Then, at almost exactly five straight up, the double doors on the second floor yawned open and an Asian woman stepped out onto the deck. She wore a red one-piece swimsuit that fit her well and showed off long legs and an athletic body. Clark guessed her to be in her late thirties, maybe even forty. Her hair was short, shaved on one side, the front turned up in a high pompadour. A pair of large heart-shaped sunglasses covered much of her face. Even from a distance Clark could see a haughtiness in her walk — chin up, one arm crooked out to the side, as though she were leading an invisible dog. Two girls followed her out like attendants. Both dark, probably Hispanic, and wearing red swimsuits that matched the older woman’s. The lead girl — Clark guessed her to be Magdalena Rojas — carried a rolled towel and a container of sunblock. A somewhat taller and heavier girl followed with a round tray loaded with two tall glasses and a bowl of popcorn. Each girl wore a wide strap around her left ankle. In any other situation Clark might have thought they were decorative. He’d never understood the fashion of youth — even when he’d been young himself. But given the circumstances, the straps were more likely restraints. Neither girl looked to be older than thirteen. A well-muscled man with salt-and-pepper hair brought up the rear, pulling the doors shut behind him. Emilio Zambrano wore red board shorts and a white Hawaiian shirt, open in front to reveal a hairless chest draped in gold chains. Had it not been for the dazed looks on the faces of the girls, it would have been easy to mistake the foursome for a family out for a swim in matching suits.
The girls followed a few steps behind Lily Chen, careful as they descended the stairs from the upper deck to the pool. Richie Rich, the triad security man with the blingy watch, stepped into the cabana. The heavy bass beat of some rap song Clark didn’t recognize — which wasn’t saying much — began to thrum from speakers around the pool.
Clark smiled inside. “Well, that’s helpful,” he whispered.
He was gratified to see that all the security men turned to look inward at the sound of the music, when the more practical thing to do would have been to face outbound. Either the triad guys weren’t very well trained, or they considered Zambrano and Chen to be more dangerous than anything that might possibly attack their position from the outside.
Clark scribbled a couple more notes in his book. A barked command from Zambrano to one of the Asian guards — Rattail, from the looks of it — caused the heavier of the two girls to drop her tray. The glasses crashed onto the concrete walk beside the pool. Lily turned slowly, lowering her big sunglasses to glare down at both cowering girls. Zambrano cuffed the tall girl in the back of her head, shouting something Clark couldn’t quite make out. The girl fell, wilting from the blow, and began to pile the broken glass on the tray. Magdalena set the towel and sunscreen on the ground and stooped to help. Cursing now, Zambrano walked to the edge of the pool next to the diving board and then turned to give the girl a swift kick in the thigh. She’d apparently gotten glass in the pool.
Chen pointed at the water. The girl stood slowly, glancing at the pool, then shaking her head. Chen nodded, smiling and continuing to point at the water. The girl shook her head again. It was obvious that Chen was telling her to go retrieve any broken glass, and it was just as obvious that the girl was terrified to get into the water.
Chen grabbed the girl by the hair and dragged her in, shoving her over the side. The poor girl sputtered and kicked, but, after her initial panic, was able to stay afloat by dog-paddling. There were no markings on the edge, but the diving board said it was at least eight feet on that end.
Lily Chen continued to point, shoving the crying child away with her bare foot each time she made it to the edge. By now, Rattail, Muffin Top, and Mini Fridge had all gathered around the pool to watch the fun. Muffin Top laughed, but a glare from Lily sent him hustling back down the hill to his post at the docks.
Chen pantomimed holding her nose and diving, but the girl was too panicked to pay attention to any directions. She could barely keep her head above water. Magdalena approached with her head down, staring at the ground. She said something to Chen, who gave a flick of her hand and turned away.
Magdalena jumped in immediately, helping her friend to the edge of the pool and then turning to dive to the bottom, surfacing a moment later with the jagged bottom of a broken glass. She climbed out of the pool and set the glass on the tray, offering to carry it back inside. Instead, Lily snapped her fingers and Rattail took care of it, trotting dutifully up the steps to the deck and disappearing into the house.
Clark wrote “pool boy” beside Rattail’s name in the notebook. When he looked up, Zambrano had attached a short leash from a metal deck chair to the taller girl’s ankle. There was a similar leash on another chair, probably meant for Magdalena, but she was busy rubbing sunscreen on Lily Chen’s shoulders. The Chinese woman said something to Zambrano, who shrugged, and then dragged the deck chair, along with the attached girl, to the edge of the deep end. He pointed in again, as if telling her there was still more glass at the bottom from her accident, and then he kicked the chair over the edge.
The heavy chair jerked her under mid-scream.
Clark’s heart leapt into his throat. His hands clawed at the dirt beside him. There was no way he’d be able to cover the distance from his hide to the pool in time to save her — even if he wouldn’t have been cut down by gunfire. He could start shooting, but at nearly a hundred meters away, he’d be hard-pressed to make pistol shots effective. Shots would only send everyone running for cover, leaving the girl to drown. No, his only hope was to bank on the fact that Zambrano had likely bid a great deal of money on both girls — and would not want to kill off his investment.
Half a minute in, Zambrano gave Magdalena a nod. The skinny little Costa Rican sprang forward at once, diving in to save her friend. Zambrano stood on the edge with Mini Fridge, watching in amusement. When the chair proved too heavy even for Magdalena to keep afloat, Zambrano begrudgingly hooked his thumb at the water and the short Chinese man handed off his SMG to dive in. The taller girl gagged when Zambrano dragged her out, vomiting on the concrete pool deck.
Lily Chen could not be bothered to look up from her magazine during the entire ordeal.
Clark focused on his breathing, having to work hard to relax his jaw. His original plan had been to wait until sundown, but he wasn’t about to stand by and watch something like that again. He took one last scan with the binoculars. The Sun Yee On guys had just rotated posts, so he could count on them being in roughly the same position for the next half-hour.
He carried both pistols and all his magazines on his belt, keeping the Glock mags from nine o’clock over his left hip and forward. The Wilson .45 mags he kept from nine o’clock rearward toward the small of his back, but still within reach. The Presidio was in his left pocket.
He could have solved this whole problem with a rifle. Any warfighter worth his salt knew that if you ever had to pull a handgun during a fight, you were in deep shit. But pistols were better than fists and feet. Clark had always been breakable — everyone was — though he hadn’t admitted it as a younger man. He just didn’t heal quite as quickly anymore. That, along with the lack of a long gun, couldn’t be helped. And anyway, he’d decided to play the hand he was dealt early on in this game. He ran through the plan again in his head, drawing a circle around his sketch of the docks.
“Well, Muffin Top,” he whispered. “Looks like you get to be first.”