Chapter 7
Lies
When Rachel arrived, Alex was waiting
for her. Rachel wasn’t entirely sure how
to read Alex’s expression – it was a strange mix of enthusiastic exasperation.
“Derek’s said yes,” she greeted.
Rachel had to stop and think for a
moment or two, then her eyes widened.
“That’s fantastic!”
“And what’s more,” Alex went on,
looping her arm thru her friend’s, “he’s said you can come with me.”
Now Rachel understood the
enthusiasm. “That’s great, Alex! When were you planning on going?”
“Within the next two weeks. Is that gonna be a problem for you?” Alex
inquired, feeling Rachel’s shoulders sag slightly.
“It could be. It depends.”
Alex slid her arm free. “On what?” she frowned.
“How things turn out,” Rachel replied
cryptically. Steve was not a patient,
neither was Nick; they were colleagues, yet she still felt she owed them the
same privacy as if they were patients.
“Okay,” Alex said, a little of her
enthusiasm fading. “Derek said we should
work out exactly what experiments we need to do an’ then gather the equipment,
which we may not have. So .. how about
we plan to go a few days after the fundraiser?
Derek says I have to be here for that .. an’ that means so do you.”
That was scheduled for the end of June
and Rachel slowly nodded. “Okay. Let’s say .. July eighth. The fundraiser will be done, the Fourth of
July holiday will be over, we’ll have a clear calendar.”
“Will your .. situation be resolved by
then?”
“I hope so,” Rachel said fervently.
“The way I see the research going,”
Alex went on as they climbed the stairs, “is two ways.”
“Two?”
“Yeah.
I’ve had some time and some isolation this morning to think about
it. We know Parkfield is on the
Rachel slowed. “Y’mean, living on the fault line, and, if
that is producing some kinda rare gas or sub-microwave radiation, could be
making these people either psychic or more psychic?”
“Exactly,” Alex nodded.
“That could be useful too,” Rachel
agreed. “Okay, let me check in with
Derek an’ then we’ll put our heads together to start working out a wish list.”
“Great. I’m in the study.”
“The study ..?” Rachel queried.
“Nick .. I guess he’s tired but he was
not being particularly pleasant company this morning.”
Rachel halted. “What time did he an’ Steve get back?”
“Just after six. I know because he set off the alarm.”
“Nick
..?”
“He says he forgot. An’ then he an’ Steve turned in. I think they were out all night.”
“An’ they came back in as good a mood
as they went out?”
“Even better,” Alex replied. “I suppose it’s a good thing. It just .. seems abrupt after all the bad
feeling we’ve had over the past few days.
Unexpected. But, if it means we
can get back to normal, I can go along with it.”
“You working in the study is back to
normal?” Rachel queried, arching a dubious eyebrow.
“Okay .. if it means we can begin getting back to normal, I can go
along with it.” She shrugged. “I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Sure,” Rachel agreed and,
thoughtfully, went on to the control room.
*****
Merlin was watching the artist and
admiring the easy talent. She could slap
paint onto walls but she’d never been interested in painting scenes and could
appreciate the other’s skill. Like all
truly gifted people, Sophie made it look simple. She was sketching faint lines in charcoal,
working from the window around the room.
“I thought I’d incorporate the actual
view from this window,” she said as she worked.
“It’s water, mostly, so this will be our .. sea. The beach an’ the dunes start here, an’ here,
then become woodland around here an’ take up the rest of the room.”
Merlin nodded. “Sounds great.”
“When can I meet with Nick to go over
the fine detail of what he wants?”
“I’ll call him an’ ask. You want some more coffee?”
“That’d be great. Thanks, Peri.”
She left her alone to work. Merlin knew that, while she loved to watch,
truly great operators – be they artists, killers, or keyboard workers – hated
having an audience. She made a note to
herself that, once she’d delivered the coffee, she wouldn’t go back for two
hours, unless she was asked to view the progress.
In the kitchen, Merlin called the
island.
“Luna Foundation. Nick Boyle.”
“Hi, Nicky,” she smiled.
“Hi yourself,” he responded
warmly. “How you feeling?”
“Okay.
Getting fatter though.”
