Run into Trouble (24 page)

She began snapping pictures as fast as she
could, trying to photograph the instruments and the dials, and
anything else that might be of interest. She kept an eye on the
ladder. When she saw Drake’s legs appear next, she continued
shooting. Drake’s head came into sight; he gave her an encouraging
nod.

When Casey’s legs appeared on the ladder,
she stopped shooting and slipped the camera back inside her bra.
When the rest of him followed, she smiled at him. “This is a lovely
boat. But how do the men stand to live in here? Everything’s so
tiny.”

It pained Melody to have to talk like a
clueless female, but she had to keep Casey from getting
suspicious.

“Submariners can’t have claustrophobia.”

Drake was inspecting what must be the
periscope. “I understand that Giganticorp is developing a submarine
similar to this. Can you explain what all this stuff is for?”

Casey could and did. He showed them how a
pair of torpedoes were stored and fired. The gun that had lobbed
the shells onto the beach was kept inside the sub and raised when
it surfaced. They toured the sleeping quarters where you had to be
good friends with your bunkmates. They saw a small galley. Drake
was interested to note that any food that had been stored there had
apparently been taken off the sub when the crew mysteriously
disappeared. The crew hadn’t left any clothing or other personal
belongings either.

Casey’s knowledge of the sub was so
extensive that Drake became suspicious. Casey said he had been
briefed by the people who had inspected it, because Giganticorp was
also developing a mini-submarine. But his wealth of information
went beyond that. There was almost a fatherly pride in Casey’s
voice when he talked about all the gadgets and technological
wonders.

Drake distracted Casey so that Melody could
take some more pictures. She managed to get a few, but she figured
that the ones she had taken initially in the control room were the
most important. When they exited the boat, Casey and Drake
gallantly went up the ladder first, which allowed Melody to take
more shots in the control room. She adjusted the distance control,
trying to ensure maximum sharpness and duplicated some of her
earlier pictures. She knew she’d better stop when she heard Casey’s
voice from above.

“Are you coming up?”

“Coming.” Melody once more shoved the camera
into her bra and climbed the ladder. “I wanted to take one last
look. I’ve never been in a real submarine before.”

Casey offered her a hand to help her from
the ladder to the gangplank, although she didn’t really need it. He
gave her a patronizing smile.

“I’m sure you’re more suited to life on a
cabin cruiser, but it’s always fun to see how other people
live.”

***

Drake stifled a yawn.

Slick said, “Are we keeping you up?”

“Damn right. Don’t forget—we have to run a
marathon every day.”

“Sorry. Somehow I figured that saving the
country from idiots might be more important.”

Drake had called Blade collect from a
payphone as soon as they left Casey. When Blade heard about the
pictures, he told them that Slick was still in the Monterey area
and would meet them in thirty minutes.

He even had praise for Drake. “I take back
every bad thing I’ve ever said about you. You’ve managed to gather
more information than Slick has. The military is a tight
organization, and it’s difficult for outsiders like us to break
into it.”

“Credit Melody and her short skirt. Without
her we couldn’t have done it.”

“I won’t touch that line with a redwood
tree, but give her my thanks. I always said she was too good for
you.”

Drake and Melody had parked on a residential
street and waited for Slick’s Porsche to park behind them. He had
slipped into the backseat of their sedan where Melody gave him the
roll of film. Then they filled him in on what they had observed on
the submarine. He also seemed impressed.

“You two must have been a great team in
England. What made you give it up?”

Drake and Melody took a quick look at each
other in the semi-darkness, lit only by the dome light of the car
and a streetlight fifty feet from them. Neither was inclined to say
anything.

“All right, sorry I asked. I’ll get the film
developed tomorrow, and then we will see what we will see.”

Slick glanced at a pad on which he had been
taking notes.

“There’s some good stuff here. I’m not
exactly an expert on submarines, but we have people who are. They
will be very interested in this.”

Melody had a question for Slick. “Do you
ever take off your dark glasses?”

“I’d take them off for you, honey. Maybe we
should meet sometime without this bozo.”

