Run into Trouble (11 page)

***

Drake was surprised at how well he was
adapting to running almost every day. He was controlling his back
pain with chiropractic sessions, lots of stretching, and baths that
Melody had talked him into taking when they stayed at a motel that
had bathtubs in the rooms. Being English, Melody was used to taking
hot baths, but she said that for running, a cool bath was better
than a hot bath—in fact, the colder the better.

It took Drake a while to become convinced of
that, but he found that in fact a cold bath after running was good
not only for his back, but also his legs and feet.

When the wakeup call came at 6 a.m., he felt
chipper enough to wish the caller a good morning.

“Mr. Drake?”

“Yes.” He was surprised that the desk clerk
was still on the line.

“I have an envelope for you at the
desk.”

Drake suddenly felt as cold as if he were
taking one of those baths.

“Don’t touch it. I’ll be right there.”

He pulled on some clothes and raced out to
the front desk, surprising the meek-looking man with glasses who,
he was certain, hadn’t expected him so fast.

“Show me where the envelope is, but don’t
touch it.”

The man looked scared. “I’ve—I’ve already
touched it, I’m afraid.”

“That’s okay. I…I think it’s a prank. I
don’t want a dragon to pop out at you.”

Slightly mollified, the clerk pointed to the
envelope, which was sitting on a table on his side of the counter.
He opened the door for Drake, who took a handkerchief out of his
pocket, stepped behind the counter, and carefully picked up the
envelope by its corner. He smiled at the clerk.

“I have this friend who likes to play
practical jokes.”

With his free hand, Drake reached into
another pocket and pulled out his wallet. Using dexterity fueled by
long practice, he extracted a dollar bill from the wallet using
only the one hand, and handed it to the clerk.

“Thanks for notifying me so fast.”

“Oh, the envelope came an hour ago.”

“Did you see who delivered it?”

“It must have happened when I stepped away
from the counter for a minute. I had to go to the men’s room. When
I returned, it was sitting right here.”

Drake thanked the clerk again and hurried
back to his room. He sat on the bed and inspected the envelope. It
was a white, business-size envelope and had his name typed on the
outside, just like the first one. The printing looked different,
however. Several of the letters were slightly smeared, as if from
dirty typewriter keys. They had been typed on a manual typewriter,
not an electric.

The envelope was sealed in one spot, just
like the first one. Drake took the small Swiss Army Knife he
carried and slid a blade under the flap to unseal it, being careful
not to touch the envelope with his fingers. Holding it with the
handkerchief, he opened it and extracted the white sheet of paper
inside, using a different part of the handkerchief. He unfolded the
paper and read it.

To: Oliver Drake

From: The Syndicate

So far good. You have recovered nice from
acident. Good news. Now that you back in top shape we need you to
do one thing more. Win race. You long shot, exelent odds. Good for
both of us. You get million dollers, we get big money to. You have
to start working harder. Maybe we help you. Dont forget Melodys
mom. Dont show letter to any one.

Win the race? Why not ask him to fly to the
moon without a rocket? The stakes were being raised. Shit. Drake
retrieved his wallet and found the card that Slick had given him.
He picked up the phone and called the number listed for the
Christian Bookstore, not expecting an answer this early in the
morning. The call was answered on the second ring by a female
voice.

“Christian Bookstore.”

“This is Drake. I need to talk to
Slick.”

“He’ll call you back in five minutes, Mr.
Drake. May I have your number?”

Drake gave her the number and hung up. He
debated whether to tell Melody about the new letter immediately. He
decided not to for a couple of reasons, including the fact that he
didn’t know Grace’s room number. He opened his suitcase and, using
the blade from his Swiss Army Knife, carefully reopened a slit in
the lining that he had made after his room had been searched.

He had sewed it up again using the sewing
kit his mother had put together for him when he left for college.
Fine stitches, just like she had taught him. Even a person
experienced in finding things wouldn’t spot them during a fast
search. He pulled a copy of the original note out of the space
behind the lining. Now he could verify the similarities and
differences between the two notes.