“It’s gonna pass, you know that. You coming over?”
“No, I’m gonna stay put. Sophie’s here. She wants to know when she can meet with
you.”
There was a pause. “Today isn’t good. In fact .. I doubt I’ll be home tonight. Can I meet with her tomorrow or the next
day?”
“Sure.
Whenever’s best for you.” She
frowned. “You have to go out tonight?”
“It’s starting to look that way,
sweetheart. Thought I’d take the new guy
along. Show him how it’s done.”
Slowly, Merlin sat down. “Is there a reason behind this, Nicky?”
“Do I have an ulterior motive?” he
laughed. “No. Just trying to do what Derek wants. Keeping him sweet an’ off my back.”
“Okay.
Well, if you need to talk – ”
“I’ll call. I miss you.”
She smiled. “Miss you too. Will you be home tomorrow night?”
“Maybe. Can’t say yet. But you can always come stay here.”
“You think it’s safe enough for me?”
she smiled.
“Why wouldn’t it be?” he asked.
Merlin nodded. “I’ll think about it. I gotta go.”
“Love you,” Nick said and hung up.
Merlin hung up too but gazed at the
phone for several long seconds. Those
final two words … He hadn’t said them
like he meant them. It had sounded
automatic, like people say ‘bye’ at the end of a call. It stuck in her mind. And what was ‘why wouldn’t it be?’ all
about? Yesterday, he’d sent her home to
keep her away from Steve .. or rather to keep Steve away from her. Yet now it was all okay?
Maybe he’d used yesterday when they’d
gone out to clear the air, establish the rules.
No making moves on my wife, no insults, we don’t attack family. Do that, and just about anything else
goes. It would be typical of him. He may have said it with his face a few
inches away from Steve’s, his hand curled in his shirt collar, and in a raised
voice, but he would have said it. Maybe
I should go over there. But I can’t.
Sophie’s here and that’s just as important. Anyway, Rachel’s on the island and her
suspicions are roused.
She poured the coffee and took it
upstairs.
*****
“How’d I do?” Steve asked.
“Perfect. I doubt she knew it wasn’t me,” Nick
grinned. “What did she want?”
“Something about when could you meet
with Sophie. Who’s Sophie? Your mistress?”
“Some artist. She’s painting the baby’s room.”
“Are you excited about that? Being a father,” Steve inquired.
Nick drew a deep breath. “I was,” he replied. “Now .. I’m not so sure. It’s just another tie I don’t want,
y’know? Just when I’ve discovered real
freedom, I got that to look forward to.
A screaming rugrat, no sleep, baby puke on my clothes an’ in my car
… I mean, a kid in a Mustang? No way.
Why’d I’d ever do it?” he wondered.
“You shouldn’t have married the help,”
Steve pronounced. “That was weak.”
“Yeah, it was, wasn’t it? But I don’t have to think about it now. She’s over there an’ I’m here .. an’ long may
it continue.”
Rachel came in. “Hi, guys.”
“Hi, Rach,” Steve responded. “Good journey over the water?”
“Yeah .. an’ it’s Rachel. I’m not a stickler for formality but .. I
prefer Rachel.”
“Okay,” he nodded. “Best to know these things before they blow
up into big deals.”
“I agree .. an’ it’s good to see you
two have settled your differences.”
Nick frowned slightly. “We’re cool.
If there were differences, we’ve found we have more in common than we
had apart.”
“Kindred spirits.”
“I guess so,” Nick agreed.
She nodded slowly. “I’m .. just gonna check in with Derek. Anything going on I should know about?”
“Not a thing. It’s pretty quiet. Won’t stay that way,” Nick replied.
“Never does,” Steve added.
For some reason, Rachel’s skin
crawled. Here were two physically
separate people acting like conjoined twins and, bearing in mind the animosity
one had felt – rightly or wrongly – only twenty four hours previously, it was
creepy. She went on to Derek’s office
and was glad when the door closed behind her.
Derek watched her look back over her
shoulder. “Problem?”
“Too early to say for sure. I don’t have alarm bells ringing but .. I
have an uneasy feeling which – ”
“Has to do with those two out there,”
Derek broke in. “You couldn’t agree with
my assessment last night. I think you
must have either slept on it .. or not slept because it kept you awake.” He sat back, regarding her steadily. “I’m listening.”
