Island of Bones(100)

“There’s a latch on the other side,” Roberto said. “If you boost me over, I can open it.”

Louis looked down at him. “Make sure you’re quiet,” he said.

He picked him up and gave him a gentle swing. Roberto caught his leg on the top and grabbed on. Louis let go and Roberto disappeared over the fence. A soft rattle of metal and the gate swung open. Louis sent Landeta through first, closing the gate quietly.

Louis led them up to the back of the restaurant. It was dark in the back, but Louis could see now that the entire front yard of the restaurant was lit up with floodlights. He could hear a soft rhythmic thumping. It was someone pacing on the porch.

Louis spotted some crab traps stacked at the corner of the restaurant and he motioned Landeta and Roberto to hide behind them.

“Stay here,” Louis whispered.

He moved around the side of the restaurant, keeping in the bushes, his gun drawn. In the glare of the floodlights, Louis could see that the man on the porch with the rifle was Carlos, the same man who had spoken to him near the restaurant garbage bin just yesterday.

It hit Louis in that instant -- Carlos was Roberto’s father.

Louis watched him pace. He saw no one else and the inside of the restaurant was dark. Carlos was alone. But there was no way Louis could get the drop on him. Unless he could lure him off the porch somehow.

Louis looked out toward the water. He could see down the slope to the dock. It was only about twenty yards away. The dock stretched far out into the water, and Louis could see the ferry and a second boat, a small skiff with an outboard.

Louis looked back at the porch.

Carlos was gone.

Something hard smashed into the back of his head. His body slammed forward to the ground.

A knee dropped hard into his shoulder blades and he was pinned to the ground, arms out, the Glock still clutched in his hand. He couldn’t get a breath, couldn’t move.

Carlos reached down and wrenched the Glock from his hand.

“Where’s Angel?” Carlos demanded.

Louis didn’t answer. He could feel the hard press of steel on his cheek.

“Where is she?”

The steel jammed into his face. “She’s dead,” Louis said.

Carlos eased the barrel. “The blind man. Where is he?”

Louis was silent.

Carlos swung the rifle, catching Louis’s mouth.

“Answer me! Where is the blind man?”

“Right here,” Landeta said.

Louis felt Carlos freeze. Then he moved off his back. Louis struggled to his knees and spat out blood. He looked up at Landeta.

He was holding Roberto against his waist, his .45 pointed at the boy’s head.

“Drop the rifle,” Landeta said.

Carlos stared at Landeta, his rifle gripped in his hand, Louis’s Glock stuck in his waistband. He took two steps back.

“Drop the fucking rifle or you’ll see your kid’s brains in the dirt,” Landeta said.

Roberto was shaking. He closed his eyes, but the tears leaked out, streaking his dirty face.

“Papa,” he whimpered.

Oh, God. Easy, Mel...easy.

Carlos’s eyes jumped from Landeta to his son’s face. Then he threw the rifle into the sand. Carlos slowly raised his hands. Louis let out a breath and got to his feet. He jerked the Glock from Carlos’s waistband and stepped back, aiming it at him.

“Let him go,” Carlos said.

Landeta waited until Louis had picked up the rifle then gave Roberto a gentle shove. Roberto ran to his father, throwing his arms around his hips.

“Mel, where’s the baby?” Louis asked.

Carlos took a step forward. “Baby?”

Landeta leveled his gun at Carlos. “Don’t move!”

“Mel, where’s —- ”

“Back by the traps. Go, I can hold him.”

Louis handed Landeta the rifle and ran back to the traps. He saw the bundle lying on the ground. He slipped his Glock in his waistband, scooped up the baby and went back to the front yard.

Landeta still had his gun pointed at Carlos, who was clutching Roberto to him. Carlos was watching Louis as he came into the light with the baby.

“You can’t take the baby,” Carlos said.

“Shut up,” Louis said.

Louis looked down at the baby, moving the blanket off its face. In the glare of the floodlights, he could see the baby now, see it clearly for the first time. Dark hair and eyes like round black watery pools against shell-pink skin. Its tiny pink hands were curled into fists.

“Give me the baby and you can go,” Carlos said. “I won’t stop you.”

“Louis,” Landeta said, “give her to him.”

“Her?” Carlos said. “Is it a girl?”

“Louis, give him the damn baby!”

Louis held out the baby. Carlos stepped away from Roberto and gathered the baby into his arms.