Sirens, page 64
the point of somnolence, lulling, hypnotic. She closed her eyes again,
dreaming.
Felt the centrifugal force dragging her as he took them around to the
right and on to Old Malibu Road. He twisted the accelerator and they
shot forward like a bolt from a crossbow. The wind howled in her ears,
whipping her hair. Her bare arms tingled with the scrubbing. She felt
him jump a lane and then pour on more speed. She opened her eyes.
Pacific Coast Highway was a blur as she turned her head to look: the
houses, trees no more than lines moving up and down like fingers of
coloured light, the tip of a paintbrush. It was a game she used to play
in the back of the 558 car when her parents took her up to the Cape
during the summer. Bubbling laughter burst from her throat and she
squeezed her knees hard against Chris' hips as if she were riding a
horse. ',' she urged him. ' on. Faster!' There was a surge as if a
giant's hand had reached out, sent them spinning. They whipped past two
cars as if they were standing still, heeled slightly over as they went
around a long lazy bend to the right, following the shape of the
shoreline. Far up ahead a pair of great semis lumbered, spilling grey
smoke from their vertical tailpipes as if they were cloud-sowers. ' on,
babev His words, torn from his mouth by the screaming wind, boomed thin
and harsh ' broadcast over a cheap PA. They began to pull away from the
traffic behind them, slowly at first as if they were riding a rocket
straining to break free of the Earth's atmosphere as well as the awesome
tonnage of its own inertia. They were flat out. Now the world was one
long howling tunnel down which they flew and it seemed to her as if they
left the tarmac of the highway, patches of light and dark racing by too
swiftly to focus on, becoming part of the wind itself. Abruptly she felt
a kind of fist at her left side pushing her over. She began to turn her
head. The cycle rocked on its shocks as the vehicle's shadow shape drew
abreast of them. It was very close, blotting out a great deal of light,
and this was on her mind as Chris bellowed back at her, ' bloody
bastard, taking us t' th' cleaners like that." It turned into a scream.
The Harley's shattering windshield blew a rain of vicious black ice back
into her face. She felt a searing pain high up under her eye on the
right side, streaking around past her ear.
Instinctively, she unwrapped one arm from around Chris' waist, brought
it up to her face. And in the process, swung off dangerously to the
right. Desperately, she tried to grip his thighs harder with her knees
but the howling wind was forcing her torso back away from him. She felt
the painful reverse bending of her spine low down at her coccyx and,
like a junkie at the first moment of her fix, she became aware of many
things at once as the primitive 559 organism, in mortal fear for its
life, began to break down the environment into workable segments. In
front of them, the highway was clear all the way to the ' rear ends of
the lumbering semis perhaps a quarter of a mile ahead. Light oncoming
traffic but the speed-blur made it next to impossible to - Something was
blocking the vision on her off-side eye and she used her fingers to wipe
at the right side of her - wet and hot and sticky. Saw the crimson
colour at the periphery of her vision. Still she was aware of the
solid-seeming shape to her immediate left, as black as night; Chris'
helmeted head coming up and another sound, so high up the register it
set her teeth on edge. Chris' head began to whip around like a bowling
ball hurled down an alley. Then the wave of thunder hit them and they
left the dark shape, running right, over the verge of the highway.
Airborne for an instant, all vibration leaving the frame, floating free,
her buttocks leaving the seat, oddly carefree, then the jarring crash
back to earth, running bumpily over the dirt, the beginning of grass and
she smelled the heavy scent of clover. Terrified, a bird cawed, lifted.
It was the jutting rock formation that decided the spin. The front wheel
of the Harley hit it at such an angle that they went right over it, the
handlebars jerked right out of Chris' clawing hands. But the shock was
too much for Daina's one-handedd grip and she was flung head over heels
backward, landing on the base of her spine. She was spun around, her
face scraping along the ground, bounced up on one knee. She lifted her
head, saw the cycle riding crazily back across the crowded tarmac of the
highway. It shot obliquely forward while oncoming traffic screeched and
whirled away in a welter of coloured angles. Right across the highway it
screamed, leaving black smoking rubber in its wake. There was a stink in
her nostrils of burning oil and blood. ' she called, trying to getup.
But the Harley, with Chris still riding it, bad already made the far
verge, slamming into the flank of a parked car, spinning away and,
seeming to gain momentum still, slamming through 560 the window of a
seaside house. Bright sheets of flame erupted and a bang like the end of
the world. Billowing smoke hurling skyward like raven's wings and
someone screaming again and again. Traffic piling up, horns blaring and
the screaming, going on and on, and the flames licking delightedly
upward, travelling at the speed of light, and that stench, that awful
stench invading her nostrils, a dog eating its own tail. just the
screaming and the darkness coming down. Coulda sworn I saw youlon the
streets yesterdayland I envied youland that was my first mistake Squeak,
rattle, bump. Well it must have been a miragelas I was caught up in the
back-dropsllust waiting to surface and destroy ... 6... in here. No, I
don't want any of that. Not here.' A banging over and over,
reverberating in the cathedral of her mind. Changes come like
bulletsishock hut no painldear me I see I'm alone again ... '...
