Herrin was waiting for him in the driveway behind the hedges when he swung his legs off the retractable hidden platform under the bed of the pickup. They walked toward the veranda, Titus carrying his now modified laptop in its case. Herrin was drinking coffee from a chrome high-tech mug that looked like the thermal equivalent of a cryonic canister. They stopped and stood in the shade of the morning glories.
“I've talked with Garcia, ”Herrin said, “and he's brought me up to speed.”
Titus nodded. Jesus.
“Can we talk in my office yet? ”he asked, clearing his throat.
“Yeah, we can. As a matter of fact, I swept that first.”
They walked through the courtyard past the fountain to a back door near the rock wall gate that led to the swimming pool. They went into a broad hallway, its atrium flooding the corridor with morning light, and turned into the first double doorway to the right.
Titus's office was spacious, and he walked across the room and put his laptop on his desk, a brandy-colored rolltop from an old bank in El Paso. He plugged in the laptop and turned it on. In the center of the room a long antique walnut table scattered with his latest projects, some brought from CaiText, some for his own private interests, was washed in diffused light from an octagonal cupola that hovered over the center of the room and burnished the two-hundred-year-old walnut. Titus walked past it to the windows and looked out to the courtyard and to the orchard beyond. To his left he could see into the walled patios that surrounded the pool. He turned around.
“Okay, ”he said. “Now you bring me up to speed.”
“We're making good progress, ”Herrin said. “This stuff's pretty slick. I like it. But it's a slow go. I'm keeping a floor plan of the house on the island in the kitchen. I'm marking the rooms that've been swept so you'll know where you can talk and where you can't. ”He swigged from the chrome mug. “Garcia told me he wanted to leave a couple of places hot.”
“Fine. Why?”
“Yeah. He said there might be some things we're going to want these guys to overhear, so we're going to overlook some bugs. We want it to look like we're good at this, but not quite good enough. They're expecting to lose most of them anyway. But the places we keep hot have got to be in rooms where it's logical that you'd think you're safe.”
“You mean the bathroom. The bedroom.”
“Yeah. In fact, I've already found the ones in your bedroom. They're more sophisticated than the others, much harder for us to find. They wanted these girls to stay put. So I left them in place. I suspected Garcia would want to leave some.”
Through the windows at the end of the room, Titus saw a scarlet tanager on the courtyard wall, an incredible brilliance for an instant, then it vanished.
“Okay, ”Titus said. “I understand that. Then go ahead and leave them.”
“You'll have to be on your toes in there, ”Herrin reminded him.
Titus nodded. Yeah, there was going to be a lot of that.
Suddenly Titus's encrypted cell phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and opened it.
“This is Garcia. You have a minute?”
“Go ahead.”
“I've been up all night arranging a couple of mobile teams to work with us in Austin, ”Burden said. “About three people in each team. One team's already there, one will be there in a couple of hours. Herrin's going to be coordinating some things with them, too, and he's going to need to set up some additional equipment. Is he going to have room in that guest house for several more monitors?”
“Yeah, there's plenty of room.”
“Great. I'm about an hour out of Austin. We need to get together pretty soon and go over some things. Right now, though, I need you to get back to Luquin. Have you heard any more from him?”
“Nothing.”
“Okay. Use the laptop and follow Luquin's communication instructions. All of this is about the money, so let's talk money with him. Here's how I think you should handle it.”
Burden's instructions were precise, and he laid them out with a simple, straightforward explanation of his reasoning. Titus was surprised at the boldness of what Burden wanted him to do, in light of what had happened with Charlie.
Though he was still in near shock at the fatal consequences of his own decisions made the day before, he knew that Burden's aggressive approach was necessary. He knew, too, that this couldn't be done without his own full commitment. This was no time to lose his nerve, though he had to admit that he had never before had so much riding on nerves that had been so badly frayed. But, by God, he wasn't about to fold now. For all that had been lost, there was so much more to save. Despite how grieved he was over Charlie's death, he knew in his gut that it was Luquin who had killed him. Deep down it made him furious that Luquin was trying to pin the responsibility for that great sadness on him.
“Yeah, good. I'll do it, ”he said when Burden finished.
“Okay. Then we're set. I'm going to call Herrin again and go through some things. I'll let you know when I get into town.”
“One thing, ”Titus said. “In two hours Rita and Louise Thrush will be landing here in Austin. I want to get Rita out of here. I want her somewhere safe. Somewhere away from this business.”
There was a silence at the other end.
“What's the matter? ”he asked. “What's the problem?”
“I don't know if that's a good idea, ”Burden said.
“Jesus, why wouldn't it be?”
“Keep reminding yourself: Luquin wants the money. The money. His methods are crude in some ways, but the bottom line is that he's trying to play you psychologically. He's hoping that the killings will gain your cooperation, that those deaths will guarantee you'll cough up the money. But he's smart enough to know that going after Rita could have just the opposite effect. It could send you over the edge. He's not going to risk that. She's safe. Just as safe as you are. He wants the money. This is about the money.”
“You're telling me she's not at risk?”
“That's right. Right now I don't think she's at risk. What's more, if you do that, you could trigger another death. He doesn't want you thinking for yourself like that. He doesn't want you independent. He wants to dictate what you do and don't do. ”Pause. “I think it would be a huge mistake, Titus.”
Titus was livid. Was he supposed to believe that he couldn't even protect Rita? That he was supposed to just leave her sitting here, vulnerable, until Luquin decided he wanted to kill her? He held his tongue. He was boiling inside, but he held his tongue.
“We'll talk about it again later, ”he said tersely. “I'm going to have to think about this.”
Chapter 19
Half an hour before Titus sat down at his computer to contact Luquin for the first time, a King Air 350 similar to the one Titus had flown in to San Miguel and back took off from the airstrip in the resort of Lago Vista on Lake Travis and headed for Austin, twenty-five air miles to the southeast.
Aboard the ten-passenger Beechcraft were six real estate developers who wanted a closer look at greater Austin. It was a common occurrence in a city that had attracted a lot of development in the past decade. And despite the fact that the economy had slowed all over the country, the roving eyes of developers were never still. Always hoping that the next upturn in the market was just around the corner, they were ever vigilant, thinking that if they timed it right, they could fall right into the money pot again with a well-placed housing development or a shopping mall or an office complex.
With the aircraft approaching Austin-Bergstrom International's tracking range, the pilot radioed the control tower, explained what his passengers wanted to do, and requested permission to circle the city at a specific altitude of twenty-two thousand feet. After a few exchanges of information, the Beechcraft received its permission
