Chapters (82)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
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- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- Praise for Blood in the Water
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Cicero shook his head. “If Soh takes control of the harbor, that’s suicide for me. I won’t survive in that world. Besides, I like bucking the odds.”
FORTY-EIGHT
Kit Steele sat across the table from Vincente Carpio, staring into his cold, dark eyes, absorbing the hatred from them, and returning it in kind. Joshua Brooks was in the room as well, sitting next to his client. “You asked for this meeting,” he said in a bored voice. “What is it that you wanted to talk about?”
Kit Steele didn’t look at Brooks. She continued to stare at Carpio. “I wanted to know why he does it.”
“OK, we’re done,” Brooks said. He stood up and tapped his client on the shoulder. It took a moment to realize that the chains had to be unlocked before his client could stand up. “Guard!” he called.
Carpio didn’t move. He continued to stare back at Steele.
“What is it that you hope to accomplish?” Steele continued. “I just want to understand.”
“Enough,” Brooks said. “You think this kind of stunt is cute? I have other clients and other business. I don’t need to make the trip all the way out here for this kind of shit, Agent Steele.”
“Do you enjoy it?” Steele asked Carpio. “When you kill them, does it bring you pleasure? Joy, even?”
“Don’t answer that!” Brooks barked at his client. Carpio’s gaze seemed to intensify, and the shadow of a smile crossed his lips.
“You must take some satisfaction from it, right?” she said. “You’ve done it often enough.”
“Would you take joy from killing me?” Carpio asked.
It was a fair question, she supposed. She considered it for a moment. “I don’t know,” she said. “Probably,” she admitted after a second thought. “But that’s not the way we do things. We have systems in place to protect the accused. We have punishments that are more humane. We try to rehabilitate criminals here.”
“You live in a dream world, Special Agent,” Brooks said. “Come on, we’re done here. Guard!” Again, though, Carpio made no move to suggest that he was interested in leaving.
Steele took out a folder and lined the images of the dead up on the table. There were seventeen of them in all. Each one displayed in some grotesque fashion. Carpio had acquired greater skill and creativity as he’d progressed from killing to killing, and it showed in the images. He looked at the pictures without any change in his expression.
“What was it like the first time?” Steele asked. She pointed to one of the pictures. “It was this one, wasn’t it?”
“You think these are the first people I have killed?” For a moment, she thought he might actually smile at the notion.
“Don’t say another word!” Brooks hollered.
“In my country, death and killing is everywhere,” Carpio said with quiet intensity.
“That was war,” Steele pointed out.