The Viper

Striding over to Gurney, Victor pulled a tactical knife from a steel clip on his belt. He cut one of the ankle restraints, then the ones holding Gurney’s wrists behind his back. The sudden freeing of his arms sent shocks of pain through his shoulders. He was tempted for a fleeting moment to make a grab for the Uzi, even though that wasn’t part of the plan he and Valdez had agreed on, but the odds of success seemed vanishingly small and the knife remarkably sharp. Excruciating though it was, he slowly rotated his shoulders to loosen the muscles cramped from the long trip in the back of the Garville police car.

“Tell me, Mr. Gurney,” said the man seated behind the desk, “do you know what a herpetarium is?”

“Not exactly.”

“It’s a place where serpents live. A wonderful word, ‘serpent.’ From the Latin word, ‘serpere.’ It means ‘to creep.’”

Gurney could see, even through the man’s tinted glasses, a new excitement in his gaze.

Valdez spoke up for the first time—in a softly menacing voice. “The word ‘serpent’ means also a sly or treacherous person, a person who exploits a position of trust. I wonder, Mr. Gurney, are you a sly or treacherous person?”

“Absolutely not. I believe in putting my cards on the table. I have nothing to hide. I never lie.” He was trying his best to sound like a panicked liar.

“You never twist the truth to get what you want?”

“No. That would be lying. And I hate liars.”

“So do I, Mr. Gurney. I wonder, have you ever exploited a position of trust?”

“No, never! I’m not a . . . a sneak. I hate sneaks.”

“But I think you want to exploit my trust in you.”

“No, no, I would never—”

“Shut your fucking mouth! You interrupt me again, I’ll cut your fucking tongue out, you piece of shit!”

Gurney blinked in shock. He didn’t have to fake his frightened reaction. The explosion of animal fury in Valdez’s voice and eyes was all too believable.

When Valdez went on, it was in a voice as chillingly calm as his father’s. “I think you only want money from me, while you pretend to want only the truth. You say I am in legal danger, but this danger can be made to go away, if I give you enough money. I think this legal danger is bullshit, but your demand for money is real.”

Gurney stayed quiet, letting his expression alone convey fear.

Valdez responded to Gurney’s silence with a horrible smile. “It would be good for you to make your confession to me, while there is still time.”

Gurney stammered, “I . . . I have nothing . . . nothing to confess.”

Valdez shrugged. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

The man behind the desk said, “Perhaps he will change his mind. Victor, the herpetarium lights, please.”

The guard flipped a switch on the concrete wall, and the area behind the glass on the opposite side of the room was illuminated. Turning toward it, Gurney saw what appeared to be an enclosed jungle. His attention was drawn first to the drooping leaves of the tropical plants, glistening with droplets of water. Then he caught a glimpse of movement on the dark soil under one of the lush plants. A long acid-green snake with ebony eyes was gliding slowly toward a corner of the enclosure where a small tan rabbit was twitching in obvious terror.

“She will swallow it whole, very slowly,” said the man behind the desk. “Did you know that rabbits can scream?”

Gurney had a clear recollection of being given that disturbing piece of information by Valdez the evening the beheaded rabbit appeared in his Outback.

His attention was drawn to movements in other areas of the enclosure. He was only a few feet away from more snakes than he’d ever seen in any zoo—snakes of all sizes and colors, moving, coiling, uncoiling, raising their heads, testing the air with their flicking tongues.

“I can see you are impressed, Mr. Gurney. But the best is yet to come.” The man opened the center drawer of the desk, took out something the size of a garage door opener, and pointed it toward the herpetarium. The glass wall began rising through a slot in the ceiling until it disappeared. A flood of warm, humid air filled the room with a sweet-rotten smell of decay.

As Gurney watched with increasing alarm, an enormous yellow snake emerged from beneath the rank, dripping vegetation. The creature glided forward, first across the soil of the enclosure, then out onto the floor of the room itself, its massive body moving slowly toward him in a long, loose, S-shaped curve.