Suddenly, after an agonizingly long silence, Titus's signal moved out of the house.
“Unbelievable. ”Norlin was on the edge of his chair, his neck craning toward the screen.
“The bodyguard's signal's not moving, ”a technician said.
“You think they killed him? ”asked the other one.
Burden gazed at the screens, ignoring their questions.
“You think Cain is alone? ”Norlin asked.
Burden punched the send call on his cell and waited. No answer. He shook his head. “No, he's not alone.”
The blip made its way through the neighborhood and then turned left at Highway 2222 and headed west.
“Coming our way, ”said a technician.
“We've got a choice, ”Burden said to no one in particular, thinking out loud. “Macias has an escape plan. Always. Just for him. Whatever it is, he's headed for it now. He assumes the car's tagged, so he'll be dumping it. He's going to think he has to keep Cain as insurance. If it goes on like this, it could end in a confrontation. We don't know what happened back at Luquin's, maybe a shoot-out. Don't know if Artemio's dead. Don't know if Luquin's dead. Police may be on the way. And that means discovery. If there's a shoot-out trying to get Cain back, that means discovery. If Cain is killed, even without a shoot-out, that means discovery. If Macias kidnaps him, that means discovery and possibly Cain's death, too.”
“You want to let him go, then?”
“If we can guarantee Cain's life, yes, ”Burden said. “If we can guarantee silence for this operation, yes. We have to. Even though it means that someone's going to have to deal with the son of a bitch again sometime down the road.”
“Calo's in behind them again, ”a technician said.
“One more thing, ”Burden said. “Now the gun in the seat is in play again. If it hasn't already been found and dealt with.”
“Man, that is such a risk, ”Norlin said. “That is such a risk. He'll get killed if he tries to use that thing. Hell, we don't know if he can use it. Why the hell did Calo do that?”
“I don't know that it was the wrong thing to do. It might save his life.”
“Shit, it's going to get him killed.”
“I don't know, I might've done the same thing. There was opportunity, and not a lot of time to think. It was a choice.”
Burden's phone rang, and he snapped it up and answered.
“Garcia Burden, ”Macias said. It was just a statement. “Hello, Jorge.”
“This explains a lot, ”Macias said. “I couldn't figure out why so much careful planning was falling apart so fast.” “Is he still alive?” “Who?” “Cain.” “Yes.” “Let me speak to him.”
Macias held the phone beside Titus's head. “Tell him you're alive.”
“I'm okay, ”Titus said.
“You hear that? ”Macias asked.
“We need to talk about where we stand, Jorge.”
“Go ahead. I can't wait to hear this.”
“Is Luquin dead?”
“He probably is by now.”
“What's the situation there?”
“Call your fucking crazy man and ask him.”
“I've been trying to.”
“Well, he looked like he was very busy.”
Silence.
“You've been wiped out, ”Burden said. “That's where you stand.”
“Keep going.”
“We want to make a deal. We'll stop right here, and you can walk away. But Cain walks away, too. Very simple. On the other hand, ”Burden added, “if he dies, you die. Guaranteed.”
“Maybe I'll just take him with me, ”Macias said.
“That's not an option.”
Macias already knew that Burden would say that. But maybe they disagreed about what Macias's options were. He wasn't going to tell Burden, but Macias thought that there was some room to be flexible here. Burden would not be bargaining if Macias didn't have a good shot at doing what he wanted to do here.
“How do you propose to do this? ”Having to ask the question galled him. It was like asking permission, admitting that Burden had the upper hand. For the moment, at least. But his humiliation was nothing compared to the raw rush of fear that gripped him. He had come so close to being killed, and now he had this one last opportunity to save his ass. He couldn't make any mistakes.
“The car's bugged, ”Burden said, “and so is Cain. So we know where he is at every moment. He swallowed it, Jorge, so don't worry about taking all of his clothes off and shit like that. I know you have an escape plan. I know you're planning on dumping the car, so go ahead and do that. But leave Cain with it. Alive. If you do that, you live. Anything else, you don't.”
“Yes, I know. You've already made that point. ”Macias's mind was racing. Shit. Shit. The one thing that sounded too neat here was Cain swallowing a bug. Why would Burden tell him that? It seemed to Macias that if it was true, it was the sort of thing you'd want to keep secret. Why else would he swallow it? So why would Burden say that? Because once Macias dumped the car and Burden's people lost visual contact with Macias, then Burden wouldn't have any idea where Cain was. Burden was trying to make Macias believe that he had no choice except to leave Cain with the Navigator. But Macias wasn't buying it. Not that part of the deal, anyway.
Other than that, how the hell was he going to make sure they would let him go if he did what Burden wanted?
