Overfall (11 page)

“It’s right through there.” Sam pointed to a patch of sky through a fir stand.

“When we get out of here, I have to figure a way to get Jason.”

“Have you considered just taking him?”

“I can’t. We had a falling-out and it’s public. So I don’t look good trying to take over. See, Jason had this fascination with France, even became a citizen. He hooked up with DuShane Chellis’s company, Grace, and when he started having problems—mental problems—they convinced him to make Roberto the guardian of his person and Grace Technologies the guardian of his estate. It’s all legal. I visit only with their consent.”

“Yeah, there are international treaties,” Sam said. “If the Canadians granted him resident status they’ll honor the French law and courts. And as a matter of national pride the French won’t want Americans taking over their brainchild.”

“I know. I looked into it.”

“You need some attorneys and a good investigator.”

“My immediate concern is just walking into Echo Bay without knowing if they’re there.”

“They’ll be there. And with a story, concerned about you, looking for you. They’ll try to work the law. They aren’t stupid. And they won’t run off into the bushes somewhere and let you control the media and the government. No way.”

“I hope what I’ve done hasn’t put Jason in a bad spot.”

“Nothing is going to happen overnight. Jason is in no immediate danger unless there is a whole lot we don’t know. He has to be critical to their program. You and I just play it cool. Relax. Don’t let them see any weakness or anxiety. You act normal. Pretend you’re about to shake hands with your ex-husband’s new fiancée.”

“I’d be deliriously giddy.”

“That’s good. Giddy. We’ve just been out for a great hike. A survival lesson. We’re on vacation. Or you’re researching a part in a film. Got it?”

“I can do it. I think.”

“They have to believe we aren’t going to do anything precipitous. We want them to think that maybe we’ll just blow it off if they buy me a new boat. Hell, maybe we think the yacht exploded.”

“You think they’ll believe that?”

“Maybe if we play it right they won’t know what to think. Remember, you’re Manhattan,” he said, walking ahead. “Do it with class.”

At first they were very careful not to show themselves while they scouted the small marina complex.

A blue-hulled aluminum catamaran Mountie boat with a lot of equipment was docked amid the pleasure craft.

“The cops are here,” she said.

“My money says Roberto brought them. Hardly wait to hear the story.”

“They’ve got brass balls.”

“Let’s go to Betty’s and feed ourselves.”

She grabbed his arm, careful not to touch the deep wounds.

“Wait, Sam. Listen, I need your help. I don’t mean just now, I mean to solve this whole mess.”

“I’m a sailor.”

“I know people. You’re no sailor. You’re the one who cracked Peter’s case. That’s my guess. Peter said there was a sort of private investigator, but never said who or anything.”

“That case was a long time ago.”

“You aren’t just going to leave me with this, are you?”

“Did I say that? I suggested a lawyer. I know investigators.”

“You haven’t said a damn thing. Not even your last name. But I feel we have some sort of connection here. And I don’t know what you do in this world other than sail, but it’s got to do with the spy or security business or something. And I know I need to ... hire you.”

“I’m a bastard, remember?”

“Try for one second not to let it show. And cut your bullshit I’m an actor too.”

“There are lots of people—”

She grabbed his shirt and looked up at him, hard determination in her eyes.

“I have never felt so incapable. I’m partly to blame for my brother’s ruined life. Don’t make me beg.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

“Give me a commitment.” Anna seemed on the verge of tears. “Once we walk back into the world, you’re leaving. I can feel it. And you have not been leveling with me. All I know is that there’s nobody quite like you to figure this out.”

Sam hesitated. He knew he couldn’t promise and then back out. Yes, he was his own man, but her words, the way she put it, made it difficult to say no.

“Please don’t be a deserter when I really need somebody.”

“I was going to help you; it’s just a question of how.”

“That’s crap. There is only one way you help people. You take charge and fix it or you walk away. You’re not a halfway guy, Sam. I know you nailed Peter’s accountant The story was about you.”

