Mike stood in front of him, backing up a few steps when the trencher got closer. After a while Bradley shut off the engine and dropped the handles and shucked his gloves to the ground. From the cooler he got a beer for himself and tossed one to Mike. They walked along the chain link toward the escarpment to the east, the big husky Call trailing behind them with five other dogs.
“Let’s see that happy new smile,” said Mike.
Bradley grimaced down at the little man. Only the perfection of the new implants betrayed them. His facial bruises were faint shadows now and the gun-butt cuts up on his forehead were still red but smaller. His palm had finally healed. In an attempt to improve his overall appearance Bradley had gotten a short, smart haircut, something between Wall Street and Camp Pendleton, and was giving himself a close shave each morning.
“What gives, Mike?”
“How is she?”
“Showing more and sleeping less. The ultrasound and tests were all good. The baby’s healthy and strong.”
“She showed awe-inspiring resolve against Armenta, according to Owens. Has Erin told you what happened to Saturnino?”
“Of course she has.”
“Astonishing bravery. I’m happy to have done my small part in getting her back.”
“We’re happy too.”
“Funny that I didn’t get one sincere word of thanks from you.” Finnegan stopped walking and looked up at Bradley hopefully, waiting. The dogs sat or stood around them.
“Your birds and your research made it all possible, Mike. You and I both know that. I asked you to be my friend and let you stab the hell out of my hand, which took two weeks to heal. So, well, thanks again if thanks are really what you’re after.”
“Accepted!” Mike raised the beer bottle and drank.
Bradley drank too. “Where is Owens?”
“Laguna Beach. Some well deserved R amp;R.” Mike smiled, looking along the newly installed razor wire.
“I’m surprised you’d pimp her out to Armenta.”
“I did no such thing. She helped Erin at no little risk to herself. She was free to decline the job. And free to leave his Castle at any time. Any time. She liked him and he was quite good to her. There are costs, Bradley. We all make commitments and sometimes sacrifices in order to achieve success, and reap rewards.”
“How long was Owens down there with Armenta?”
“Oh, I forget exactly. Months.”
“So it was just a coincidence that Benjamin grabbed Erin when he did?”
“What do you mean?”
Bradley looked down at Finnegan as he upped his bottle and drank. “Hood said you supplied Armenta with everything his men needed to take Erin that night-drawings of the property, measurements and locations, the hideout, even the alarm code for the house. He found sketchbooks in your apartment in Veracruz.”
“Why would I do that?”
“So Armenta could take Erin, and you and Owens could help me get her back. So you would gain my trust and we would become partners.”
Finnegan laughed quietly. “Partners,” he said. Bradley heard humor but an odd longing in the word too.
“That’s what he said.”
“But I already had your trust, or thought I did. Now, after all we’ve been through, you doubt my loyalty to you because of Charlie Hood? Some basic facts, Bradley: how do you know what Hood saw in Veracruz? Because I know exactly what he saw and I will prove this to you. Answer me.”
“He saw the sketchbooks. He grabbed one before he left but it was full of pigeon drawings.”
“I do draw pigeons. I confess. But not sketches of this property, or floor plans of rooms I’ve never seen. Or your alarm code! Listen to me, Bradley: Charlie Hood broke into my home. I found him there, rifling through my belongings, for reasons I couldn’t fathom at the time. It was actually good to see an old friend, but he’s changed, and changed drastically. His eyes are wrong, something has become dislodged in him. In my home! The circumstances were an outrage. I asked him to leave, then ordered him to leave, then begged him to leave. He assaulted me, dislocating my shoulder. I am an older, smaller man. I disabled him in order to escape, not to maim or kill. I stand unblemished, Bradley-I had no choice. Let me tell you something. The real tragedy in all of this is that Charlie Hood has lost his sanity. Decent, moral, upright Charlie. We all knew he had become obsessed with finding me. The world is a witness to that. Some might call it stalking. Okay. Fine. I did not judge. Obsessions can often lead to good things. Well, he finally found me. And assaulted and injured and tried to abduct me.”
Bradley studied him. “Twenty stitches to close him up. How did you ever get the better of him? He’s half a foot taller and outweighs you by fifty pounds.”
“Surprise. The same as every street fight.”
“Hood thinks you’re a devil. Literally. A real one. Not human.”
“A devil? Not human? Then I rest my case against the delaminating Charlie Hood. He was muttering that kind of nonsense as we grappled. And therein lies the tragedy of which I have spoken. I don’t know why it is, Bradley. Why does a good, strong man like Hood break down? Why is it that people need so badly to believe in gods and devils? They crave the existence of something larger than themselves, or so we are told. But they drive themselves literally insane. Why aren’t the travails of humankind enough to keep them busy. Why?”
“What do you want?”
“Let’s walk. The dogs looked bored.”
They climbed the escarpment. The boulders had sheared off ages ago but the face of the wall was still sharp and steep. Sage and dudleya and prickly pear grew between the rocks. Here the fence stopped and Mike examined the end post, kicking away the dirt at its bottom to reveal the impressive cylinder of concrete in which it was set.
“Carlos wants you back,” said Mike.
“I can’t. I told him that. Look what happened to Erin. Never again. I’m going to be a father soon. Hood suspects what I was doing for Carlos. He won’t let go of it because Hood doesn’t let go. And IA is still breathing down my neck about last year. I’m done. I’m straight. I’m out.”
“But Carlos is heartbroken.”
“He’s got Vega and Cleary.”
“He’s insulted too.”
“Is this a threat?”
“He’s made an offer. He’ll let you out of your commitments with no hard feelings. All you have to do is get a horse for him.”
“A horse.”
“Xtravagan.”
“Xtravagan is a million-dollar-a-pop stud. Worth ten times that on the hoof.”
“That happens to be pastured less than twenty miles from here.”
“Funny.”
“But true. For Carlos’s fledgling racing program. And don’t worry. I know the stable.”
“Christ, not again.”
“I suggested that your loyalty through the years might have earned you the freedom to raise your family in peace. But he gave me that certain expression. You know the look.”
“Where his eyebrows point down instead of up.”
“Precisely. They pointed down.”
“It’s easy to make fun of Carlos until he kills you. I don’t take this lightly, Mike.”
“I’m urging you not to.”
Mike tossed Bradley a flash drive. “Think about it. In the meantime enjoy the show. It’s off my security cameras in Veracruz. Motion activated. No way Charlie could have seen those beady little lenses watching him from up in that dark ceiling. And if he gets a little too righteous on you, you’ve caught him in action-trespassing, theft, assault and battery, attempted wrongful imprisonment. Maybe it’s something your Commander Dez should see. Or maybe it would just make an amusing Internet posting. Who knows?”