She paced to the desk, halted and
shook her head. “I did both,
actually. Couldn’t sleep until I’d gone
over it an’ then I slept on it .. an’ I still can’t agree with your
assessment.”
“Do you believe I’ve been hasty?”
“I think you’re guilty of wishful
thinking,” Rachel commented. “Not a bad
reaction, Derek. We would all love this
house to be at peace an’ focused on the job instead of on the component
personalities. You weren’t here
yesterday. I was an’, while Nick didn’t
lose his temper, he made his feelings pretty clear. He wasn’t happy. An’ then .. Alex describes it best. It seems abrupt. Unexpected.
I’ll go further. It’s jarring. Grating.
Nick isn’t the kinda guy to let unhappiness just .. go away. He has to do something about it.”
“Alex told me he went to speak with
Steve alone.”
“Sure, he did.” She hesitated. “Steve’s personality is a lot like
Nick’s. Deliberately so. We’ve had that confirmed. So .. we can use our past experience of Nick
to gauge Steve’s reaction to a Nick .. semi-explosion. Would they be best friends? I would have said that, following whatever
Nick said to him yesterday, Steve would withdraw. He’d go silent, bottle it up until he exploded in turn. It didn’t happen. An’ I don’t know why. That means those two out there are acting
outta character. Is that right? My gut says no .. an’ that’s why I feel
uneasy.”
Rachel sat down with a gusty sigh. “As yet, it isn’t a problem. Two guys getting along really well .. we
should be celebrating. It’s simply the
suddenness of it which is a little discordant.”
“What would set your mind at rest?”
“A little more honest friction,” she
replied. “Again, using Nick as a
measure, I’d look for .. competition.
Rivalry. A .. polite jostling for
position. I’d expect that, knowing how
much Nick prides himself on physical prowess.
You’re the top dog, he doesn’t dispute that, but, after you, it’s
him. He’ll want to reinforce that so I’d
expect a show of strength. That would be
natural and healthy. Once it’s over an’ his position is firmly
established to his rival .. then we
move onto wary friendship, an’ then open friendship.”
Derek nodded. “Should we encourage that?”
“I don’t know. Nick could be playing a dangerous game. All this best buddy stuff could be a front. He might simply be pretending an’, when Steve
has really opened up, hit him hard.” She
paused. “It isn’t a problem. Like I said, I don’t have alarm bells
ringing. I just feel uneasy an’ so I’m
gonna keep a weather eye on the both of them.
I won’t do anything – ”
“I hope you’ll tell me if it develops
into something potentially serious.”
“Sure,” Rachel agreed.
“Will you have time to do that as well
as prepare for your fieldtrip?” he inquired.
She smiled. “Thanks for letting Alex do this an’ for
letting me go with her. An’, yeah, we’re
gonna pencil in July eighth as the date we leave. We have the fundraiser at the end of the
month an’ then there’s the Fourth of July holiday. Hopefully, this .. situation with Nick an’
Steve should have resolved itself by then.”
Derek pursed his lips. “If it hasn’t?”
“What do you want me to do,
Derek? Stay here on the off chance? Or go an’ hope nothing blows up?”
“I want you to work with Alex and
formulate a strategy for the research. I
want you to go on the date you’ve agreed and, in the meantime, pray very hard
that an earthquake doesn’t happen because, if it does, we’ll have to wait
another almost thirty years for the geological pressures to build up to the
level they are now. And, when you do go,
I want you to concentrate on why you’re going, and trust me to be able to deal
with whatever happens here. I am very
grateful for your expertise, Rachel, and for your concern about our welfare ..
but we are not always your patients.”
Rachel flushed. “Yeah .. I know. I do know that, Derek, it’s just … ”
“I understand. You care about us.”
“Yeah.
An’ I trust you, of course I do.”
He smiled. “We all have our areas of professional
expertise. You feel I’m
trespassing. Maybe I am but I am also
the Precept here and I can watch over my people, stand guard over them if I
must, until you return to give me professional guidance.”
She nodded. “Then that’s exactly what I’ll do.”
