"One more? I thought I was coming here to get my last payment for the photographs. And you said you'd reimburse me for them taking my laptop."

t.i.tus looked at the young man. This was the guy who had taken the pictures of Rita? Macias must've been reading his mind, because he again jabbed the automatic into his kidney, telling him to keep his mouth shut. t.i.tus's lower back was getting sore from his repeated jabbing.

Macias pulled the Navigator keys out of his pocket and tossed them to the young man.

"In the shopping center over there, there's a Lincoln Navigator parked in front of the supermarket. Dark blue. I want you to go over there and get it and drive it to San Marcos. Watch for the first Texaco station on your right as you come into town. Exit off there and go to the station. You'll find another Navigator just like the one you're driving. Your money's in the glove box. Drive off. You're through."

Elias Loza stared at him. "Why am I doing that all of a sudden? That wasn't in the deal. "He glanced at t.i.tus. "It looks to me like s.h.i.t's coming apart here. There was no driving a car in the deal. If this ... if s.h.i.t's coming apart here-"

"Nothing's coming apart, "Macias said. "We're just staying flexible. You gotta be flexible, too."

"I don't want flexible. I want the rest of my money."

"Well, your money's flexible ... it's not here. It's in the other car ... in San Marcos."

Loza stared at Macias. t.i.tus could see him thinking: Either the money's in the other car or ... this son of a b.i.t.c.h could shoot me right here.

"That's it, then?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Disgusted, but more scared than anything, Loza bent down and got his camera bag. When he straightened up he looked at t.i.tus and then back at Macias.

"I don't know what's going down here, "Loza said, "but, me doing this, it doesn't feel right. And I don't have a gun, nothing... ."

Macias swore. t.i.tus guessed he'd love to just shoot the guy and get the h.e.l.l out of here, but he wanted the tag that he thought was on the Navigator to be headed out of the city. Suddenly he lifted his shirt and pulled the automatic from the waist of his trousers. He tossed it to a surprised Loza, who caught it against his stomach with his free hand.

"Get the h.e.l.l out of here, "Macias said.

Loza looked at the gun, then at Macias, and cut a glance at t.i.tus. For a brief, sweet moment, t.i.tus thought Loza was going to shoot Macias. But it was a fool's moment, and Loza turned and walked out of the garage.

Chapter 58.

Romo Cal found the Navigator in a cl.u.s.ter of other cars in front of the supermarket. Rather than trying to work at a distance, he decided to barge in close and go for broke. He parked three cars away from the Navigator so that he was on the opposite side of it from the grocery cart storage rack.

Walking away from his car, he fiddled with his keys as he pa.s.sed the Navigator on the way to the cart storage. He saw nothing. He pulled out a cart, pretended he forgot something in the car, and walked past the back of the Navigator again. Still he saw nothing. At his car, he opened the door and pretended to get something and then once again walked toward the Navigator on the way to the cart he'd left at the storage rack.

Still seeing nothing that made him suspicious, he got even with the back of the Navigator, left the cart, and slipped in between the cars and looked in. Nothing. Quickly he went to the cart again and headed toward the front of the supermarket as he pulled out his cell phone.

"The car's empty, "Cal said to the van. "Nada." "Nada."

"Keep your eyes on it, "Burden said. "We'll get back to you."

As Cal closed the phone, he glanced back just in time to see a man walking toward the Navigator through the aisles of cars. He was looking around, pausing, looking, and coming on. Finally his attention focused on the Navigator, and he headed straight for it. Quickly, Cal reversed his direction, pushing his cart. The guy glanced around and saw Cal, but disregarded him.

Cal watched the guy as he began checking out the Navigator as if he were unfamiliar with it. The guy looked up and looked around. What was this? Was he going to steal it? Then the guy walked up to the door and pointed his remote key lock at it; the Navigator squeaked, and the guy opened the door.

He still had one leg outside on the pavement when Cal moved around the rear b.u.mper of the Navigator and blocked the door just as the guy tried to swing it closed. Instantly Cal's automatic was in his face.

"Don't breathe, "Cal said. "Are you alone?"

The guy nodded yes.

"Who are you?"

"Elias Loza."

Cal moved the barrel of his automatic to Loza's mouth, touching his lips. Now he saw that Loza had been carrying a bag, and it was sitting in the seat with him.

"What's in the bag?"

"Camera."

"Armed?"

The guy nodded yes.

"Where?"

Loza looked down. "Right here."

Cal moved the barrel between Loza's eyes and reached in and found the automatic in the front waistband of his pants. He was surprised to see it was the same gun he'd jammed down between the car seats for t.i.tus. He hit the clip release, but it was empty.

"Where the f.u.c.k'd you get this?"

Loza didn't even have to guess if the name would have any meaning. "Jorge Macias."

"Where is he?"

"Look, I don't have anything-"

"Where!?"

"Over there ... other side of the shopping center ... one of those houses ..."

"What are you doing here?"

Loza told him.

"What's the address over there?"

Cal was already pulling out his phone as Loza gave him the address.

"Another man with him? "Cal asked.

"Yeah."

"Anybody else?"

"No."

"Where're they headed?"

"I don't know."

Cal hit Loza in the mouth with his gun so fast, the barrel was already back between his eyes by the time Loza could react.

"No no no ... , "he pleaded, blood pouring from a busted lip and a tooth knocked out of his gums. "Oh, oh, s.h.i.t, ohhh ... really, no no no ... I don't know where the h.e.l.l they're going. I don't ... I don't know anything about this... ."