“Maybe we should.”

CHAPTER 29

Today’s run is scenic (as if they all
weren’t) and goes around the famous 17 Mile Drive. Enter the Drive
at the Carmel Gate. There may be a quicker way to get there than
following Route 1 as you get close to the Carmel Gate. Follow the
17 Mile Drive around the peninsula past Pebble Beach and Asilomar,
always staying as close to the coast as possible, to the Lighthouse
Gate in Pacific Grove. Work your way over to Del Monte Avenue. The
run ends at the first intersection of Del Monte Avenue and Route 1
in Sand City.

***

“It’s a good thing we don’t like to play
golf. We might get seduced and stay here forever.”

Melody had been taking in the beautifully
manicured golf courses along the 17 Mile Drive, some of them set
against the cliffs overlooking the ocean.

Drake snorted. “The first question I have is
how much money is lost in golf balls that go over the cliffs.”

“Spoken like a true nonbeliever.”

“I think there’s a fundamental difference
between golfers and runners. Golfers make a big show out of having
the right equipment and the right balls and the right lessons. Then
most of them go out and stink up the course while riding in golf
carts, which means that they don’t even get any exercise. Runners
are pure; they don’t need fancy equipment. They don’t put on a
show. They just run.”

Melody was laughing so hard that she had
trouble running. “Don’t let any of the golfers hear you. They’ll
beat you to death with their nine-irons. I wonder what they think
when we run past.”

“They feel a mixture of horror and pity, I’m
sure. Just the idea that they might get sweat stains on their
peacock shirts is more than they can bear.”

Melody scanned the road in front and behind
them. Every one of the runners was in sight. “It looks like we’re
having a group event today. Maybe we should have a picnic together
on the rocks—practice our togetherness.”

“There’ll be a chance for individual
initiative when we get to Pacific Grove. We’ll be running on some
side streets. Although it may just be the luck of the draw who
picks the route with the fewest lights and traffic. Have you had
any more thoughts on Casey?”

“He’s certainly trying to buy your silence,
at least as far as your father is concerned.”

“I’m all for taking his money as
compensation for my injuries, but I don’t like his political
methods. I don’t like his agenda either—especially the land grab.
I’m not going to vote for him.”

“As long as you’re in the run and you don’t
bad-mouth him to your dad, you may be giving him all the help he
needs.”

“There’ll be plenty of time to expose him
after the run is over.”

“You hope.”

***

Drake’s message light at the motel in
Monterey was blinking. The motel was close to where they had met
Casey last night. They could have stayed here both nights, since
they had just run around the peninsula that contained Monterey,
Pacific Grove, and Carmel, but had not advanced very far up the
coast.

Running the 17 Mile Drive instead of
bypassing the area on Route 1 had given them maximum exposure.
Sometimes people they passed recognized who they were from their
Running California shirts and cheered them on. Having them seen by
the populace couldn’t be bad for Casey.

The message was to meet Slick at a coffee
shop in Monterey at six. It was within walking distance of the
motel. This left them plenty of time to clean up. Drake called
Melody’s room to pass the information on to her.

***

When Drake and Melody walked into the coffee
shop precisely at six, Slick wasn’t already there. That was a
surprise. They went to a booth in the corner and sat down. They
sipped iced tea and waited while speculating what his news would
be.

At 6:15 Drake started to get restless. “I
don’t want to sit here and starve while waiting for him not to
show. Let’s order dinner.”

Melody, who had already checked the menu,
made a face. “I think this is the original greasy spoon.”

“You can always order a salad or
something.”

Drake wasn’t as particular about the food he
ate. They both settled for fish and chips since this was seafood
country. After all, what can you do to fish and chips? Drench the
coleslaw in too much mayonnaise and serve soggy chips. Melody
remarked that at least they got the name correct, calling them
chips instead of French fries.

“I see you started without me.”

They were both intent on chewing mouthfuls
of food and hadn’t seen Slick approach the table. Drake almost
choked on his fish. Melody put her napkin to her mouth to hide the
fact that mayonnaise was dribbling down her chin. She recovered
first. “We thought you’d fallen off the dock and drowned.”

