The Rules Of Silence Part 21

"Have your conversation. Come home."

t.i.tus nodded. "How long do I keep him there?"

"Until we call you. One of us, or Garcia."

"Then I take the cell phone?"

"Yeah."

"The encrypted one?"

"Yeah."

"What about a wire?"

"Useless. He'll check; he'll find it."

Again t.i.tus nodded. This all sounded too slick.

"Listen, "he said, looking at both Kal and Ryan, "I know I don't know a d.a.m.n thing about what's going on here, or should be going on here, but this just doesn't feel quite right. This just seems a little too neat."

"It seems neat, "Ryan said quickly and with unexpected candor, "because we're not telling you everything. The details. A lot of s.h.i.t's going down, but you're not going to be a part of all of it. It's not your job. You don't need to know. "He paused. "And you shouldn't know."

"The point is, "Kal added, wiping his mouth, "those other guys don't know what's going on at your end, either. And they don't need to know. But everybody's got to do their thing right if this operation's going to succeed. If you don't hold Macias at La Terrazza long enough, you could be jeopardizing what the other guys are doing. They've got to have the time they need. Everybody knows what the others are doing, in general, so we all understand the rationale for our own responsibilities. But beyond that, you're not any different from anybody else in not knowing all the details."

"Okay, "t.i.tus said. That made sense. s.h.i.t, he guessed it made sense. "Look, at least give me some idea of where the situation is most critical. When is something most likely to go wrong here?"

Kal nodded at him. "The moment you drive out those gates at the bottom of the hill, from that point on something's likely to go wrong. It's that d.a.m.n simple. Every moment of every operation is the most critical. You can never-ever-kid yourself about that."

t.i.tus stared at him. But just in case he was having any doubts about it, Ryan spoke up again.

"That's no bulls.h.i.t plat.i.tude, "he said. "That's the message of salvation."

t.i.tus and Rita stepped outside and stood at the head of the allee. The landscape lights illuminated the beginning of the long double row of laurels until they converged into the sloping darkness.

"That was sobering, "Rita said, referring to their brief tutorial inside. "Okay, t.i.tus, I'm going to be following this every step of the way in there with the rest of them. I insisted. We've already talked about it. But the moment you're in the clear, you call me."

"Yeah, I will, "he said. He was suddenly humming with adrenaline. He was aware of a kind of giddy antic.i.p.ation, but at the same time it was mitigated by the things that weren't said. The stuff he had to read between the lines. It seemed absolutely impossible that Burden and this loose collection of people who seemed underprepared and short on time would be able to do what he knew Burden wanted to do. But they were going ahead with it. He wondered if this was the way it always felt for these people. Or if every operation was different and carried with it a different set of emotions. Was it an unending stream of never-repeated episodes? Was that the juice that kept these people in this business?

"t.i.tus? "Rita had taken his arm and pulled herself to him, close. He could smell her, not her perfume, but her, a far more compelling fragrance. He put his arms around her.

"Tomorrow it'll be over, "she said. "And we'll have our lives back. I believe that."

"You know, I do, too, "he lied. He didn't believe it because he knew they'd never have their lives back. Not the way they had been, anyway. But they might be free of Luquin, and right now he thought that would be worth any amount of lying and killing. That appalled him even as he thought it, but he wasn't going to pretend that he had moral scruples about what was about to happen.

The door to the cottage opened and Kal stood on the threshold.

"Time to go, "he said.

t.i.tus embraced Rita and held her very tight. He felt his throat thicken with emotion. He couldn't say a word. But he knew that she understood exactly what this embrace meant. It was a thing they did. And then she said what she always said when he did it.

"And I love you, too, t.i.tus Cain."

And she kissed him, and he walked away with Kal into the shadows.

Chapter 47.

The Dodge van sat in the empty parking lot of the small, green gla.s.s office building overlooking Bull Creek Road. The van had been there twenty minutes. At ten-thirty at night, the office had been closed a long time. When the gray van arrived, it had pulled around behind an island of trees, preventing it from being seen from the street in front of the building.

