Evan Arden 01 Otherwise Alone (2 page)

Nothing from
Rinaldo
.

I don’t delete the messages
– I
just shut the PC back down again.

I wash the dishes, put them in the cupboard, turn off the fan and the generator, and then drop back into the rocking chair on the porch. 
Odin
wakes up and follows.  He lets out a big yaw
n, stretch
es,
turn
s
himself in a circle,
and
then settles back down at my feet.  I reach out and ru
b
the back of his neck with
the toe of my boot
.

My eyes scan the horizon.

Sage brush, packed red earth, and dust devils.

I lean my head back and close my eyes for a moment.  Visions of a cool, rainy alleyway and the sound of gunshots fill my head.  I can see my own arm upraised and the barrel of my Beretta turned on its side as a man in a dark blue suit runs away from me.  My arm jerks twice, and he falls.

“
What the fuck,
Arden
?
  He wasn’t the target!”

“He was a witness.”

“But shit…
Rinaldo
’s not going to be happy about this.”

“I’ve done worse.”

Well, I thought I had.

Apparently killing the nephew or cousin or some such shit of
Greco
’
s
mistress pissed
the guy
off.  Since
Greco
’
s
group was
Rinaldo
Moretti
’s compet
ition, the potential for an all-out
ma
fia war was pretty high, which is
why I had to disappear. 
Greco
didn’t know who did it
,
but he was determined to find out, and it was better if I was just not around to be found. 
Rinaldo
was ticked, and there had been a moment there in the first fifteen minutes of his stalking around in his
office when
I thought he was going to put a bullet in my brain, but he didn’t.  Exile was the next best alternative.  That was just after Memorial Day weekend, and tomorrow
will be
the first of September.

I open my eyes again and stare at one of the dust devils as it spins and jerks around for a minute before dissipating into the dry ground.  I roll my shoulders one at a time and glance down at
Odin
, wondering how he can sleep while wearing a fur coat in this heat.  I scan the horizon again, rather haphazardly.

Movement.

I am instantly alert.

This is not a dust devil or a dry, tumbling shrub. 
The movement is on the dirt road leading up to the small house and it is definitely human. 
Whoever it is, he or she is too far away to been seen clearly without a little ocular assistance. 
The rifle comes to my shoulder reflexively.  With my left eye closed,
my right eye looks down the scop
e, focusing on the target some
three
-
quarters of a mile
away.
  Through the crosshairs, I can see the figure much
more clearly
.

It’s a girl.

What the fuck?

A woman,
I suppose – maybe twenty years old
.  She’s walking sideways just a little
,
like she’s not really looking where she’s going
,
and stumbling every once in a while.  She’s not carrying anything, but as she approaches I can see there is a small backpack strapped to her back.  It’s not big enough for any real supplies, but more like one of those things the college girls wear for a purse
– so
mething that is
certainly
m
ore decorative than useful.

As she comes closer, I get a better view and learn a little about her.  She’s been walking for maybe an hour or two at most because she’s not showing any signs of dehydration and she doesn’t appear to have any water with her.  Her shoes are very dusty, though, so it’s not like she just started walking, either.  Her hair is pulled up on top of her head, but I’m pretty sure she’s only done that recently.  It’s haphazard and definitely not done with the aid of a mirror.  She was either in a rush when she put it up
,
or it was done as she walked to cool off her neck.

She’s a freaking klutz, tripping about every forty steps over nothing but her own shoes, as far as I can tell.  For some reason, that makes me smile a little.  I shift the weapon and scan the horizon behind her from left to right, but there’s no one else to be seen.  I consider my options.

Option one - s
hoot her.  I really don’t want or need any company, and company in general is a risk.  Pros – I don’t have to think about it anymore, and it’s generally safer for me.  Cons – she’s just some innocent chick whose car probably broke down
,
and killing her is kind of a shitty thing to do.

Next option – l
et her walk right on up here.  If she was from
Rinaldo
, I’d have some notice about it, and if she was from
Greco’s
organization she wouldn’t be appr
oaching the house tripping over
the dust
with
nothing
on her
but a little bitty backpack.  Pros – I wouldn’t have to dig a big ass hole in the dry, packed ground.  Cons – I will probably have to talk to her.

She stumbles again – just a little.  It is barely noticeable if you aren’t really paying attention, but I am.  I always pay attention.  She’s maybe five-foot-four and a hundred and
twenty
pounds.  Her tennis shoes are covered with a pretty thick layer of dust, and as I lower the scope a little I can see a slightly clearer spot on the edge of her left shoe – near the laces.  She must have tried to wipe it off, but it’s been some time ago and it’s all dirty again. 
I re-estimate and decide s
he’s been walking for at least two hours, and she’s got something serious on her mind
–
a
t least serious to
her. 
As she walks she is completely oblivious to everything around her.

