The sentry

43

Sixty-two minutes later, Pike slid out of his Jeep when Rainey got out of the Prius. They were in the parking lot behind a diner on Sunset Boulevard, trapped between a reinforced hillside and the restaurant, not five minutes from Miguel Azzara's house.

Rainey looked shrunken and feeble, as if his body was collapsing along with his life.

Pike twisted his arm behind his back and shouldered him hard against the Jeep.

"Fingers laced behind your head. Feet out."

Rainey did as he was told and did not resist.

"It's in the car. Under the seat."

"Shut up."

"I hadda shoot them. I told you."

"Like you shot Michael Fourchet?"

Pike found nothing except keys, a wallet, and a phone. He pulled open the Jeep's passenger door, pushed Rainey inside, then went around to the driver's side and climbed in behind the wheel. When Pike pulled the door, Cole leaned forward from the back seat and patted Rainey's shoulder.

"If Pike won't take the money, I will."

Rainey jumped.

"Who are you?"

"Pike's evil twin."

Pike held up Rainey's phone.

"This the phone she calls?"

"Yeah."

Cole said, "So this is the number she'll answer when we call?"

"I guess. What are we gonna do? What was that shit about selling me?"

Pike gave the phone to Rainey.

"Play her messages. Put it on speaker."

Rainey fumbled with getting the phone's voice mail to play back on speaker. The cheap phone made her difficult to hear, but they finally got it going.

Her first message was almost identical with what she told Pike, Dru saying he had her, and pleading for Rainey to give him the money. Pike didn't listen to Dru so much as he listened for background noises, but he heard nothing useful. The condenser mics built into cell phones were designed to reduce background sounds.

The second message was much the same, but with small differences. Now Dru said he wanted all the money, and added a plea for Rainey to call back. This time she left her number.

Cole stopped Rainey before he played the last message.

"Does she know you only have three hundred left?"

"Hell, yeah, she knows. She helped spend it."

"She's making it sound like you have all eight million."

"She's letting me know she hasn't told him. I told this one-"

He glanced toward Pike.

"-these Bolivians don't want the money. I know, 'cause I tried to pay'm, plus extra."

Pike said, "How can you pay them if you don't have it?"

Cole saw the deal first.

"The Federales and La Eme. You cut a deal with them."

"You bet your ass I did. Those Federales, they work for a cartel down in Baja. They run dope up through your Mexicans here-"

"They're not my Mexicans."

"You know what I used to do, right?"

"Yeah. You smuggled cash offshore on fishing boats."

"This oil spill mess created a lot of opportunity. People still can't fish the way they used to. I got to thinkin' about it."

He faced Pike again.

"I talked to the Mexicans here and they talked to the Mexicans in Mexico, 'cause I can bring their shit in and their cash out, just like I was doin' back home. The Mexico Mexicans liked it, and offered the New Orleans crew a deal. The fucking Bolivians pretended to go along, but it was all bullshit, so here we are. Fucked."

Pike glanced at Cole, then studied Rainey. Something about his story didn't add up.

"If you were in business with these people, why did Mendoza and Gomer beat you up?"

"We weren't in business, then. Those assholes were trying to rob me, just like you thought. Then Azzara came around to lean on me, making all these bullshit threats, La Eme this, La Eme that, and that's when I got the idea."

"Azzara."

"Yeah. I was in business with drug traffickers for years, and all traffickers have the same problems. I laid it out for him. Here's what I can do for you, but here's what you gotta do for me."

"Make the Bolivians back off."

"Yeah."

Rainey took a moment, then shook his head.

"That's how bad they hate me, those fuckers. Now they got a war with this Baja cartel, and they don't even give a shit."

Pike cut him off.

"Play her last message."

Dru's third and final message was more desperate. Her voice showed the mounting stress as she gulped shallow breaths, and Pike could hear her fear.

"Stop it now, Willie, you hear? You must call me at six o'clock. I'm begging you. Please get this done. You know how to get it done. You don't call, he says he'll kill me."

Her call abruptly ended.

None of them spoke for a moment, then Rainey stared at Pike.

"You asked why I called you. When she says, get this done, you know how to get this done. She's telling me to call you. That's when I called."

Pike didn't understand.

Rainey frowned, showing a weakness in his eyes that told Pike he was embarrassed.

"When this started with the bangers and you waded in, she told me you were the kind of guy who could get stuff done. She liked that."

Pike studied him until Rainey looked away, then Pike took the phone. He checked the time. Ten minutes before six. Time was running out.

Pike said, "Does she have a sister?"

"What?"

"Rose. She has two brothers. Does she have a sister?"

Rainey squinted like Pike was speaking in code.

"No. What does that have to do with anything?"

Cole said, "Where's the cash?"

"I got a storage space up in Van Nuys. You want it, it's yours. All three-forty-two."

Cole glanced at Pike.

"This time of day, that's two hours, there and back. No good."

"We don't need it."

Rainey shifted, looking from Cole to Pike.

"What are we going to do?"

"The Bolivian, the one who wants you dead. What's his name?"

"Jesus, it's a cartel. It's a whole bunch of guys."

Cole leaned forward and tapped Rainey's head.

"Think. Who did you rip off? Who's the alpha male?"

"It's gotta be Hugo Joaquin. He was runnin' it. Who gives a shit? What are we going to do?"

Pike checked the time. Three minutes. He had what he needed.

"I'm ready."

Rainey said, "Ready for what?"

Cole tapped Rainey again.

"Get out. We're waiting outside."

"For what? What's he going to do?"

Pike checked the time again. One minute to go.

"This is the part where I sell you."

Cole climbed out, pulled Rainey out the front, then closed the door, leaving Pike alone with the phone.

On the other side of the parking lot, a family got out of an SUV and went into the diner. The father carried a curly-headed little girl on his shoulders. Fifty feet away, cars crept along Sunset Boulevard, jammed up by rush hour. Pike blocked all of it out and called Dru Rayne.