Gecko (15 page)

Above and behind them, they heard the sound of sliding dirt and tumbling rocks. It was sliding down the side, coming in after them. They heard it hit bottom and Jim wished they could see, so that Roma could get off a shot. But all he could do was pull her away from the steady machine-like wheezing that was down in the coffin-like enclosure with them.

When Jim judged they were below the pens, he started to climb, pulling Roma up with him. The animal was coming fast. Roma jerked her arm free from Jim’s grip and turned, with her finger through the hole in the hand bag, on the trigger and waited. The wheezing increased its tempo and lowered its pitch. They felt its strength steamrolling toward them. Then they saw its wide set yellow eyes, glowing fire-bright in the night and Roma fired the weapon.

The moon peeked through a hole in the clouds, but Roma didn’t need the light, because the flaming yellow eyes presented her with a target too close and too terrifying to miss. She fired three shots between the two glowing yellow orbs and was rewarded with a roar that shook the night. The thing stopped, the light in the eyes dimmed, but didn’t go out.

Jim grabbed her arm and hand in a Viking grip and jerked her up and out of the ditch. They ran toward the pens, visible now in the full moonlight. He felt the weight of the cast on one arm and the drag of Roma on the other. He was afraid he wasn’t going to make it. Then he heard the thing scrambling out of the ditch behind them. He forced heart and muscle to give a little more, got his second wind and pulled her with him toward the wooden fence as the clouds again blacked out the moon. The gunshots had slowed, but not stopped the beast.

The cattle, agitated now and afraid, began milling and bleating as Jim and Roma reached the fence. In tandem they hit the ground, rolled under and they were instantly covered in manure and in danger of being trampled by the nervous cattle.

They got up and started to make their way through the fenced in herd, each step burying their feet in manure as they climbed a mountain of the muck. They instinctively headed toward the center of the pen, dodging between the animals like they were winding through a maze. Then the animals began to settle down and Jim felt a tug as Roma stumbled and fell.

He helped her up and for what seemed like the thousandth time that night, they tried to hug their fright away. Then, with the cattle quiet, they moved through them toward the other side of the pen. He wanted out of the enclosure before the animals panicked.

When they slid under the fence the danger outside far outweighed the danger inside, but now Jim was acutely aware of what could happen inside and had no desire to be crushed. He was glad when again the clouds allowed a hint of light through the dark and he saw the other side of the pen only feet away.

He made for the fence, confident that the animal with the yellow eyes had gone. The cattle were quiet, sensing no danger and that was a good sign. He allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief as he reached his hand out to the fence.

Another roar ripped the night apart. It must have circled around, upwind. Now it was among the herd. The cattle started to panic, bleating, wailing, pushing against each other and them. Roma’s hand was ripped out of his as she was trampled. She screamed and he turned to help, when another roar hurled forth and he saw the beast, a giant lizard-like animal, leap onto the back of a frightened cow, then dive on Roma, mouth wide, showing razor teeth in the moonlight. He watched in horror as it dragged her among the swirling cattle. Then he lost sight of her, as clouds again covered the moon, plunging the cattle pen into blackness and dark night.

He started toward where he’d seen her last, screaming, but in the dark he ran into one of the frightened animals and was knocked down. Something banged him in the head and his world went black.

Chapter Nine

Hugh Washington and his daughter rode in silence on their way to the freeway and the beginning of their four hour drive to Collinga. He broke the quiet as they entered the on ramp.

“
I lied when I said it wouldn’t be dangerous. It could be.”

“
I know.”

“
So I want you to stay well out of the way until I see how it’s going to go.”

“
Dad!”

“
Promise me or I’ll turn the car around and take you home right now.”

“
Okay.”

“
Okay, what?”

“
Okay, I promise I’ll stay out of the way until you make sure it’s safe.”

“
That’s better,” he said. “When we get there you wait in the car till I question them. Once I make sure everything’s all right, I’ll come and get you.”

“
I’ll feel like a kid.” She pouted. He always bent when she pouted. She could get anything she wanted out of him. But this time he remained firm.

“
My way or no way,” he said in his policeman’s iron voice.

“
Your way,” she said and the subject was closed. For the rest of the trip they talked about her school, her friends, her job and police work in general. It was almost like they were on a holiday drive. She liked being with him. She liked how he was intensely interested in anything she did. He was her dad and she loved him.

Because of the rush hour traffic leaving Los Angeles, the normal four hour trip took six. Six hours that went by like twenty minutes, with Power Glide delivering a smooth, air conditioned ride. Father and daughter had a way of talking, laughing and kidding each other that moved time aside and the forty-five-year-old Chevrolet helped to keep it away.

It was 9:30 and the night was cloud covered and dark, when he took the Collinga off ramp and steered the car toward the Harris Ranch Inn. He turned into the parking lot, picked a spot opposite the driveway and backed in.

“
You still position yourself for the quick getaway,” Glenna said.

“
I’m not the only one,” he said, indicating a white Ford Explorer with a nod of the head.

“
Think he’s a macho man, too?” Glenna teased.

“
I don’t think I’m macho, just prepared.”

“
Okay, Dad, I’m sorry.” She was trying to keep a straight face, but her stomach muscles were shaking involuntarily. She was silently laughing at him. He smiled, then jammed his finger into her stomach and tickled her like he did when she’d been a little girl. She burst into laughter and he laughed with her. It felt good.

“
We’ll check into the hotel,” he said. “I’d feel better if you were tucked into a warm room, behind a locked door, than sitting out in the car.”

She didn’t argue.

They approached the front desk, tired, but full of energy. They seemed to be charging each other. He was close to his quarry, she was with her father, her hero, and they felt the electrons in the night air.

