up from behind the sofa, naked, his body smeared with muddy brown and fecal green (a stunning confusion with reality), his hair spiky wild. Titus didn't really understand what he was looking at, and he didn't understand the compression of time, but before either he or Macias could react, the man was holding a small gun to Macias's forehead as he took his automatic away from him and tossed it aside on the floor.

  “Who are you? ”he asked Titus. Hispanic accent. His eyes were calm but tortured, red rimmed. The whites wer
e very white.

  Titus couldn't speak. He smelled the body paint now. And something else, too. There was blood all over the demon, and the odor of it was thick and sweet. Titus could hardly believe his senses. This man-thing wasn't big, but the intensity of its presence was scintillating.

  “Who are you? ”he asked Macias. He reached around with his left arm and cradled the back of Macias's head with his hand so that his right hand could press the barrel of his strange-looking pistol to Macias's forehead with what must have been a painful force.

  “Jorge Macias.”

  “We're supposed to be alone here, ”the demon said. “Why are you here?”

  “I came to get a computer, ”Macias said with an honesty that seemed childishly absurd.

  “Is that all you want?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where is it?”

  Macias carefully raised a hand and pointed to the dining room table a few feet from Titus.

  “Get it, ”the demon said to Titus. “Yes. Yes. Go get it.”

  Titus went to the table and closed the notebook. It was plugged in. As he was unplugging it, he looked down and saw photographs scattered on the table. They were of various sizes, some in black and white, some in color, some yellowed and limp with age. The images were horrific; a little girl of ten or eleven in various acts of sexual intercourse with men, sometimes several men. Bruises were clearly visible on her little body, which hadn't yet begun to take on the contours of puberty.

  Titus struggled with a memory, a recognition. A child … what did he know about a child? Jesus Christ! He remembered … Burden had told him a harrowing story about Luquín … and a little girl … and her father. Artemio. Ospina.

  He looked around at the man, who was still holding Macias's head wedged between his gun barrel and his hand, and he was looking at Titus. What the hell was going on here?

  Something else caught Titus's eye. A cell phone on the table was ringing. The sound was turned off, but a red light stuttered … stuttered … stuttered.

  “Is this your phone?”

  The man said nothing.

  “It's ringing, ”Titus said.

  “Yes, I know.”

  Titus's phone rang in Macias's pocket.