The Tower (1999) (41 page)

She proved that now as they walked to their table, pretending not to notice the hushed silence that fell around them, the hands covering whispers, the curious glances that lingered a beat too long. They smiled and nodded at the people they knew as they threaded their way gracefully through the tables to their own.

They were seated in front of the brewing vat, to Jade's right. He leaned out from behind the vat and scanned the restaurant, focusing on the Atlasias' table from time to time. Once in a while, he caught Travers's eye at the bar and she shrugged, raising her shoulders and eyebrows just slightly. The agent working the coat check was doing well--she wasn't so much as looking at Jade and Travers. Jade didn't let down his guard, but he started to relax.

Travers gave him another half shrug and he frowned, bringing his hands up in frustration. What do you want me to do? he thought.

The first part of dinner was over and Jade couldn't smell any danger in the air. At this point, another fruitless evening out might be devastating for the Atlasias. Glancing over, he checked on Darby and Thomas.

Darby laughed boisterously, raising one hand to cover her mouth. An elegant pearl bracelet hung from her wrist, swaying with the force of her laughter. She sat at a table full of grinning men who looked at her with expressions of delight and amazement.

It had taken some doing, but she had won over the table. She was used to the routine. It started with awkward glances and pointed questions: Well, how are you, Darby? How are you holding up? But she had done it again. She had won another small social victory for herself and her husband. A moment of normalcy to hold in their memories and cherish.

She smiled and continued with her story. "And so I didn't know that Thomas had just washed the floor, so here I come, walking in with bare feet and--" She burst into fresh peals of laughter and some of the men began to chuckle prematurely, anticipating the rest of the story.

"--two cartons of eggs (I mean, what are the odds of all the things I could be carrying in--not one, but two cartons of eggs?), and Thomas was at the sink peeling carrots and he said he just heard this enormous THUMP!"

Darby banged the table with a fist to punctuate the thump and all the water glasses jumped. One fell over into the lap of a man with a carefully manicured mustache and Darby burst into laughter all over again.

"Oh my God, I'm sorry. I'm a nightmare. See what a nightmare I am?" Her voice was high as she strained to speak through her laughter. "And during my eggs story."

The mustached man assured her that he was fine and that the water would soon dry.

"But my feet went out, and I swear to God I hit the floor flat on my back. I mean, every part of my back hit the ground at the same time. And the eggs, the eggs . . ." She covered her mouth, her shoulders heaving again with laughter. "I mean, it was like a cartoon. Up in the air." She imitated her frantic attempt to locate the eggs above her, and then the exaggerated expression of shock that crossed her face once she did. "All over me. My face, my hair, my neck. All over."

Everyone at the table laughed.

"And so Thomas turns around to me slowly and says, 'Darby, honey, if you need more attention from me, all you have to do is ask.' " She laughed and pounded the table again. The men all grabbed their water glasses.

Thomas leaned over, draping his arm across her shoulder. "Dear, why don't we see if the Lawrences have arrived yet? We told them we'd catch up."

"Sure, sure." Darby pushed back from the table and laid her napkin gracefully across her place setting. "Gentlemen, it was a pleasure horrifying you with stories of my ineptitude." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Now you know the truth," she added to smiles all around.

She followed Thomas through the clusters of tables, the self-assured patrons of the arts, the lipsticked smiles, the jeweled fingers, until they were alone by the bar. Glancing over Thomas's shoulder, she caught Jade's eye.

"How are you, love?" Thomas asked.

She rolled her eyes. "What a chore. I swear to God these people all have large sticks up their asses. I feel like I'm talking to a bunch of corpses." She imitated a wide-eyed stare with an excessive head nod. "'And how are you, Darby? You look great--I mean fantastic. And Thomas is all right? Good, good. And has your son embalmed anyone this week? Oh. Good, good.' " She made a quick gagging gesture, bringing one finger to her open mouth.