He would also make a copy of the new note
before he gave it to Slick. If he were careful, he could do it
without damaging any fingerprints. The motel had a copier; the
clerk at the desk would help him.

***

“We’re running faster today. Are you sure
you’re up to it?”

Melody’s question brought home to Drake what
effect the letter was having on him. It scared the hell out of him.
All the runners were in a tight group as they navigated east Long
Beach. Of course, if he and Melody wanted to actually win the race,
they had to be ahead of the others, not just with them. Way ahead.
They were many hours behind Tom and Jerry overall.

“Let’s drop back ten yards. I need to talk
to you.”

“We’ll catch them again if they have to stop
for a light.”

“I haven’t noticed that they pay much
attention to mundane things like traffic lights.”

It was true. The runners tended to keep
moving in these urban areas, regardless of traffic, crossing
streets against lights, endangering themselves. It was amazing what
the carrot of a million dollars did to one.

Drake and Melody dropped back as they turned
onto Ocean Avenue. With the beach now on the left, there was little
cross traffic, and it was less dangerous and easier to talk. Drake
filled Melody in on the letter, trying to keep his voice calm. He
watched her face and saw the strain there, but she didn’t interrupt
him. He mentioned that he had talked to Slick.

She pulled a bottle of Gatorade from her
pouch and took a swig. “How are you going to get the letter to
Slick?”

“He told me he’d meet us somewhere along our
route. I gave him the route and approximate times.”

“So you have the letter with you.”

“Inside the envelope, inside a paper bag,
inside my pouch. I haven’t touched it with my fingers.”

“The desk clerk’s prints will be on the
envelope.”

“We’re covered on that. I asked him to give
me a piece of paper to write a note on. I had him pick a sheet from
the middle of a pile of typewriter paper, so the only prints on it
will be his and mine. I even got him to hold it with both hands.
I’ll give that to Slick too.”

“Sometimes I’m amazed at your cleverness.
What time was the envelope delivered?”

“About five. The desk clerk was away from
the desk and didn’t see who brought it.”

“Drake, Grace’s alarm clock went off at
quarter to five. I pretended to be asleep, but I watched her out of
one eye. She threw on some clothes and went out of the room. She
returned a few minutes after five and got back into bed.”

“If she was under orders, they probably came
from Fred.”

“She got a phone call about 8:30 last night.
She didn’t say who it was, and I didn’t ask, but she set her alarm
after the call.”

“I take it you didn’t talk to Fred about
your new sleeping arrangements.”

“No. If it was Fred on the phone, he didn’t
know I was there.”

“Just out of idle curiosity, did you sleep
in the same bed?”

“Yes, since there was only one. Before you
get any prurient thoughts, it was a big bed, and girls can sleep
together easier than lads. Hey, now that the mist is lifting, I can
see the Queen Mary. You stole it from us.”

Drake saw the great ship, too. It was
impressive, even at a distance. “As I recall, you didn’t want it
anymore.”

“What an excuse. Since Casey is meeting us
at the bridge, we have to figure out what we’re going to tell
him.”

“I don’t think we can tell him anything
right now. He’d want the letter, and I’m giving that to Slick. I
don’t want him to know about Slick and Blade. We can’t trust anyone
related to the race. If worst comes to worst, we’ll get Blade to
help protect your mother.”

“Cold comfort. However, I think we have to
grill Grace. If we scare her enough, she might not tell anybody we
talked to her.”

“She may be the weak spot that helps us
penetrate the impregnable fortress. We have to take the chance of
what she might do.”

***

The runners all arrived at the Vincent
Thomas Bridge together. The rules stated that times were only
recorded to the minute, not the second, and that runners finishing
a segment in a group without gaps would receive the same time.
Although Drake was glad that he and Melody had not lost any time to
Tom and Jerry so far today, it wasn’t enough.

