"Who names a gun 'Love 32'?" Hood asked.

"Beats me, Charlie. But it's a sweet carry. Easy to conceal and basic, like a Mac, but it's got elegance. Reminds me of one of my kid's Transformer toys."

"Angel's was on the kitchen counter but it's not there now."

"I'll bet we can solve that one."

Blowdown had suspected for some time that the sicarios in the Den were using these silenced weapons on their jobs-several witnesses had reported that the guns were all but silent. Hood held the Love 32 in his hand and turned it once again into the morning light. This was what Ozburn had gone undercover for. Risked his life for. A gun. Hood shook his head.

A moment later all four met in the side yard. The side-yard camera, hidden within a functioning motion-detector light, had been yanked from the wall and thrown to the ground. The wires dangled from the wall base. Velasquez swung open the door to the faux circuit breaker box. It was partially hidden by a riot of wisteria vine that had crept from its trellis to the eave of the house. The key was still in the control panel lid and Velasquez turned to his team with a woeful look.

"It's been disabled," he said. "System off. By someone who had a key." Within an hour Blowdown was sequestered with Soriana and Mars back in the Buenavista field office war room. Hood told the story while Velasquez compiled video recordings of the last minute for each of the six monitors.

The videos from the first five cameras showed nothing unusual. But monitor six-trained along the side-yard wall of the Den-did register a quick disturbance.

Hood's heart hovered, then fell.

"Oh, shit," said Bly.

"Freeze it," said Mars. "I can't make it out."

"No way I'm seeing this," said Morris.

Velasquez backed up the video and froze a frame midway through the brief movement: Sean Ozburn reaching up to camera six, a smile on his face, and his hand about to close over the lens.