“No such luck.”

Slick sat down next to Melody and smiled at
the waitress who had bustled over to the table. He ordered a Coke.
When the waitress asked whether he wanted to order dinner, he took
a look at Drake’s and Melody’s plates and declined. He sat there
perfectly at ease, not apologizing, watching them eat.

Drake said, “Who called this meeting?”

Slick fished around in an attaché case he
had with him and pulled out some photographic prints.

“Interesting developments from Melody’s
pictures, pun intended. Blade wanted me to show you these,
especially one.” He took his time selecting a print from the pile.
To Melody he said, “You’re a pretty good photographer, shooting
under less than ideal conditions—poor lighting and, of course, you
didn’t have all day to compose these. This one’s a little fuzzy,
but if you look at it through this magnifying glass…”

“I’ll take all that as a compliment.”

She took the print and magnifying glass from
Slick. She studied the print for a few seconds.

“I took this on my knees because I saw
something near the floor—near the deck, I mean—that caught my eye.
It was in a shadow; I didn’t know if it would turn out.”

“It’s good enough so we can tell what it is.
It’s the Giganticorp logo.”

Melody recognized it now because it was on
their running shirts: a caricature of a giant inside a letter G.
She almost forgot to keep her voice down.

“My God. Are you telling me that Giganticorp
built the sub?”

Drake had been impatiently waiting his turn.
He reached across the table and more or less grabbed the photo and
the magnifying glass from Melody. He peered through the glass until
he had it focused on the photo.

“Unless someone’s playing games, that’s the
Big G logo, all right.”

Slick smiled smugly, now that he had their
attention. “Some things are coming together. We’ve been able to get
our hands on plans for a similar rig that Big G is supposedly just
now developing, and there is an amazing resemblance to the
description you all gave me.”

A thought occurred to Melody. “The military
have been studying the sub. Surely they must have seen the logo,
too.”

Drake said, “Surely they must have. Surely
they and Big G are in bed together. It isn’t unknown for us to sell
weapons to our enemies. We’ve done it before.”

Slick smiled. “You two must have used some
kind of leverage on Casey to get him to give you the tour. I’m sure
he didn’t volunteer to do it. Either he forgot about the logo or
figured he’d whisk you around so fast you wouldn’t have a chance to
see it.”

Melody was still trying to figure out what
happened. “Do you think Casey and his brass sold it to the bad guys
without permission? What are they trying to do, start a war?”

Slick gave a head movement that was almost a
nod. “That’s difficult to substantiate, but we’re working on
it.”

Drake asked, “Is Casey in hot water?”

“The president has requested that Casey go
to D.C. for a little chat. He’s flying tonight on the red-eye.”

“Is there anything we can do?”

“Keep your eyes open. I suspect we don’t
know the whole story yet. Not everything jives.”

Drake had been thinking about that. “Such as
the disappearance of the crew of the sub without leaving behind any
evidence as to who they were or where they went. They didn’t get
picked up by a larger ship, and they made no effort to scuttle the
sub so it wouldn’t be found. Besides, if there are no mechanical
problems with the sub, why did they leave it behind?”

Slick did a full nod. “Good questions all.
Thinking makes me hungry. I’m going to order a big piece of apple
pie a la mode.”

CHAPTER 30

Today’s run goes from the intersection of
Del Monte Avenue and Route 1 in Sand City to the Pajaro River at
the Monterey County/Santa Cruz County line. Suggested route is Del
Monte Blvd. to the Fort Ord Bike Path. Pick up the path where Del
Monte crosses Route 1 again. Take the bike path to Marina, and then
follow Route 1 through Castroville. Exit Route 1 at Jensen Road.
Take Bluff Road, Trafton Road, and then McGowan Road across the
river. There are no big ups and downs, except for a moderate climb
at Zmudowski State Beach a few miles from the end of the run. What
we’re mostly testing today is your ability not to get lost.