Run into Trouble (13 page)

It wasn’t even nine o’clock, and he didn’t
feel like going to bed yet. He pulled on pants and a shirt without
much of a plan beyond perhaps wandering over to the room shared by
Melody and Grace to see if they wanted to play cards or something.
The corridor was empty and everything was quiet. Tired runners
weren’t noisy at night, so they didn’t disturb the other
guests.

Drake remembered that Melody’s room was the
first one along the hallway. He knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” It was Grace’s voice.

“Drake.”

The door opened.

“Is Melody here?”

“No, she isn’t.”

“Oh, sorry.” He turned to leave.

“Would you like to come in?”

Drake turned back, surprised, and saw
Grace’s welcoming smile.

“Well…I think I’ll—”

“I’m just reading a book. Come on in for a
minute and keep me company. I’m lonely.”

“Well, all right.”

He was surprised that Grace was willing to
be alone with him in a motel room. She pointed to a chair and sat
down herself on one of the beds hard enough that she bounced.
Lending credence to the probability that she wasn’t wearing a bra
under her Running California tank top. He asked her where Melody
was.

“She went out with Tom and Jerry for a
drink.”

“Oh.” He was surprised at what he felt. She
was a big girl and could do what she liked. She certainly wouldn’t
break training. She was probably drinking club soda. “Why didn’t
you
go?”

“Well, if you want to know the honest truth,
I think runners are a little strange with their diets and all the
things they do to keep fit. Kind of self-centered.” She put her
hand to her mouth. “Oh, I didn’t mean you. You’re a real
person.”

“Thank you, I think.”

They both laughed.

Grace said, “I had a strange conversation
with Glen. He told me that every morning he tapes his toes to avoid
blisters and his ankles to avoid tendonitis. Then he puts Band-Aids
on his nipples to avoid chafing. On a hot day he puts Vaseline on
his armpits and crotch, and in what he called his nether regions.
He gave a dissertation on how he prepares his bowels so he won’t
have to go during the race. If you want to make time with a girl,
that definitely isn’t the way to do it.”

“I’ll remember that.”

They laughed again. Drake had an idea.

“Not to change a subject that fascinates me
since I’m a runner, but do you think you could find out who the
other people monitoring the run are besides you and Fred and
Peaches—I mean without endangering yourself?”

“I think so. Fred keeps information like
that in his attaché case. We have three vehicles: the bus, a van,
and a car. I drive the car and the van, and I’m learning to drive
the bus. Of course we have to carry our stuff from one place to the
next, some in the bus and some in the van. Fred’s attaché case is
usually in the van. It’s just a question of picking the right
moment.”

“Does he keep it locked?”

“Yes, but…” She reached into the pocket of
her shorts and pulled out a key.

“How did you get that?”

“This morning I was helping him pack up. One
of the keys dropped on the floor. I picked it up and put it in my
pocket. I figured if I were going to be a spy—”

“Didn’t he miss it?”

“He ranted and raved about it being lost,
but he’s got another one. He’ll forget about it.”

She was braver than he thought.

“Has he bothered you any more?”

“No.” Grace smiled. “Not since Melody and I
started rooming together. I think Melody scares the hell out of
him.”

Drake’s thought was that Grace looked so
good with her long black hair and dressed in shorts and a skimpy
top that
she
was beginning to scare
him
. He stood
up.

“Well, being a runner in training, I’ve got
to do strange things like going to bed early.”

She stood up, facing him, inches away, her
voice soft. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

He spoke quickly. “No, not tonight. See you
tomorrow.”

He edged past her, being careful not to
touch her, and made a hasty exit.

CHAPTER 15

Today’s run starts at Topanga State Beach
and heads west to Leo Carrillo State Beach on the Ventura County
border. You will complete the first part on the sand, which will
give you the opportunity to get a seaside look at the mansions of
the rich and famous who live on the beach at Malibu. Some of the
houses are built close to the high tide line. Depending on the
state of the tide, you may occasionally have to run around the
columns supporting the structures. Try not to aggravate the owners
or their guards. After going through Malibu, we will have somebody
stationed to direct you to Route 1 for an easy lope along the road
to the end of the day’s route.

