instantaneously. The flagstones on the veranda swung around and floated above him, and the fountain in the courtyard hovered upside down over the dark night sky that spread out in front of him like a black valley rich with sparkling flowers.
Jesus Christ. Jesus. Christ.
“We have to move on, Mr. Cain, ”Alvaro said.
Titus looked at him. “Move on?”
“Yes. Do you understand your situation?”
He understood what this guy had said, yes. But he was still waiting for it to seem real.
“Mr. Cain, do you understand?”
Titus would try. He would address the business of this… hallucination, and he would follow the lines of logic.
“Yeah, ”Titus said, “I understand. ”It just didn't seem real. “When… am I going to learn more about the ‘business arrangements'?”
“Soon.”
“You don't want it all at once?”
“Oh, I'll take it all at once, but I happen to know that you can't get it that quickly. However, I'll want the first payment immediately.”
“How much will that be?”
“I'll let you know.”
Titus quickly ran over his personal assets in his mind. How much was this maniac going to ask for? Titus was beginning to come around, as if he were regaining consciousness. “My financial people will be flabbergasted if I start dumping millions. It won't make any sense to them.”
“You'll have to be creative to avoid curiosity, ”Alvaro said. “I don't want anyone suspicious about what you're going to be doing. That would be unacceptable.”
“What kind of enterprises are you talking about?”
“Oh, a wide variety. I'll get to that later. The main thing is, when all is said and done it must appear that you've simply made a series of business decisions that have resulted in these unfortunate losses. Everything you do has to lead to that appearance. The way you set up these acquisitions, all of it.”
“I'll look like a fool for making decisions like that, ”Titus said.
“I have people who will work with you, ”Alvaro said, “to give it the best face possible. ”He paused. “But, really, I don't give a damn about how it will make you look, one way or the other. You need to understand that. So long as it isn't suspicious. That's the important thing. I really can't emphasize that enough.”
Moment by moment, reality was filtering back into Titus's thinking. The disabling numbness of shock lessened, and he came to himself as if he were awakening from a drugged stupor. Fear was still there, potent and sweaty, and there was a stirring of resistance, too. Though he was still reeling, there was a germinating seed of anger.
“As for your law enforcement agencies, ”Alvaro said, “don't do it. It's a gamble. If you call them, and you are able to keep it hidden from me temporarily, you may indeed save your money. But I will find out about it sooner or later, and then it will cost you your peace of mind for the rest of your life. If I can't get to you, I'll get to people you know. Friends. Family. You will be responsible for what happens to all of them, for everyone you've ever known.”
He paused and lolled his head as if weary of trying to be convincing.
“Mr. Cain, believe me, I've done it all before. I know the tricks men want to play. I know that after I leave here tonight you will begin scheming of ways to escape your situation with your money and your life intact. I know you will do this because you are an intelligent man-after all”-he spread his arms out and looked around him-“look at the fortune you have created by your own ingenuity, your own cleverness. No? So, who am I to come in here and give you instructions, do this, do that, as if you were stupid and couldn't figure out a way to outsmart me? Right?
“But… listen to me, Mr. Cain. ”Alvaro lifted his chin and pronounced his next words with exaggerated care. “You-cannot-do-it. And if you try, you will create a fucking monster. As of tonight your life has changed, as surely as if you had discovered a terrible disease inside you, and there is nothing you can do about it. The only thing in your power regarding this situation is to do as you are told. It will save lives.”
He cocked his head at Titus. “And that's no small thing, is it?”
Again, Titus was speechless. How could he possibly respond to such
… insanity? He couldn't even formulate a question that didn't seem surreal.
A tiny red light out in the courtyard caught Titus's eye, just a couple of winks and it was gone, and one of the dark smudges drifted away from the others and stood alone. Titus could hear the man talking. His head was throbbing. He reached out and put his now tepid bottle of beer on the wrought-iron table.
“Suicide, ”Titus said abruptly.
“That's always an option, ”Alvaro said, unfazed. “But you're really not the issue. I want the money. I don't care if I get it from you or from your wife. It's irrelevant to me. The important thing is that I get it.”
“I could put it all into a trust. I wouldn't have any control over it.”
“Mr. Cain, please understand: People die if I don't get the money. It's not a matter of how clever you can be, or how clever your lawyers can be. Anything you do that prevents the transfer of sixty-four million to me will cause people to die. You go to the FBI, they die. You find a financial escape hatch, even more people die. It's very simple.”
“How many people? ”Titus asked stupidly. But he thought of only one person. Rita. Jesus Christ. Rita's face lodged in his mind-an unthinkable association that crowded out the faceless plurality of all the others that might have been there.
“How many people do you know? ”Alvaro asked. It was a ghoulish response that left no doubt that he would take it fur ther than Titus could bear. Titus didn't answer.
“Well, ”Alvaro said, turning in his chair with a little gesture to the shadows, “that covers the big picture.”
Titus heard the dogs and then saw them coming, lumbering along through the allee of laurels with their noses down, scanning the earthy scents. They were happy to be out of wherever they were being kept and came onto the veranda and straight to Titus.
He bent to the dogs and petted them firmly, as they liked. It was so good to see them. This was reality; these slobbering, affectionate old friends were reality.
But when the dogs turned to Alvaro, expecting the same treatment, he stopped them with a scolding grunt. They flinched away, casting puzzled, wary glances at him, and then stood looking at him, their tails hanging still.
In that moment Alvaro made another gesture, and Titus saw a flash from the shadows and heard a muffled pumft! pumft! pumft! pumft! The first dog's head flew back, and he dropped on his folded legs, his brains thrown twenty feet back against doors into the house. The second dog, caught in midturn, stumbled as if tripping, the bullets catching his brain at such an angle as to buy him another millisecond. He emitted a muffled yowl, and his hindquarters collapsed, and for an instant his front legs remained rigid, refusing death, his head extended awkwardly as if to maintain his balance. And then he went down.
Titus was on his feet instinctively, which brought the shadows instantly into the light at the edge of the veranda. Three men, Hispanics in dark street clothes, small, high-tech automatic weapons, headphones.
Alvaro was as cool as boredom. He put his hand up and signed for Titus to step back away from him. Titus did, his heart rattling around in his chest, driven by fear and fury and simple astonishment. Alvaro stood and moved closer to his men, closer to the dark. He lifted his chin at the dogs.
“It's that easy, Mr. Cain. ”He shrugged. “Friends. Relatives. Strangers. I hand them into your safekeeping. Don't hand them back to me. They're all dogs to me.”
He turned and stepped into the darkness.
Chapter 7
