"Okay, so finally I said I had a long day and was going to turn in. So I went to my room and then out onto a little patio, whatever, outside it. You can see just about all there is to see in Vegas from there. And, for the hell of it, I tried the cellular again. I got maybe a bar and a half, so I see another patio down the mountain, about fifty yards from the house, walked to it, and the fucker works here. So I called you.
"Yeah, Byron, I know it ain't much, but you just got all I have.
"I have no fucking idea what's going to happen tomorrow. They don't pass out a schedule, for Christ's sake.
"Yeah, I'll call you whenever I have something."
Mullroney took the cell phone from his ear and looked at it.
"You sonofabitch," he said, "you hung up me!"
"Perhaps he didn't hang up on you, Sergeant Mullroney," Castillo said.
Mullroney jumped.
"Perhaps you just lost the connection," Castillo went on, evenly. "Cellulars are not very reliable out here."
"You scared me, Colonel," Mullroney said after a moment. "I didn't hear you come up."
I didn't scare you, I don't think.
But I think I embarrassed you.
"Was there something wrong with the telephone in your room, Sergeant Mullroney? Couldn't get a dial tone?"
Mullroney didn't reply.
"Or was it because you didn't want us to know you were making your report to Captain Timmons? Is that why you sneaked out here to use your cellular?"
Mullroney looked at him almost defiantly.
Not really "fuck you" defiant. He's worried.
Now let's see how far I can push him.
Castillo held out his hand and wiggled the fingers in a Give it to me gesture.
Mullroney looked at Castillo's hand and then his face and back at the hand.
"Give me the phone," Castillo ordered.
Mullroney looked again at Castillo's face, as if trying to understand.
So what do I do now? Try to take it away from him?
"Give me the phone," Castillo repeated.
Mullroney didn't move or respond.
"Give the colonel the fucking phone, asshole, or I'll throw you and it off the mountain."
The voice in the dark startled Castillo. He hadn't heard anyone walking up on them. He now saw that Lorimer was standing beside him.
"I'm not going to tell you again," Lorimer said.
Mullroney put the cellular in Castillo's hand.
Castillo threw it down the mountain.
"What the fuck?" Mullroney protested, incredulously.
"You are not permitted to have a cellular telephone," Castillo said calmly.
"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Mullroney demanded.
There wasn't much conviction in that indignation.
"The next time you say something like that to the colonel, I'm going to break your arm before I throw you down the mountain."
"Fuck you, soldier boy," Mullroney said.
Five seconds later, Sergeant Mullroney found himself on his stomach.
His arm was twisted painfully behind him, his cheek was pressed into the rough ground, and Lieutenant Lorimer's knee-the titanium one, Castillo saw-was pressed painfully into the small of his back.
He howled in pain.
"Permission to dislocate his shoulder, sir?" Lorimer asked.
Castillo waited five seconds-long enough, he judged, for Mullroney to have time to consider that he might actually be about to have his shoulder dislocated-before replying: "Put him on his back, Lieutenant. If he even looks like he's considering trying to get up, kick some teeth out."
"Yes, sir."
Ten seconds later, Sergeant Mullroney was lying absolutely motionless on his back. Lieutenant Lorimer was squatting at his head, pulling Mullroney's chin back with one hand, and holding the eight-inch blade of a knife against his throat with the other.
"Permission to speak, sir?" Lieutenant Lorimer said.
"Granted."
"Let me toss him down the mountain, sir."
"I don't want to kill him unless I have to," Castillo said.
"Just let him get busted up a little, sir," Lorimer argued. "Break an ankle, a leg, an arm."
"How would we explain his accident?" Castillo asked reasonably.
"Well, everybody knows he's a boozer. I'll call Captain Timmons and tell him he got drunk, was wandering around the mountain and fell off."
"Is that a credible scenario?"
"Yes, sir, I think so. Who are they going believe? The family drunk, or you and me?"
"The problem with that is they would just send somebody else to snoop on us," Castillo said.
"That's true, sir," Lorimer acknowledged. "But we could deal with that situation as it came up. And we could probably be long gone before they could send someone else."
"True. Okay. Sergeant Mullroney, you have ten seconds to tell me why I should not permit Lieutenant Lorimer to throw you down the mountain."
"You people are out of your fucking minds!" Sergeant Mullroney said.
"Possibly," Castillo said. "But I don't see that as a reason not to send you down the mountain. Five seconds."
"I'm a cop, for Christ sake! You can't get away with this!"
"Time's up," Castillo said. "Carry on, Lieutenant."
"What we're going to do now," Lieutenant Lorimer said, touching the tip of the knife blade to the throat to discourage any sudden movement, "is very slowly get to our feet…"
"Jesus, what the fuck do you want from me? You don't want me to call Chicago? All right, I won't call Chicago. I swear to God! I swear on my mother's grave I'll never call Chicago! Jesus Christ! Please! I've got a wife-Junior's sister-and kids…"
"He doesn't get the picture, does he, Lieutenant?"
"No, sir. It would appear he doesn't have a clue."
"Explain it to him, please."
"Yes, sir. Asshole, we don't care if you call Chicago every hour on the hour. But what we can't have is you running at the mouth to somebody else who'll run at the mouth and blow this operation and get people-including my pal Byron-killed."
"I wouldn't do that," Sergeant Mullroney said, more than a little righteously. "Junior's my brother-in-law, for Christ's sake. My wife's brother."
"I've always wondered what a brother-in-law was," Castillo said. "Thank you for clearing that up for me."
"What?" Mullroney asked, visibly confused.
"Have you anything else you want to say to us?" Castillo asked.
"What the fuck do I have to say to make you understand I'd never do anything to hurt Junior?"
"Byron told me he told you not to call him 'Junior' and you wouldn't stop until he knocked you on your ass," Lorimer said. "And we have a similar situation here, wouldn't you say, Colonel?"
"I'm afraid it looks that way to me," Castillo said.
"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about!"
"Exactly as it was necessary for Byron to knock you on your ass to get you not to say the wrong thing, it looks to me that I'm going to have to put you down the mountain now to keep you from saying the wrong thing. We're talking about people getting killed because of your runaway mouth."
"I'd never say…" Sergeant Mullroney began, then he had a sudden inspiration. "What if I told you what I was going to say to Jun…Byron's father before I said it. I mean, before I called. And you could tell me if there was something I shouldn't say. And I wouldn't. And you could listen to me making the call…"
When there was no reaction from either Castillo or Lorimer, Mullroney added, somewhat plaintively, "Jesus, guys, we're on the same side here."
"You don't call the colonel 'guy,' Asshole," Lorimer said.
"Sorry, Colonel, sir."
"That might work, sir," Lorimer said. "Operative word might. On the other hand, I don't want to have to kill him unless it's really necessary."
"Give me a chance, and I promise you'll never regret it," Mullroney said.
"What do you want to do, sir, flip a coin?" Lorimer asked, his tone serious.
"As he points out, Lieutenant, he is Special Agent Timmons's brother-in-law. If it could be avoided, I would prefer not to get Special Agent Timmons back only to tell him that we had to terminate his brother-in-law in order to guarantee the security of the operation…"