Borderland (39 page)

"No
deal," Hank Nenndorf shouted. "You'll have the law on us."

"Maybe,
maybe not," Nolan said. "But you'd have the opportunity to get out
before they got here." He opened his hands. "That's the best deal
you're going to get tonight. Otherwise, at least four of you will die when you
come to slit my throat. I promise you that."

The men
looked at each other again. Two of them moved up and began to whisper to the
others. Soon they were all talking and gesturing, casting angry glances at
Nolan and even angrier glances at the dead Ed Kisner. Then Fred Bauer broke
away from the others and took a step toward Nolan. "We'll take the
money," he said. "Hand it over."

Nolan
tossed the bag, and the moment he tossed, he saw flame spew forth from a
revolver in Bauer's hand. The slug tore through Nolan's side and spun him
around before he fell to the ground. The pistol in his hand bounced away from
him on impact. He had time to wonder where the hell the gun had come
from—hadn't Vic told him guns weren't allowed in Denke--then he heard the
crunching sounds of glass and debris under the men's feet as they approached.
Each step sounded a frantic alarm in Nolan's brain. He thought he could smell
the dirty blades of those razors coming nearer to him. He opened his eyes and
searched the ground around him for his pistol.

"Hell
of a shot, Fred," someone was saying. "Better put that thing up now.
You know how Jinx feels about them firearms."

"Jinx
ain't here," Fred chortled as he put the gun back in the holster hidden
under his jacket. "Can't nobody make me give up my granddaddy's old
Colt."

Nolan heard
another sound then, a sound he could feel under his cheek as well as hear. He
wished he could turn his head to look, but it seemed too much of an effort. He
heard the feet of the approaching men stop. In the next second, he heard
excited shouts and the sounds of the men running away from him. With a
monumental effort, he raised his head and looked. He saw headlights coming his
way, three pairs of them. The second and third pair of headlights was
accompanied by police lights and sirens.

Cal?
Nolan wondered. Had Cal brought the cops? How? He gave up and lowered his head
to the ground again. His hand went to his side in a useless effort to hold the
blood in. Minutes later, Cal was standing over him and jerking his T-shirt over
his head. He plugged up the hole in Nolan and rolled him over to check his
back.

"It
went right through," Cal revealed. Then he turned to shout something to
someone behind him. Nolan lifted his head again and saw a state patrolman on
the radio. The other car was leaving, going after the men from Denke. The
patrolman signed off the radio then approached Nolan. He added his own
emergency procedures to Cal's and told Nolan a helicopter was coming. Then he
turned to Cal and told him to stay with Nolan. He had to go into Denke.

"Where
did they come from?" Nolan asked in a pained voice as the patrolman left.

"They
were with Mom when I got there. They said Vic called them long-distance from
New Mexico and asked the sheriff to send someone to his farm to check on his
little girls. Vic told them his girls were in danger, but he wouldn't say how.
They didn't know anything about anything, and then they arrived and found Al
dead in the living room. They were calling for more men when I got there. I
told them about you and the crash and the men from town and they asked me to
show them where. So we came and…found you."

Nolan
heard the break in Cal's voice and he looked into the boy's eyes. "I'm not
dying, Cal. Stop looking so scared."

"Are
you sure? I mean, well, there's blood everywhere. You've lost a lot."

"And
you don't see any angels around, right?" Nolan gave him a weak smile.
"Trust me. It looks a hell of a lot worse than it is. I've been shot
before, remember. Tomorrow I'll be up and walking around, good as new."

It
wasn't the next day, or even the day after, but after three days under a
doctor's care in Garden City, Nolan was back on his feet as promised. He
returned to Vic's farm on a hot, sultry morning to find many somber faces
waiting for him, Vic's and Carrie's among them. Vic seemed uncomfortable to see
him at first, but he later hugged Nolan so hard it caused him to yelp in pain.
Carrie hugged him and cried and Nolan immediately sensed a difference in her.
She was more subdued, less intense, and even meek. And she seemed to cling to Vic.
He couldn't leave the room for five minutes without her getting up to look for
him. She treated Vic's little girls with a sweetness and sympathy Nolan would
have believed impossible only six months ago.

When Vic
finally explained what had happened to Carrie, Nolan suddenly understood the
changes in his former girlfriend. It made him even angrier at Jinx, and he
demanded to know what had become of him. Vic claimed he didn't know. He said
the old man had taken his suitcase and fled on foot when Vic opened the trunk
of the Cadillac and found Carrie inside.

The
police were looking hard for Jinx, the only member of the Denke council who had
thus far escaped arrest. Everyone involved had given countless depositions,
Nolan supplying his from his hospital bed. The police looked at him as if he
were crazy after he told the tale Ed Kisner told him, particularly when the
manila envelope in Nolan's possession was found to contain nothing more than
receipts for farm equipment. It was Carrie MacArthur's car and statement that
ultimately did the most damage to the Denke council. One by one, the men from
Denke were picked up and placed under arrest.

Each one
remained stubbornly silent when questioned by the police. They were waiting for
their spokesman, they said. Jinx Lahr. He would represent them in court.

Nolan
could only shake his head at the news. The entire nation was going to be
horrified once the full story hit the media. So far only bits and pieces had
leaked out about a robbery and theft ring in western Kansas. Any requests to
protect the women and children of Denke would be eschewed by the press, Nolan
was sure. All of Denke would go down together. The families would scatter. The
ties would be broken.

Like his
ties to Myra and Cal. Nolan hadn't spoken to her since his return that morning.
He was still upset with her for attempting to leave when she had promised to
stay. He didn't know how to deal with her. He didn't know how to treat someone
like Myra. She did what she wanted to do regardless of what he did or said. She
was stubborn, fiercely independent, and he would swear she was downright shy
underneath all that blonde toughness. He didn't know what to make of her, or of
the way he felt about her. His relationship with her son was the only thing he
was sure of; Cal was a great kid, and Nolan loved him.

