Part 42 (1/2)
”Cain,” Rodolfo accepted her hand, ”I've been looking forward to talking with you.”
”Come inside.” Cain slammed the car door closed and waved Lou off when he went to pat Carlos down. ”This shouldn't take long. Sit down.”
”It perhaps will take longer than you think. We will never be friends, but we will have to find a way to exist together.”
Cain didn't move to sit behind her desk but rather sat on the front edge. Right behind her were the two things that made this conversation necessary. ”What I want is for you to stop talking.”
This time, when Carlos started to reach for his weapon, Cain did nothing as Lou brought Carlos to his knees by twisting his arm up harshly.
”Your word means nothing then?” Rodolfo moved to the edge of his chair.
”It's your word that doesn't mean s.h.i.+t to me,” Cain said as she stood straight. ”Call off your dog or I'll put him down. I guaranteed your safety here, but he doesn't get the same deal.” She pointed to Carlos.
”Carlos, give him your gun,” Rodolfo said, but he kept his eyes on Cain. ”Why am I here other than for you to insult me? I never took you for someone so crude.”
”You want to know what it takes to make mecrude? What drives me to want to skin you slowly and with as much pain as I can inflict before I let you die?” Cain didn't raise her voice as she crossed her arms over her chest. ”Those aren't hypothetical questions, Rodolfo.”
”Like you said, I don't give a s.h.i.+t about you or your questions.”
”Being that uncurious is like being a two-legged dog in heavy traffic.” Cain reached behind her and picked up Jesus Vega's wallet, holding it up like she thought it smelled bad. ”What upsets me is an idiot in a nice suitwho plays at being macho, but the only thing he really controls is his bladder.”
”What?” Rodolfo yelled. ”f.u.c.k you.”
Cain had been waiting for that. The control Rodolfo seemed to pridehimself on had cracked like a pecan in her fist. ”I see you're no stranger to crude, Senor Luis.”
Her laugh appeared to make him angrier. ”That can't be helped if you brought me here to play games and waste my time.”
With a quick flick of her wrist she threw the wallet at him and it hit him in the middle of his chest before dropping to his lap. ”I believe that belongs to you.”
”What the h.e.l.l is this?” Rodolfo asked, not touching the wallet.
”An example of how you have no control over your people. What I want to know before I take you back safe and sound, realizing as soon as you make it to the hotel you're at war with me, is what the h.e.l.l you were thinking when you gave out the orders against my family.”
”I've done nothing to make you move against me.”
”Open the wallet,” Cain said, her voice icy. ”Jesus belonged to you, so I a.s.sume when he killed one of my men he was acting on your orders. I don't know how you handle this situation in Mexico, but here to kill without provocation invites me to kick your a.s.s.”
Rodolfo looked back at Carlos, who shook his head. ”This man was not acting on my behalf.”
”I believe that's your first admission that you're just an old man who plays at being the head of his family.”
”I'm willing to put up with only so many insults before youwill get the war you want.” Rodolfo sat straighter in his chair and pulled his jacket down. ”No woman speaks to me like this.”
”That's right. You've got a unique way of dealing with people who go against you. You tie them to trees and let ants do the dirty work for you. That sounds manly to me. What about you, Lou?”
”Sounds more like chicken s.h.i.+t, Boss.”
”How do you know anything about my business?”
Cain smiled and Rodolfo's eyes dropped to his lap. ”I'm a woman who controls what happens in my family and what's done in my name. Unlike you, when I take care of a problem, it doesn't come back to haunt me.”
”I have no ghosts to worry about,” Rodolfo said, flicking his fingers at her as though to dismiss her. ”And I still don't know why I'm here. Is it to listen to youspin tales?”
”You're here because Jesus Vega and Oscar Cardone, along with a few others, went to the airport recently and killed one of my men.
Your men killed mine for no reason other than to hide your so-called ghost.”
”Enough riddles.” Rodolfo's voice rose higher than Cain found acceptable. ”You dare”
”Do you remember Armando Ortega?”
”Armando Ortega is dead,” Carlos said. ”Just like you will be for showing Senor Luis such disrespect.”
”What does Ortega have to do with this?” Rodolfo asked.
”His son is here. What do you think he wants?” Cain finally got the reaction she was hoping for when Rodolfo paled.
”Impossible. I sent him home, and he knows nothing of Ortega.”
Rodolfo laughed and Carlos joined him. The wallet Cain had given him dropped to the floor when she handed him the pa.s.senger manifest. The circled name was hard to miss. ”Hijo de puta,”
Rodolfo whispered as he crumpled the page in his hand.
”Juan Armando Ortega doesn't sound familiar to you?” Cain asked this time, watching Carlos's reaction to the name. ”You're right, he's not a ghost, but he's yours nonetheless. I want to know where he is, because if he harms my family you're going to pay.”
”I don't know where he is.”
”Are you sure?” Cain asked, her eyes cut to Louwhich made him wrap his hands around Cain's bargaining chip.
Rodolfo stood up when Carlos grunted as Lou tightened his grip around his neck. ”No,” Rodolfo said. ”If I knew where he was I'd tell you, but Carlos isn't at fault here.
He almost sounded anguished and Cain nodded to Lou, who let go but kept his hands on Carlos's shoulders. ”You owe me a debt,”
Cain said.
”What do you want?”
”Oscar Cardone and anyone he was with that day. Jesus didn't strike me as the kind of man who acted alone.”
Rodolfo sat down again, the ball of paper still in his hand. ”Done, but I am sure this is not all.”
”I want Juan. It's time to completely put your ghosts to rest.”
”I'll deal with my nephew.”
”Unless you plan to bring me Juan's head in a box, I'll take care of him. You've proven to me that you can't be trusted to take care of anything.”