With his eyes focused on Loza's eyes, the barrel of his automatic still pressed between Loza's eyebrows, Cal spoke fast to Burden and told him everything.

"And the bad news, "Cal said. "I'm holding the d.a.m.n gun with the mole on it."

"Check the gun, "Burden said. "Is the mole still there?"

"What's your signal say?"

"Says it's about five hundred meters west of you."

"Really? "Cal shoved Loza over and told him to curl up on the floor. Loza did as he was told, moaning, moaning, and Cal held the gun up to the interior light. It took him almost a minute of searching to decide it wasn't there.

Burden got into the Cherokee with Rita and the others, and they headed across the expressway, where Janet and Ryan took charge of Loza, driving away with him in the Navigator to check out Macias's safe house and make sure t.i.tus hadn't been left there.

Cal returned to his car, and Rita continued in the Cherokee with Burden and Kal. In the backseat alone, she listened as the three men discussed the best way to handle the encounter with Macias. But before they could even get out of the ma.s.sive parking lot, the signal left the address to which they were headed six blocks away.

"Cal, "Burden said, watching the LorGuide, "get in behind him again. I don't know what's happened to the d.a.m.n mole, whether it was moved from the gun deliberately or accidentally, but we have to play it safe and a.s.sume Macias doesn't know we're still with him. First thing, though, try to get close enough to the signal to get a sighting of the Honda. We've got to find out if it's carrying the signal, or if Macias has managed to somehow put it on a decoy vehicle."

After that, the transmissions fell dead, and everyone was glued to the LorGuides.

Again Macias got into the back and t.i.tus drove, following directions that took them through the neighborhoods to Loop 1 South, where they headed for Oak Hill. t.i.tus took stock of his situation. It wasn't good. Now that the mole had taken off for San Marcos, and Burden's people had no visuals on t.i.tus, he was on his own. He knew that Burden had had a small crew to begin with, and if everything was going according to plan, there was no one else to spare for this little unexpected development. Another blindside for Burden.

Macias had made it plain that t.i.tus's life was only as good as Macias's own personal security. t.i.tus understood that, but what happened when Macias decided he was safe? And how safe would he have to be before he made his decision about what to do with t.i.tus? No matter how many times he went over it, t.i.tus couldn't see how there would be any profit in it for Macias to kill him when he no longer needed him.

On the other hand, t.i.tus didn't know what other factors waited in the background that might completely change that simple deduction. G.o.d knows he had seen reversals in spades during the last few days. Despite the fact that he told himself his odds were better as a hostage if he remained optimistic, he found it impossible. Right now the darkness outside was a pretty good metaphor for the way he was feeling about his situation.

"Watch the speed limit, "Macias said behind t.i.tus's head. "No cops."

t.i.tus checked Macias in the rearview mirror. He was still monitoring the traffic behind them. He was nervous, maybe feeling a little better now that he thought he had some breathing room. But Macias was a realist. He knew that the margin of his advantage was hair thin.

t.i.tus wanted to try to get some feel for his state of mind. He wanted to hear him say something, maybe give t.i.tus a little insight into his intentions.

"There's not any money in San Marcos, is there, "t.i.tus said. "I'll bet there's not even another Navigator there."

"That's his problem, "Macias said. "He'll deal with it. You've got a different set of problems you need to think about."

They were moving through the incorporated village of Oak Hill on the southwest edge of Austin. In a few minutes Macias had a decision to make. Either way, the traffic was about to get scarce, and it was going to get easier to spot a tail.

"How are you going to make sure Luquin's dead? "t.i.tus asked.

"After seeing the spook show that was going on back there at that house, I don't think I have to worry about Tano being alive tomorrow morning. It looks like everybody wants Luquin dead. It's his time. When dogs smell blood, they all turn on the bloodiest dog first."

Now they were at the intersection.

"Keep going straight here, "Macias said, and they stayed on Highway 290. That would eventually take them to Fredericksburg or San Antonio. t.i.tus guessed San Antonio.

"What I want to know is, "Macias said, "how the h.e.l.l did you find Garcia Burden?"

t.i.tus told him the truth, without using names.

"And you went to see him the very next day?"

"Right."

"How?"

t.i.tus told him the truth again.

Macias shook his head. "And that was just three days ago?"

"Right."

Silence. He heard Macias hiss under his breath.

"Only Garcia Burden could f.u.c.k up nearly two months' planning in just three days, "he said. "Completely f.u.c.k it up." f.u.c.k it up."

Well, not completely, t.i.tus thought. Macias was still holding a gun to his head.

They left the city and the suburbs behind. The lights in the flanking hills gradually diminished with the churning numbers on the odometer. Mostly now it was only darkness on either side of the highway.

"How far are we going? "t.i.tus asked.

"Don't worry about it, "Macias said.

t.i.tus could imagine Macias kicking him out of the car at some vacant strip center or on some dark street in San Antonio. Then he could walk to a pay phone, and it would all be over. t.i.tus couldn't wait for that, for the whole insane thing to be over. He focused on the center stripe in the highway and tried to keep his mind off of ... everything.

But he couldn't keep it off the guy in the backseat. He thought of what Rita had said, that as horrible as it was, she couldn't keep from imagining Charlie tangled in the chain saw, Carla suffocating, gasping for breath. She couldn't help but wonder how all of that had happened, how it had actually happened. Neither could t.i.tus. It was infuriating to him that the man who had orchestrated all of that was sitting behind him and that t.i.tus himself was complicit in his escape. G.o.d, and neither Carla nor Charlie had even been buried yet.

"Slow down, "Macias said.