Christ's sake, have that black bastard turn the goddamned thing off P
Silence, cool and crisp, and softly, softly, ' right, buster, you can do
that at the other end of the hall ...' Grey spiderwebs arcing away from
sunlight. Mist like granules of sand, lightening, whitening, peeling
away layer after layer like gauze coming off the eyes. aina, what
happened?' And the wind buffeting her, the rocking back and forth, Oh,
God, I'm falling! and the lurch like a quake, the ground coming up, the
jarring impact and then the film of the shooting star running away from
her, hitting, being hit, sending crimson and black signals into the sky,
steaming the afternoon, Chris, Chris, oh Chris! '... right, all right.
It's all right.' She was sitting up, shaking, sobbing into the hollow of
his neck. '?' ' is better than a shot right now. Later ...' The sentence
was left like that, hanging. 561 'Where am V she whispered. ' by the
sea. Dear God, not there.' ''re in a hospital, Daina.' It was
Bonesteel's voice. She recdgnized it now. '?' '." "Bobby.' She clung to
him. ' cycle. Something ... it ... it ..." Her voice was as thin and
reedy as rice paper. ''s all right,' he said close to her ear. ''re safe
now. You're all right.' ',' she whispered. ' happened to Chris?' She
felt some movement as he looked at the doctor. ''s dead, Daina -7 '!
He's notv But the raven's wings were still spreading out across the
blue, blue sky and the flames licking hungrily just after the harsh push
of the explosion's shock wave, oxygen sucked from her lungs, and the
screaming echoing in her mind again. Horrible. She was shaking again. '
can't be ...' But the rage was gone and she said it softly almost as if
it were a benediction.
Oh, Chris, you had a whole new life now. I can't believe it. My heart is
bcating and yours is not. Can anyone explain that? She clung to
Bonesteel's torso, but into the tendon of his shoulder. '' - his voice
was gentle, comforting -'I need to know what happened. I had someone
following you, but he lost the Harley.' The taste of the earth in her
mouth, dust and sand, choking her, her shoulder jammed against the
ground and the pain ripping through her, the blood streaming and half
blinding her but the vision plain just the same, the shooting star
losing the earth, gaining acendancy over the air just before it bounced,
crashed, whoosh! and the flames, the screaming going on and on. Her
screaming. She lay back on the pillow, tears streaming from her eyes.
"First,' she said, ' me where I arn.' She looked at his face, into his
eyes. ''re in the emergency room of Santa Monica Hospital. You've got
some superficial cuts - the worst of which is just 562 under your right
eye - plenty of abrasions, a couple of bruised ribs and a shoulder that
the doc: here tells me will give you some pain for the next month or so.
No tumbling, he says.' He smiled but she could see the strain coming
through like bone popping flesh. The phone rang somewhere close and
someone moved to get it. ', what happened?' ', it's for you.' ' right
back,' Bonesteel said. The doctor, a young man with sallow skin and a
bushy moustache that made him look like a sea lion, touched her check
with his fingertips. ' are only two stitches,' he said. ' you feel
this?' And when Daina shook her head, he went on probing. ' a little
while, you'll begin to feel some pain. That's good so don't worry about
it.' He grabbed at his moustache, turning it back and forth between his
fingers. ' were very lucky, Miss. Whitney. An inch or so to the left and
there'd have been some nasty nerve damage." He smiled. ' the X-rays were
negative.' Bonesteel set the phone down, came and sat by her side. He
waited until the doctor had left, then said, ' me have all Of it., She
told him everything she could recall, until the sting came again and the
raven's wings flapping, expanding ... '... wait a mornent,' he cautioned
her. ' yourself some time.' When she was breathing easier, he said, '
told me you felt a shape coming up on your left just before the crash.
D'you know what it was? Did you see it clearly?' ' kind of truck ... or
a car.
But a high one.' ' this point you were flat out, right? Doing over a
'hundred. The windshield shattered. At that speed it coulda been
anything - a stone thrown up by the traffic in front of you. Shit.' He
looked at her. ' it? Can you remember anything !, even the tiniest ...
an impression maybe?' I '. I - Wait, I do remember ... just after the
windscreen -went, Chris' head whipped back and ... away from the centre
f the highway.' ' turned his head?' 563 'No, no. It was more like ... I
don't know, this is just an impression I had. It was like something else
had twisted his head, pushing at him.' She closed her eyes, nauseated
again and thought, Oh, God, oh, God. I can't believe I'll never see him
again. ', is there anything else?' ', I ..." How could she. be so
stupid? '. Something Chris said while ... we were riding.' She had to
think hard for a minute to get through the rising stink in her nostrils,
the sensation of tremendous forward motion abruptly stilled; silence in
thunder. ' said, "That bastard ... taking us to the cleaners like that."
