Anything Can Be Dangerous (19 page)

No, he thought, not even that
much.

Max hated these people. He hated them
for having all the things he would never have. He would quit this
lousy job in a minute if it weren’t for his parole officer. Just
once he would like to show the smug sons-of-bitches that Max Quist
was
somebody
.

* * *

The telephone rang in Unit Two. Roy
Beatty picked it up and frowned as he listened to the voice on the
other end. He spoke briefly and hung up.

“
Anything wrong?” Karyn
asked.

“
I’ve got to go to Anaheim.
Deliver some books.”

“
On Saturday? On our
anniversary?”

“
Dammit, it’s my own fault.
I promised to drop off a set of inspection manuals at Aerodyne
yesterday. Had them in the trunk of the car and forgot all about
it. I don’t know how it slipped my mind.”

Karyn smiled. It was very unlike Roy
to forget anything. He was always thoroughly organized, like one of
the technical manuals he edited. When she had first met him she had
thought Roy Beatty was as stodgy as a church deacon. However, she
had soon discovered his warm sense of humor, an open-minded
willingness to listen, and a depth of intellect that was not
apparent in his All-American good looks. Karyn had been working as
a convention hostess for the New York Hilton at the time. Roy was
in the city for a gathering of engineers. For the first time, she
had broken the hotel rule against socializing with the guests. Roy
had stayed on for a week after the convention, and they had been
together constantly. When he had returned to the Coast he had said
he would be back for her on his vacation. She had not expected him
to come, but he had. That was when she had finally admitted she
loved him.

“
Don’t be long,” she said
as he stood at the door. She kissed him and watched him walk down
the winding path through the neatly trimmed shrubbery. Karyn could
not imagine how she could be happier. She had Roy and she had an
excellent job with a hotel near the airport where she was in line
for convention manager when her current boss retired. Tonight she
would give Roy her special anniversary gift––the news that he was
going to be a father. Yes, her life was just about
perfect.

* * *

Max Quist watched the blond young man
come out of Unit Two and stride down the walk past him without a
flicker. Max might as well have been invisible. The woman stood in
the doorway watching him go. Good-looking cunt. Too good-looking.
Both of them. Like people in a magazine ad. Young, beautiful,
healthy, rich. Max spat on the cropped grass. How he wanted to show
them what it’s like to be hurt. Hurt them. Yes… hurt
them.

* * *

Karyn was in the kitchen putting the
lunch things away when the doorbell chimed. Chris was early, she
thought. She dried her hands and walked out through the living room
to the door. She did not bother to look through the tiny viewer.
She never did. There was no danger here. This was Hermosa Terrace,
not East Los Angeles.

Karyn opened the door and the heat
pushed against the cool inside air. The man in the doorway was not
Chris Halloran. He smiled at her.

“
Yes?” Karyn said when the
man did hot speak right away.

He had thick black hair that was
poorly barbered. His cotton work-shirt was dark with perspiration
under the arms. He seemed vaguely familiar.

“
I’m supposed to check the
pipes in your bathroom,” he said.

“
There’s nothing wrong with
our pipes.”

“
It’s in the apartment next
door. Their shower don’t drain right, and it might be plugged up
where your drain pipes come together.”

Something in the way the man spoke was
wrong. The short speech sounded rehearsed. Something about the man
himself was wrong. He continued to smile.

“
You’d better come back
when my husband is here. He knows about those things.”

Without making any sudden moves the
man had somehow come through the doorway and was standing in the
living room. He was still smiling, but it was a different smile.
“That’s okay,” he said. “We won’t need your husband.”

Over on the couch Lady raised her neat
little head and pricked her ears at the strange male voice. After a
moment she put her head back down on her paws, but remained
watchful.

“
I’m sorry, but I’d rather
you didn’t come in now.” Karyn fought to still the tremor of fear
in her voice.

“
But I
am
in,” the man said. He reached
behind him and closed the door. Without taking his eyes off Karyn
he turned the small knob, shooting the dead-bolt lock into
place.

“
What do you think you’re
doing?” Karyn wanted her voice to be angry and strong, but the fear
was in her now. She could not hide it.

“
You know what I’m doing,”
the man said.

“
I–I don’t keep much money
in the house. You can have what there is. And my
jewelry.”

“
I don’t want your money or
your jewelry. But you know that, don’t you? You know what I want,
and you’re going to give it to me.” He reached out suddenly and
squeezed her breast.

Karyn jumped back as though from an
electric shock. “Please, leave me alone!” The sour smell of his
body was sharp in her nostrils. “M–my husband will be
home.”

“
No he won’t. He just left.
We have all the time we need.”

She took a careful step backward. The
man’s eyes traveled over her body, probing at her. His hands shot
out and seized her wrists.

“
No!” she cried.

“
Relax,” he said. “You’re
going to like it.”

“
Please… you
can’t…”

The man pulled Karyn against his body
and mashed his mouth down on hers. Karyn clamped her jaws together
as his tongue pushed in past her lips. He tasted of stale
cigarettes.

“
Where’s the
bedroom?”

Karyn shook her head from side to
side, afraid to trust her voice.

With a sudden movement the man twisted
one arm up behind her back, forcing her to walk in front of him. He
marched Karyn into the hallway that opened between the living room
and the room Roy used for a den. She stumbled along in his grasp
past the bathroom to the open door, through which they could see
the bed.

All the things she had read about rape
tumbled through Karyn’s mind. All the advice for women. Fight back.
Don’t fight back. Scream. Stay calm. Blow a whistle. Run. Reason
with the man.