*****
When Rachel came out, Nick went
in. “Derek ..? There’s something going on north of here, up
in
“How long has it been going on?” Derek
asked.
“Area seemed normal yesterday,” Nick
replied. “For it to blow up so fast …
” He left it hanging, let Derek draw his
own conclusions.
“And what do you intend to do about
it?”
Nick shrugged quickly. “Alex is busy on her research project an’ I
don’t wanna pull her off that, so I figured me an’ Steve could take it on. Go take a look anyway, an’, if I need the big
guns, I can get you to call ’em in.”
“You and Steve.”
“He likes being in the field. It’d be good for him to get his feet
wet. So far, the guy’s been stuck in the
control room.”
“And you think you’re the best person
to accompany him.”
“I know the area. I’ve hiked in those hills.”
“You wouldn’t be trying to .. teach
him a lesson?”
“Yeah,” Nick frowned. “Why else take him with me? I’m gonna show how we do things here.”
Derek nodded. It was the right answer and, yet, the wrong
one.
“Very well. Keep in contact, let me know what you find.”
“Thanks. An’ I will,” Nick added almost as an
afterthought.
He backed out of the office and turned
as the door closed. His eyes met Steve’s
questing stare and he grinned slyly. The
contest was on.
*****
“Background gas … ” Alex
muttered. “Noble gases? Intermediate?”
“You’d be looking for things like freeon,”
Rachel remarked. “Methane. I’ll do some research on the usual effects of
these gases on human physiology an’ brain function.”
“Sub-microwave radiation.”
Rachel glanced round. “I would have no idea how to measure that.”
“I have a contact at
“Maybe he or she can lend us the
necessary equipment too,” Rachel commented.
“I’ll add that to my list of research to be done.”
“From what I’ve read – and that isn’t
much – it doesn’t produce effects which can be seen. It’s more a feeling. Think of how you feel when a bass note is
played on a church organ. It vibrates
thru the body. The archetypal feeling in
the bowels,” she grinned. “The article I
read said that people affected by sub-microwave radiation felt .. there was
someone or something there, that they were being watched. It made their skin crawl. When they looked, they saw nothing.”
Rachel scribbled it down. “This research is so necessary, Alex. I hate to make us wait. As Derek said, we have to pray that an
earthquake doesn’t hit Parkfield before we leave or we’ll be too old to do this
when the factors are perfect again.”
“I didn’t think of that,” Alex
breathed, frowning in abrupt anxiety.
“D’you think we should go earlier?”
“I can’t,” Rachel replied. “I have Kat, patients, work to do here … Alex, if you want to go on ahead an’ make a
start, go. I’ll follow. An’, if you’re back before me, I’ll go on my
own an’ run my set of tests.” She
studied her notepad. “We’re decided on
Parkfield but .. it could be anywhere along the fault line. Parkfield is a good bet an’ we know it’s
overdue, and there are reports from around that area of people experiencing odd
things. If one hits before we get a chance
to go, we just look for similar reports in other communities along the
“You’re right,” Alex nodded. “Just because Parkfield is the subject which
spawned the project, it doesn’t mean we can’t choose another subject town. And we really do need these few weeks. The fundraiser at the end of the month. I have work to clear up on that. Nick’s doing the security checks. Andrew has the catering in hand. I hope Steve can keep a lid on his
attitude. It’d be horrible if he upsets
someone.”
“He seems better today,” Rachel
remarked. “Not quite so .. intense.”
“Yeah.
It’s Nick who has the grumbles.”
“Ah .. here you are,” Derek commented
as he came in. “Strange to find you in
here. Why the study?”
Alex paused. “Nick needed some peace an’ quiet. I left him to it.”
“Really. Well, he’s gone out now. You can safely return to the control room.”
“Gone out ..?” Rachel queried
“North to
“Alone?” Alex frowned.
“He’s taken Steve with him.”
Rachel met his eyes. “Did he say why?”
“He’s displaying what you wanted,
Rachel. He’s going to teach Steve a
lesson. Knowing how Nick teaches, I’d
say it’s healthy competition.”
