Hostage Zero

The real thieves were Navarro’s secretary and her boyfriend. Some bitch named Schuler. Mitch had deduced that connection within an hour of hearing that she’d turned up dead. The boyfriend killed the secretary and got away with the cash. In Mitch’s book, the buck twenty-five wasn’t nearly enough dough to sentence yourself to a life of looking over your shoulder, but he had to admire the boyfriend’s originality. It was a pretty slick move how he pinned the murder on the husband. Damn good job, too, all things considered. Hubby got sentenced to death, for God’s sake. How much better could you get? Having gotten away with murder, all the boyfriend had to do was try his best to prevent his own.

From Ponder’s perspective, the whole cluster fuck had evolved into an amusing stability. Navarro kept his head down because of the active contract on it, the boyfriend was living the high life on the run, and Schuler’s husband was going to be offed by the state. Jacques Leger’s involvement was protected by an armored shield of secrets. Everybody could relax.

And then Arthur Guinn got himself arrested.

Good God almighty, of all the shitty luck. When old man Slater passed away in the late nineties, and Sammy Bell ascended to the throne of the organization, Arthur ascended to number two, the position originally held by Sammy. That made him heir apparent, and the fact of his arrest sent Sammy into a panic. He put out a contract on Guinn within two hours of him being taken into custody, but by then the window of opportunity had slammed shut. The FBI knew what they had in Guinn, and they knew how many people were gunning for him, so they made him invisible. When he moved from one place to another, the security was like something you’d expect for the president of the United States. They even shut down airspace, for God’s sake.

Mitch had done a lot of business with the Slater family over the years-as he had done business with their competitors and, once upon a time, for the federal government-but he’d never seen Sammy Bell as shaken as he was in the months following Guinn’s arrest. The details were none of Mitch’s business, but it was clear that Guinn knew everything.

The silver medal for panic response came from Senator Leger. When you’re a powerful man and you hire powerful criminals to do your dirty work, you expect absolute confidentiality. Mitch was sure that Leger paid dearly and regularly for that kind of confidence. It was no wonder that he went into orbit when he learned that Guinn was in custody.

But then absolutely nothing happened.

After the initial panic had gone unrequited, and no one else had been arrested in the next twelve months-and then twenty-four and thirty-six months-Sammy had begun to relax. He’d talked himself into believing that maybe Arthur would honor his friendships and keep true to his loyalties. Mitch had tried to believe it, too, even though he knew from experience what hard time can do to a man. Mitch had known all along that it was just a matter of time.

Then the new administration was elected into power, Leger became secretary of defense, the rise in profile started to make people nervous again.

Apparently Sammy Bell had good sources within the FBI or the prison system-maybe both-and about a week ago, those sources told him that Guinn was ready to cut a deal in return for protection. He was driving a hard bargain, too-he’d give everything if his conditions were met, and nothing at all if they weren’t. Mitch had heard rumors that the ultimate decision went all the way to the White House, and part of him really hoped that Leger was in the room when the attorney general or FBI director made the pitch. That must have triggered a special breed of panic.

It certainly triggered an urgent phone call to Sammy Bell, who then passed the urgency to Mitch. At the end of the day, this mess was his loose end to be tied, and everybody expected him to finish his job.

So, how do you keep a man from spilling his guts to people who are willing to give him whatever he wants? You threaten his family. The tactic works just as well with big shots as it does with peons like Jose. Family in general-children in particular-are everybody’s Achilles’ heel, from hero to sociopath. The tricky part was to make the threat viable, and to keep it perpetual. It’s the threat of violence that motivates silence in a case like this, not violence itself.