Thomas smiled at her, shaking his head. "I recognize that the strain of being charming must wear you down considerably," he said. "But, you know, you do look quite lovely."

"Thank you, honey. I don't mean to be ungrateful, it just seems like there are no real people here. You know what I mean?" Her shoulders dropped. "Not many real people anywhere for us anymore."

She ran her open hands over the lapels of his tuxedo. "And you look very handsome. Are you here with anybody?" Rising to her tiptoes, she kissed him gently on the lips.

Chapter
53

J A D E watched the Atlasias from across the restaurant. They had agreed that they should move to the bar area if nothing happened during the first half of dinner. They'd be more visible there, more vulnerable.

Now that they were in position, Jade was having second thoughts. There was so much activity at the bar that there was no way he could keep an eye on everything. He drummed his fingers underneath the table and grimaced. It suddenly felt wrong again, like it had in the theater. It felt risky.

He moved to a table that was closer to the bar, signaling Travers to head outside and watch the street. He was convinced that everything was safe among the tables behind him, so he wanted to shift their coverage to the front of the restaurant and outside. Travers exited the bar casually, turning a few heads on her way.

With Travers outside, it was up to him to cover the entire restaurant. The other agent, who was casually watching the crowd above the bottom half of the Dutch door, was not to leave her post. They were daring Allander to strike. The Atlasias were dangling like bait on a hook.

After Travers left, Jade felt a sinking in his stomach. The early taste of panic flooded his mouth. As he watched the smiling faces moving in all directions, he felt his control of the situation slowly slipping away.

His sweat seemed to come in waves, as if his hammering heartbeat was pushing it through his pores. He thought of Darby outside the movie theater, her smeared makeup and tired eyes, trying to face the crowd of jostling cops and reporters. We're more than this.

One of the waiters bumped into Thomas, and Jade almost left his seat in a sprint, but the fellow righted his tray, apologized, and moved on.

Once they got to the bar, Darby and Thomas knew not to return to their seats. The front door opened and swung closed slowly, and Darby felt a breeze blow across her shoulders. "Honey, I'm a little chilly. Would you mind getting my coat?"

Jade had told them not to separate, but force of habit made them forget their instructions. A crowd of women headed for the bar to refresh their glasses of wine, blocking Darby and Thomas from view. Jade sat up straight in his chair to keep his eye on them. He felt a tingling down his spine as he waited for his view to clear. When the women parted, he saw only Darby.

Jade stood up, knocking his chair over clumsily and scanning the restaurant for Thomas. Darby looked over at him, concern written in the furrows of her brow. With a tilt of her head, she indicated where Thomas was. Jade turned and saw Thomas heading for the coat closet.

The restaurant flooded in on Jade, and he pivoted to try to hold the scene together, to keep control of the surroundings. The Atlasias were split apart, people hustled at the bar, the waiters and bartenders clamored around noisily. The glow of cigarettes flicked through the air, and for a moment Jade saw only the cigarettes, tracing orange lines through the smoky air. The necklace around his neck felt like an albatross.

For the first time, Jade felt doubt lower, like a cloud, over his intentions. He couldn't do it. He couldn't risk the Atlasias like this, even to catch Allander. He knew something was wrong--in his gut, in his bones, in the raised hair on his arms he felt it. Then he realized. The top and bottom of the coat-closet door were both shut.

As Thomas placed his hand on the doorknob, Jade sprang forward shouting, "BACK OFF. IT'S NO GOOD." He wanted the Atlasias side by side, and he wanted himself in front of them. He ran toward them.

All the people in the restaurant turned to stare at Jade. He could have sworn the crowd took in a huge collective gasp of air. Then, they were still.

Thomas froze. He noticed a slight movement at his feet. Blood seeped slowly out from beneath the door, the edge of a growing pool. It rippled slightly, and as it reached his shoe, Thomas saw the reflection of the ceiling fan in its glassy surface. He released the doorknob, its click echoing through the silent restaurant.