The Cat and Mouse duo, as they were called,
were smart runners. Their strategy was not to lead but to stay in
the lead pack, so that nobody could gain time on them. They were
wise to the occasional team that tried to break away from the pack
at an unsustainable pace and didn’t try to go with them. Those
teams tired and were later caught by the other runners.

As advertised, the bridge was closed to
vehicle traffic at 10, and the runners were started on their run
over it. Several photographers took pictures. Since it was Sunday,
a number of other runners and walkers who had read about the
closure joined them. The Running California group was given a head
start of several minutes so they didn’t have to run in a crowd.

As Drake and Melody ran up the ramp, Casey
appeared beside them in his running clothes. “Mind if I run with
you?”

“Happy to have you along,” Melody said, “but
I must warn you that we’re going a wee bit faster than we were the
last time you saw us.”

“I think I can keep up with you for the
length of the bridge. Then I have to go to a meeting. For some
reason I’m drawn to running over bridges, especially bridges that
aren’t usually open to foot traffic.”

“How did you manage to get permission to
have it closed?” Drake asked.

Casey smiled. “I don’t know if you’ve been
reading the papers, but Running California is generating a lot of
great publicity for the state. I was able to convince the powers
that be that letting us run over the bridge would be good for the
local economy, including the shipyards—both Long Beach and Los
Angeles.”

Drake shook his head. “It’s a shame they
didn’t provide a pedestrian walkway when they built the bridge. I
said the same thing about Coronado.”

“If I were in charge, they would have.”
Casey was puffing with the uphill climb to the top of the arch.
“Say, you are running faster.” He took a look at Drake. “I can’t
believe how well you’re doing. No limp, and your face looks almost
like the picture of you I saw when we were recruiting. I remember
thinking I want this handsome guy to be part of Running California.
I figured the photographers would love you.”

Melody frowned. “Don’t compliment him. He’s
conceited enough already.”

Casey laughed. “I assume that you two have
no more doubts about staying in the race.”

“As long as Tom and Jerry remain in good
health, we have about as much chance of winning as I, a
non-citizen, have of being elected president.”

Casey looked around to see where the other
runners were. He spoke in a low voice. “That’s why I’m paying
you.”

That triggered something in Drake’s brain.
“Why do you care so much whether we stay in the race? If I continue
to improve, we’ll probably move up a few places because of problems
like Aki’s having, but Melody’s right about our chances of
winning.”

“First, because you’re the only woman in the
race.” He nodded at Melody. “We talked to several other women we
thought could stick it out, but they weren’t able to commit the
time. Second,” indicating Drake, “because you’re a war hero.”

“That’s bullshit. I’m no more a hero than
hundreds of other guys. Why didn’t you pick somebody younger who
fought in Vietnam?”

“Vietnam’s not a popular war. You’re the one
we wanted.”

“One more thing. Putting Melody and me
together is too much of a coincidence. How did you know we knew
each other?”

Casey smiled. “Do you know who’s on our
Board of Directors?”

Generals and admirals who had access to top
secret information.

CHAPTER 13

“This road is daft with its patches and
rollercoaster ups and downs. It looks as bad as some of our country
lanes in the backward areas of England.”

“This is a slide area. A lot of houses were
destroyed here a few years ago. The slide is ongoing. They have to
keep rebuilding the road. You can see that the sewer pipes are
aboveground.”

They were running on Palos Verdes Drive
South with the dry brown hill of the Palos Verdes Peninsula on the
right and a cliff heading down to the water on the left. A few
lonely houses remained on the nearby hillside, some held in place
with jacks. They ran past the slide into an area called Abalone
Cove. A black Porsche was parked in a turnout ahead. A man was
leaning against the car, staring out to sea.

He looked familiar to Drake. “Is that who I
think it is?”

“It’s our old friend, Slick. What shall we
do, run past him and then stop?”

“Sounds good, although I hate to waste the
time when we’re doing so well.”

“We’ll make it short.”

They were still with the pack of runners and
didn’t want their rendezvous to be noticed. Casey had long since
left them. They ran fifty yards past the turnout where Melody spoke
for the benefit of the other runners.