“And you just let him go?” Alex
wondered. “What about the security
checks? For the fundraiser?” she
prompted. “You know how he likes to keep
that for himself, how he doesn’t really trust us to do a good job on it. He’s ‘head of security’. It’s his province. Yet .. he just took off?”
Derek considered. “He didn’t mention that. He did say the .. situation north had come up
quickly. It deserves closer inspection
and should take priority over security checks.
He’ll be a few hours. Nick has it
well in hand, I’m sure. And, in the
interim, I’ll do the checks. If anything goes wrong, it’ll be down to me.”
*****
Merlin watched Sophie finish up for
the day. The walls had a fine mesh of
pale lines over them, a vast canvas just waiting to be brought to life. The ceiling was already a pale blue with occasional
wisps of white cloud.
“Is it okay? What you wanted?”
“It’s fine. Really, it’s great. I have no artistic ability at all but I know
a good job when I see it done.”
Sophie grinned. “Thanks, Peri. Same time tomorrow?”
“Yeah, that’s fine with me.”
“I’ll leave my stuff in the
corner. I’ll get the sky finished
tomorrow. Make a start on the woods the
day after.”
“Whatever fits your schedule.”
She walked the artist downstairs and
out to the drive, and waved as the sedan crunched over the gravel toward the
gate. Then, slowly, deep in thought,
Merlin returned to the big house and closed the door. She was alone with half the day to fill.
I could work out in the gym. I could hit the pool. Watch daytime TV .. on the big screen.
She shuddered. Being normal only went so far, and that was
crossing a different kind of line.
She checked the cupboards in the
kitchen and didn’t have to go to the grocery store.
I’m bored.
She stared out the window over the
rear yard. It was big, and very
plain. All the time they’d been getting
the house straight, they hadn’t considered the yard. Now the house was done, the yard cried out
for something. Merlin nodded slowly,
then went to her office.
She hadn’t checked her messages for a
few days and settled down to keeping in contact with the others. She learned Beth was pregnant with her first
child too, and Merlin made a note to keep Beth out of action for a while after
the baby’s birth. Her child would be a
Flamefall, and Beth would be involved in some heavy training. Her partner, who wasn’t a Flamefall but was
in on the secret – the new rules were working well – would help as much as he
could but the training would be down to Beth and no one else. Merlin sent a note of congratulations.
She read the other news and switched
off the computer. Then, on an impulse,
she called Derek.
“Hi, it’s me. I’m bored.
Is there anything I can help you with?”
“You could do some security checks for
us.”
“Yeah, that’s true, I could. Anything else?”
She heard him laugh. “I forget, you dislike working on the
computer. You could see if Alex and
Rachel need a hand with their research project.
It would be using the computer .. but in a more constructive way. You could do it from home.”
“Sure.
I’ll call her.”
“She’s here. I’ll put her on.”
“Slumming it out in the control room,
Derek? What’s the world coming to?” she
grinned.
“I’m short staffed today. Hold on.”
Merlin waited then Alex said, “You
want to help? Great. Got a pen?
This is what I need.”
She made a few notes but mostly she
listened. She found she was
nodding. “Great theory! Sure, I’ll be glad to dig up some information
for you. I got plenty of time seeing as
Nick won’t be home tonight.”
“He won’t?” Alex queried.
“Nah.
He told me earlier this morning he’ll be out an’ that he’s gonna take
his new best buddy with him.”
“Really. Well .. yeah, he’s gone out to
“I’ll get straight on it, Alex. Anything than watch daytime TV.”
Alex hung up and, slowly and frowning
slightly, returned to her workstation.
“What is it?” Derek queried. He hadn’t overtly listened or looked, but he
knew just the same.
“Peri said Nick told her earlier this
morning that he’d be out tonight. But he
didn’t clear it with you until a few hours after.”
“Forward planning isn’t a sin,” he
commented.
“It just seems a little off,” Alex
murmured.
*****
Nick drove carefully so Steve, who was
following, didn’t get lost. The road
wound up into the mountains and the trees closed in. Once in his old testing grounds, he searched
until he found the perfect stretch of tarmac.
Not too wide, so the racing automobiles had less room to maneuver. Not too straight, to give it an element of
danger on top of the pitch black in which they’d be racing. Steve waited patiently for him to return.
