Riley said nothing.

The gunman continued, “Don’t you agree?”

“I suppose so,” said Riley.

“Stop being coy with me. Do you agree or not?”

“Yes. I agree.”

“Now, here’s something else I’m sure we can both agree on. If the police unravel this money trail all the way to its source, things are going to get very ugly for you.”

Riley said nothing.

“Can we agree on that, Riley?”

Riley swallowed hard. He wanted to speak, but his mouth wouldn’t move. He was too afraid of saying the wrong thing.

The man said, “I need your agreement on that, friend. Because if I don’t get it, I’m going to have to kill you right here and now.”

Riley could hear himself breathing. He’d dealt with some unsavory characters in his time. Bank secrecy had its dark side. But no one had ever threatened his life, at least not in such a matter-of-fact tone. There was no doubt in Riley’s mind that the man meant every word of it. “Okay,” he said, his voice little more than a peep.

“Okay what?” the man said.

“No one will ever find out where that money came from.”

“Good answer, Riley. That’s a very good answer.”

He rose from the chair, a silhouette in the darkness. The face was obscured in shadows, but Riley could detect the faintest outline of a gun.

“On the floor,” the man said. “Face down.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice cried out, begging Riley to resist. He tried to ignore it, but he continued to hear the warning over and over, as he lowered himself to the floor and laid his cheek against the rug. The man approached, and Riley could feel the vibration of each heavy footfall. The man stopped, towering over him, and Riley could see only the tops of his shoes.

He imagined that the gun was pointed directly at the back of his head, and tomorrow’s headlines quickly flashed through his brain: “Banker Found Dead in Home, Shot Execution-Style.”

“Count to a thousand, out loud,” the man said. “Don’t even think about getting up before you finish.”

Riley started counting.

“Too fast. Slower.”

Riley started over again. One, two, three. The man walked away. Nine, ten, eleven. The front door opened. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen. Riley heard it close. He didn’t move a muscle, but his voice was shaking.

He didn’t stop counting until the first signs of daylight shone through the slatted wooden shutters.

chapter 28

M iami’s cold wave was coming to an end. Theo could feel it. The motel room was getting hotter, stuffier by the minute. It was growing brighter, too. Flickers of sunlight filtered through the top of the old drapes and broke over the heaping barricade of overturned furniture and mattresses like dawn over a hilltop. If Theo could somehow crawl across the room and yank those drapes off the window, the snipers might be able to scope the interior, see over the mound of furniture, and take a shot. He assumed there were snipers out there. Those guys lived for the chance to shoot something other than the ink out of a bull’s-eye at two hundred yards. All they needed was an opening, one kill shot straight to the head. Game over. The cop-killer would be dead. Unless they were under the impression that it was Theo who had shot those police officers. Surely, Jack had explained to them that the black dude wasn’t one of the bad guys. But would they believe it? Or would they see nothing more than a criminal defense lawyer covering for his old client? They must have pulled his record by now and seen that Jack had sprung him loose from death row. It wouldn’t matter that DNA evidence had proved him innocent. Like everyone else who professed to “know” about Theo’s past, they would assume that he’d gotten off on a technicality, that his clever lawyer had thrown some legal bullshit up against the wall and it stuck. They’d see a murderer in the crosshairs and a chance to serve the ends of justice-delayed but not denied. First shot, Falcon. Second shot, the black piece of shit who deserved to die. A tragic mistake. What a pity.

Calm down, Theo told himself. Maybe the sniper’s a brother.

“Hey, mister,” said Natalia. “Are you ever going to let us use the bathroom?”

Falcon looked in her direction. She’d apparently roused him from some very deep thoughts, as it took a moment for her request to register. “Use what?” he said.

“The bathroom,” said Theo. “We been sitting here for six hours.”

Falcon was standing at the front door. He pressed his eye to the peephole and stole one more quick peek of the parking lot, then turned and walked to Natalia. “She goes first.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “Let him go.”

“Shut up! If I say you’re first, then you go first. Do you hear me?”

She glanced nervously at Theo. Their voices were loud enough to carry into the bathroom, and they both knew that all hell would break loose when Falcon opened the door. It would have been a stretch to call it a coordinated effort, but Theo was obviously the better point man on this side of the bathroom door.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll go first.”

Both Theo and Natalia had their hands tied behind their backs, and Falcon had bound their ankles tightly with electrical cords that he had yanked from the lamps. Falcon knelt down slowly, pointing his gun straight at her face. With the free hand, he loosened the cord around her ankles so that she could walk. Then he grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up so hard it cocked her head sideways, her cheek practically lying on her shoulder. She was sandwiched between Falcon and the wall as he jammed the gun under her chin and aimed straight at her brain. “Do not try anything,” he said.

“Don’t worry, I won’t.”

Her clothing was tight, and Falcon seemed to like the feel of his body against hers. “And the door stays open,” he said.

“You mean you’re going to watch me use the bathroom?”

A vacant smile creased his lips. “Aren’t you used to it, jinitera?”

“Hey,” said Theo. “There’s no need to be calling her that.”

“I thought you didn’t speak Spanish.”

“Do you seriously think there’s a bartender in Miami who doesn’t know how to say ‘prostitute’ en español?”

“Do you seriously think it’s worth taking a bullet to defend this one’s honor?”

Theo didn’t answer. Falcon kept the gun trained on the back of Natalia’s head as he nudged her forward and followed directly behind her. From the standpoint of a potential escape, it was unfortunate positioning. If Natalia’s friend in the bathroom did have a gun, it would have been difficult to get off a clean shot at Falcon without wounding or killing her in the process.

Theo remained on the floor. It was just a few steps from his seat against the wall to the bathroom, and his angle offered a clear view of the door. He had been trying to loosen the bindings around his wrists for hours, with little progress. The cord around his ankles was equally secure. If something good was to come of this, it was up to Natalia and her friend.

Natalia was taking small, deliberate steps toward the bathroom door, as if plotting her next move. Theo wondered if the man inside was ready to rise to the occasion. Was he standing at the ready, hammer cocked and prepared to fire? Was he any kind of a shot at all, or would bullets fly wildly in every direction? Would he lose his nerve and freeze up? Did he even have a gun?

Falcon reached past Natalia and grasped the doorknob. Theo prepared to scoot forward and roll, if need be, to help overpower Falcon. Falcon turned the knob and pushed the door open.

Out of the darkness, a white blur shot, like a linebacker racing through the open doorway. With it came a scream so loud and shrill that it chilled Theo and completely disoriented Falcon. The man emerged from hiding and slammed into Natalia, pushing her against Falcon. The momentum sent all three of them sailing across the dressing area and crashing against the wall. Falcon hit first, then Natalia, followed by her friend. The combined impact dislodged the gun and sent it flying through the air. Natalia was kicking furiously, and her friend was pummeling Falcon with both fists, as the gun hit the tile floor. Theo immediately rolled toward it, but it was sliding away from him. He was quickly entangled in the two-on-one dogfight against Falcon, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed another woman hiding in the bathtub.