Rheiman had to make a move. He had to work to earn her favor without being aware of what he was doing. Eventually, he would not care. But that would be in the future. Right now it was a matter of pulling in a little but not too hard. Keep up the tension on the line. Give him enough room to swim away a little but not get free.
She smiled. Again she was reminded of Fitzduane and the lake by the castle where they had fished. He had said the worst thing about fishing was catching the things. The peace, the lapping of the water, the beauty of the scenery, the lure of the hunt. Those were the aspects he enjoyed. Bu the fished well like all his class. They were reared to such things. Kathleen's family had not been so privileged. Her life had not been so preordained. There were things she had to find out for herself.
"It's good to see you smile again," he said. "This time we must really talk and get to know each other. So you ask the questions. There must be a great deal you want to know, and I do so want to help."
"I don't want to upset you, Edgar," said Kathleen. "Last time you were upset, and I don't want that to happen again." She laughed slightly. "So you must warn me, Edgar, if I'm touching on difficult issues."
Rheiman breathed in as if steeling himself. "Go ahead. Ask whatever you like."
"Where am I, Edgar?"
Rheiman told her.
She tried to visualize his words and imagine a map of Mexico. Christ! She was in the middle of nowhere, and there were even rumors of trouble between Tecuno and the central government. The notion of rescue from the outside vanished. She was just too inaccessible, even if anyone did find out where she was.
She was on her own. This is where she would die unless she could change her own fate. No one else was going to help. No one!
She felt wave after wave of panic, but fought not to show it. I am strong and I know! But she did not know enough. She had to get Rheiman talking seriously. God knows, he wanted to.
"Why was I taken?" she said. "Why me? How did it happen?"
"There are eight million people in New York," said Rheiman. "You go to New York knowing no one and suddenly you meet someone on
Fifth Avenue whom you were at school with. That's the way it works. I don't know why or how. I guess we're all connected in some weird way we can't comprehend as yet."
"I don't understand, Edgar," said Kathleen.
"Reiko Oshima heads up security here in the Devil's Footprint," said Rheiman. "I run the scientific side of the project. General Luis Barragan heads up the whole complex, including the nearby military base, and he reports to his cousin, Governor Diego Quintana.
"Essentially, Quintana is the dictator of a new country. Officially, Tecuno is still part of Mexico, but that is all smoke and mirrors. The reality is that Mexico City's writ stops at the Tecuno border. You're in at the beginning of Tecuno's independence, Kathleen, and it may not be the only part of Mexico to break away. Chiapas is not looking so healthy, and there are other states with notions. But Tecuno has oil, and that is buying what is needed to make the move. Weaponry, mercenaries, technology, political influence in the right places. It's all there and it's all coming together."
"Why was I kidnapped?" repeated Kathleen.
"Oshima won't speak to me, but she sleeps with General Luis Barragan and Luis and I get on fine. What I'm telling you is filtered through Luis – but he is not as savvy as Oshima, so put your own gloss on it."
"Why?" said Kathleen, just a hint of desperation in her voice.
"Governor Quintana wanted my project buttoned up real tight, and he did not think the locals were capable of doing it. Or maybe he just wanted to give them some competition. Anyway, Reiko Oshima was brought in and she, in turn, brought in quite a few of her old gang, Yaibo, and a number of other odds and sods she had picked up in the Middle East – about fifty in all. They are the Praetorian Guard of this little setup. They guard the center. And I run it.
"Reiko Oshima is a hard-core terrorist. It is no longer important why. That's history. Now she hates the world in general, and she hates Hugo Fitzduane in particular. Apparently, some years ago she had a boyfriend called the Hangman. Fitzduane tracked down the Hangman and killed him – and Reiko was down one lover. She is not the kind of person who forgets. You were involved with Fitzduane at the time, so your picture went up on her shit list. You're not at the top, but you are there."
"I'm not entirely with you," said Kathleen.
Rheiman leaned forward. Kathleen could feel his breath. She could imagine his gestures as he strove to make his point. "Reiko Oshima survives because she is an immensely capable woman who has the ability to turn on just enough people to give her the tools she needs. When I say capable, I don't mean she is just daring. That is a given. No, I am now talking about basic management skills. This woman is organized, structured, disciplined. She knows logistics. She knows administration. She knows motivation.
"When I said your picture was up on her shit list, I was not using a figure of speech, Kathleen. Your actual photograph is up there for all the Yaibo trainees to target on and slobber over. In fact, that is where I first saw you. You were up there – a target.
"The next thing is that Oshima fucks the brains out of a new Yaibo recruit called Jin Endo, and he goes up to Washington on a scouting assignment, motivated to do anything to please his scar-faced lover. Oshima's ten most wanted are imprinted on his mind. And lo and behold, you are in Washington too. I guess it was just fate or you were plain unlucky. But from the time he caught sight of you, young Jin Endo was determined to get you. He wanted to prove himself. No one down here thought he would do so well, but to everyone's surprise, he did good. Real good. That, it turns out, is one very dangerous young man. He racked up quite a score when he was up north."
Oshima was very pleased and is nursing him back to health in the only way she knows how. That means General Luis Barragan is not getting as much as he wants, so he comes and gets drunk with me. That's the trouble with this fucking place. There is nothing to do except work. Barragan's troops have TV and radio, but Oshima's people are not allowed to watch or listen. Apparently, they might get contaminated by capitalist filth. So they have to make do with propaganda sessions and a few whores. Once in, the whores are not allowed out. They don't last too long. There are some very warped people up here. A ritual execution is their substitute for the Movie of the Week."
Kathleen collected her thoughts. Fitzduane had called the world of terrorism and counterterrorism the only unending war. It only ended when all your enemies were dead. There could be lulls and truces and peace talks, but there was always some element that refused to forget and might strike back for some real or imagined causes years later. It was frightening.
"How did you end up here, Edgar?" she said. "This is not your world. This is no place for you."
"It is now," said Rheiman grimly. "I did something from which there was no turning back, and from that one act followed everything. I had to survive, so I did what was necessary and traded what I was good at."
"But you're a kind, gentle man," said Kathleen with as much conviction as she could muster. "How could you contemplate working with these animals?"
"I'm not so gentle," said Rheiman flatly.
Kathleen suddenly felt his hands tight around her neck. He was squeezing.
"Put your hands on mine," he said.
"E-Edgar!" she gasped, terrified.
"Do it!" he shouted. "DO IT!"
She put her hands on his. Rheiman's hands were large and strong, and she could feel scar tissue on the backs, as if they had been cut doing something physical. This was a man who worked with his brain but with his hands too. In a workshop or a laboratory? Somewhere like that.
Her neck was held tightly, but he was not increasing the pressure.