“
We’d like two rooms,” he told the young man behind the desk. Then he screwed up his nose. “Jeez, what’s that?”

“
Wind shifted. Usually it goes the other direction, but when it blows south, we get the smell of thousands of beef cattle. You get used to it,” he said.

“
I don’t know if I ever could,” he said.

“
You have the greenest eyes,” Glenna told the man. She was direct and disarming.

“
Yeah,” he said, “if my hair would have been any other color, maybe they wouldn’t stand out so much, but it’s red and they do.”

“
My father and I are supposed to meet some friends of ours here,” she said, laughing. “Could you tell us if they’ve checked in?”

“
I just got on, but I’ll be glad to check. What’s the name?”

“
Barnes,” she said, “Jim and Roma Barnes.” She wanted to show her father that she had a flair for detective work and she figured there was a pretty good chance that Monday and his sister-in-law might be using her name, because no way could they use his. She knew she’d done good and she felt an inner glow when she saw her father’s smile of approval.

The desk clerk punched his keyboard, stared at the screen for a bit, then said, “Nope. I got a Lambert, two doubles. A Holiday, a double. And a Ross, two doubles. No others, it’s a slow night. Looks like you beat them in. Want me to tell them you’re here when they arrive?”

“
That would be nice.” She was upset that her gambit hadn’t succeeded in finding Monday, but it had, she just didn’t know it.

Five minutes later she was sitting on her father’s bed, the door to their connecting rooms open. He sat down next to her.

“
Why don’t you pick up the phone and see if you can charm that clerk into telling you which room Edna Lambert is in,” he said.

She wondered who Edna Lambert was, but she called the clerk as he’d asked and though that red-headed kid probably wasn’t supposed to give her the information, he was more than happy to. Sometimes being young and pretty paid off.

“
She’s in Room 221,” Glenna said.

“
And that’s where we’ll find our man.”

“
How did you know about this Edna Lambert person?” she asked.

“
Walker told me. It was on the news. I’ll go right over and talk to Monday. Tell him that I’m on his side. Then we’ll see where we go from there.”

“
I’m going with you.”

“
No, I let you come this far, but first I want to talk to him alone. I’d never forgive myself if he did something stupid and you got hurt.”

“
Dad, I’m not a little girl anymore. I’m going.”

“
No, that’s final. Please don’t make me regret bringing you.”

“
Okay, I’ll wait here till you call, like a good girl.” Usually she had him wrapped around her little finger, but there was that occasional time when he drew the line and she knew better than to try and cross it.

She watched him cross the manicured courtyard to the building opposite. Since the back of the main building faced the courtyard, he would have to walk through the lobby to get to Edna Lambert’s room. She watched his back till he disappeared into the lobby, then she reached into her purse for a cigarette. Three left, she would have to go easy. She lit up and inhaled the blue smoke and tried not to worry.

* * *

When Hugh Washington went through the lobby, he felt that old chill run through him—the goosebumps on his arms, the tingling skin—these were the caution signs. He slipped his hand under his sweatshirt and withdrew the thirty-eight from the shoulder holster. He held it easily in his right hand as he slid both hand and pistol behind his back. Better safe than sorry.

He took the stairs to the second floor, silent as a cat burglar. He stepped on the walkway, looked out across the flatland, inhaled the cattle smell and thought about becoming a vegetarian. Then he snapped back to the task at hand and started toward Room 221. His stomach tightened as he approached the room and he tightened his hold on the gun. The door was ajar, sending a sliver of light into the dark night. He listened for a few seconds. Not a sound. He eased it open and was assaulted by the coppery smell and the attacking sight of blood.

He jumped back and grabbed the railing to keep from falling over the side. He caught his breath, groped for command of his senses. His heart was racing, sweat ran down the back of his neck. He was going to have to go in there.

He steeled his mind, flexed the muscles along the curve of his back and rocked his head around in two quick circles, hearing the creak at the base of his skull. Calm down, he told himself, you’ve done this before and you can do it now. Damn good thing you made Glenna stay back. He entered the room, fighting to keep his Italian lunch in his stomach.

Never in all his years on the force had he seen anything like this. The walls, carpet and ceiling were covered in splashes of blood, like a child had slopped red paint throughout the room and his reflection through the red tinged mirror looked like a photo from hell. There were no bodies, just blood—buckets of blood.

He had to check the bathroom for bodies. He picked his way across the room, doing his best to avoid the wet blood on the carpet. He looked down at his new, now red tinged, running shoes and wished that he had worn the old pair. He eased a shaking hand toward the bathroom doorknob, opening it with two fingers. The sound of the door creaking was like a knife to his heart, but the sight inside the bathroom mitigated some of the blade’s pressure. No bodies, no blood, just a normal bathroom, clean and white, a stark contrast to the room he had just crossed through.

Quick thought, call Glenna. Second thought, call the police. The first thought was the most paramount. He went to the phone, called his daughter and told her what he found.

“
I’ll be right over,” she said.

“
No!” he said. “Stay where you are and lock the door. Under no circumstances are you to open that door for anyone but me. Do you understand?”

“
Yes, Dad,” she said.

“
I’ll be here a while, so don’t worry. I’m gonna call the cops and I’m sure they’re not gonna pat me on the back and say, ‘Good job, you can go now.’ No ma’am, they’re gonna nail my black ass to the wall once they find out I was chasing a suspected murderer into their ballpark without informing them.”

“
So don’t call them.”

“
I have to. I want to know who or what did this and the quickest way is for me to be on the inside. Don’t worry, I can handle it. I’ve been there before. Now I gotta go. Lock the door, okay?”