“But he may say something else, ”Titus said. “And if he does, I go with that. I believe him on that, too.”
“That's right.”
“Where is he?”
“I don't know. I'm getting ready to find out.”
“You have a lot of faith in him? ”It was a question, and an observation, and a concern.
“I worked with him at the CIA. He's been contract for a long time now. He's solid, like I told you. Does his best work out of the box.”
“Out of the box. I need a little more on that.”
“He's several points removed from any official equation. If he screws up, there's no blowback. He's one of a very few who know going into a situation that he's on his own. Guy like that, nobody owns his ass. And nobody helps him out of a bind, either. He's alone. He's given the edgiest operations, and when he succeeds, the intelligence community wins big. And silently, which is really the only way to win. But when guys like him go down, they go down alone. They just disappear. Forever.”
“Why do they do it?”
“Big, big money. And because they can't help themselves. They're addicted to the adrenaline. Or they have private demons that can only be satisfied by putting everything on the line every time. ”He shrugged. “Or for reasons that maybe only God understands.”
“But that's CIA work. Intelligence stuff. Why would he be interested in this?”
Norlin shrugged. “Big, big money. Or maybe he'll have other reasons.”
Titus considered this. “And you think this is the way to go, then, with this guy who's… good at working outside the box?”
“Look, Mr. Cain, I may not have the goods to advise you on what's happening here, but I can promise you this: This Alvaro doesn't even know there is a fucking box. Believe me, if I can find him, you're going to need this guy.”
Without saying any more, Norlin turned and walked away, past his car, onto the dirt track that led away from the construction site to the road below. Titus could hear him murmuring out in the dark.
Titus stood and twisted his shoulders to relieve the tension. He stared out over the valley. No city view here, but he could see a coil of Lake Austin, the surface of the water glazed in reflected light. He felt desolate. Isolated. Completely at a loss. The woods around the construction site were dense, and when he looked up toward the lighted sky, he could see the black circle of the trees surrounding him out of his peripheral vision. He stood that way a long time, long enough to lose track of time. Long enough to be startled by Norlin's voice.
“You're in luck, ”Norlin said, coming up out of the darkness.
Titus was surprised to see Norlin step up and stretch out his arm, handing the cell phone to him.
“He just happens to be close by, ”Norlin explained. “He's in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. His name's Garcia Burden.”
Titus took the heavy phone and put it to his ear in time to hear one ring and then:
“Titus Cain?”
“Yes, that's right.”
“Garcia Burden. Gil's told me the basic story. If this is what it seems to be, it's extraordinary.”
His voice was soft, a surprise, though Titus hadn't had any preconceptions. He had a bit of an accent, but Titus had no idea what it was. Garcia. No, it wasn't Hispanic, the accent, not like Alvaro's, anyway. It was something altogether different.
“‘If'? ”Titus asked. “Why wouldn't it be?”
“Who knows? ”Burden said cryptically. “But your visitor's not who he says he is. His scheme is complex and would require a lot of experience in this sort of thing. So I'm fairly sure he's using a bogus name, which means he's on all the international border watch lists. He must've entered the States illegally. That's significant and supports the ransom story.”
“How does it do that?”
“He's too cautious to have come in under a fake passport. Too much risk with the new technology now. This kind of man wouldn't enter the States under the sorts of conditions illegal entry would require for anything routine. This has probably been in the works for a long time. He's come in for the kill… so to speak.”
Burden seemed to be all over this.
“How long before he gets back to you?”
“He didn't say.”
“It'll be very soon. But he gave you no instructions?”
“No.”
“So there are no ‘rules’for you to offend yet.”
“I'm not supposed to contact any law enforcement agency.”
“Well, he would consider me in that category, so if he knew about this, you would've already offended him. This conversation would justify the first hit.”
The word hit struck Titus like a board to the side of the head. Jesus. It was stunning to hear that word in the context of reality, of his reality. But then, did he really believe Alvaro was going to start killing people if Titus didn't-what-follow instructions?
Burden responded to Titus's shocked silence.
“No, don't make that mistake, Mr. Cain, ”he said. “This man doesn't threaten. He probably even told you that himself. He's eagerly awaiting his first opportunity to show you how quickly he'll react to your failure to follow instructions.”
“Then you do know him.”
“I don't know. But I do know the kind of man he is. In that sense, yes, I know him. ”Burden abruptly shifted gears. “I want to work with you on this, Mr. Cain. Are you interested?”
Titus glanced at Norlin, but he couldn't see anything beyond a dark figure.
“Of course I'm interested, but I've got to think this over. I'm not going to decide to do this right now.”
“I'm only asking if you're interested in talking.”
“Yeah, of course I am.”
“There's not a lot of time. You should come tomorrow.”
“Down there? San Miguel?”
“Yes. We need to be here when we talk. I have things to show you, to explain. My archives are here. They're not portable.”
“But what if he tries to get in touch with me while I'm gone?”
“I'll explain how to handle that.”
“I don't know if I can make it tomorrow. My security system's been wrecked, and I've got to get someone to start debugging this place.”
“Did he tell you not to call in security people?”
“No. ”Titus cringed. Was that another offense? Was he expected to live with Alvaro listening to every word spoken in his own home? He couldn't do it. He wouldn't do it. “He didn't say specifically not to do it.”
“Then you've got a choice to make. Get used to it, or be ready to live with the consequences, if there are any.”
“I can't live like that.”
“Fine. Do you know people who can do that for you?”
“I own a software company. We work with electronic security constantly.”
“You're going to need some highly specialized people, Mr. Cain. You've got a very specific kind of problem there. It's not the same. Surely you can see that.”
Shit. Titus felt stupidly naive. He was going to have to start thinking differently.
“Mr. Cain, this is my profession. This is what I do. Let me send someone to you. They know about the latest technology. They know this game. Okay?”
“Yeah, ”Titus said. “Okay.”
“They'll be there tomorrow, ”Burden said. “Now, you're coming down here tomorrow so we can talk?”
“Yeah-”
“Do you speak Spanish?”
