Chapter XLI
CHAPTER XLI
Seeley was driving east, the light fading behind him and darkness ahead. Seeley drove nearly everywhere. He used airplanes only when they could not be avoided and rarely traveled beyond the United States. His recent trip to Mexico had been clandestine, and no record of his passage existed at any border crossing. Blas Urrea’s people had been paid well to transport him safely over the border and back again, though Seeley had not returned to the United States alone.
Urrea was becoming impatient at the lack of progress, but Seeley had convinced him of the importance of not acting precipitously. If they did, it might put the children at risk or break one of the links in the chain that Seeley was so diligently exposing. Elizalde: found and dealt with. Bilas: found and dealt with. Now, after days of searching, of reaching out, twisting arms, making promises, paying bribes, Seeley had a probable location for Emmett Lucas, one of the two ex-military operatives hired by Vaughn and his associates to move against Blas Urrea. Wyatt Riggins was concealing himself well, but Lucas had not been so circumspect.
From Bilas, Seeley had learned that just as one, even two, of the conspirators had elected to keep Wyatt Riggins close, so had another drawn Lucas to his cause, or Lucas had offered his services to him for a price. Bilas had not been confident of the precise arrangement, but then he was dying as he tried to explain it, so some confusion on his part was forgivable. Regardless, Seeley now had the names of the three ringleaders, and those of Lucas and Riggins, the mercenaries employed to operate on their behalf. Of the principals, two, including Devin Vaughn, were dangerous men. The third, as far as Seeley could establish, was not, but had fallen into bad company out of avarice or zeal.
Seeley’s contacts were among the best in the underworld, a network of intertwined threads that could be traced back to him only with difficulty. One of those threads had recently been tugged in Portland, Maine, by a private investigator asking questions about Wyatt Riggins. Seeley did not want anyone else looking for Riggins. He most particularly did not want this particular private investigator nosing around because Parker had a reputation for immunity to intimidation, damage, and, so far, death. Seeley saw no reason to make an enemy of him, and thus he was better avoided. But Blas Urrea had made it plain that Seeley was to assist in the punishment of all involved, as well as the removal of their hearts. At first, Seeley had regarded this latter condition as an unnecessary piece of theater—if Urrea wanted proof of death, a photo would suffice, or even a finger—but that was before he had been introduced to Urrea’s agent.
If Seeley failed to fulfill the contract in full, it would harm both his reputation and his finances. More worryingly, the agent, seated beside him in the car, might take it amiss, and that would be unpleasant for Seeley in ways he did not care to imagine. Seeley had witnessed what was visited upon Elizalde and Bilas at the end. He had never seen a man’s heart exposed before, not while it was still beating. Oh, Seeley had known it was possible to uncover the heart of a living man, if not for very long, but he would carry to his grave the image of long, skeletal fingers closing around that same heart, like the pale legs of a cave spider seizing its prey. He did not wish the last thing he saw before he died to be his own heart similarly gripped before being torn from his chest.
All this done by a woman. Seeley did not have a name for her, and she had not offered one, so he now thought of her only as “la Senora.”
“You want some music?” he asked.
“No,” said la Senora.
And so they continued on their way in silence.
TO THE NORTH, Devin Vaughn gave a series of instructions. Aldo Bern was to proceed against Eugene Seeley. The private detective Parker was to be watched, and actively discouraged from pursuing his investigation if he persisted. Finally, without Bern’s knowledge, Vaughn ordered the immolation of one of the children.