Haunted

CHAPTER 56

THE COLOR DRAINS FROM LUIS’ FACE. “YOU WERE listening?”

“Of course. Ramon was the one paranoid about listening devices. But then he was gone. It was Maria’s idea to plant a bug in case Tomás and his friends escaped and returned to the cave. She has been a great help.”

Maria now looks at Pablo with the same adoration she’d shown Luis a moment before and Ramon, days before that.

I amend my assessment. Crafty bitch.

Luis is backing away from both of them. “You know I lied, Pablo. I would never betray you. I said what was necessary to get them to bring me here.”

“So you knew we had spotted you?”

“Of course.”

Pablo steps after Luis, closing the difference between them. “So when you said Maria just told you about the cameras, you were lying.”

Luis is caught in his own web. He backtracks. “Well, maybe I didn’t know. But I knew you were too smart to let them get away. Tomás, the man who killed Rójan to get back at you? I knew you’d be keeping watch.”

“So then you are aware I know the last shipment of llello is gone.”

“I don’t know what happened. I think Ramon—”

“Not Ramon.” Pablo’s tone is ice. “It was your perversion. Su gusto para las chicas jóvenes.” He takes a deep breath. “You sent six of your men away to find four little girls who escaped. You left the shipment unguarded.”

“But the men ran away. It is them you should blame.”

“They came to me. They told me what you had been doing. How business was taking a backseat to pleasure. I didn’t want to believe them. Then I got the news about the shipment. I was on my way to see for myself when Maria contacted me. When she told me who Ramon had brought here and why.”

Luis turns flashing eyes on Maria. “You told Pablo? Why?”

“Why do you think?” she snaps back. “You and Ramon are weak. You should have taken care of Ramon yourself when you knew he had murdered Rójan. Instead you let him talk you into this ridiculous plan. You left Gabriella and me rotting in that cave.” She turns burning eyes to me. “And Ramon left us with that puta. I don’t know how she did it, but she tied me up and destroyed the door. If Gabriella hadn’t smuggled a cell phone in with us, we’d still be trapped in there.”

I feel a smile tickle my mouth. I was right. Good for Gabriella! Bad for us.

Not so good for Luis, either.

Pablo says, “You are my brother. We have taken care of each other all our lives. It saddens me to see what you have become.”

But there is no sadness in his face. Pablo’s expression is harsh, cruel. His eyes have lost all traces of humanity. They are dead.

Luis sees the change. “I will go away, Pablo,” he says, breathless with fear. “I will disappear. You will never hear from me again. I can’t hurt you. You know that. Let me go.”

Pablo half turns to one of his soldiers and holds out a hand. The man places a revolver in his palm.

“I give you a choice,” he tells Luis. “Do the right thing. End it yourself. Or I will do it.”

Luis looks at the gun in his brother’s outstretched hand. He looks up at Pablo. There is no reprieve there.

I know what is going to happen before it does. Luis is not smart enough to realize that the choice his brother is offering him is no choice at all. He snatches the gun and turns it around on Pablo. The soldier who has come up quietly behind him fires before Luis can pull the trigger.

The bullet enters the back of Luis’ shoulder, exits in front, sending bits of collarbone and a spray of blood onto the floor. It’s a wound to injure, not kill. Luis topples forward, the gun falling from his hand. Pablo reaches down and picks up the revolver. Luis meets his eyes and he opens his mouth.

Pablo shakes his head. “Vaya a dios, hermano.”

This time, it’s a kill shot.