“You would have to keep our relationship confidential and you can’t talk to people about me. Got it?”

“Got it. You better not crap out on me.”

“This will require some groundwork.”

“I have your word that I can hire you?”

“You have my word.”

“And you won’t just disappear on me?”

“I won’t.”

With that they made their way to a white building with cheery blue trim. According to the sign, it doubled as the store and the post office. Merchandise was stacked neatly on the shelves, although it was a bit sparse. A slender woman with a feather duster stared at Sam.

“What happened to you? A bear?”

“Man’s best friend.”

“A dog did that? Gosh, Sam. Let’s sit you down and get you cleaned up. The Mounties are looking for you—if you’re the captain of the ship that sank at Devil’s Gate.”

“That’s me. And this is Anna.”

“I’ll call Rex.” She picked up the microphone.

“This is Anna,” Sam said again.

“Oh, my God.”

“Yeah, it’s that Anna. Listen, don’t be too impressed—she passes wind even when she doesn’t eat.”

“I think you got your history ass-backwards,” Anna said.

Betty rolled her eyes and Anna rolled hers back.

“A trivial stretching of history designed to make a valid point,” Sam said as Anna knocked his hat down over his eyes.

“Northpoint, Northpoint, this is Echo Bay,” Betty said into the radio.

“Switch and answer, Twenty-two Alpha.”

“Rex, your captain showed up, a little the worse for wear, but fine. Apparently he had a passenger. They’re gonna eat and clean up.”

“I have my paperwork. And I’ve got to hear about Devil’s Gate.”

“How about after some lunch and cleanup?”

“Roger that.”

“Echo Bay clear.” Then she turned to Sam. “You heard. He wants to talk with you when you’re done here.”

“Are you and Rex still sweet on each other?”

“Now don’t start on that.”

Sam chuckled with the question still written on his face.

“Well, come on in. We’ll start with the wounds and move to food. I don’t know what you been doin’, but these Mountie people and others are here looking for you. Said you might have disappeared off in the woods. They said a woman. They didn’t say Anna Wade.”

“Yeah, well, let’s just relax about that,” Sam said.

“Mum’s the word.” She sat Sam down at the table and in twenty minutes the wounds were covered with antibiotics and Sam had two dollar-sized bandages on his right arm and three on his left. After saying thank you and exchanging a few more pleasantries, Sam and Anna excused themselves to the washroom.

They tried acting as if they were strolling Fifth Avenue in jeans and Armani. They weren’t completely successful, drawing wide-eyed stares from a pair of bird-watchers. The washroom was also the laundry room and was on a large float behind the docks. They made their way out the gangplank.

“I’m taking a shower. Despite the hunger pangs,” she said. Then she leaned close. “When are they going to show up?”

“When they feel like it. You figure maybe they’ll use a rocket launcher on the shower?”

“It’s not funny. When are we going to make this plan?”

“It’ll come. Relax. I need you to be on vacation.”

“With a rocket up my you know what?”

“The Mounties are all over this place. It’ll be fine. And if they use a rocket on you, you won’t know what hit you.”

“Well, that makes me feel better.”

She went into the stall, stripped off her dirty clothes, and got under the hot water.

He came back with towels.

She interrupted the warm comfort of the shower, picked up her filthy shirt, and held it in front of her. Unlatching the door, she stuck out an arm. At that moment a shower of icy-cold water came over the door. She screamed. “How could you do that?” Then in came Sam’s hand around the door with two fluffy dry towels, one of them with a big picture of a smiley face. The hand returned with a pair of wool trousers and a fresh shirt. Even a bra and underpants along with a blow-dryer.

“I borrowed them from Betty,” he said.

“Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“Can’t you pretend to like me just a little?”

He sighed. “Sorry, it’s a tribal custom. We had a victory. You do this with people you like. Especially when you’re on vacation.”

