Part 40 (1/2)

He shot Enoch twice in the chest.

”No!” Zeke roared, rus.h.i.+ng toward the widening gap between the two frantic groups of prisoners and then staggering to a halt, staring in astonishment.

Enoch had barely flinched. Blood began to soak through his s.h.i.+rt.

”You want to talk about making deals?” Enoch said, eyes so black they made the night seem bright. ”I made a lot of them, Carlos-deals with every devil who would listen. You cut my daughter into pieces and I'm going to do the same to you, first here, and then down in h.e.l.l, for every minute of eternity.”

Aguilar shot Enoch twice more in the chest and then once in the forehead.The force of the gunshots knocked Enoch down, blood flying, as Aguilar rapidly pulled the trigger on an empty chamber.

Enoch lay on the ground, half curled into fetal position, chuffing with laughter as blood drooled from his lips.

”Guillermo!”Aguilar shouted, and the scarred man rushed over to hand him an a.s.sault rifle.

He turned the gun on Enoch, bullets erupting from the barrel, blowing holes in the little conjuror at close range, turning his body to b.l.o.o.d.y wreckage. When the gunfire stopped, it echoed out across the desert and the smell of oil and cordite floated on the air. The good citizens of Lansdale, Texas, now so very far from home, wept and prayed, and Alma Hawkins fell to her knees and sobbed loudly, cradling her belly in both arms.

Zeke felt tethered to Savannah by some invisible umbilical. Carefully, not wanting to spook Aguilar or draw attention to his daughter, he started moving toward her. Harry Boyd stood by Savannah with his son, visibly struggling against the urge to fight back.

No, Harry. No, don't do it, please don't do it, Zeke thought.

”d.a.m.n. That's too bad,” Aguilar said, scanning the faces of his prisoners and then looking beyond them, to his men. ”It would've been pretty useful, being able to bring you sad culeros back from the dead if necessary, but I guess we'll have to make use of the dead folks we've got right here.”

Ice ran through Zeke's veins. He couldn't breathe, could only stare at Aguilar's grinning face.

”Nothing like slave labor,” Aguilar said, admiring the size of Big Tim Hawkins. ”Especially when the rest of the world thinks they're dead anyway and n.o.body's gonna come looking for them.”

Aguilar's grin turned sly. He approached Harry and Charlie Boyd and Zeke froze, trying to will the killer away, wis.h.i.+ng him upon anyone else, d.a.m.ning any of the others to whatever suffering might be in store as long as Savannah could live.

Not again.

But Aguilar waved Harry aside with the a.s.sault rifle and- eyes downcast with shame-Harry gave Charlie a shove and let the devil pa.s.s.

”Beautiful,”Aguilar said. ”Some of them might be more useful than others.” He reached out with his left hand to caress Savannah's brown cheek, tracing a finger along the freckles on the bridge of her nose.

Zeke was sure he saw her wince. It felt like a trigger in his heart.