The Shimmer (32 page)

"There's nothing between us and the border." Dani's mother looked horrified. "They could murder us in our sleep."

"No, it wasn't people on horseback," Dani insisted tightly.

"What was it you said?" the mayor asked. "Whatever you saw seemed to be on the horizon, and suddenly it was spinning around you. Wasn't that how you described it?"

"Yes." Squeezed by the corset and her pain-swollen ribs, Dani could hardly speak.

"An airplane can do that. I saw one the last time I visited my sister in El Paso."

"But I didn't hear an engine."

"You said you heard something."

"A hum," she replied. "I couldn't place it."

"While blinding lights spun around you."

"Yes, but--"

The mayor stood and put on his coat. "I'll contact Fort Bliss. The Army needs to be warned about this."

"Warned?"

"I think the Germans are testing a new weapon."

A day later, a speck emerged from the afternoon sun. The drone of an engine made people look toward the west, where the shape of an airplane gradually became visible, its yellow vivid against the sky. It had two sets of wings, one above the other, and two open seats, one in front of the other. The sole occupant was seated in the back.

He circled the town and the people who'd gathered on the main street. Angling down, the plane seemed to float as it eased toward the dirt road. When it landed, it bounced slightly, then raised a dust cloud, coming to rest on a section of parched grass.

The people crowded toward the field, marveling as the pilot shut off the engine, pushed himself up from the back seat, and jumped to the ground. He wore boots, leather gloves, a leather jacket, a khaki uniform under it, and a matching scarf around his neck. A pistol was holstered to his wide canvas belt, and someone identified it as one of the new Colt .45 semiautomatics. When he took off his goggles, the area around his eyes was white compared to the dust that coated the rest of his face, including his mustache.

"I'm Capt. John Raleigh," he said with a smooth voice that commanded attention. "You can get a little closer if you want." With his boot, he drew a line on the ground. "To here. But don't touch the plane."

"How does it fly?" a man asked in amazement.

"The propeller pushes air past the wings. They're shaped so a highpressure area forms under them and a low-pressure area forms over them. The difference between the high and low pressure lifts the plane."

Several people frowned as if he spoke gibberish. Others nodded, perhaps pretending they understood.

"What's covering the wings?" another man asked.

"Strips of linen. They're sealed with a waterproofing agent that's like shellac."

"Doesn't sound very strong."

"Strong enough. The plane brought me all the way from El Paso."

With that he looked around, then spoke again to the crowd. "Where's your mayor? I came to talk with him."

"That's me, Captain. My name's Ted McKinney." The mayor stepped from the crowd and shook hands with him. "Thanks for coming so soon. My office is just down the street."

"Thank you for contacting us," Captain Raleigh responded. "I'd like to get started right away. The Army is very interested in your report."

The crowd parted as he and the mayor walked away.

Mayor McKinney was the president of Rostov's only bank. He and Raleigh remained inside the adobe building for an hour. Many people gathered on the street, curious about what the two men discussed.

When Raleigh and the mayor came out, they crossed the street to the dry-goods store that Dani's parents owned. The couple lived in an apartment behind it, where she was convalescing.

More people gathered on the street.

A half hour later, the mayor left the store. Preceded by the sound of a rattling motor, he returned shortly with his Ford Model T.

Captain Raleigh stepped from the store and held the door open for Dani, who clutched a coat around her and walked stiffly to the car.

The captain helped her onto the passenger seat and climbed into the back. The townspeople watched with growing curiosity as Mayor McKinney drove the car out of town, following the road to Loden.

The winter sun had descended low enough to touch the horizon, and the scarlet glow deepened the brown of Raleigh's leather jacket. The captain leaned forward from the back seat so that Dani could hear him over the clatter of the Model T's engine.

"Thank you for agreeing to do this, Miss Brown. Not many women would be brave enough to return to the scene of where they were attacked."

"I'm not sure it's a matter of bravery, Captain Raleigh," Dani haltingly explained. "I think perhaps it's anger."

"Anger?" He looked curious, and she couldn't help noticing that he was handsome. Standing or sitting, he held his back straight, and she thought he had the makings of a great horse rider.

Dismissing such thoughts, she continued, "Someone found my horse. The skeleton of it anyway, after the coyotes had finished with it. Whatever attacked me is responsible for that."

"I'm sorry to hear about your horse." He sounded as if he truly meant it. "Do you have a sense of where the incident occurred?"

"I set out after dark." As the sunset weakened, Dani continued to be short of breath. Her words tightened with pain when the vehicle jolted over bumps. "There was light from the stars. Even so, it was hard to know exactly where I was along the road."

"What time did you leave for Loden?"

"At 7:15."

"That's very precise."

"My father has a wireless radio. I was with him when he listened to a report about the gas attacks in the European war. The news began at 7." Dani forced herself to continue. "After ten minutes, I was so upset that I said good-bye to my parents and went out to my horse. I was on the road by 7:15."

"The way you sit so rigidly straight, you're obviously hurting," he said with concern. "Are you certain you can continue?"

"I'm prepared to do what's required," she answered firmly. "It's just the corset."

"Corset?" Raleigh sounded embarrassed.

"The veterinarian told me to wear a corset to bind my ribs and protect them."

"You went to a veterinarian?" he asked in surprise.

"This is cattle country, Captain Raleigh. It's easier to find a vet than a doctor."

"As soon as you return home, please take the corset off at once. It can kill you."

