Chapter 42

Steele marched out of the storage room into the basement. His usual poker face strained with rage. Rosa and Tiffany trailed behind him, not attempting to keep up with his determined strides. Rosa’s arm was around the younger girl, holding her trembling body close. Mac Ruster was sitting on the floor with his back to them, legs crossed Indian-style, and his hands in his lap. His chin was on his chest. Red stood over him with the shotgun cradled in the crook of his arm. Steele walked up to Mac and placed his foot on the boy’s back between his shoulder blades and shoved hard. Mac went sprawling.

“Tell me about the school shooting,” Steele said.

Mac rolled over and defiantly stared up at him. “Know nothing about it.”

“Where were you when it happened?”

“Here.”

“With your buddy Marco Perez. He’s dead, by the way.”

Mac looked around and jumped to his feet. He bolted toward the stairs leading out of the basement, but Steele had moved as soon as Mac started to get up. Steele slammed his rifle butt into Mac’s back. Mac flew onto his face and slid on the floor. Mac twisted his body to reach behind him at the place he had been hit.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?” Steele said. “If I don’t find out what happened you’re going to be hurting a lot more.”

Mac spun around on the floor. “I don’t know nothing about the shooting!”

“The problem is,” Steele said, “I believe Tiffany. She has no reason to lie.”

“She just wants to get even because I fucked her.”

Steele turned around. Tiffany’s face was buried in Rosa’s chest. Rosa held the back of the sobbing girl’s head.

Steele looked back at Mac. “You’re going to spend your life in prison anyway for kidnapping, rape, and who knows what else. Why not tell me the truth and save yourself the pain? I’m going to get the truth one way or another.”

Mac paled and was trembling almost as much as Tiffany. “I don’t know anything.”

Steele took a step toward Mac.

“Wait!” Red said. When Steele stopped, Red looked down at Mac. “Hey, asshole, do you know who Juan Benito is?”

“No.”

“He’s the head of a rival cartel. When Perez killed Benito’s son, Benito offered a reward to anyone who would bring him one of Perez’s people alive. I’ve only heard rumors, but from what I heard he tortured them for days. Keeping them alive for as long as he could to cause as much pain as he could. He would mail Perez body parts. Eyes. Fingers. Dicks. If you don’t tell us what we want to know, I’m collecting the reward on you.”

Steele was about to tell Red that wouldn’t give him the answers he was seeking, but Red held up his hand.

“Don’t be stupid,” Red said to Mac. “Prison or even death is better than that.”

The boy started crying. “I don’t know why I did it. I’m sorry.”

“Tell me about it,” Steele said.

It took almost a minute for Mac to be able to talk. He looked up at Steele with red eyes and shiny cheeks. “If I tell you, will you stop him from giving me to that guy?”