In the back of the van were three communications technicians wearing headphones and small mikes. One of the technicians checked in with Macias every half hour as required. Their job was routine at this point, just listening mostly, making sure there were no breakdowns in communication between Macias and the other teams. At the moment they were listening to transmissions between the Pathfinder and Macias's blue Navigator, which was just now pulling away from the house on Las Lomitas. Macias was making sure the Pathfinder was pulling in to cover the house while he was gone. Macias didn't say where he was going. Aside from Tano Luquin, he was the only man on the job who didn't have to explain himself to anyone.

When the black Lexus came into the lot off the street, the three men in the van froze. One of them slowly got up and moved forward and sat behind the steering wheel. He intently watched the Lexus through the darkened windshield.

The car's lights went off, and for a second nothing happened. Then the driver's door opened, and in the light that came on in the car's interior, the man in the van saw a pet.i.te blonde sitting behind the wheel. She wore a light tank top and shorts and was digging through her purse.

"Whoa, will you look at that, "the man said, and he leaned over and picked up a pair of binoculars from the pa.s.senger's seat while his two companions peered through one of the large windows darkened by one-way gla.s.s.

"What's she doin', Del? "one of the guys asked, a set of headphones dangling around his neck.

"Looking for keys, I guess, "the driver said.

Del was Anglo, the other two were Mexican Americans. All three were from Juarez.

The woman got out of the car and slung her purse over her shoulder. She punched the remote car lock on her key chain and headed for the front of the building at a brisk walk.

"Woman on a mission, "Del mused to himself. "I got a mission for her."

"She forgot something. Working at home, "one of the other men said, shrugging.

"Look ... at ... that ... a.s.s, "Del said. The nightvision binoculars brought her up close, way close.

The two men in the back glanced at each other.

"Pull your eyeb.a.l.l.s back in, Del, "one of them said.

The woman went to the double gla.s.s doors and put a key into the latch. She had her back to them now, fiddling with the lock.

"Looks like it no workey, "Del said.

Frustrated, the woman headed back to the car. Her body language said she was p.i.s.sed. As she approached the car, she reached out and punched the remote lock again, and just as she was swinging the door open, she stopped. Slowly she leaned to the side and looked down at her left rear tire.

"Uh-oh, "Del narrated, "look at thiiis. Oh, baby, we got a flat tire." tire."

"What? "The two guys in the back of the van leaned over again to look out the window, ignoring for the moment the bank of monitors in front of each of them.

"You got to be kidding, "one of them said.

The woman stood and stared at the tire, dumbfounded.

"Watch her whip out the old cell tele, "the other one said.

But she didn't. Instead she slammed her purse on the ground and kicked the side of the car.

"She p.i.s.sed! "Del said.

"She left the thing at home, "one of the men speculated. "She just ran up here real quick to grab something, and she got the wrong keys and left the cell on the table at home. There you go, "he said, "that's how life does you. Man, it was supposed to have been so simple ... just run up there and get this thing ..."

"She can't change the d.a.m.n tire, "Del said. "Fifty bucks says she can't do it."

The woman raised her arm again and pointed the remote at the trunk and the lid came open. She went around to the back and looked inside. She just stood there and looked in. Then she turned and looked at the drive that led up from the street.

"No help in sight, "Del narrated, still peering through the binoculars, still going over her legs, savoring the size of her sweeties. "s.h.i.t, "he said, "duty calls."

"What! "both voices cried in startled unison.

"What the h.e.l.l are you talking about! "said one of the techs.

"No way! "the other one added.

But Del was already putting down the binoculars, grinning.

"She'll freak out, Del. Man, you'll get us killed. Macias will kill us."

"Who's going to tell him? "Del asked, looking back at them. "What if you could get a piece of a.s.s for changing a flat? Is that worth it, or what?"

"What are you talkin'about, man? She's not gonna put out to get her flat fixed, you stupid f.u.c.k."

"She's gonna run screaming, "the other one said.

But Del was already opening the door.

She wasn't fifty meters away, but she hadn't seen the van. Del knew she could freak out, so when he came around the front of the van he called out, "Hey, lady! "and kept walking.

