he damn near got us shot. Pulling his pistol out like that was stupid. Julio agreed. The fact was, he was still stinging from the ass-chewing I’d given him in the car the day before. He just handed it over. It’s the thing about authority. Most people never question it.”
“Except people like Nick, is that it?”
“Well, I didn’t spend thirty years building the firm to have Nick Rush come along and tear the whole thing apart. He was out talking to my partners, making them offers, telling them he was going to come up with cash to capitalize a new firm with offices in every city. What would you do?”
“I wouldn’t have killed him.”
“Well, you’re younger than I am. You have some years ahead of you yet. I wasn’t looking forward to a solo practice or sitting on a porch somewhere in a rocking chair. I had a name, a reputation. I’d built something. People in politics, entertainment, business, the people who count, they know the name of Adam Tolt.”
“Is that it? Your identity was caught up in it?”
“Damn right. After all is said and done, what else have we got?”
Adam’s life was the firm. He knew that without it people wouldn’t return his phone calls, blue ribbon committees wouldn’t ask him to serve, politicians wouldn’t go out of their way to cross a crowded room to shake his hand. And to Adam those were the things that made life worth living, that and the private jet and high-rise corner office overlooking the bay. People have killed for a lot less.
“Who else came along besides Herman? Don’t tell me it’s just the two of you?”
“A few others.”
“I knew you would bring backup.” We’re getting near the top. He stops to take a breather, so I stop too. “No, no, you just keep moving. I’ll be right behind you.”
He takes off his hat and wipes his brow with the brim. “Of course, they would all be slinking around in the bushes about a half mile from here. Over there, I think.” He glances off to his left, keeping the gun pointed at me.
“Yeah, if you look you can see it. Get up there a little ways ahead, I’ll let you take a look. That’s it.” He shuffles to his right, so that I remain in his line of sight as he looks over his left shoulder.
“See that little building poking up through the jungle? What was the name again, something about a door?”
“The Doorway to the Temple of Inscriptions.”
“That’s it. I think that’s it. Coming by the trails on foot, it would take them at least ten, fifteen minutes to get here. By then, I’m gonna be long gone. I’ll bet they briefed you on that area until you knew every pebble on the ground.”
I don’t answer him.
“It took me a while, digging around in a bookstore after I shot Julio, to find a map of this place with names of the ruins so I’d know where to send them while I dealt with you.”
“That was a nice touch, Adam.”
“I thought so.” We continue climbing. “One thing I do need to know,” he says. “Where exactly is Nick’s little handheld?”
“You don’t really expect me to tell you?”
“I suppose I could look for it myself. You said it was in your office last time we talked. Which reminds me, how much does Harry know about all this?”
“Nothing. Harry doesn’t know a thing.”
“Now, you know that’s not true. He knew about the handheld. I wish I could believe you, but you’re just a constant disappointment. This is getting entirely too violent. Still I suppose people do die of infections and accidents in hospitals.”
I reach the top of the pyramid.
Adam stops on the steps below me.
My body is covered in sweat. Breathing through my mouth, my throat is parched. The sun is now hitting us on an angle out of the eastern sky, beginning to heat the stones, reflecting off the rock around us. Through the canopy from the jungle floor, steam clouds drift up like inverted cones of smoke.
In front of me centered on the top platform is a rectangular stone structure with a single door. The interior is lost in shadows. Carved into the exterior near the top of the corner stones at the level of the roof are two human figures suspended upside down.
“Step over there.”
I look at Adam. He gestures with the gun, toward my left as I face him. He is breathing heavily, sweat dripping from his chin, his shirt soaked through.
Ten or twelve feet away, the stairs disappear and it’s a sheer drop with a small ledge about halfway down.
I move toward it.
Adam approaches. He keeps one eye on me, along with the pistol, while he looks over the edge, surveying to see if the fall is going to be enough. Then he looks back and smiles at me. Apparently he’s satisfied.
“Now if you’ll just step over this way.”
“You don’t expect me to just jump off?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll help you.”
As the words clear his lips, there is a tinny sound of metal clattering somewhere below us. Adam takes a quick step around to put me between himself and the sound.
I see a bicycle rattling over the uneven ground as it enters the clearing from the path. The figure riding it appears to have his knees hitting him in the chin with each pump of the pedals.
He stops in the middle of the clearing, puts his feet down on both sides, sitting on the seat, the bicycle dwarfed beneath him, and looks up at the top of the pyramid.
“Dat you, Adam Tolt?” Herman shades his eyes with one hand. “You know I figured you for a son of a bitch. But you outdid yourself. And so you know, Julio didn’t think much a ya either. And I’m certain his opinion ain’t come up none since you shot him in the back of the head.”
“You try and come here, and I’ll kill him.” Adam puts the pistol up to my head.
“You know,” says Herman. His hands now on his hips, still sitting on the bike. “That thing’s not gonna do you a god damn bit a good against me down here. You see, I know Julio’s Glock don’t shoot for shit. You’d been more than a foot away from him, youda missed the back a his head. Kept tellin’ him to get the sights fixed.”
“Well I’m not likely to miss Mr. Madriani here.”
“Yeah but I got a question for you. After you shoot him, how you gonna get down here without coming through me? My forty-five shoots a little better than that piece a shit, and the bullet’s bigger to boot.”
“He doesn’t seem to put much value on your life,” says Adam.
“Well, I warned you that he was pissed about Julio.”
“So what are we going to do about this problem?”
“It’s not my problem,” I say.
“It won’t be if you’re dead. Tell him to go or I’ll kill you.”
“He says to go or he’s gonna kill me,” I say.
“Don’t change his situation none. Few minutes Ibarra’s people gonna be here with rifles. Then they gonna start bouncing bullets off the rocks up there. And it’s gonna get mighty hot. Don’t suspect you brought any water witcha?”
“No, we didn’t think about it.”
Adam presses the gun against my head. “Shut up.”
“It sounds like it’s your move.”
“Let me think.”
“You could let me go.”
“That son of a bitch is just crazy enough to try to kill me anyway. You said it. He’s angry over Julio. I shoulda shot him instead.”
“Well we all make our mistakes. And I should warn you. Herman’s confidence in the Mexican justice system is just a little higher than his respect for the modern American version.”
“Meaning what?”
