“Ethan, honey, listen to me. If we turn around we won’t be in Santa Barbara by Friday, and then we’ll have to wait a month. Do you want to wait an entire
“We’ll do it the same way as the others. In his house-”
“He’s married.”
Ethan snorted, then he laughed so hard she had to grab the wheel to stop them from hitting an eighteen- wheeler head-on.
“Dammit, Ethan! Pull over.”
He did, still laughing. He didn’t know what was funny anymore. Or even if it had been funny. He just felt like laughing, the sound bubbling out before he could stop it. His sides hurt, those vile snakes slithering around, but he couldn’t stop.
She got out of the car and paced, swearing. Ethan couldn’t hear her words, but he recognized the body language, her clenched fists, that look on her face that said,
It made him laugh harder.
His door opened.
“Move over.”
He couldn’t talk. Tears ran down his face. She unbuckled his seat belt, pushed him over, and got into the driver’s seat. “You bastard! Driving like that, you’re going to get us pulled over. Stupid fool.”
She pulled back into traffic. Ethan’s laughter began to subside when he pissed in his shorts.
“Whoops,” he said, giggling.
“We’re staying in Benson for the night. You need sleep. I need sleep.”
“Let’s go back to Hidalgo and kill Cardenas.”
She didn’t answer.
“I don’t need you.” He pouted and crossed his arms. He stared straight ahead. The endless road widened and shrunk in front of him. The cars passed and he kept turning to look. His fingers began to tap. He shuffled in his seat, rolled the window up and down. Up and down.
“I have to drive.”
“We’re almost there. Less than ten miles.”
“I can’t sit. Not here. Not doing nothing. I have to drive. Please. And we’ll go back to Texas.”
“Ethan, I’m not missing this opportunity with General Hackett. It’s all set up. We can go back to Hidalgo after.”
“Really?” He brightened. “I can poke the priest?”
“Yes.”
“I knew you’d see it my way. We can’t leave the job undone, right?”
“You’re absolutely right, Ethan.”
Karin stared at the road, trying to tamp down on her anger. She wanted to kill Ethan in the worst way. She couldn’t look at him. He was almost over the edge permanently. She’d saved his life at least a half dozen times over the past two years, three of them in the last six months. His hold on reality had been diminishing, though it had been tenuous from the moment they’d hooked up.
She’d been working in a gym in New York City, trying to forget how screwed up her life was, when Ethan came in. He’d been ordered to exercise by his doctor to work the muscles that had weakened while he’d been tortured. At the time she didn’t know what had happened to him, had assumed he’d been in some sort of accident. But she quickly saw in Ethan a quiet lunacy that she could use. And when she learned of his skill with needles … a plan was born.
She gradually pulled him away from his shrink, away from his doctor. Karin became Ethan’s caregiver. She gave him everything he needed-someone to talk to, someone to fuck, someone who cooked for him and cleaned up after him, someone who stopped him from killing himself. She gave him a purpose: torture those who had left him to die.
He had believed her. And all he had to do was believe her for two more days. Once they took care of General Hackett, she wouldn’t need him anymore.
And Karin would kill him before letting him go back to murder Father Cardenas.
CHAPTER TEN
“What was with the questions? Do you know something?” Jack asked Padre as they drove to Carlos’s house outside of the city limits. If Hidalgo had a pricey area, this would be it. Everyone had a small yard that they watered and kept green behind chain-link fences and broken sidewalks. Carlos had three cars when his brother couldn’t afford even one. Oh, yeah, he was dirty. Jack would take care of him later.
“I had a visitor last night at the church as I was locking up. A woman. White. But … I don’t see the connection.”
“What did she look like?”
“Long dark hair. Medium height, maybe five foot five. Pretty, but a little thin.”
“How old was she?”
“Forty, forty-five. I’m not as good with ages. Clean appearance, clean clothing. Dark slacks and a white blouse. A dark windbreaker.”
“And?”
“She wanted to confess.”
“You take confessions at midnight?”
“If someone needs it. If you came to me at three a.m., I’d listen.”
“Don’t wait up for me,” Jack said, but he was thinking. Picturing Scout dead on the floor, hamstrings cut, bullet to the back of the head. Not a female touch, but they say the sexes are getting closer.
“Was she driving?”
“On foot.”
“Then she had to have a place to stay.”
“Or a car parked elsewhere.”
“The church is a good two miles from El Gato. A white woman isn’t going to walk through town at midnight, alone or not. She was alone?”
“I believe so. I didn’t see or hear anyone else. She didn’t act like anyone was waiting for her. But, well, she didn’t confess.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I brought her into the church, she wanted to pray, and I gave her privacy. Then she left.”
“Did you check the silver? You’re not a softie, Padre. You left a stranger alone in the church?”
“I was in the chapel, waiting for her. And yes, I walked through the church. Nothing was taken or vandalized. The prayer candles were extinguished. I sensed that she’d been walking, saw the church, saw me locking up, and thought it was a good time to confess, but then got nervous. People don’t like to talk about their mistakes.” Padre glanced at Jack. “Do they?”
“What mistakes?” Jack got out of the truck and strode up to Carlos’s front door. Two pit bulls, chained to a lone tree, barked ferociously at the men. Padre approached more cautiously.
Jack pounded on the door. “Carlos! Open up. It’s Jack Kincaid and we need to talk.” He heard shuffling inside. “Now, Carlos.”
A minute later a young woman-if she was eighteen, Jack would eat his hat-answered the door. The security screen was still locked, but through it Jack could see she wore a bra and shorts and nothing else.
Before Jack even heard the car start, he was running across the lawn full speed. Carlos put the car in drive at the same time Jack grabbed a chunk of his hair through the open window and pulled. Carlos tried to drive, but Jack held tight and Carlos slammed on the brakes as Jack pulled open the door. He yanked Carlos from the driver’s seat. The car rolled forward and Jack barely noticed Padre jump in and put the car in park before it rolled into the