***

Melody didn’t mention that she had gone out
for a drink with Tom and Jerry. She also didn’t say anything about
Drake’s meeting with Grace. Perhaps Grace hadn’t told her. Or
perhaps she figured talking about it would lead to a discussion of
her own activities.

Drake decided that silence was the best
policy on his part. He didn’t have the right to quiz Melody, and he
felt uncomfortable talking about Grace. Although he shouldn’t.
Nothing had happened between them. And, as a very old and very
racist saying went: They were all free, white, and twenty-one.
Except that Melody believed everybody belonged to the same race and
that traits like color were a miniscule variation because of the
latitude where one’s ancestors had lived. In addition, Grace wasn’t
just white but a mixture. A mixture of latitudes. So what did that
make her? Perhaps anything she wanted to be.

Drake reminded himself to quit following
wisps of ideas that avoided the issue and net out what was
important. Again. He had a habit of doing that. He had some sort of
feeling for Grace, probably not wholesome, and he didn’t want to
discuss it with Melody. He was disturbed that Melody went out
without telling him, but she didn’t answer to him. So there. End of
thought process. He chuckled.

“What are you laughing about?”

Drake’s muscles contracted in a startle
reflex as Melody’s question brought him back to the present.

“I was just thinking that these houses are
so close to the water that a tsunami from an earthquake like the
one in Alaska in nineteen sixty-four would wash them all out to
sea. That one uprooted redwood trees.”

“That helicopter is flying awfully low.”

Drake glanced up as the chopper went past
them heading east along the line of the beach. He turned his head
to follow its flight and could just barely make out Harrison and
Danny who were trailing the pack of runners today. Danny had
complained that his knee hurt, and Fred had sent him to a doctor
who had taken x-rays and recommended that he not run for a
while.

That wasn’t an option, of course, and Danny
was struggling to stay in the race. Drake wondered whether he and
Harrison would be the first team to drop out. Knee problems could
be serious, and they were usually not curable overnight.

The rest of the runners were within fifty
yards of each other. Yesterday, Drake and Melody had finished
within a couple of minutes of the four leading teams.

“We have to figure out how we can gain on
Tom and Jerry. Maybe we should try to break away from the
pack.”

Melody looked sideways at Drake. “You know
how that would end. Try not to worry about my mum. Something will
turn up.”

“I’ll call Blade tonight to see if he’s
found out anything on the prints.”

“Better give him a few more days.”

“Fred has got to be part of this. I’m going
to put him on the rack—”

“Not yet.”

Melody was trying to keep him calm, even
though she had more to lose.

The explosion behind them rocked Drake. He
caught his balance and turned around in time to see black smoke
rising from a beach house and several objects arcing their way
toward the smoke from the ocean. His military experience
immediately told him that they were shells of some sort.

Even as disbelief filled his mind, the
shells hit houses in the vicinity of the one that had absorbed the
first blast, sending smoke and debris into the air. Eerie silence
followed. Drake glanced out to sea. He thought he saw something
disappear under the waves, but he couldn’t be sure. He realized
that Melody was clinging to him.

“Bloody hell!”

Her grip was so tight it hurt his arm. The
other runners had stopped, also, and were looking at the smoke with
their mouths open. The assault appeared to have stopped. Other than
half a dozen beachgoers, they were the closest people to the
destruction. Drake started running back toward the houses. Melody
and the other runners followed him.

Three or four houses had been hit. Anybody
who had been inside one of the houses was probably dead. Flames
started to shoot up from the wreckage. Whatever the shells hadn’t
already destroyed, fires would.

Melody asked the question that had just
occurred to Drake. “Where are Harrison and Danny?”

“I don’t see them. They must have been close
to those houses.”

The smoke, which had initially surged
straight up, was being carried away from them by the prevailing
wind. Drake could see the beach in front of the houses. Two men
were lying on the sand.

“Look.” He pointed toward the men.

“That’s them. Harrison and Danny.”