The shower stall slammed shut.

Chellis waited impatiently for the phone to ring. Finally it did.

“They got to Echo Bay,” Roberto said.

Chellis listened to the story for as long as he could, then cut Roberto off. “I want you out of this. You will do nothing more. Absolutely nothing. It’s screwed up. If they’re smart and we’re lucky, they’ll say nothing because the rocket launch would be pinned on Jason. I’m sending someone to handle this. You get a picture of the man with Anna, but do nothing else. Do you understand?”

“Tell me exactly what happened,” Anna said, knowing that whatever Sam had said or done could make the press.

“While you were in the shower and on the phone, I went and talked to the Mounties. I’ll tell you over lunch.” When they went back inside, Betty gave them a bit of a funny look.

“Come on.” Betty nodded toward the back. On a small table there were fried potatoes, a small steak, scrambled eggs, tofu, two apples, two oranges, two apricots, a large pile of lox, bagels, and cream cheese.

“My God,” Anna said. “It looks good.”

They sat down and Anna filled her plate with half the eggs and a pile of potatoes.

Betty came in, closed the door, and waited as if she had an announcement.

“There is a man named Roberto out here that wants to see Anna.”

“Tell him we’ll be right out,” Sam said.

Betty nodded. “Take your time. I’m sure they can wait a minute while you eat.”

“What did you tell the Mounties and what happened with Roberto?” Anna asked Sam.

“Roberto’s buddy tried to take my picture. Seems the guy with the Minolta fell in the water and ruined his camera.”

“You got in a fight?”

“I don’t think I would call throwing a guy off a dock a fight. I told the Mounties our boat sank and we hiked.”

“All this while I was drying my hair?”

They took a few more bites, concentrating on their food.

“Let’s go see what the slug wants. For once you can be an asshole and I won’t mind,” Anna said.

“You bring your broom and I won’t have to be.”

“I need some shades,” Sam said to Betty. She produced a pair still with tags, along with a new hat. “Now, that is service.”

Before they could step outside, Roberto opened the door. “Anna, we were so worried about you. I need to talk to you about Jason.”

Coolly, Anna said, “I’d like you to meet Sam. It was Sam’s boat. And I think you’re responsible.”

Sam stared at Roberto. Nervously she put a hand on Sam’s arm.

“We already met,” Sam said. “And his buddy Ansel Adams.”

“Let’s go outside.” Roberto was trying to look friendly.

Sam grabbed the hat and glasses; Anna took his arm as if he were escorting her for a walk, and they went out the door.

“Listen, Jason got carried away. I’m really sorry. Fortunately no one was hurt. That’s a miracle. We came after you and couldn’t find you. We thought after the boat thing that Jason was safe at the lodge, you know, calmed down. But he slipped out, got the rocket launcher again, and blew up the cabin as well. We had no idea until we caught up with him. We could tell the Mounties, but they don’t even allow Mace in the country, for God’s sake.”

“Why then does my brother have a rocket launcher, for God’s sake? It’s insane. You’re crazier than he is.”

“It’s gone. Destroyed. I agree it was crazy. But it’s what Jason wanted. Now he wants another one.”

“Can’t you tell him no?”

“Of course. We have. But the question of the moment is whether we tell the Mounties that your brother blew up the boat and the cabin or we just buy the cabin and be done with it.”

“The company will pay for the cabin?”

“Of course.”

“The boat too? It’s a million and a half dollars.”

“Of course the boat too.”

Anna looked at Sam.

“Anna, I need to speak with you alone about confidential company business,” Roberto said.

Anna kept looking at Sam.

“Over there by the ramp to the docks,” Sam suggested. It was visible from every direction including the Mounties’ boat.

“Okay,” Anna said, walking with Roberto.

“Jason lost a CD-ROM. It’s his work, but it belongs to the company.”

“I don’t know anything about it,” Anna told Roberto.

