He rises and takes a step toward the door, but then hesitates and grabs his knife off the table. I watch him through the window as he opens the Jeep door and looks around inside. Behind him, the sun is an orange blob in the distant haze, seconds from disappearing below the horizon.

Marco comes storming back, holding the empty satin bag. He flings it at me.

“What the hell are you trying to pull?” Marco says.

“What the hell are you trying to pull?” I say, rising out of my chair. “You set up a rendezvous in the middle of nowhere. You brought a gun. I’m not stupid, Marco. You were going to kill me as soon as I showed you the diamonds.”

Marco stares at me for a moment, and then reaches into his jacket and pulls out the pistol.

“Congratulations,” Marco says. “You’ve got it all figured out.”

“You couldn’t just let me go, could you?”

He looks at me like I’ve insulted him. “What did you think you were going to do?” he says. “Pretend you’re just like everybody else? Meet a girl and settle down? Live a normal life?”

“That sounds about right.”

“I won’t let you just ride off into the sunset, old friend,” he says, and he aims the Beretta M9 at my face.

I take a sip from my soda. “You can’t kill me, Marco. If you shoot me, you’ll never know where the diamonds are.”

“Don’t mess with me, Logan. Tell me where the diamonds are or I’ll put a bullet through your goddamn brain.”

“Go ahead,” I say. “Flush the diamonds down the toilet.”

I would happily give Marco his half of the diamonds, but I can’t do that, given the predicament. I would be dead the moment Marco saw the first diamond come spilling out of the cup. My only chance of survival is the hope that Marco won’t kill me because he knows that if he does, the diamonds will be gone forever.

I step backward toward the door.

I can see Marco considering his options, realizing he hasn’t thought this all the way through. He has the gun, but I hold all the cards. He is, at his core, a businessman. And no businessman would light a match to millions of dollars. If there’s any chance he can get the money later, he’ll take it. After years of working with him, I know how patient he can be. He never rushes a job. And if I walk out that door, I become his next job.

“There was no need to do this,” I say. “There was plenty for both of us. I never would have betrayed you.”

“Don’t kid yourself,” Marco says. “There’s no honor among thieves.”

“There should be.”