' Bonesteel's face was so close to hers she could feel his hot breath on
the side of her face. ' bastard, Daina? Who was it? Nigel?' ' don't
know.' ' His voice was like a steel-tipped arrow through her head and
she squeezed her eyes shut, her stomach rolled up into a ball. She began
to sob but no tears came. She held on to herself, thought, Rubens,
Rubens, Rubens, where are you?
"That's enough,' she heard a voice say softly, recognizing it as the
young doctor's. ', you, if she has the key to this in her head "Her
head,' the doctor said calmly, ' in no condition for this interrogation.
She has to rest now. I must insist, Lieutenant.' ' right, Doctor. All
right. Is it permissible to talk to her for one moment more? She won't
have to answer another question.' ' ahead." Bonesteel's face came back
into her view. She saw the worried look on his face. ''m sorry about
pushing you,' he said softly, ' now the case has blown wide open. The
tail I planted on Charlie Wu finally paid off late last night. He led us
to a warehouse. Know what we found inside? Two hundred and fifty cases
of guns. M-15s, semi-automatics, submachine guns.' His eyes were
fever-bright; he looked like a hunting dog at last released. ''t you
see? It's no more speculation. 564 e've tied the shipment to the next
run in the Heartbeats, ' Charlie?' She was worried about her promise to
eyer and to Charlie Wu. Bonesteel's shoulders rose, fell and he grinned.
'. It was the damnedest thing but with all those cops there he managed
to slip away. Naturally, I've no idea where he is now., She smiled a
little. ', Bobby.' ' listen, Daina' - his face sobered -'I've got to get
back to the site of the accident ... if that's really what it was.' She
clutched at his arm.
"What d'youmean?' ' I mean is that one attempt was made on Chris' life.
Maybe this crash was given a little help by someone.' ', I do not want
you frightening my patient.' ', Doc, this lady has a right to know where
she stands. ' might be in the middle of a very serious situation., ',
could be. I'm going to have to ask you to leave, Lieutenant, and I mean
right now. This is doing Miss. Whitney no good at all.' ', I'm leaving a
man with you ... one of mine. You remember Andrews?' '.' ''s a good man.
He'll stay with you until I can get back, okay?' She nodded wordlessly,
turned her head away from him, overcome again by the howling, the shrill
biting edge of hot metal scraping against the tarmac as ihe beautiful
bike went slewing across and Oh, God. Oh, Chris, I'm sorry. And through
it all, she heard her own voice booming as if from far away: Faster.
Come on, Chris. Faster! A bolt seared behind her eyes. Something about-
going faster. What was it?
Her head throbbed and she thought, I want to go home. The doctor was
dead set against it but he could not hold her there and, at last,
Andrews took her home. The afternoon was fading in maudlin splendour.
Behind her she could hear the traffic from 16th Street and, turning her
head, she could see the Pacific shining out past Lincoln Boulevard,
white sails racing in for shore as the light came 565 I/ down,
quickening, flattening the sea until it sparked with hard dazzling
light, making her turn away. She could hear the sound of the galls
fading in and out through the traffic's drone. Somewhere a baby was
crying and she could hear Spanish being spoken in short angry bursts
like quick combinations at a boxing match. She remembered nothing of the
ride home or how Andrews got the door open. He must have carried her
inside like a husband with his newlywed bride for when she opened her
eyes again, she was in her own bedroom. All that was missing was Rubens
lying beside her. She rolled over, put out her arm, stroking the empty
place where he should have been with the tips of her fingers. She began
to cry. '. Whitney, is there anything ' talk to me.' Andrews was silent
for a moment, perhaps debating with himself over subject matter.
"I thought you were very strong the other day,'he said finally. ' other
day?' ' Brafman and I took you out to Santa Monica to see the
lieutenant.' ', yes,' she said softly. ' you all right?' ''am?" "Bobby
said your ... brother-in-law? Yes, brother-in-law had been killed.' ''s
right.' ''re all right, Pete.' ', Ma'am. I'm with my sister a lot.' She
could hear him moving closer. ' don't you try to get some sleep now? The
lieutenant will be here as soon as he's through.' ''re very kind,' she
whispered, falling away into sleep.
She saw nothing, smelled nothing, heard nothing. But she felt violent
motion. She was hurtling through a canyon, the sheer size of the walls
seeming to accentuate. her speed. She tried to slow down but she could
not. Every time she did, she seemed to go all the faster. She was
following a shape and, once, when it turned around she could make out
the glistening snout with its blunt black nose and its nostril slits.
The eyes were lupine, round and almost pure gold save for their centres
566 ich were black vertical slits. When she caught sight of this face
she no longer wanted to slow down but rather felt such a strong desire
to go faster that she shot forward as if blown from the mouth of a gun.