“This is a delicate moment, Garcia. Do something to make me believe you will do what you say.”
“I need to talk to Cain to make it work.”
Macias froze.
“Just hand him the phone, ”Burden said, sensing Macias's instant suspicion. “I need to calm him down, Jorge. You don't understand, yet, what you're dealing with there.”
Macias tried to sort it out, his mind stumbling over itself. He was losing the thread here, getting confused, trying to anticipate all the traps, and afraid he wasn't seeing even the obvious ones.
“Hand him the phone, Jorge. He'll hand it right back to you.”
This was a fucking mistake, Macias thought, but he had to make a decision fast. The car was flying down the highway. Soon they were going to have to turn off.
“If you don't do this, ”Burden said, “it's not going to work. It's all over.”
Macias had every reason in the world not to believe this.
“He wants to talk to you, ”Macias said, handing the phone over the seat to Titus.
Sweating, his nerves fraying, Titus reached out, touching Macias's hand as he fumbled for the phone being handed over his shoulder, repulsed at the feel of the other man's flesh.
“Yes.”
“Titus, ”Burden said, “in just a second you're going to hand the phone back to Macias, so I'm going to talk fast. Do you know about the gun?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, while I'm talking right now take the mole off your arm and put it on the gun without letting him see. Then let him have the gun when he asks for it. I told him you'd swallowed a bug, and that we know where you are at all times. He needs to believe that. I'm going to try to get him to leave you with the Navigator in exchange for letting him go. Quickly, what did he go back to Luquin's for?”
“Laptop.”
Macias snatched the phone from Titus with a slap to the side of the head that was so hard, it caused him to swerve off the highway and plow along a hundred yards of the median before he regained control and got back on the pavement.
“You're a goddamned idiot! ”Macias screamed into the phone. He was rattled and furious.
“Listen, Jorge, ”Burden said slowly. “We want to be very careful here, okay? Remember, he lives, you live. Anybody dies, everybody dies. ”He was stretching it out, giving Titus time to switch the mole. “When my men brought you the car at La Terrazza, they jammed an automatic down in between the seats by Cain's right side. He's already found it. It's ready to fire, safety off. I told him to let you have it when you reached over the seat to get it.”
“I'll blow his head off, Garcia, ”Macias yelled, “I've got it to his head right now. I'll fucking shoot him!”
“Damn it, it's no trick, Jorge.”
Macias kept the phone to his ear and spoke to Titus.
“What did he tell you?”
During Macias's exchange with Burden, Titus had carefully peeled the mole from his right arm with his left hand and was now pressing it into the scored handle of the pistol. He was still shaken from the blow against the side of his head, but he managed to move his hand slowly away from the gun to the bottom of the steering wheel as he answered.
“He said not to use the gun that's in the seat here. He said to let you have it.”
Macias calculated the time they'd spent on the phone. Burden really couldn't have said much more than that. He screwed the muzzle of the automatic into the base of Titus's skull and slowly reached over the seat. He found the handle of the gun, jammed between the seats, and slowly brought it out. There was a suppressor on it.
“Now what? ”Macias said into the phone.
“Okay, you see how this is going? ”Burden asked.
“Yeah, I see.”
“We just want to bring this to an end, Jorge. If we get Cain back safely and in one piece, then you get a free pass. You're lucky this time. Very, very lucky.”
Macias knew that Burden was speaking the truth, about this one thing, anyway. He had this little opportunity solo por suerte. Every moment counted now. He'd kept glancing out the rear window. He hadn't seen headlights at a consistent distance, which meant that they probably were locked on to them with a tag, like they said. They didn't need somebody up close. If that was the case, then, that distance between him and whoever was back there-he wasn't stupid, he knew there was somebody back there-that distance was his opening. His only opening. And his next move had to be done in that space, and in absolute privacy.
“What about it, Jorge? Have we got a deal? ”Burden asked him.
“Yeah, we've got a deal.”
“Okay, now it's your turn to make us believe you, ”Burden concluded. “When you drop him with the Navigator, you've got to put him on the phone so we know he's alive when you leave. We'll keep talking to him until we get to him. When we've got him, you're in the open.”
“?Hecho! ” Macias said, and punched off the phone.
He hesitated a second, calculating, going through the mental paces of what lay before him to make sure he didn't miss a step that would throw off his timing. Then he punched in a code on his cell phone and immediately pushed the time elapse feature on his watch, setting it for forty-five minutes.
Free pass. Yeah. Did Burden think he was so scared that he'd lost his mind? No fucking way was he going to give up Titus Cain until he was safely out of this mess… and maybe not even then. He'd have to see how it went. But in the meantime, maybe the lie would buy him a little time.