“You’re sure.” He scrutinized her, as intense as she’d ever seen him.

“I’m sure.”

Perhaps it was her imagination, but she was certain that he was looking at the fanny pack, actually located on her stomach, and that he was suspicious.

“We’re going to take Jason to see Dr. Galbraith in Seattle.”

“Well, I guess I don’t have a lot to say about it,” Anna said, “but I appreciate your telling me.” She walked back to Sam, feeling safer with every step she took away from Roberto.

“Let’s talk.” She led Sam back toward the forest.

“What did he want?”

“They want to take Jason to his doctor and they want to pin me down about whether we would press charges against Jason or anybody else for the boat. I told him no.”

“You don’t believe him about Jason and the rocket launcher, do you?” Sam said.

“It’s possible,” she said. “Jason could do anything. What I really wonder is, how can I possibly get control of my brother without years in court in France or Canada? The minute I start up, they’ll hit me with a smear campaign—with the videos they have of my brother explaining our estrangement. Oh, and to top it all, his daughter is completely out of control and hates me even more.”

“Grady, I think you said.”

“Jason’s daughter—now grown. She’s half crazy herself. She’s in LA. I’ve tried so hard to talk to her, but I’m getting nowhere. She’s a stripper. She drinks. God only knows what else she does. She’s twenty and hell on wheels.”

“Tell me what you know about her.”

Anna began with Grady’s birth and recounted up through her life as a stripper.

“That’s important,” Sam said when she had finished.

“The seaplane is due in two hours. We’re going to have to part ways in Vancouver. I need to know when I’ll see you again and exactly how I hire you.”

“I’ll need time to research and plan. Let’s meet in LA at the Capital Plaza in five days—next Friday evening. You’ll hear from me in the meantime. You’re going to your place in Manhattan?”

“Yes. I’ll be there tonight.”

“I’ll send people. I’ll be talking to you.”

“Tell me,” she said, “how exactly do I get in touch with a guy who has no last name?”

“E-mail.”

“E-mail? That’s it?”

Sam took Anna into Betty’s apartment, sat her down where she could use the phone, and excused himself. When he found a public phone he paused for a moment, knowing that his life would take a major turn if he picked it up. As he considered this, he saw the would-be photographer come around the corner, a new cardboard camera in his hand.

Sam motioned with his head toward the dock, careful to keep his face in the shadow of his hat brim. The man obviously understood that Sam meant to throw him back into the bay. He snapped a picture and ran, but Sam was on him before he had gone twenty feet.

“It isn’t in my nature to fight,” Sam said, shoving a hand under the man’s rib cage and holding it like a handle. The photographer screamed and dropped the camera, grabbing at his chest, obviously in terrible pain. Sam smashed the camera under his heel while the man dangled.

“Next time take a picture of the natural wonders. It makes a much better souvenir. And don’t bother Betty about any more disposable cameras. She’s all sold out.”

A man came around the corner in response to the screams and Sam let go of the ribs.

“Don’t come back.”

As the bird-watcher looked on in amazement, the wounded cameraman ran around the corner, holding his side.

Sam returned to the telephone. It was starting to feel like old times. The first call went to Shohei because he might be in Japan. Fortunately it turned out he was in San Francisco, and more significantly, he happened to be taking a little sabbatical and therefore had no contract at the moment.

Next Sam would need Jill, one of his assistants, and his mother, a Tilok woman everyone called Spring. But if he was going to call Jill about returning to work, protocol would dictate that he first call Paul. Paul’s assistant answered the phone. He didn’t know Sam’s voice. Paul, who now ran a large hardware business, was with a commercial contractor, according to the anxious-to-please clerk.

“Tell him Robert Chase called.”

Now he could call Jill. It was an easy call—they had been friends for years and lovers briefly. Jill’s one weakness was that she liked reminding him in embarrassing little ways about what had happened between them—and about other women with whom it had happened. Jill was a bean counter by nature, and he supposed that just naturally carried over to counting more than beans.

