“You know what just happened?”
“Yeah, ”Burden said. “I just found out.”
Titus's chest was heaving, his heart pitching, almost squeezing off his ability to speak.
“No more, ”he said. “That's it. No more. Not one more. Don't give me any of this shit about inevitability. Fuck that. The killings stop here. Right now.”
“How do-”
“I'm going to tell you, ”Titus said. “You take every bit of information you have on Luquin and his people-which is considerable at this point-and you go to the FBI. Now. Right this minute. You take them everything you have, and you get their tac squads over there and arrest Luquin or kill him, and I don't give a shit which. But this insanity stops now!”
“Think about this, Titus-”
“ You do this now, Garcia”-Titus was almost screaming, his voice hoarse with heat-“or I will. I don't give a shit about your silence or your secrecy or your hidden agendas. No more of my friends are going to die because of this son of a bitch. You don't have any choice. You don't have any say. This is the end of it.”
Chapter 32
The guest house was full of electricity, more of it coursing through the people than through the tangle of cables and wires supporting the computers and communications hardware scattered around on makeshift folding tables.
Rita had burst through the door immediately after Titus, and the two of them were standing facing Burden, who, unintimidated, was nodding at them, letting them catch their breath. Mark Herrin and Cline were working feverishly at their computer screens with an improbably fierce concentration. In the midst of this momentary silence, the only sound was the white noise of humming electronics.
“I should never have let this go this far, ”Titus said. “My choices led to these deaths. But I'm not going to let it happen anymore.”
“So your solution is to pull the plug on all this, ”Burden said.
From where he stood, he faced the south side of the large main room, with its high glass wall that reached to a vaulted ceiling and looked out at the last part of the laurel allee and the peach orchard.
“Look, ”he said, running the fingers of one hand through his hair and looking at Titus, “think about this: Knowing what you know now about Luquin, knowing that he had promised you he'd kill people if you went to the FBI”-he paused-“do you think that if you'd gone to the FBI that first night, you would've prevented either of these deaths?”
Burden paused, but he didn't want his answer quite yet. He went on.
“How quickly do you think the FBI would've found Luquin? Literally, how would that have played out? Would they have him yet”-he looked at his watch and then back at Titus-“sixty hours later? Would either of these deaths have been prevented?”
Titus stared at him. His mind was plunging into the problem, but still Burden didn't wait.
“Even if they had arrested him-an impossibility, but let's go ahead with that fantasy for the hell of it-would that have prevented these tragic… accidents?”
Silence.
“Or let's say Luquin would've managed to get out of the country before they found him. Do you think that would've prevented these two deaths?”
Burden glanced at Rita, who was staring at him in brittle silence.
“You need to remember, Titus, that you aren't the only one who's ever had to go through something like this because of this man. Have you forgotten that? And, believe me, I didn't tell you nearly all that I could've. The fact is, as tragedies go, things could've been a hell of a lot worse for you, couldn't they.”
Titus stared at him, feeling the heat of temper still in his face. He was strung out, pummeled by his own emotions.
Leaving his questions hanging in the air, Burden moved over to the window and looked out. He stayed that way, giving no indication of what he planned to do next.
“I can't do anything about what Luquin's done anywhere else, ”Titus said to Burden's back. “I'm sorry about it, I am, but I can't do anything about it.”
Burden turned around. “But you can do something about it here? Is that it?”
“I should've gone to the FBI to begin with.”
“And Luquin would be gone now, ”Burden said, “and Thrush and Elster would've died anyway.”
“But we'd have the FBI, ”Titus countered, “and the CIA, and the damned U.S. military, if we needed them, chasing his ass. There's a lot of weight there, Garcia. What have you got chasing him?”
“And others would've died, too, ”Burden went on, “just like Luquin promised, because he would've been furious at you for having gone to the FBI and having cost him his damn ransom money. On top of that, he would've gone underground, and it would take us another ten years to get our hands on him again, and all the while he would've gone on devastating God knows how many more lives. ”He paused. “That's what you would've accomplished, Titus.”
The two men looked at each other.
“You do recognize that, Titus? You do understand that, don't you?”
“Let me tell you what I understand, Garcia. I understand that it was because of decisions that I made that Charlie and Carla died. I understand that I can't live with any more of those kinds of deaths. I can't do anything about things that I don't understand. I'm through working off the books. I want this information to go to the FBI. Now. I want Luquin stopped. Now.”
Burden came back over in front of Titus and Rita, addressing them both.
“Get this straight, ”he said, sounding nearly callous now, “Charlie Thrush and Carla Elster were dead from the moment Cayetano Luquin stepped onto your veranda over there two days ago. They were dead, regardless of what you did, and that's just the brutal reality of it. I think I said as much to you, didn't I? In San Miguel. I said, One or two are already as good as dead. I said Luquin would have to do this because he thinks that's the only way you'll really be able to grasp the reality of what's happening to you.”
He paused but didn't move, didn't even blink.
“Luquin travels with violence and misery. He's decided to travel here. Now, you can blame me for that if you want to, but it doesn't make you right. And you can feel guilty about that if you want to, but since you didn't have anything to do with it, it seems a little irrational for you to feel responsible for it. It's just wrong to feel that way, and it doesn't accomplish anything. And, frankly, it smacks of self-indulgence.”
This last remark made Titus furious, but in the same instant he could see it. He hadn't forgotten what he'd learned about Luquin, but neither had he stopped to put his own experience into perspective in light of those other horrible stories.
Burden moved away from Titus again. Though he seemed self-possessed, his few movements were actually his version of nervous pacing. Titus remembered him walking through the pools of light in his study as he tried to put his thoughts together. Now Burden stopped near one of the stone pillars that supported the high ceiling.
“You've got to stop this ambivalence, Titus. There's no time for it. You've got to understand how thin the margin for success is here even if we work closely together. We can't fight each other and win this thing.”
He had hardly finished his last word when Rita spoke up.
“I want to know where we are, ”she said. “If you're so sure that Luquin would've gotten away if we'd gone to the FBI because they're too slow and clumsy, now that you've got all this information that your computer people are processing, why don't you take it to the FBI like Titus says, and make sure that they nail this maniac? And when you say ‘winning this thing,’ what do you mean, exactly?”
Burden's eyes moved between Titus and Rita. His expression was stoic, but he was clearly trying to make a decision. He shifted his weight on his feet, still leaning on the pillar. He looked over at Herrin and Cline, who were doing their best to appear oblivious to what was going on, as if they were deaf.
“Mark, ”Burden said, “could we have some time alone here?”