He took a cautious step back and then the door swung open, crashing against the wall. A silver arc slashed through the air and a neat slit appeared across Thomas's tuxedo jacket and shirt. He stumbled back, a vacant look in his eyes, his hands clutching his chest. Blood oozed from beneath his fingers as he fell to his knees.

And then Allander was on him, an arm around his neck, a hand gripping the back of his head. Thomas felt the coldness of a blade at his throat, pushing the skin as far as it could go without breaking. He knew he was going to die.

How did I beget such a cursed thing? he thought.

Allander looked fiercely at Jade, warning him with his eyes.

Jade stopped in his tracks right beside Darby, feeling the backs of his knuckles brush her arm. They were about twenty feet from Allander, so close Jade could see him breathing. He fought every instinct in his body to hold his ground, lowering his Sig Sauer to his side. Allander made a jerking motion and Jade dropped the pistol to the floor. It bounced to his right. A full panic rattled through his body, but he forced himself to stay still.

He saw the smudges of dirt on Allander's chest and thighs. The crawl space, Jade thought. Allander had come up through the fucking floor. From the amount of blood on the floor by the closet, Jade was sure he'd killed the agent.

Travers was on the street, probably with an eye on the parking lot and the side alleys. Jade prayed that she'd notice the sudden stillness of the people in the restaurant.

Still on his knees, Thomas closed his eyes and listened to the silence of the room. Then the voice came, slicing the air like a sickle-- the voice that he had carried in his head over the years, day and night. And now it was with him, inches from his ear. He could feel breath on his cheek, the exhaled air making the words sail tangibly across his face.

"You betrayed me. You betrayed me as father to the son who is father to the man. It was your responsibility as my father and keeper to protect me from trespasses, from things that go bump in the night, from the urges and yearnings of other grown men. You didn't fulfill your duty and I was sold at the ripe age of seven to a carnal circus.

"Perhaps you were just protecting your investment in Mother; I understand. But I've waited for years to stand before you not as equal but as superior, and I PASS MY JUDGMENT ON YOU!" Allander's voice rose to a yell, and he raked Thomas's head to the left, drawing the blade deftly to the right.

"WAIT!" Darby screamed.

Allander froze, the point of the knife sticking an inch and a half into Thomas's throat. A trickle of blood ran down the blade and dripped from his cuff as Allander held Thomas's lolling head in his arms.

Slowly, he faced his mother.

The restaurant was completely silent. Everyone was frozen, watching Allander with terror.

Darby looked at the blood and almost fainted. For a moment, she thought she had lost Thomas, but then she heard him emit a dry, rasping noise and she knew he was still drawing air.

Allander was planning to end her also, to drive the point of his blade through her rib cage, to stop at last the pulsing of her heart. What he couldn't possess, no one would. But the moment he saw her, he knew he would not be able to carry out his plan. He would surrender his due reward. Closing his eyes tightly for a moment, he thought of his impotence. His performance would not end as he had wished. His elaborate game, his mockery of the violence and psychology he had been forced to endure, seemed suddenly empty before his mother's eyes.

He raised his head to look at his mother, and it was just as it had always been. Allander stood abashedly before her, a naughty child. He could almost feel the years fleeing his body, the small lines departing from around his eyes, the potency draining from his organs. He was helpless again, a frightened boy lost in the forest of his own sexuality.

It was her cursed inconsistency. She was so uneven, so rounded. As he gazed on the drifts of hair around her neck, the movement of her flushed chest, the fullness of her hips, he was reduced to a weakkneed helplessness. It was all he could do not to flee.

Darby opened her mouth as though to scream, but nothing came out. A tear rolled from the corner of her eye. She stared at her son and felt no anger, only fear. No matter what they do, she thought. I felt him grow inside me for eight months, three weeks, and a day, and he stands before me still as my child. She understood that he loved her in some way, that this was all because of her, and she would have to carry it, alone, until the end of her days. She stood erect, almost proudly, with the force of her natural dignity about her like a shield.