“Angel, how can Reyes affect the weather?” I’d never taken Angel for a conspiracy theorist. Who knew?
“His anger is throwing everything off balance, like that ride at the fair that spins and turns at the same time. Haven’t you noticed?”
Ah, yes, many a child had lost his lunch to that ride. “Honey—”
“Did you know there was an earthquake in Santa Fe? Santa Fe!” When I started to argue again, he held up a hand and said, “Just don’t unbind him, whatever you do. I’ll go follow this
He was gone before I could say anything else. I couldn’t possibly give credence to his claims. What he suggested was impossible. Reyes’s anger causing natural disasters? I’d made a few people angry in the past, but not enough to cause an earthquake.
I picked up my phone just in case and called Cookie.
“What’s up, boss?”
“Question, was there an earthquake in Santa Fe?”
“You didn’t hear about that?”
“Holy cow. Where the hell was I?”
“You totally need to watch the news.”
“Can’t.”
“Why?”
“It’s too depressing.”
“Right, because hanging with dead people isn’t.”
Well, that was just rude. “So, really?” I asked. “An earthquake?”
“The first one of that magnitude in over a hundred years.”
Crap.
Chapter 4
Lead me not into temptation. I can find it myself.
I flashed my ID at the guard standing duty at gatehouse of the Penitentiary of New Mexico. He waved me through and I parked in visitor parking, close to level five, the maximum-security unit of the prison. The minute I stepped inside the turquoise-trimmed building, Neil Gossett walked up to me, took the coffee out of my hands, and threw it in a wastebasket. Right. Bad idea.
“Hey,” I said breathlessly, butterflies dive-bombing the lining of my stomach, “what’s up?”
Neil and I went to high school together, but we didn’t hang in the same social circles and we certainly weren’t friends. He’d been an athlete, which only partially explained his asinine behavior toward me throughout our high school careers. Not that it was entirely his fault, but blaming him was healthier for my self-image.
I had trusted my best friend Jessica Guinn when I was a sophomore with my most prized secrets, not the least of which involved the words
While Neil had never believed in what I could do back then, he’d since changed his mind when our paths crossed again. As he was the deputy warden of the prison where Reyes Farrow had spent the last decade, I’d had no choice but to look him up in my quest to find the man most likely to win the Sexiest Son of Satan on the Planet award. And because of an incident that happened when Reyes first arrived here ten years ago that involved the downfall of three of the deadliest gang members the prison population had to offer in about fifteen seconds flat, Neil was beginning to believe there really were things that went bump in the night. Whatever Neil saw left an impression. And he knew just enough about me to believe I knew what I was talking about. Poor schmuck.
He turned and started walking away, which I thought was really rude. But I followed nonetheless.
“He just wants to talk?” I asked, hurrying to catch up. “Did he ask you to call me? Did he tell you why?”
He led the way past the security posts before answering. “He asked for a one-on-one with me,” he said, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. “So I went to the floor, you know, fully expecting to die since he was so angry at being bound by a mutual acquaintance of ours.” He cast a quick glower over his shoulder. “So I get to his cell and he says he wants to talk to you.”
“Just out of the blue?”
“Just out of the blue.” He led me through a couple more checkpoints, then into a windowless interview room with a table and two chairs, like the kind they used for meetings with lawyers. It was tiny, but the bright white cinder block walls made it seem less so. It looked like the only form of visible monitoring from the guards would be through a postage stamp window in the door.
“Wow.”
“Exactly. Are you sure you want to do this, Charley?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” I sat at the table and laid a file folder I’d brought on top, surprised he’d let me keep it.
“Well, let me think.” Neil was agitated, started pacing back and forth. He still had a fairly nice physique despite the tragic onset of male pattern baldness. From what I’d gathered, he’d never married, which came as quite the shocker. He’d always had hordes of girls after him in high school. He glanced at me as he made another pass. “Reyes Farrow is the son of Satan,” he said, starting the count off with his thumb. “He is the most powerful man I’ve ever met.” Index finger. “He moves at the speed of light.” Middle finger. “Oh, and he’s pissed.” Fist at side.
“I know he’s pissed.”
“He’s pissed as hell, Charley. At you.”
“Pfft. How do you know he’s mad at me? Maybe he’s mad at you.”
“I’ve seen what he does to people he’s angry with,” he continued, ignoring me. “It’s one of those images that haunts you forever, if you know what I mean.”
“I do. Damn it.” I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth.
“I’ve never seen him like this.” He paused and placed his palms on the table in thought. “He’s been different since he got back.”
“Different how?” I asked, alarmed.
He started pacing again. “I don’t know. He’s distant, more distant than usual. And he isn’t sleeping. He just paces like a caged animal.”
“Like you’re doing now?” I asked.
He turned to me, not amused. “Remember what I saw when he first got here?”
I nodded. “Of course.”
The first time I’d visited, Neil told me the story of how he became aware of what Reyes was capable of. He’d just started working at the prison and was on the floor in the cafeteria when he saw three gang members heading toward Reyes, a twenty-year-old kid at the time who’d just been released into gen-pop from Reception and Diagnostics. Fresh fish. Neil had panicked and grabbed for his radio, but before he could even call for backup, Reyes had taken down three of the deadliest men in the state without breaking a sweat. Neil said he moved so fast, his eyes couldn’t follow. Like an animal. Or a ghost.
“That’s why I’ll be watching through that camera,” he said, pointing to the device in the corner, “and I’ll have a team just outside this door, waiting for the word.”
“Neil,” I said, leveling a warning gaze on him, “you can’t send them in and you know it. If you care anything about your men.”
He shook his head. “Maybe if something happens, they can at least stop him long enough to get you
