"Who is us?"
"I led you to that water once."
"You denied it later."
"We can be whatever you want us to be, Charlie. It has always worked best that way."
"Damn whoever you are. Tell the truth."
"I am trying to provide some context for you. Now, I say this with some embarrassment-all of Central America and the Caribbean is rife with our internecine squabbles. There are jurisdictional overlaps, petty procedural disputes, chasms of noncommunication, turf wars. Pity the human beings down there. You need to understand the history. But Charlie? Back to my question. My guess is Ozburn killed them. Too much pressure working undercover. Too much frustration. Surrounded by too many bad men. Takes it out on the handiest target he can find-the young sicarios. He either overrode the surveillence system or, better yet, he didn't. Which means you have him on video. Which means you have proof of a rogue ATF agent running wild along the border."
"He's AWOL as Gravas. We both know that much."
"Yes, but what is he doing? Is he on the run or part of some crafty ATF operation? His apparent madness isn't simply deeper cover?"
"No. It isn't."
"But would you be telling me ATF secrets if they were true, Charlie? Or do you only give me the lies?"
"Only the lies for you, Mike."
"How is Seliah?"
"Fine so far as I know."
"So, you are in her kitchen, so to speak. I mean ATF is, not you personally. You wouldn't personally go into Seliah's kitchen, now, would you?"
Hood looked back up to the Ozburn porch. No Seliah. What if she changed her mind and ran out the back door? "She's uncooperative, Mike. We're keeping her at arm's length."
"Do they communicate, the Ozburns? E-mail, video perhaps?"
"Perhaps."
Mike was quiet for a beat. "You're not quite as rule-whipped as I thought you were, Charlie. You're actually talking instead of interrogating. What if you slip up and let a truth drop?"
"Keep me talking and maybe I will. Now-an alleged priest at Arenal, Father Joe Leftwich."
"I've heard of him, of course, but we've never met. Different region, obviously. Reputation as a hardnose. Drinker, big temper when it blows. Not afraid to be hands-on. Speaks all of the Caribbean languages, even the unusual ones-Papiamento, Taki-Taki, Hindi, Urdu. Helped the Spanish find gold in Costa Rica-first gold on the American continent. Good move on his part. Nothing like an explosion of wealth to challenge an oppressive religious climate and to finance the chaos that ensues. I remember that Leftwich set back his career by consorting with cutthroats on the Spanish Main. They were small-time men, cruel but ultimately useless to us. Leftwich enjoyed the bloodshed, I heard. Later he upgraded, if you can call it that. Had the ears of Pinochet and Somoza. He's been using the priest costume off and on for centuries, Charlie. Apparently, it works."
Hood watched Seliah walk out to her front porch. She was dressed in a black tee, black jeans, the red sneaks. She wore a black bandana pirate style as her husband sometimes did. She had an overnight bag slung over one shoulder and a canvas book bag in each hand. One of them looked heavy.
"Next time we'll talk vampire bats."
"I'd be delighted."
"I've got your number now," Hood said, and punched off.
He got out of the car and trotted up the steps to the porch. He smiled and approached Seliah and hoped she didn't just run up and bite him. Instead she smiled weakly, her face very pale and mostly hidden behind big Jackie O sunglasses.
"Woof," she said.
"Seliah. Lemme take those."
She let him take the book bags and they walked toward the car.
"I tried, Charlie."
"I know you did."
"He wouldn't come. I couldn't make him do it."
"Let's get you fixed up, Seliah. We'll work on Sean next."
"I will not betray him to you."
"I'm not asking you to. How are you feeling?"
"I didn't think I could feel this bad." She stopped. "Holy crap. I gotta ride in the back of that?"
"Now you know how the bad guys feel."
"That ought to be funny. The fact that I have to ride back there isn't funny at all."
"Maybe it's best for both of us." He opened a rear door for her but left it for her to close. Then he went around to the other side and slung in the canvas bags.
"I wouldn't try to seduce you in a… Never mind. Never mind. I'm sorry for all that. The virus causes it. Dr. Brennan said he's waiting for me. I like him. And drive fast, Charlie. Because when I left Ensenada I took some pills to keep me calm but you know something? I can feel them wearing off. I feel like Lucy Westenra, changing into a killer vampire slut one cell at a time. You ever read Dracula?"
"Never."
"It's all told in letters and diaries. It hypnotizes you. None of the movies are as good. Francis Coppola got closest. When this first started happening I wondered if I was turning into a vampire. Then I wondered if all the vampire movies and TV and books were turning me into one. Then, well, it just turned out to be a drunk priest with a fucking bat. What did Sean and I do to deserve all this special treatment?"
Hood got in and turned to see Seliah through the screen. She looked like a captured mutineer. She reached out and grabbed the strap on the handleless door and Hood knew she knew she could not open it again.
"You and Sean didn't do anything to deserve it."
"Now's the time if I'm going to run for it," she said. "Every time I run I get faster. I bet I can outrun you, Hood. I could give you the slip."
"Close the door, Seliah. We've got places to go and people to see."
She sighed and pulled the door closed.
Hood took I-5 North for UCI Medical Center in Orange. He adjusted the rearview so he could see her. She looked out the window at the tan hills of Camp Pendleton Marine Base.
"What they do is pump me full of knockout drugs," she said. "Out I go. It's called a therapeutic coma and they keep the ketamine coming so I stay down deep. Then they give me antiviral drugs and antibiotics and immune system boosters. They pump me full of food and fluids. My unconsciousness allows respiration instead of paralysis. They monitor my blood and saliva to see if the protocol is working. They knock out some people just for a few days, and some they've left KO'd for almost two months. If it looks like I'm going to survive the rabies, they wake me up. Or at least they try."
She checked her watch, then turned her gaze to the bright silver Pacific. Hood tried to imagine what was going through her mind.
"Of course, if I wake up, I'll have some brain damage. They can't predict how much. Jeanna Giese had some, and she spent two months in the ICU. But she worked hard at physical therapy and learned to do most of what she could do before. She still has some difficulty enunciating words and her left foot is weak so she runs funny. She can't play sports anymore. But she can go to school and drive a car. A bright future, that girl…"
Hood watched Seliah as her voice trailed off. The sunlight stenciled her face through the security screen. She took off the black bandana and wiped her forehead and cheeks with it. She hugged herself and pressed up closer to the door to get away from the sun. For a long while she hung her head, her swaying platinum hair walling off her face from the light and the world. Hood's heart sank and burst with the clear presence of her peril.
"So, Itixa the maid found a live bat," she said.
"In the trash in Father Joe's room."
"She should have said something."
"She told the owner and he told his son to stay away from the priest. But neither of them told you or Sean."
"But you know, if she had told me personally that morning that she'd found a bat in Father Joe's room, I might not have connected it with the blood on Sean's toe. Down there you could wake up with a howler monkey in your room. Or a boa constrictor in your shower."