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Authors: David Lindsey
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blown up from a small surveillance negative, crossing a street—Titus thought it looked like Buenos Aires, maybe—a newspaper tucked under his arm as he glanced back in the direction of the photographer, though not at him.
“Yeah, ”Titus said, “that’s him.”
“Cayetano Luquín Becerra. Mexican, ”Burden said.
Titus was both relieved and anxious, the way a man might feel when his doctor tells him that they’ve finally identified the mysterious disease that’s been crippling him. He didn’t know if this was good or bad.
“Let me see your laptop, ”Burden said, and when Titus gave it to him, he handed it on to the Asian woman. “We’re going to tune it up a little, ”he explained. “When she’s through, all communication from this man to you will automatically be forwarded to us. It’s perfectly safe. He won’t know. And we’ll build very thorough firewalls for you so our own communications will be secure as well.”
He looked at Titus and jerked his head at the huge photograph on the screen.
“Good news and bad news, ”he said. “Come on, we’ll talk about it.”
Chapter 11
As they walked into the study again, Titus expected Burden to turn on some lights, but instead he walked over to an area where there was a sofa and armchairs and gestured for Titus to take a seat anywhere. Both men sat down.
“No one—no one in my business—has set eyes on Tano Luquín in three and a half years, ”Burden said. “The guy who took that picture you just saw, he was the last man. He’s dead now, the photographer. It’s been more than fifteen years since Luquín was seen in the U.S. This is significant.”
“In what way?”
“Well, I’m not sure. Is he here purely because of the size of the ransom?
¿Quién sabe?
Could be. Maybe not.”
Titus was sitting on the sofa, facing the wall at one end of the room, the one opposite Burden’s desk, which was behind him. As his eyes adjusted to the low light, he realized that a large portion of the wall was taken up with a black-and-white photograph about four feet high and easily twelve feet long, recessed in its own niche in a simple black frame and surrounded by bookcases. The image was of a reclining nude woman.
“Look, I don’t feel like I’ve got a lot of time, ”Titus said, nervous at Burden’s peaceful demeanor. “How do we get started here?”
“You’ll get a complete dossier on Luquín, ”Burden said, “you’ll know who you’re dealing with. But, briefly, here are the high spots. Tano grew up in a well-to-do family in Mexico City, university education. He was never really interested in any legitimate business pursuits, and by the late seventies he was already gravitating to the drug trade. By the turn of the decade he was down in Colombia doing petty errands for people who were contracting their services to Pablo Escobar, who had already become a notorious legend. Tano had a feel for abduction, and was soon kidnapping for hire, again for people who were working for Escobar.
“His expertise in
secuestro
grew during the eighties as Escobar’s need to discipline and persuade his competitors increased. But Tano, demonstrating a rare wisdom in that line of work, never worked directly for Pablo. He always made sure he was a couple of connections removed, letting others take the credit … and the heat if something went wrong.”
Titus only needed to move his eyes a flicker to shift them from Burden to the photograph, which was becoming a distraction as it continued to emerge from the surrounding shadows.
“So, when Escobar’s empire began to rattle apart in the late eighties, ”Burden went on, “Tano could see the end coming and got out of Colombia. He spent the early nineties in Brazil and had been living in Rio de Janeiro for several years when Escobar was finally killed in Medellín in December of 1993.
“But Tano had been busy in Rio, honing his skills. According to the Ministério da Justiça, Tano’s MO was all over four
“Yeah, ”Titus said, “that’s him.”
“Cayetano Luquín Becerra. Mexican, ”Burden said.
Titus was both relieved and anxious, the way a man might feel when his doctor tells him that they’ve finally identified the mysterious disease that’s been crippling him. He didn’t know if this was good or bad.
“Let me see your laptop, ”Burden said, and when Titus gave it to him, he handed it on to the Asian woman. “We’re going to tune it up a little, ”he explained. “When she’s through, all communication from this man to you will automatically be forwarded to us. It’s perfectly safe. He won’t know. And we’ll build very thorough firewalls for you so our own communications will be secure as well.”
He looked at Titus and jerked his head at the huge photograph on the screen.
“Good news and bad news, ”he said. “Come on, we’ll talk about it.”
Chapter 11
As they walked into the study again, Titus expected Burden to turn on some lights, but instead he walked over to an area where there was a sofa and armchairs and gestured for Titus to take a seat anywhere. Both men sat down.
“No one—no one in my business—has set eyes on Tano Luquín in three and a half years, ”Burden said. “The guy who took that picture you just saw, he was the last man. He’s dead now, the photographer. It’s been more than fifteen years since Luquín was seen in the U.S. This is significant.”
“In what way?”
“Well, I’m not sure. Is he here purely because of the size of the ransom?
¿Quién sabe?
Could be. Maybe not.”
Titus was sitting on the sofa, facing the wall at one end of the room, the one opposite Burden’s desk, which was behind him. As his eyes adjusted to the low light, he realized that a large portion of the wall was taken up with a black-and-white photograph about four feet high and easily twelve feet long, recessed in its own niche in a simple black frame and surrounded by bookcases. The image was of a reclining nude woman.
“Look, I don’t feel like I’ve got a lot of time, ”Titus said, nervous at Burden’s peaceful demeanor. “How do we get started here?”
“You’ll get a complete dossier on Luquín, ”Burden said, “you’ll know who you’re dealing with. But, briefly, here are the high spots. Tano grew up in a well-to-do family in Mexico City, university education. He was never really interested in any legitimate business pursuits, and by the late seventies he was already gravitating to the drug trade. By the turn of the decade he was down in Colombia doing petty errands for people who were contracting their services to Pablo Escobar, who had already become a notorious legend. Tano had a feel for abduction, and was soon kidnapping for hire, again for people who were working for Escobar.
“His expertise in
secuestro
grew during the eighties as Escobar’s need to discipline and persuade his competitors increased. But Tano, demonstrating a rare wisdom in that line of work, never worked directly for Pablo. He always made sure he was a couple of connections removed, letting others take the credit … and the heat if something went wrong.”
Titus only needed to move his eyes a flicker to shift them from Burden to the photograph, which was becoming a distraction as it continued to emerge from the surrounding shadows.
“So, when Escobar’s empire began to rattle apart in the late eighties, ”Burden went on, “Tano could see the end coming and got out of Colombia. He spent the early nineties in Brazil and had been living in Rio de Janeiro for several years when Escobar was finally killed in Medellín in December of 1993.
“But Tano had been busy in Rio, honing his skills. According to the Ministério da Justiça, Tano’s MO was all over four
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