Nick pulled up and got out to lean
against the hood.
“Drive it,” he invited as Steve drew
up alongside. “I don’t want an unfair
advantage.”
Steve nodded. “Nick .. you ever gotten into narcotics?”
“Once.
Against my will.” His eyes
hardened. “Why?”
“Just wondered. If I dared you – ”
“You’d win. There’s no way I’d do that again.”
“Chicken?”
“Life’s too short. That’s our motto, right? I’ll go out my own way, not cos some dealer
thinks I’m an easy mark.” Nick twitched. “I’m all for having fun, Steve, for ..
pushing myself to the line an’ over it, an’ enjoying the ride, but I’ll do it
with my eyes wide open an’ focused. I’ll
stick to natural highs. An’, if you want
my advice, you’ll do the same .. or it won’t be a fair contest. Not tonight an’ not any of the others we’ll
have later.”
“Fair comment. Few beers first?”
“After. There’s a bar not too distant. If we’re lucky, we’ll get some action,” he
grinned, flexing a fist.
Steve laughed low in his throat and
set off along the road. Nick waited and
thought about narcotics. He couldn’t
believe that he was actually tempted.
The experiences he’d gone thru before, there was no way he’d willingly endure it again, and yet, now Steve had
mentioned it, he was tempted. Maybe just
the one time, his mind suggested.
Where’s the harm, huh? One
time. That isn’t so bad. Life’s too short to say never.
Uh uh.
No way, he argued. I’ve tried one
time. I’ve tried a lot more than one
time. I felt dirty. You can tempt me as much as you want, you can
make me as hungry as hell for that shit, there is no way I’d give in. No way at all.
And now I have to think of a dare for
Steve. Something .. big. Something with a bigger risk attached. Something .. with weapons. Life and death. Doesn’t get any bigger than that.
*****
It wasn’t the best time of year for
this. It wouldn’t be totally dark until
past nine so Nick and Steve had to find something to occupy them while they
waited. They went to the bar Nick had
spoken of and ate dinner but didn’t drink any alcohol. Then they played pinball with a fiercely
competitive edge. Finally, they drove
back to the road and parked next to each other.
Nick was on the left, Steve took the right. They synchronized their watches and put them
on a two minute countdown.
“Want me to say let the best man win?”
Steve invited.
“In your dreams, hotshot. You are so
gonna lose,” Nick retaliated.
“Y’think?” Steve grinned and slid
behind the wheel.
Nick revved the engine, put it in
drive and held his foot over the gas pedal.
He didn’t know this road at all apart from driving along it
earlier. He cleared his mind, waiting
for the tinny beep from his watch to signal the green light. He didn’t look across at Steve, didn’t even
think about him. He focused on the road
ahead.
Steve followed the same
preparation. His blood was bubbling with
energy. His mind fizzed with it and yet
was ice cold in its focus. His mouth
dried as the adrenaline forced everything into the fight or flight
response. His heart was racing as if it
would burst.
The beep began and, a split second
later, Nick flattened the gas pedal. The
Mustang shot forward with a brief squeal of rubber and he hurtled toward the
first bend. He had the advantage of
knowing his automobile. Nick had
stripped down the engine and rebuilt it so many times that he was on intimate
terms with just about every piece of metal in it. Nick had raced this car a lot. Steve had owned his Mustang a few days and
had never raced it. He was going to
lose.
Nick took the first bend possibly an
inch ahead of the other automobile.
There was a straight section, maybe one hundred fifty yards before the
next bend to the right and a climb. His
lips were pulled back from his clenched teeth and his eyes, still growing used
to the dark, gleamed very faintly red.
His peripheral vision registered the fact that his opponent was
marginally ahead and the bend favored Steve’s position on the road. Nick would have to go the longer way, around
the outside, and he would have to slow down because, otherwise, he ran the risk
of heading straight off the road and into thin air.
As he raced toward it, his foot
started to ease up from the gas. And a
quiet voice whispered to him. Life’s too
short. What the hell, bring it on. Dare you.