Spring was an even quicker call than Jill. With Shohei, Jill, and Spring on board, Sam was gratified. He wanted a cigar.

He dreaded calling Typhony, but it would be gutless to have Paul talk in his place, and for what he had in mind he would need his whole crew. At the moment he had a dozen employees, mostly techies, working at feeding the Big Brain’s database and keeping it operating for government contracting work. When Sam wasn’t using his computer, it did work for the CIA, FBI, and other agencies, generating revenue. Grogg, a man whose glasses were epic in their size and magnification, was the craftsman who had implemented Sam’s architecture and created the electronic marvel that was the heart and soul of Sam’s business. Grogg remained on the job, but Sam would need to hire more investigators: the men and women who helped get the techies the kind of information Big Brain could use to solve real-world riddles.

Inside the store he found Betty.

“Hey,” he said, giving her a casual look. “Anna is an occasional closet smoker. She needs a smoke.”

“Well, I have them only by the pack.”

“Okay.” Sam bought a pack of Marlboros, removed one, and gave the remainder to Betty.

“Keep ’em behind the counter for customers.”

“No way. They smell up the place. I can’t believe she smokes.”

“Toss ’em, then. She only wants one. Doesn’t need the temptation of a whole pack.”

Sam shrugged his shoulders as if it were a mystery, then went around the corner to the men’s room. Inside he lit up, took two huge drags, snubbed it out, and tossed it.

Sam walked back to a wooden bench overlooking the bowl-shaped harbor where they would wait for the seaplane. Large conifer trees, lustrous and green, covered the upper slopes around the bay. The water was calm; the hillsides near the water were very rocky and produced gnarled trees in interesting shapes and arrangements; the ground was ornamented with salal, grasses, and fern, the rocks with lichen. Broken clouds let the sun stream through, bringing out the blue of the sky and sea. Something about the place was more than the sum of its parts, creating a mood unique in its intrigue.

“It’s beautiful here.” Anna had found him.

“Yes.”

“Why do I smell cigarettes?”

“Maybe the shirt.”

“Sam, could we talk seriously a minute?”

“I’m always serious. It’s just that I occasionally feel compelled to be irreverent.”

“Tell me about your mom and dad.”

“Just like that?”

“Come on, Sam, you’ve given me nothing else, and you know you can trust me.”

“Well, the only thing I knew about my mom when I was growing up was what my dad told me.”

“Which was?”

“Drunken slut.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s all of it.”

“Did you ever see her or talk to anyone who knew her?”

“Not when I was growing up. I knew only my grandparents on my dad’s side and never my mom’s. My grandparents just refused to mention her or comment in any way. It wasn’t until a few months after my dad died that I discovered my mother. I was eighteen and in college. At first I told myself I wanted to meet her or find her grave. Listening to my dad, I guess I had it in my head that she probably died of alcohol or drugs. I traced my dad’s life back to when he was nineteen, found people who knew him then, people he’d lost all contact with. They told me about a beautiful girl, Native American, that he dated. I discovered the schools she might have gone to and started looking. Finally, I got a name, pictures, positive ID, and found her. I think I just didn’t want to doubt my dad when he was alive so I hadn’t pushed it.”

“I want to be sensitive here. But there is this sort of looming question—”

“Why didn’t my mother find me? Why did she let me go?”

“Well, yes.”

“She was going to school, he was working. They actually met because my mother was renting a room in my grandparents’ basement. They lived not far from the school campus. All of my mother’s family at that time was pretty much centered in the reservation. Neither my mother nor my father wanted me on the reservation, so his parents took care of me during the day and my mom took care of me at night. My mom and dad were never married and my mom just kept on living with my grandparents and going to school. My dad lived on a military base. Not long after I was born my parents quit talking. Then, when I was a year and a half old, my mom went on a travel class overseas for a month.