Dani winced as the mayor drove over another bump. "Kill me?

What are you talking about?"

"The Army's been studying how wounds are being treated in the war. It's common for tape to be used on broken ribs. But British doctors are discovering that pneumonia is a frequent result. Apparently the tape causes shallow breathing that allows fluid to collect in the lungs. The next thing, the patient is sick from something far worse than broken ribs. After you remove the corset, breathe as deeply as you can. That'll hurt, but it's the only way to stop the fluid from collecting."

The mayor turned on the Model T's lights. "Speaking of the war, Captain, will the U. S. join the fight?"

"Yes, we will," Raleigh answered. "It's only a question of when.

That's why the Army sent me here. If the Germans are testing a new weapon, we need to know about it. Miss Brown, can you estimate how long you were on this road before you saw the lights?"

"Perhaps forty minutes."

"At what gait were you riding?"

"A moderate trot. The light from the moon and the stars was sufficient to allow for that speed."

"Which means that you traveled approximately five miles."

The mayor looked at him with even more respect. "I gather you used to be a cavalryman."

"The Eighth Regiment."

"You were in the Philippines?"

"Apparently Miss Brown isn't the only person keeping up with the news." Raleigh scanned the horizon. "Yes, I was in the Philippines.

When I heard that the Army was training pilots, I decided it was better to fly over a jungle than ride through it." He paused and peered into the dusk. "Would you say we've traveled five miles yet?"

"That's what the milometer says."

"Then let's stop and enjoy the view."

McKinney eased back on the accelerator and pulled the handbrake.

Even at an idle, the vibrations of the engine made the car rattle.

"Miss Brown, you said the lights came from the south?"

"That's correct."

"If you turn off the engine, Mr. McKinney, will you be able to restart it, or will we be stuck out here?"

"I maintain the car in excellent condition," the mayor said. "It will start."

"Then let's enjoy some peace and quiet."

The mayor shut off the engine. The car wheezed and fell silent.

"If I keep the headlights on, the battery'll go dead," McKinney told Raleigh.

"Of course. Please turn them off."

At once darkness surrounded the vehicle. Silence gave the night power.

"Beautiful," Raleigh said as his eyes adjusted to the gloom. "In El Paso, the streetlights keep me from seeing the sky. I seldom see the heavens so bright."

McKinney pointed with a child's enthusiasm. "Look, a shooting star."

It streaked across the sky like silent fireworks.

"Miss Brown, could that be what you saw?" Raleigh asked. "Perhaps a cluster of shooting stars?"

"I've never heard of shooting stars coming across a field and spinning around someone," she replied. "Nor have I ever experienced any that hummed."

"I haven't, either." Raleigh fixed his gaze on the murky area to the south. Somewhere over there, coyotes yipped and howled.

They're on the hunt, he thought.

Or perhaps they're running from something.

"I need to tell you," Dani said, "that I don't think the lights were torches held by German riders."

"Perhaps not Germans. Perhaps it was Carranza's men."

"No. I mean I don't think there were any riders."

"But if there weren't any riders, what caused the lights?"

"I don't know. People around here often see lights," she said. "I myself have never seen them, so I can't tell you what they look like, and before the other night I hadn't thought they even existed. Now I'm not certain what I think."

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Dani's talking about the Rostov lights," McKinney interrupted.

"Indians and early settlers used to talk about them. I've never seen them, either, but my wife claims she has. That was after we lost a son to cholera. She believed the lights were the soul of our boy. If you ask me, my Emily was so depressed that she convinced herself she saw the lights."

"Well, whatever's going on, we'll soon find out," Raleigh replied confidently.

"You really believe that?"

"Absolutely," he said. "I'm seeing the lights right now."

"What?" McKinney glanced all around.

Raleigh focused all his attention toward the southern horizon, where glowing colors slowly began to appear. They rose and fell.

They drifted and floated in a languorous, captivating rhythm. Red merged into blue. Yellow blended with green.

"Mr. McKinney, do you see them?" Raleigh rested his right hand on his pistol.

The mayor didn't answer for a moment.

"God help me, yes."

"Miss Brown, are they what you saw?"

"Yes," she said softly. "Before they attacked me."

"Well, they're not riders carrying torches, that's for certain. Does anyone smell flowers?"

"Flowers?"

"Orchids."

"I wouldn't know what orchids smell like," McKinney said.

"In the Philippines, there were hundreds of types of orchids,"

Raleigh explained. "Amazing colors. Just like what I'm seeing now. In the night in the jungle, as I tried to sleep in my tent, the scent was thick. Orchids pollinated by bees had a perfume of cinnamon. That's what I'm smelling now."

"I smell rotting meat," Dani said.

McKinney raised a hand to his mouth. "So do I."

Raleigh remembered that the orchids in the Philippines didn't always smell like cinnamon. If they were pollinated by flies, sometimes they had the odor of a dead animal that the flies had sat on.

Abruptly the stench hit him, almost making him gag.

Like corpses after a battle, he thought.

Dani coughed. The reflexive reaction to the odor filled her chest with pain, causing her to wince.

"Something out there is dead," she said.

A new German weapon? Raleigh wondered.

"How far do you suppose they are?" McKinney's voice was unsteady.

"Without a method to triangulate the distance, it's impossible to know," Raleigh answered. "In the dark, our eyes play tricks on us. The lights could be miles away, or less than a hundred yards. The latter would explain how they reached you so quickly, Miss Brown."