10

Carlos slammed down the handset and signaled to Llosa to turn off the tape recorder.

“Our contact has hung up. I believe I upset him. Did we get a good recording?” Llosa pulled off his headphones and gave a thumbs up.

“Excellent. Now get hold of that pendejo, MacLaglen. Tell him I must speak to him immediately.” As Llosa crossed the room to the secure phone, Carlos leaned back and closed his eyes.

Mierda! This was what he had feared. MacLaglen had not frightened the doctor enough. The federales were now involved. Which meant it was time for a quick cleanup. Get rid of the child and MacLaglen’s two helpers—kill them, bury their bodies deep where no one will ever find them. Carlos knew where a new parking lot was being paved in Alexandria. A perfect spot for disposal.

He wished he could include MacLaglen in the paved grave as originally planned, but the cabron had outmaneuvered him.

He sighed. Ah well, not so bad. MacLaglen was a professional. He was a good risk. And he’d pushed the doctor far enough to get the chloramphenicol into Thomas Winston. That was what mattered The President was entering the hospital. When that news reached home, Emilio Rojas would be pleased.

Now Carlos had to hope the medicine would do its work. Whatever happened, it was out of his hands. The doctor’s confession only meant that the cleanup would begin earlier than anticipated. This was no problem.

Llosa finished speaking into the phone and turned to face him. He spoke in Spanish. “I paged him and left a message on his voice mail. He should be getting back to us any minute.”

“You told him to call back immediately?”

“Just as you directed.”

“Very good. Follow the usual routine when he calls.” Llosa nodded and left.

And Carlos sat and wondered: Did the doctor really believe that we would not find out about him? Did he realize that he had ended his daughter’s life when he confessed? What a reckless, foolish man.

11

Poppy sweated behind her Minnie Mouse mask, doing some curls with her dumbbells in the front room while Katie watched cartoons. When she heard a car door slam out front, she glanced out the window. Her heart suddenly twisted in her chest, then took off like she’d just snorted a gram of crank.

“Oh sweet Jesus! It’s Mac!” She heard a kitchen chair fall over as Paulie bolted into the room.

“What? Where?” Panic chased her to the center of the room.

“Outside! He’s coming in!”

“Shit!”

He pointed to Katie. “Get her out of here! I’ll clean this up! Move!”

Poppy grabbed Katie under the arms, lifted her, and rushed her toward the guest room.

“What’s wrong?” Katie said. “Why are you so scared?”

Poppy placed her on the bed and shut the guest-room door. “It’s our boss. We can’t let him know that we let you walk around without your blindfold.”

“Why not? I only—” Poppy placed a finger over Katie’s lips and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Shhh. Boss’s rules. You gotta be real quiet while he’s here. Quiet like a mouse. Okay?” She stared at Poppy and matched her whisper.

“Okay.”

“Great.” Poppy hid those big blues behind the blindfold. Her shaky fingers fumbled the knot a couple of times, but finally she got it good and snug around Katie’s head.

“Okay.” She pulled off her Minnie Mouse mask. “Now lie back and let me tie up your arms.”

Katie’s lip pushed out and she sobbed. “I don’t wanna be tied up.”

Oh, Jesus, Katie, Poppy thought, biting her own lip. Don’t give me a hard time now. Not with Mac about to come through the door.

“Shhh! Please, Katie, you gotta be quiet. Remember how I said you had to be quiet like a mouse? Well, you gotta be tied up too. Boss’s rules. And he don’t like his rules broken.”

Katie sobbed again and her voice got louder. “But it hurts!” And that was when she heard the front door open, and heard Mac’s voice. She couldn’t catch the words, but it was him.

Oh, Jesus, don’t let him come in here yet. Just give me another half a minute.

“Okay, okay. I’ll tie you real loose, okay? It won’t hurt, I promise you, but you gotta look like you’re tied up, see? Boss’s rules, remember? You don’t want to get me in trouble, do you?”

She shook her head. “No…”

“Okay, then. Quick now. Lie back and let me do what I gotta do, and I promise you, it won’t hurt.”

Katie sniffled a little, but stretched herself out on the bed and put her hands out to be tied.

“You’re a good little soldier,” Poppy whispered.

But now her bad case of fumble fingers had got even worse. She could barely hold the cord, but somehow she got it twisted into things that looked like knots.

“Okay. You’re tied. Do they hurt?”

Katie shook her head.

“Great. Now I’ll just—” Poppy glanced at Katie’s feet. Her heart had been racing since she spotted Mac’s Jeep outside, but now it kicked up to light speed. Katie’s left foot was in a little white sock, but the right one was… bare!

“Jesus, where’s your bandage?”

Katie wiggled her five exposed toes. “I guess it fell off.”

No! This couldn’t be happening! Not with Mac just a dozen feet away! Frantic, she checked the floor, checked in the covers, but no bandage.

And Mac could be popping in here any moment.

“Okay, look,” she said. “I’ll just pull the covers over your bottom half. Don’t kick them off. Even if it gets a little warm, keep your legs under the covers. Got that?”

Katie nodded.

“Good girl,” Poppy said. She leaned over and kissed Katie’s forehead above the blindfold. “Soon as the boss goes, we’ll play another game of Chutes and Ladders. Okay?”

Katie smiled.“ ‘Kay.”

Poppy adjusted the covers, backed away for a last look. Everything seemed to be in place. All right. One last look at Katie… and it was time to face Mac the Monster.

She stepped out into the front room and closed the door behind her. She saw Paulie standing by the couch, and Mac wandering around the room, casually twirling his key ring on his finger. He wore jeans and an open Orioles baseball jacket. She could smell the tension.

Mac stopped wandering and smiled at her, but only with his lips.

“Tending to our little asset?”

Poppy nodded. “Just put her…” Her mouth was so dry she had to clear her throat. “Just put her down for a nap.”

“Good. I knew you’d come in handy on this job. A nice little mother hen for the package.” Poppy stole a few glances at the room. Looked like Paulie had done a good job cleaning things up. The Chutes and Ladders board and pieces were gone, as was his Mickey Mouse mask. He never picked up after himself. She never thought he could. She’d have to remind him of this sometime.

Where had he stuffed all the stuff? Under the couch?

“Your boyfriend was just telling me that he hopes there’s no hard feelings about our little contretemps yesterday.”

Contra-what? What was Mac talking about? He had a funny look in his eyes. Was he looking to start a fight?

“We don’t want no hard feelings with nobody,” Poppy said. “We just want this thing over and done with.” She was going to say more but something white by the rear leg of the coffee table caught her eye. It lay between her two dumbbells. She didn’t want to lean closer so she had to focus out of the corner of her eye. Something white with a little bit of red…

Oh, Jesus, the bandage! Katie’s foot bandage! If Mac saw it he’d start asking questions, maybe want to see Katie’s foot! Oh, Jesus, oh, Christ, oh. Mother of God, she couldn’t let Mac spot it!

“I’m sure you do,” Mac told her. He turned to Paulie. “But am I to take that as an apology?” Poppy edged closer to the coffee table. If she could get herself between Mac and the bandage…

Paulie shrugged. “If you want. All I’m saying is you’re the boss, you’re calling the shots, but we got our limits.” She watched Mac shrug out of his Orioles jacket and toss it onto a chair. He tried to make it look casual, but as soon as Poppy saw the dark-brown pistol handle jutting from the little leather holster next to the beeper on his belt, she knew he wasn’t being casual.