After
dinner that evening Vic called everyone together at the big table for a
discussion of the plans for departure the following day. He was taking the
Lincoln and going back to Kansas City. Carrie would follow him in her MG, which
had been recovered by the state police from the garage in town. Vic wanted to
know what Nolan was going to do.

Nolan
felt Myra and Cal watching him. "I'm not sure yet. Why?"

"I'm
putting the house on the market," Vic explained. "It'll probably be
several years before it sells. At least until the publicity about Denke dies
down. If you're still here when I leave, I'll let you mail the key to the
realtor."

Nolan
nodded. "What are you going to do back in K.C.?"

Vic
shrugged. "I've got some ideas. Carrie knows a couple of private
investigators who are looking for help. Might be right up my alley."

"Where
are you going to stay?" Nolan asked thinking of the house Vic had sold
before leaving.

Carrie's
face turned pink. "They're going to stay with me," she said in a
small voice. She refused to look at Nolan. Vic reached for her hand and gave it
a squeeze. Carrie looked up at Vic, grateful for the contact.

Nolan
blinked as he watched the exchange. Then he felt Myra look at him again. He
looked at her and she turned away.

Later,
when everyone was in bed for the night, Carrie sleeping in his former bed,
Nolan left the couch and went upstairs to Myra's room. He paused outside the
door and listened for a moment before reaching for the knob. Myra turned on the
bed and looked at him as he entered.

"Wrong
room," she said. "Carrie's down the hall."

Nolan
ignored her and moved to sit on the bed. "I want to talk to you."

Myra
laid back and looked at the ceiling. She crossed her arms over her chest.

"A
lot has happened," Nolan began. "It feels like everything's going by
me in a rush." He lifted a hand and reached for one of hers. "Tell me
what happened when you got shot."

Her head
abruptly turned to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"You
know what I mean. Tell me."

"There's
nothing to tell. I don't know what happened."

"What
do you think happened?"

Myra
closed her eyes. "Okay. What I think happened is that the woman I was
dreaming about, Drusilla is a ghost or a presence or a spirit here in this
house. I believe she actually came inside my body and somehow absorbed the
bullet that struck me. Make sense? No. Well, it doesn't to me, either, but
that's what I think happened. And since I haven't seen or felt her since, I'm
thinking she was a guardian of some kind, sent to warn those who came after
her. Now that the Denke way is gone, so is she. I know I sound crazy,
but..." Myra stopped talking. She put her hands over her eyes and rubbed
hard. "It is crazy. If I hadn't experienced what I did, I'd think I was
nuts."

Nolan
stretched out on the bed beside her. "Cal saw her, you know. He thought
she was an angel."

Myra sat
up. "He did? He didn't say anything."

"He
thought he was hallucinating," Nolan said. "Something his rational
mind couldn't find a way to explain."

"What
about your rational mind?" Myra asked.

Nolan
moved his head back and forth. "I don't have one. I guess I believe in
ghosts after all."

"Thank
God," Myra said on a sigh. After a moment she looked at him. "Nolan,
you shouldn't sleep here."

"Why
not?"

'What
about Cal? What will he think?"

"He'll
think his mother has finally shown some good sense."

Myra
bristled. "Nolan—"

"Myra,
I probably couldn't do anything if I wanted to. I'm not healed up enough yet. Let's
just lay here and talk, okay?"

"Talk
about what?"

"You
told Vic tonight that you and Cal were going to California. Where in
California?"

"Berkeley.
Cal wants to check out the school."

"What
are you going to do?"

"I don't
know. Look for work. I can still draw." Myra looked at him then. “What
about you? Are you going back to the fire department?"

Nolan
took her hand and held it against his chest. "That depends. You were
leaving, Myra. You told me you'd stay and you were leaving."

Myra
closed her eyes. "I was terrified. I don't owe you any more of an
explanation than that."

"I
can't trust you," Nolan said.

"Who
asked you to?" Myra pulled her hand away.

Nolan
took it back again. He pressed her fingers to his lips. Then he put her hand on
the back of his neck and pulled her to him. He kissed her tentatively at first,
and when he felt her begin to kiss him back, he put his arms around her. Myra
made a noise and attempted to pull away. Nolan held on to her and kissed her as
if he would never see her again. Myra gasped for breath when he finally
released her mouth. She stared at him in the darkness, her eyes round.
"What did that mean?" she asked, her voice a whisper.

Nolan
didn't answer. His mind was working again, figuring the angles.

"Nolan?"

He shook
his head. "This is too much. I mean it. When I think about you and Cal
leaving, I get this sick feeling in my gut and I feel like hell. I guess what
it means is that I'll have to come with you.”

"To
California?"

He
nodded.

"What
if I don't want you to?"

"You
do."

"I
do?"'

"Yeah.
I can take care of you and you know it. And you're crazy about me."

"I
am?"

"You
kiss me like you are."

There
was a long pause, then Myra said, "Nolan, I don't think you're capable of
a monogamous relationship, and that's the only kind I want."

"Try
me," he said. "I want you and Cal to be my family."

Myra's
eyes glittered in the darkness. "And how about another baby? You want one
of those?"

Nolan
was silent. Finally he said, "I'm getting that sick feeling again.
Something tells me you're not going to give me a chance."

"I'd
be stupid to give you a chance. I'd be stupid to let myself love you. You're a
game player and a risk taker. You'd be dead within five years and Cal and I would
be left with nothing but a picture and a pension. I won't do that to him. I
won't do it to myself. You're not what I want."