Either it is
really
that
important
, or she is really that ignorant.
 
A few hours in this heat is not a good thing.  I
try to come up with
any other alternatives, but I don’t
think of
many.  She’s obviously not Native American, so she
probably
doesn’t have family too close.

Odin
’s head pops up
,
and he
growls low
as he looks out towards the young woman.

“You’re a little late,” I tell him
, and he huffs at me
.  I focus the scope back on my visitor, and my finger hovers over the trigger for a moment, but only a moment.
  I have no problem shooting a woman – done it ple
nty of times before – but she i
s just lost, and that
doesn’t
see
m like a decent reason to die.

I lay the rifle back across my lap.  She’s close enough to watch without it now, though she still hasn’t even looked up from the dirt road.  If I am
quiet enough, I’m pretty sure she’ll
run right into the house.

She trips again,
right at the perimeter of the property,
and the
truck’s
horn starts blaring.
  Awakened from her trance, h
er head jerks up and she falters
in her steps
as her eyes take in the shack, the Chevy, and then me as
I stand up, rifle still in hand and pointed in her general direction.

Odin
immediately stands alongside me with hackles raised and starts to growl
loudly
.  He doesn’t take it any f
ur
ther because he can tell I’m not particularly alarmed.  Wary, yes – because I’m not stupid – but I’m not overly concerned, either. 
Even if she started running, it would take a track star at least
a minute
to reach me, so I stand up from my chair, walk over to the truck, and disconnect the alarm so the horn stops.

I walk back to
wards
the porch but
stick to the dirt instead of going
up the steps. 
I don’t need the extra height to keep her closely in my sights, and I figure since I’m obviously not shooting her just yet, I am probably going to end up talking to her.

Odin
is walking in a figure eight pattern in front of me, watching the girl’s approach.
  I snap my fingers near my hip
,
and he walks around behind me
.  He
sits
on the ground and looks up to me expectantly
.

Her approach slows as she gets near me
.  She almost seems to hunch down a little, as if
there would be some advantage to making
herself invisible at this point.  Her eyes are trained to the rifle in my grip as she takes a final step forward, stop
s
, and
opens her mouth
.

“Um…hi!” she calls out.  Her eyes dart around, showing her nervousness.  Her hand comes up in a short wave, but it’s not too convincing a gesture. 

I look her up and down, reassessing now that she is closer.  My conclusion
s
are all the same – she’s lost, been walking for about two hours, and she came from the south.  The closest road in the south is
H
ighway 264, so she is definitely going in the wrong direction.  She has another twenty-five miles before she hits another road.  If she wasn’t standing in front of me right now, she’d probably be dead before nightfall.

“Do you want to die?” I ask her.  My tone is probably a little harsher than needed, but the question just had to be asked.

Her eyes go wide, and she takes a step back from
the barrel of the rifle
.  I
resist the urge to snicker as I gest
ure out towards the open desert with the
dangerous end
.

“Not the very best area to look for a picnic spot.”

She glances around
the barren landscape, then at the weapon in my hands
as it points back towards her head.  She laughs
nervously
and wraps her fingers around themselves in front of her stomach
.  Her top teeth pop out and bite into her
lower lip as her face turns to a grimace
,
an
d she stares hard at the ground for a while.  When she looks up at me, I can see her throat bob before she speaks again.

“My car broke down,” she says softly.  Her eyes drop from mine
,
and she looks off towards the
dirt
road for a second.  The muscles in her right hand tighten a little, making her fingers jerk in response.

There is no doubt in my mind she is lying.

“Did it now?” I reply softly.

“Yeah, overheated, I suppose,” she says with a little more conviction.
“
I thought I was heading back the direction I came from, but obviously I wasn’t
.”

“Want to get some water
,
and I’ll drive you back to it?
  I’m sure I can take care of a little radiator trouble.
”

“Oh!”  Her eyes go wide
,
and her feet begin to shuffle.

That’s right, baby, I’m not buying your shit.

“You don’t have to do that.”
  She reaches up and fiddles with the poof made by the hair band at the top of her head.  “Maybe I could just use your phone?  My cell can’t get any reception, and I think
it’s
dead now anyway.”

“I don’t have one,” I reply.

“Oh.”  Her eyes drop back to the ground.

I keep looking at her, but she won’t meet my gaze.  I debate calling her out on it directly or letting her dig herself deeper.  It doesn’t really matter one way or another, so the decision is based completely on my own desire to see what she says.

“You want to tell me the real reason you’re wandering around out here?”

Her teeth take that moment to bite right into her lip
again
, and I wonder if she
’s going to make herself bleed.

“That obvious, huh?”

“Pretty much.”

“My mom always said
not to join any secret societies because
I was the worst liar in the world
.”