The Wire

Maya parked the car a mile down the beach road, hidden in a cluster of dormant hydrangeas. She walked the rest of the way to the Glass House, tramping through the knee-deep snow, clutching the bag of medicine.

The house was dark. Good.

She let herself in through the garage entrance. She moved silently through the kitchen, approaching the living room.

She heard a voice.

Dario.

He was speaking low, urgent.

Maya crept closer. He was sitting on the floor by the window, holding a satellite phone. A phone she hadn't seen.

"Yeah," Dario was saying. "Yeah, I'm at the location. Point Grey. 44 Ocean Avenue."

Maya froze.

"I have the leverage," Dario said. "The cash is just the down payment. I have the ledger. I want the deal in writing, Agent Miller. Witness Protection. Immunity. A clean slate."

He paused, listening.

"No, I'm alone," Dario said. "There's a girl, but she's... she's collateral. She doesn't know anything. I need you to extract me before the Morettis find the house."

* Collateral.*

Maya leaned against the wall, the breath leaving her lungs as if she’d been punched.

He wasn't taking her to Mexico. He wasn't saving her. He was selling out the Morettis to the Feds, and he was using her house—using *her*—as a waiting room.

"Yeah," Dario said. "I'll be ready. Come in from the beach side."

He hung up.

Maya walked into the room.

Dario jumped, shoving the phone under the cushion. "Maya! You're back. Did you get the meds?"

Maya stood there, the bottle of pills in her hand. She looked at him. She saw the fear, the pain, but mostly, she saw the lie.

"You're alone?" she repeated his words.

Dario went pale. "Maya, listen—"

"Collateral?" She threw the bottle of pills at him. It hit him in the chest. "I'm collateral?"

"I had to tell them that!" Dario scrambled to his knees. "If I told them I had a partner, they wouldn't give me the deal. The Feds don't save girlfriends, Maya! I was going to send for you later! Once I was safe!"

"Liar," she whispered. "You were never taking me. You just needed a place to bleed."

"I love you!" Dario shouted. "I did this for us!"

"You did this for *you*," Maya said. Her voice was ice. "Just like you went to the city for you. Just like you left me here to rot."

She turned to the door.

"Where are you going?" Dario panicked. "You can't leave! They're out there!"

"I know," Maya said. "I saw them. And I'm not dying for your deal."

The living room exploded.