Page 66 of Casualties of War
“You can’t tell?”
Adán didn’t want to tell the kid he sounded like a contained, wizened old man. He ignored the question instead. “Those movies…they’re just fun, Ciaro. They’re just a way to tell a story. So the gun gets held wrong. Or the badguys can’t hit the side of a barn. It doesn’t matter. People enjoy them because they’re fun. When this war is over, that’s what I want you to do.”
“Enjoy them because they’re fun?”
Adán nodded. “Give your gun to someone. Your dad. Or melt it down or bury it. Same with your knife. Then go and watch all the Silva movies and eat popcorn and forget what you know about the best way to take out atarget. Just enjoy the movie and be happy the good guys win again.”
Ciaro considered Adán for a long moment. “That’s what I’m trying to do,” he said. “I just want to help the good guys win.”
Adán hid his sigh. “Well, remember what I said.”
Ciaro ginned and moved away.
Adán settled down on his borrowed blanket to sleep. Sleep didn’t come for a long while, though.
* * * * *
At no point didthe Insurrectos question them. That was the most puzzling part. It kept Calli occupied during the crossing to Vistaria and the rough, fast drive from the coast to the city, while her arms grew numb from being wrenched behind her and the zip ties rubbed her wrists raw.
Marisa Roldán stayed silent while her bright eyes shifted, observing and assessing.
They were pushed out of the Jeep at gun pointand Calli stumbled. Her legs were almost as numb as her arms and her hips were icy fire from the uncomfortable seat.
A soldier yanked her back upright with a soft curse that had something to do with blonde whores.
Calli looked around, taking note, just as Roldán was doing. She recognized where they were with a jolt. This was the back of the palace where, a long time ago, Nick had taken her.When she had last been here, there had been rows of cars and utility vehicles and two helicopters lined up as precisely as the cars. There had been Loyalist soldiers on guard.
Now, the flat concrete was empty except for the Jeep. Weeds grew up between the big concrete slabs.
Calli looked up at the palace itself. That did not look like it had changed. She had seen little of the inside of thepalace. She suspected the changes in there would be greater than out here.
The desperate seediness of the place was depressing. The Insurrectos were letting it go to ruin.
Rifle barrels pushed into their backs, prodding them forward. They were herded up the short flight of stone steps onto the terrace outside the palace. More weeds and dirt lay there, too.
Then through a big glass door intothe palace itself. Calli remembered the door. Nick had used it.
The wide passage was more of a hallway than a corridor. Ahead was the big rotunda where the circular stairs wound in twin helixes to the upper floors. They were pushed to the closest stairs and nudged upward.
The room on the first floor they were herded into was empty except for lush carpet thick with dust and neglect, two plasticchairs and a camera on a tripod.
Calli’s heart beat with thuds that hurt. She had seen too many terrorist videos made this way. People on camera were often shot and beaten and maimed to extort the recipient of the video.
They were pushed onto the chairs. It was awkward to sit with her hands behind her. Calli pushed herself to the end of the chair.
A hand gripped the top of her head and turnedit so she was staring at the camera. From the corner of her eye, Calli could see another soldier had a grip on Roldán’s chin and was doing the same thing.
The hand on Calli’s head slapped her cheek. It stung even though it was not a heavy blow. “Use English,” a voice growled in Spanish. “Speak.”
Calli turned her head to look at him. “What do you want me to say?”
The hand wrenched her head backto look at the camera. “Say your name.”
She swallowed. Her heartbeat had risen so high it was a blurred thunder in her chest. She felt sick and weak.
Nick will see this, she reminded herself.So will every Loyalist.
She lifted her chin and looked at the camera’s black eye. “Callida Munro Escobedo.” Then, even though he had not said to, Calli added, “Chief of Staff to the Presidentpro temofLoyalist and free Vistaria.”