The woman flinched and spun around. He could see her face-astonishment-rape written all over it.

"I was just over there in the van waiting for friends I'm supposed to go fishing with, supposed to meet here, and saw your situation ... "He wanted to keep talking, that would calm her. "I'd almost dozed off and you drove up and ... I don't mean to scare you, but I can change that tire for you if you want... ."

The woman lunged for her purse and scrambled and came out with mace or pepper spray or something like that, and she held it up to him, backing away.

He stopped. "Hey, no. "They looked at each other. "Look, "he said. "A proposition. You hold that spray-here, you stand over here-you hold that stuff on me, and I'll change your tire, and then you get in the car and drive off."

She thought about it, glancing past his shoulder toward the van to see where he'd come from. One beat. Two beats. Three beats. Four ... And she started moving away from the car, clutching her purse under one arm, holding the aerosol can of whatever it was at him as if she were holding up a cross in front of a vampire.

"Yeah, that's good, "he said, gradually changing positions with her. "Don't squirt me, now. Just get on over there. I don't blame you for being scared, but what was I supposed to do, just sit over there and watch you?"

Now that he was closer, he saw that she really was a goodlooking woman. And as he came in closer, moving to the back of the car as she orbited around him, holding up the mace, he noticed something else, too. Woman was wearing a tiny head mike, the little pea-size mouthpiece just at the side of her face, partially hidden by her hair. He began to process what that meant.

As the two men in the back of the van stood up from their seats, crouching, peering out the window at the stupid spectacle Del was causing, the back door of the van flew open and a man stood there, pointing an automatic the size of a loaf of bread at them.

"Don't touch a thing, "he said. "We're okay here, "he said into his mike.

At the Lexus the blonde asked, "What's your name?"

He said, "Del, "feeling dumb and busted, but not really understanding yet just how thoroughly he'd screwed up.

She reached into her purse again, pulled out an oversize automatic, and pointed it at him. "Well, Del, let's walk over to the van."

Chapter 48.

Cal and Baas arrived at La Terrazza an hour before t.i.tus was supposed to meet Macias. The Italian restaurant was a stoneand-terra-cotta tile recreation of a Tuscan inn tucked into the oaks and cedars on the western slope of one of the hillsides. It was a popular place in the evenings, and most afternoons people gathered there for drinks after work as well, because its stone-walled courtyards provided cooling shelters against the falling sun.

The parking lot was a cl.u.s.ter of small multicar pockets carved out of the dense cedars and connected by a gravel drive. There were no lights in the parking area, so as soon as you left the ambit of the restaurant's illumination, most of which was provided by lanterns hanging in the courtyards, you were gradually absorbed into the darkness.

At nine-thirty, when Cal and Baas drove into the parking area, the restaurant was in full swing, a typical Friday night. They drove through the parking area looking for either of the Navigators, but neither was there. They found a parking spot that afforded them a view of the entrance to the restaurant as well as the approach from the highway, turned off the motor and lights, and settled in to wait.

"Okay, we're in place, "Cal said into his mike, then got a confirmation through his earpiece. He leaned forward and adjusted the LorGuide mapper under the dash. He could see the yellow signal of Macias's blue Navigator headed toward them and t.i.tus's yellow signal on the way as well. But he was behind Macias.

"Okay, the first screwup is shaping up, "he said sarcastically. "Looks like Macias is going to get here first."

"Wonderful. "Baas had nightvision binoculars pressed to his eyes and was concentrating on the long tunnel of trees that led from the highway.

"Macias has turned off the highway, "Cal said.

"And there he is, "Baas said. "Blue Navigator."

Cal put his binoculars to his eyes as well.

"Two ... three heads, "Baas said. "Yeah, definitely three."

Silence as they watched the Navigator roll into the parking area, hesitate, and then begin making its way toward the back s.p.a.ces, where they slowly pulled into a spot and cut the engine.

"They're talking, "Cal said, slumped down in the car, his eyes glued to the binoculars as he peeped over the dash.

The Navigator's front pa.s.senger door opened and the bodyguard got out.

"s.h.i.t! He's hand-holding night goggles, "Baas said.