“You don’t just pave the road. You manipulate someone into moving it so that it comes to my front door. Being a U.S. senator’s son shouldn’t mean that I get to live by a special set of rules. You’re charged with making the laws. You need to respect themmorethan the average person, not less.”
They’d been arguing about this since 9/11, when Zach had walked into the living room to overhear his father tell his mother that their son would never have to serve in the military because he was a U.S. senator’s son. It had been the last straw after years of watching his father wade through one scandal after another. In disgust, Zach had joined the navy and applied for Officer Candidate School the next day.
His father shook his head. “You know, I thought maybe you’d matured enough—”
“Matured? Go to hell!”
“—so that we could have an honest conversation, maybe spend some time together. But you’re just as pigheaded and unreasonable as you’ve always been. You know, your mother understood—”
“Don’t you bring her into this!” Zach was in his father’s face now, blood pumping hot in his veins. “My mother was an idealist who believed in everything she thought you stood for. It literallykilledher to watch you turn into a crook. All your sleazy mistresses. The money you blew on—”
The blow took Zach by surprise. He rubbed his jaw, looked his father in the eye. “You better get the hell out of here, old man. If I hit back, it’s going to hurt.”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Zach. I don’t know what made me do that. I’ve missed you. I came here to make amends, to help—”
“I said get the hell out of here.Now.”
His father turned and, with an angry look over his shoulder, stomped off.
Jaw aching, Zach sank into a chair and buried his face in his hands.
THE MOMENT ARTURO heard the voice on the other end of the line, he broke into a sweat, beads of perspiration gathering on his forehead and upper lip.
“Are you watching the news?”
“Sí.Yes, I am. And I can explain—”
“Explanations are irrelevant. Besides, it’s obvious what happened. You wanted her for your perverted little rituals, so rather than instructing your men to put a bullet through her head on the bus, you had them take her captive. Isn’t that right?”
How dare this gringo speak of La Santa Muerte as if she were a perversion?
“Sí.I had them take her captive. I wanted to see the woman who was so dangerous that she frightened you.”
“That was a grave mistake. We asked you to do something for us, and you agreed to do it. Board the bus, and kill her, along with the Mexican journalists. It would look like just another act of cartel-related violence. No one would think twice about it.
“But now, somehow, she’s back in the United States, very much alive. That’s very disappointing, Arturo. Very disappointing.”
Arturo swallowed—hard. “I am sorry. She had help. A shipment of cocaine was stolen, and we caught the man who—”
“He didn’t steal the cocaine, you imbecile. The woman you cut up and tossed in the street stole it. Or hadn’t you figured that out yet?”
“She stole it?”
“Yes. Gisella Sanchez worked for Interpol. And that man you chained up wasn’t a drug pusher. He’s a deputy U.S. marshal and former Navy SEAL—a war hero no less. That pretty reporter you planned to rape—she turned out to be a lot tougher than she looked, too. She’s the one who broke them out. You probably assumed it was the man, didn’t you? That’s what you get for being a chauvinist bastard.”
Arturo heard all this, but only one part connected.
“U.S. marshal? SEAL? How do you know all of this?” His heart was beating so hard it hurt. Was he having a heart attack?
“That doesn’t matter. You fucked up, Arturo.”
“I can fix it. I will send my best man to Denver to—”
“No, Arturo, we don’t trust you. Your incompetence sickens us. So we’re going to take care of it ourselves. We wanted to have her eliminated down there to prevent any suspicion being cast our way. But since it’s known that your men took her and were tearing your country apart looking for her, people will assume that you had her killed.”
“If you think that is best.” Arturo didn’t tell him he’d put his own plans into motion the moment he’d seen that littleputa’s face on television this morning.
“We do.” There was a pause. “For the sake of our long association, we’ll forgive—no, that’s not the word—overlookyour failure this time. But we need you to do something for us.”