Savages

Let’s get to content.

143

We have to be careful, Ben thinks.

We have to be beyond careful. If the BC gets one whiff that we’re using their own money to pay them, they’ll kill O.

So—

144

They find the address in one of Dennis’s files.

Way out in the new eastern housing developments that hug the mountains.

Cougar country.

Not the new kind of cougar, the old kind of cougar, actual big cats.

Dennis has had it under watch for months. Rented by one Ron Cabral, a known associate, etc.

Now Ben and Chon have it up.

They watch the cars come and go, late at night or early in the morning, usually before dawn. They get a sense of when the runs are made, when deliveries come in, go out, how many men.

Stash house.

Where money is kept until it’s packed up and delivered south.

Or not, as the case may be.

145

Chon parks the Mustang two miles away and hikes in through the thick chaparral on the hillsides.

Feels almost good to be humping it again.

He plops his ass down, gets out the nocs, and scopes the terrain until he finds what he’s looking for—a sharp curve in the road away from the houses. Takes a mental snapshot and stores it.

I-Rock-and-Roll, Stanland, SoCal.

An ambush is an ambush.

Is an ambush.

146

They go over it a gazillion times.

In Ben’s opinion.

Not enough in Chon’s.

“It’s no fucking game,” Chon says.

“Didn’t say it is,” Ben responds. “What I’m saying is I got it. It’s in my head.”

Yeah, but Chon knows it goes out of your head the second the action starts and the adrenaline kicks in. Then it’s all muscle memory that comes from repetition, repetition, repetition.

So they go over it again.

147

O makes the rounds of the talk shows.

O-prah, of course.

OPRAH

. . . a story of courage, of … inspiring … dignity. Please welcome O.

The audience applauds. A few stand. O, demure in a gray dress, walks out, shyly acknowledges the applause, and sits down.

OPRAH

What a truly amazing experience. What did you learn? What did you take away?

O

Well, Oprah, you know, when you’re alone that long you have no choice but to confront yourself. I think you gain a self-knowledge. You really learn about yourself.

Oprah looks to the women in the audience and smiles. “Isn’t this girl amazing?” She turns back to O.

OPRAH

(softly)

What did you learn?

O

How strong I really am. How strong a woman …

an inner strength that I hadn’t fully realized …

Applause.

OPRAH

Next, a truly awe-inspiring example of courage under pressure—O’s mother, Paqu.

O moves on to Ellen.

ELLEN

Give it up for MTV’s O!

O, in a jaunty sleeveless T-shirt that displays her tattoos, breaks out a few dance moves and then plops down in the guest chair.

ELLEN

You’ve had quite a time of it, haven’t you?

O

Oh yeah. But first—you get to do Portia de Rossi? I’d trade jerseys for that.

The audience cracks up.

She dances with Ellen, then

On to Dr. Phil.

DR. PHIL

… the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, and I’m a big believer that you teach people how to treat you. You have to consent to be a hostage, and if you don’t own your part in this then you have no power to fix it. I’ve been doing kidnap and hostage cases for thirty-five years, I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck. For every rat you see there are fifty you don’t.

O

You’re a fucking asshole.

DR. PHIL

I’m prepared to offer you first-class help if you’ll take it. But I’m not playing games here, we’re going to drill down and get to the bottom of this, I’m just an old country boy—

O