The Ragtop leaped ahead as Nick
floored the gas again. It surged past
the Soft Top and into the lead. Then it
hit the bend and Nick wrestled with the wheel to fling the car around and stay
on the rough tarmac. He felt one of the
rear wheels start to spin over nothing and he jerked the steering wheel to the
right with a vicious curse. Steve’s Soft
Top was ten feet ahead now and widening the gap.
All four tires gripped the road
surface and Nick raced to catch up and pass his rival. His eyes had fully adjusted now and he could
see the road climbing ahead of him as well as the Soft Top slowly losing the
ground it had won. It was falling
back. There still wasn’t much in it. There was possibly six inches between the two
cars as they raced up the ascent toward the next bend which favored Nick’s side
of the road. He decided to use a little
of those six spare inches so he could take a better line, and narrowed the gap
to three. He was in front so he didn’t
have to worry about avoiding the other Mustang.
That was Steve’s problem to deal with.
There was another straight section around the bend but it was short
before another left hand bend had them plunging down again. If he hadn’t been so completely focused on
the road, Nick might have noticed the stars had disappeared behind thick cloud
but, at close to ninety plus miles an hour and accelerating, he couldn’t spare
the time to look anywhere but ahead.
The end was close now. Another right hand bend and a straight to the
finish. Nick was hanging on to his lead
by a few inches and he swung the Ragtop around the bend with a brutal squeal of
burning rubber. That’s when the first
raindrop splashed onto the windshield.
No, he thought, not now! I’m so
close!
The thing about newly wet roads and
tires is that they are slippery. Dry is
good. Wet is good. Freshly wet .. not good. Nick felt the Mustang began to slide as it
lost traction. Steve’s car was no
better. And, at that speed and with such
a slim margin between them, it had to happen.
Within sight of the finish, Steve’s hood clipped Nick’s rear wing and
fender, and sent both into a skidding spin.
Both men wrestled with the wheel,
trying to correct the skid so they could finish the race but the rain was
lashing down and visibility was shot.
Eventually, the two cars came to a rocking halt maybe twenty yards short
of the end of the road.
Nick surged out to survey the damage;
so did Steve.
“Why the hell did you do that?” they
demanded, screaming into the other’s face.
“I was winning!”
Nick stepped back. “You were not! Look, you fucking moron, I’m ahead of
you! I would’ve won!”
“The race wasn’t over,” Steve
sneered. “I could’ve passed an’ beat
you!”
Both were heaving for breath, hearts
still racing even if the cars had stopped.
The rain continued to pour down, drenching them. Eventually, they calmed enough to be able to
speak without panting.
“It’s no use,” Steve said, wiping rain
from his eyes. “We didn’t reach the
finish. Neither of us won. Arguing over who might have won is pointless.
We’ll just have to do it again another night.”
“Yeah,” Nick agreed; nevertheless, in
his heart, he knew that he would have won if it hadn’t been for the damned rain
and Steve not paying enough attention.
“This is gonna cost me to fix,” Steve
muttered, squinting at the smashed headlamp and crumpled metal.
“Oh yeah, tell me about it,” Nick
said, inspecting the damage on his own car.
“I know some people who’ll do you a deal on parts. These old models don’t come cheap.”
By now, the fact that they were very
wet was starting to register.
“It was a blast,” Steve remarked,
turning up his collar.
“An’ then some. Hell of a race. Shame we couldn’t finish it.”
“Next time, man. Want that beer now?”
“Sure,” Nick grinned, then the grin
vanished. “An’ I want something else
too. Something to make up for not
beating the crap outta you.”
*****
Once in the system, adrenaline didn’t
need much time to dissipate but, with unresolved issues like the abandoned
race, it was still pumping. The fight
was begging to happen. Nick had been in
his fair share of bar brawls but he had always reacted to them, never started
them .. until tonight.
They had known it was going down. They’d decided before they’d even
arrived. They’d dared each other to do
it. And, so, they went to a different
bar. One farther from civilization. One the cops couldn’t get to quickly. One where they hadn’t played pinball for
hours and where no one had any idea who they were.
Nick had been twitchy when he got
inside and he sank his first beer without pausing for breath. His mouth had been bone dry, his skin felt
flushed and hot. Steve matched him glass
for glass. And then, as if acting on
some unspoken yet shared impulse, they turned to the guys next to them and
drove a bunched fist into their faces.