Drake and Melody ran up to the pair who were
lying amid debris blown from the houses. They were close enough to
feel the heat from the flames. Harrison lay face down with his arms
and legs spread out at grotesque angles. He had been hit by a large
chunk of concrete. There was no way he could still be alive. But
Danny was lying on his back and moving. Drake dropped to the ground
beside him. His eyes were open. They looked at Drake with fear and
confusion. He was in shock.

Blood gushed from a wound in his leg. Melody
was already pulling her first aid kit out of her pouch. She
extracted a gauze pad, placed it directly on the wound, and
pressed. Stop the bleeding. That was the first rule of helping
wounded soldiers.

Drake looked at the burning mansions. They
were ovens. Nobody could go in there, and nobody could have
survived inside them. In the distance he already heard sirens. The
local fire company was on the ball. The firemen would keep the
fires from spreading to other houses. The paramedics would take
care of Danny and get him to a hospital. It was too late for
Harrison and anyone who had been inside the houses. Drake didn’t
see any other casualties on the beach. Tuesday was a workday and
not a beach day. Luckily.

He had to get to someone higher in the
hierarchy than the local authorities and tell them what he had
seen. An older couple had come out of a house several doors from
the conflagration. The man and wife watched in horror. Drake would
use their phone to call Blade in Washington. In a few words he told
Melody what he was going to do. She nodded and gave a terse
response, indicating that she would take care of Danny until help
arrived.

Drake rose and became aware of the other
runners clustered around them. Phil and Brian had tried to assist
Harrison and were shaking their heads in horror.

Drake said, “Danny’s going to be all
right.”

As he headed for the house and a phone, he
hoped he had spoken the truth.

***

“Harrison’s body is being returned to his
parents in Riverside. I’ve talked to them and expressed our
condolences. I know how badly you all feel. We’ll take tomorrow off
in his memory and hold our own memorial service.”

“So you’re not going to cancel the run?” The
question came from Aki.

Casey looked surprised. “We definitely want
to continue the run. I visited Danny in the hospital. He wants us
to continue as a tribute to Harrison. I think it’s important that
we continue.”

“How is Danny doing?”

“A couple of days in the hospital and
Danny’s leg will be fine. He lost some blood, but Melody’s quick
action prevented him from losing more. He’ll be running again in a
few weeks.”

Casey smiled at Melody who was sitting
beside Drake in a conference room of the motel. All the remaining
runners were there, as well as Fred, Peaches, and Grace. Casey had
magically appeared at the motel that afternoon, saying that he had
been in the L.A. area on business.

Winthrop raised his hand, and Casey
recognized him.

“Isn’t there some…danger to us? Couldn’t
there be another…attack or whatever it was?”

Nobody seemed to know what had happened.
Drake hadn’t told anybody except Melody and Blade what he had seen.
Apparently the others hadn’t seen the shells in flight and possibly
a boat like a submarine. He didn’t plan to say anything until he
had spoken to the military personnel who were converging on the
spot. Coast Guard helicopters were already making flyovers of the
Malibu area. He also suspected that naval vessels were cruising up
from San Diego.

Casey spoke, carefully choosing his words.
“I don’t think there’s any danger. If I did, I wouldn’t allow the
run to continue. Although we don’t know what happened, we can be
sure that the authorities are looking into it. As an incentive for
the remaining nine teams to continue, Giganticorp will pay you a
per diem of a thousand dollars a team, payable when you complete
the race.”

Drake and Melody were already receiving the
per diem. Now all the teams would get it. Casey really wanted the
race to continue. He talked about logistics. Today’s run would not
count. They would start again the day after tomorrow from the point
where today’s run would have ended if it had been completed.

A motel clerk came into the room and got
Casey’s attention. He said that a visitor was in the lobby for Mr.
Drake. Drake rose and signaled Casey that he had to leave. It was
probably somebody from the military. He strode down the corridor
and into the lobby, expecting to see a man in a military uniform.
Who he saw was definitely military—or more correctly, retired
military. He was in civilian clothes. He was—Drake’s father.