Lovely advice, all useless. Fight the
man? He was at least seventy pounds heavier than she, and certainly
stronger. Scream? Who would hear? Hermosa Terrace Townhomes were
proud of their soundproofing. Reason with him? Reason with an
animal?

They were in the bedroom now. The man
spun Karyn around and pushed her backward onto the bed.

The thinking part of her mind shut off
and instinct took over. She crossed her arms protectively over her
breasts and drew back her feet to kick out at the man when he came
at her.

The man laughed at her efforts and
batted the kick aside with an easy swipe of his hand. He grasped
her by the ankles and forced her legs apart. Karyn writhed on the
bed, helpless against his strength.

The man grinned down at her, showing
large, strong teeth. Droplets of sweat stood out on his forehead
and upper lip. His eyes moved down to her crotch. Karyn felt open
and exposed with the thin velour pants pulled tight between her
legs.

“
I’m pregnant,” she said
suddenly.

“
Bullshit.”

“
I
am
,” she insisted. “Three
months.”

“
Then you don’t have to
worry about getting knocked up, do you?”

He released one of Karyn’s ankles and
took hold of the velour pants at the waist. He yanked them down,
exposing the smooth, pale skin of her belly. The snap and zipper
held at first, but he tugged again and the material tore
away.

Then she screamed. Not with any
thought of summoning help or frightening the man off. A visceral
scream of outrage and terror.

“
Shut up.” he ordered. He
leaned forward and slapped her hard on the face. She stopped
screaming.

A sudden high-pitched barking behind
the man spun him around. Lady stood braced on her little legs,
yapping angrily. The man swung his foot in a vicious arc; the toe
of his heavy shoe caught the little dog just below the ribs and
lifted her off the floor.

Lady yelped in surprise and pain.
Never before had anyone deliberately hurt her. She crouched on the
floor whimpering, her eyes pleading for an apology, a comforting
pat.

“
Get out of here, mutt,”
the man snapped.

Still whimpering, Lady moved
uncertainly toward the door. She stopped and looked back toward her
mistress. The man made a threatening motion with his hand, and the
dog retreated into the hall. The man kicked the door shut behind
her.

“
Hell of a watchdog you’ve
got there.” He grinned and came at Karyn again.

“
Please don’t do
this. Please don’t hurt me.” Even as the words came out, Karyn knew
they were useless. This unspeakable thing was actually going to
happen to her.
Was
happening
to her. What had she ever done that she should be brutalized this
way?

The man was upon her again, and
Karyn’s mind ceased to function logically. He tore away the nylon
bikini pants, and his fingers crawled over and into her.

Abruptly he dropped to his knees and
thrust his face up between her legs. He clamped his mouth on her,
and Karyn could feel his tongue like a thick, wet worm probing,
probing at her. She pummeled his head with her fists, but the blows
had no effect.

Then he pulled his face back and bit
her high on the soft inside of the thigh. He bit down hard, and his
teeth sank into the clean white flesh until the blood flowed.
Karyn’s back arched up off the bed in reaction to the
pain.

When the man at last unclenched his
jaw and stood over her again his lips were crimson with her blood.
Breathing in short, harsh bursts, he reached down and unzipped the
front of his pants. Karyn twisted her head away, but could not shut
out the sight as he freed himself from the damp jockey shorts and
bore down on her.

He forced her legs farther apart and
positioned himself between them. Blood from the throbbing bite
wound left a red smear on the bedspread. With one cruel thrust he
invaded her body.

Karyn cried out in pain and rage. She
scrabbled at his face with both hands, clawing for his
eyes.

“
Bitch!” He hit her in the
face with a rock-hard fist.

Karyn tasted blood, and the room swam
for a moment, but she continued to use her nails to slash at the
face above her.

The man pulled out of her for a moment
and drove a fist into her bare belly. Karyn felt something break
inside, and there was no fight left in her.

“
That’s better.” He planted
his hands on her shoulders and rammed into her again.

Karyn squeezed her eyes shut. When she
was a little girl in the dentist chair and the drill hurt her, she
would dig her nails into her palms, making a small hurt to ease the
larger one. She did it now. The lower part of her body was on fire.
The wound on her thigh screamed. The man continued to pump away at
her, grunting with every thrust.

Get it over with!
she cried inside her head.
Get it
over with and go away or kill me or whatever you’re going to do.
Just finish!

And at last he did.

After endless minutes he withdrew and
wiped himself with the satin bedspread. Karyn rolled her head on
the pillow and looked up at him, but now the man would not meet her
eye. Hurriedly he zipped up his pants and went out into the hall.
Karyn heard him go through the living room.

She sat up on the bed and winced at
the tearing pain in her stomach. Her insides felt loose, as though
they might slide out between her legs when she stood up. She pulled
the remains of the velour pants up over the mess on her lower belly
and walked carefully to the door. She made it as far as the
bathroom and vomited into the toilet.

She knelt there for several minutes on
the cold tile with her hands gripping the sides of the bowl,
waiting for the spasms of her stomach to ease. The sudden sound of
someone moving around in the living room brought back the fear.
When the bedroom door opened and the heavy footsteps came toward
her she started to scream.

2

When Chris Halloran found Karyn on her
knees in the bathroom she was sobbing incoherently. Finding the
front door open, he had sensed something was wrong. He walked in,
and that was when Karyn began to scream. Chris held her in his arms
for five minutes before she could tell him what had happened. He
called the police, then left a message for Roy at the Aerodyne
Company in Anaheim.