Time seemed to stand still for another few minutes, Venustiano sobbing quietly at Montesco’s feet while Montesco smoked his cigar, the breeze riffling his hair.
Reymundo reached a trembling hand to the patio chair and lowered himself into it. Evan sat as well, his mind spinning. He had no weapon. Armed guards every which way.
If he tried to save the tree trimmer, he’d be outed and likely killed, which meant Anjelina would not be saved. The Seventh Commandment decreed, One mission at a time, which was all well and good until it collided with the Tenth Commandment.
Never let an innocent die.
Now six of Montesco’s men were wheeling an enormous contraption across the parklike lawn beyond the pool. It was a massive cage, not unlike two soccer goals set mouth to mouth with a dividing wall rigged to a handle.
Evan had sworn to help Anjelina. He’d earned the trust of her father and the hope of her mother, and trust and hope were not responsibilities he could jettison lightly.
Now a roar vibrated the bones in Evan’s spine. The lion ambled into sight at the back of the house, the handler appearing a moment later, five feet back, tranq rifle in hand.
The lion swung his mighty head to glower at them across the backyard. The handler shouted a command, and the lion lumbered forward into the massive cage.
The door slid shut behind him. Salivating profusely, he stared hungrily over at El Moreno.
Montesco prodded Venustiano with the sharp toe of his cowboy boot. “Go.”
The old man was sobbing.
“Go!”
One of the guards came over, the skinny guy with protruding teeth whom the others called Nacho. He grabbed the tree trimmer by the arms and hauled him across the lawn to the cage. He was boneless, legs dragging limply behind him.
Nacho threw him in the back of the cage. Only the partition separated him from the lion.
Montesco smiled at Evan and Reymundo. “Come. Let’s have some fun.”
They walked over, Reymundo trailing like a beaten dog, wiping blood from his nose and clutching his ribs. Darling Boy joined them along with a dozen of the guards. The women hoisted themselves out of the pool, sitting on the edge, shivering and watching.
The lion pranced and roared, ropes of drool dangling from his jowls. He swatted the metal partition with a paw, the impact like a thunderclap. Venustiano balled himself up in the far corner, knees to chin, head lowered, shoulders shaking.
Something drew Evan’s focus to the house. Anjelina at her window, staring down, hand clasped over her mouth. In the blush of youth, pregnant, stunning.
The toothless man, skin leathered from a lifetime of hard work, not much tread left on the tires.
Her whole life in front of her, his mostly in the rearview.
Evan felt Darling Boy’s sunken eyes picking across his face, watching him distrustfully. Waiting for a tell.
Montesco stepped forward, gripped the handle.
Venustiano was muttering the Lord’s Prayer in Spanish—en la tierra como en el cielo—and the breeze carried the stink of his panic sweat and the lion’s musk, nearly overpowering at this proximity.
Darling Boy’s unremitting stare. Anjelina watching from afar. Feral heat radiating off the lion. Guards encircling the cage, MP7s at the ready. The Seventh Commandment and the Tenth at war inside Evan’s chest.
Veins stood out in Montesco’s arm. He tensed, ready to throw the handle and lift the partition.
Venustiano’s words blurring together—y perdónanos nuestras deudas—the creak of the ratchet engaging, the partition shuddering and lifting, an inch off the ground, now a foot, the lion shoving his snout eagerly at the gap—
“Wait,” Evan said.
Montesco’s head snapped over to him.
Darling Boy’s lips peeled back from his cracked yellow teeth in something darker than a smile, something like lustful anticipation.
Montesco released the handle, and the partition slammed back down.
Evan’s mind churned for any plausible explanation.
The words left his mouth before he had time to consider them. “Let me have this one.”
Montesco stepped aside, gestured for Evan to take his place at the handle.
“No,” Evan said. “Not now. It needs to happen later.”
Darling Boy practically hummed with excitement. “Why is that? Why does the gabacho want us to delay?”
“Yes,” Montesco said. “Why the change of heart?”
Venustiano lifted his head from the ledge of his forearms. Darling Boy’s pistol was drawn, aiming down the side of his leg. He stared at Evan through baggy eyes, pencil mustache rimming his bunched mouth. Reymundo doubled over, hands on his knees, breathing hard.
The Dark Man sidled closer to Evan, brow twisted with confusion. “I asked you a question.”
“You told your boy he could learn from a man like me,” Evan said. “You’re his father. You can’t see him clearly. Even his weakness. You smell it, but you don’t understand the way in.”
Reymundo straightened up, legs trembling.
Montesco scowled. He could take it as a challenge or an opportunity. Evan’s breath burned in his chest. He had no idea which way it would go.
Then Montesco gave a slight nod.
“He has to carry on your name,” Evan pressed forward. “Which means he has to toughen up.”
“You want him to do it?” Montesco said.
Evan shook his head. “There’s no lesson in impulsiveness. Anyone can be scared into doing something.” He pointed at Venustiano. “Throw him in the chicken coop. Make him wait. Make him know it’s coming. At the end of the month, before the women ship out. Gather them all around and make them watch, too. Day and night he will think about what’s waiting for him. Marinating in the panic with those women. Every minute, every hour. Him and your son. Let Reymundo carry the burden of it. Let him learn what it means to be ruthless. The way you learned as a boy. The way I learned.”
Reymundo was quivering, standing askew, one foot a half step back as if he feared toppling over.
Darling Boy eased forward to Montesco’s side. “Jefe—”
Montesco held up a hand, dismissing him without so much as a glance. “I like that, Caballo Oscuro.” A snap of his fingers. “Release him.”
The guards opened the rear door and dragged Venustiano out.
“Now,” Montesco said, cinching his sash and moving for the house. “Who’s ready for lunch?”