The fight seemed to last forever yet
was over in less than five minutes. By
that time, the barman had called the cops and was helplessly watching his bar
get wrecked into firewood. Tables were
smashed, as were chairs. Windows were
broken. The TV screen had a pool cue
thrown thru it. It wasn’t just a fight,
it was naked vandalism.
When the floor was littered with
glass, shards of wood, sprays of blood and groaning, softly cursing bodies,
Nick and Steve left and strolled back to their cars.
“Now that was fun,” Nick said, sucking at his raw knuckles. “That we have
to do again.”
“But not here,” Steve commented. “We’ll find someplace else to smash up.”
“Is that the wail of cop cars I can
hear in the distance?” Nick asked, tilting his head.
“Time for us to do the honorable thing
an’ make a strategic withdrawal,” Steve agreed.
Laughing, they separated and drove
away, one with only one taillight, the other with only one headlight. They took the other direction, away from the
approaching patrol cars and they drove very sedately because they’d been
drinking, it was still raining and they didn’t want to have a routine, mundane
accident. That wouldn’t have been fun at
all.
*****
Alex woke at the sound of voices and
she peered at the clock. It was after
three. She heard laughter in the words
but not the words themselves. She
frowned. It didn’t seem right for there
to be laughter. Nick and Steve had gone
out to investigate something potentially very serious, something which had
blown up fast and which took priority over the security checks on the guests at
the fundraiser.
Her eyelids drifted shut again.
I’ll check it out in the morning, she
decided sleepily. I could be
overreacting. We’ve all done way too
much of that just lately …
*****
Along the hall and around the corner,
Derek was asleep and didn’t waken at all.
He was deeply under, lost in wayward dreams and relishing every second
of his rest. But, if he didn’t hear the
noises, faint though they were, with his conscious senses, the subconscious ear
registered them and silently shunted his dreams onto a new set of tracks.
He frowned suddenly, pushing at the
blanket as if hot, his head rolling on his pillow. His dreams, a moment before carefree,
slapdash, and nonsensical, were abruptly dark and threatening, oppressive. He sensed he stood on a high hill and above
him a great storm was gathering. Thunder
rolled lazily in the distance. Lightning,
not yet sharp or vivid, was merely faint flickers somewhere above. There was not a breath of wind – that would
come. He felt besieged by danger,
violence, and strangely, trust and friendship gone bad, betrayed. He was smothered in a choking veil of lies.
His breathing quickened and then ..
eased up. His dream faded into random
images again, snatches of sound, even tastes and smells. Harmless.
Of no consequence.
Derek rolled onto his side and slept
thru till morning.
*****
Another person dreamed of a storm that
night. Outside, the air was still, dry,
not a sign of bad weather. But in the
pictures which unfurled to the sleeping mind, it was real, it was here and it
was now.
Kat Corrigan had dreamed this sequence
quite a lot now. It never seemed to
change although it did get longer, and, despite being big and noisy, it never
appeared to be threatening her so she wasn’t scared by it. What scared her was that it seemed to
threaten all those she cared about.
No one spoke in this dream so Kat
didn’t know what, if anything, she could do to help. She’d mentioned it once, passed on the facts
as she understood them; now, it was down to others to unravel the images .. if
they meant anything at all.
Kat was an impartial observer, the
best kind to have. She sighed slightly
without waking but watched the storm dream to its conclusion. Then, she settled again and plunged back into
deeper, more restful sleep .. and much nicer dreams.
*****
Alex was up early the next morning,
and she noticed three remarkable things.
One, Nick’s Mustang had a smashed taillight. Two, Steve’s Mustang had a smashed front
light. Both were spattered with mud and
gravel, but that wasn’t unusual. That
both men had been laughing when they had finally gotten in, laughing but with
expensive damage to fix .. yes. Unusual
and astonishing too. But the third thing
– which was startling as well, more so than the two cherished and damaged
automobiles – was that Nick didn’t rise for his early morning run.
There’s something going on around
here, Alex decided. I just wish I knew
how bad it’s going to get.
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