Run into Trouble (28 page)

Drake and Melody stood and shook hands with
her.

“Congratulations are in order. I hear that
you’re only five minutes behind Tom and Jerry going into tomorrow’s
final run.”

Drake was stunned. “Where did you hear
that?”

“We get a report from Fred immediately after
each day’s run. Tom and Jerry got lost in the wilds of Pacifica,
and by the time they sorted themselves out, they had given up a lot
of time to you and the Phil and Brian team.”

Melody was ecstatic. “I don’t wish them any
bad luck, but it’s nice to have a shot at the big money.”

Melinda smiled. “It will be an exciting
finish, with three teams vying for the crown. Now, how may I help
you?”

Drake suspected she already knew the answer
to that. “We’ve come to see my father, Admiral Drake.”

“Did he tell you he was going to be
here?”

What should he say?

Melody spoke first. “When we heard about the
meeting, we assumed he’d be here.”

“Who told you there was going to be a
meeting?”

Her tone was matter-of-fact, but her overall
demeanor had chilled considerably. Drake was on his guard. “Can’t
remember. Did we get it wrong?”

“I’m afraid so. I’m sorry you came all this
way for nothing.”

“Is Casey, er, Mr. Messinger here?”

“Mr. Messinger is out of the office. But, of
course, he’ll be at the finish of Running California tomorrow. A
big celebration is planned. You can talk to him then. Good luck
tomorrow.”

“Thank you.”

Drake and Melody exchanged a quick look.
Melody made a barely noticeable movement of her head toward the
door. There was nothing more for them to gain here.

They thanked Melinda again and made as
graceful an exit as possible. Once outside, they headed for the
rental car. They climbed into the car, which was facing the front
door of the building.

“What do we do now?” Melody asked.

“Maybe Slick had his information wrong. We
should probably go back to the motel and get ready for tomorrow.
Not to make too big a deal out of it, but we’ve got a million
dollars riding on whether we win or lose.”

“Let’s check in with Slick or Blade first
and tell them what happened. I saw some pay phones inside.”

“Bad idea to go back in there. Melinda’s
already suspicious of us. In fact…who’s that coming out the front
door?”

It was a stocky man in a somewhat
ill-fitting suit. Melody put their thoughts into words. “He’s
another Peaches, and I don’t think he’s a friendly Peaches. He’s
looking for us. I think he just spotted us.”

“I think we’re outta here.”

Drake backed the car out of the parking spot
and slowly but steadily drove away. They exited the Giganticorp
campus and headed for a commercial part of town a few blocks away,
stopping in front of a small restaurant. Once inside, Melody
procured a corner booth while Drake went to a payphone and called
the number he used for Slick collect.

The operator was told that Slick wasn’t
available. Was there a message? Drake said no. He gave the operator
Blade’s office number, hoping he was there.

Blade answered the phone by saying the
number and accepted the charge before the operator could get the
words out of her mouth. “I was hoping you’d call, you son of a
bitch. Where are you?”

“San Jose.” Drake outlined the problem in
two sentences.

“This whole thing may be more serious than
we thought. If they’re holding secret meetings, that may mean
something is imminent. Okay, here’s what we think is happening. We
think Casey wants to make some sort of important announcement
coincident with the ending of Running California tomorrow. He’s
getting his generals in a row tonight. What you’ve just told us
confirmed some other stuff we‘ve learned. We don’t think the
meeting is on the Big G campus.”

Drake was annoyed. “Then where is it?”

“Big G has a corporate hideaway in the
mountains about thirty miles east of San Jose. They take their
employees there to play bonding games and participate in other
juvenile activities. Slick is headed there right this minute to
find out what’s going on. I talked to him just after he left
you—unfortunately, too late to catch you. He’s going to observe
what he can, but he has to stay out of sight. He can’t move in with
guns blazing. What we need is someone who knows the players to
infiltrate the meeting.”

“Meaning me?”

“You’re not on the payroll, and I can’t
order you to do it. After all, there’s not much at stake here
except the future of the United States of America and the free
world.”

Perhaps; perhaps not. There was
no
question that a million dollars might be riding on what he did
tonight. “You’re making this sound like the big time. If our man
tries to take over, will people go along with it?”

“If they’re scared enough, they will. The
media have certainly been playing up the fear factor.”

“How do you want me to proceed?”

“Don’t do anything until we hear from Slick.
Is there a place where you can get something to eat?”

“We’re at a restaurant.”

“Get some food inside you so you’ll be
prepared. I’m going to give you a number where you can reach me.
Call it in thirty minutes. In addition, give me the number
there.”

Drake exchanged numbers with Blade and hung
up. He had Melody move to a booth close to the pay phones, so if it
rang he could answer it. He sat down opposite her and quickly
filled her in, adding, “I’ll go alone. We’ll find a way to get you
back to the motel. Maybe a taxi—”

“Belay that. I’m coming with you to make
sure you get back safely. The run tomorrow doesn’t start until ten,
and it’s a short one. We’ll be there with bells on.”

When Melody made up her mind about
something, there was no use arguing with her. Drake mentioned that
what they were doing could be dangerous, but she had faced danger
before. It didn’t faze her. They ordered dinner and ate.

In thirty minutes Drake called Blade. Blade
hadn’t heard from Slick and told Drake to call back in another
thirty minutes. Drake and Melody ordered dessert. They talked about
what they would do if they split a million dollars. The prospect
wasn’t real to them. Yesterday it had been almost out of reach. But
on the hills today they had gained valuable minutes on both the
teams ahead of them. Having Tom and Jerry get lost was serendipity.
Maybe, with a superhuman effort tomorrow…

The pay phone rang. Drake stood and reached
it in four long steps. He lifted the receiver and spoke softly.

“Drake.”

“The meeting is in progress. Slick had to
come back quite a distance to find a phone he could use. It’s just
your average ten thousand square foot rural retreat. He’ll meet you
near the entrance. I’m going to give you the directions on how to
get there. Do you have pencil and paper?”

“Yes.”

At least Drake had the back of the paper mat
that had been set at his place at the table. He wrote down the
directions with a cheap pen he always carried with him.

CHAPTER 35

Five minutes later they were in the car
headed east with the dome light on so that Melody could read the
scribbled directions. They started climbing through pine-scented
woods. After a while they turned off onto a dirt road—stopped to
verify that it was the correct dirt road—and then continued for a
number of uphill miles.

“Slow down,” Melody said. “That may be
Slick’s car ahead.”

The car was parked on the other side of the
road, facing them. The sun had set and it was dark in the woods.
Drake pulled in front of the other car so that they could read the
license plate using their car’s headlights. Yes, it was the Ford
that Slick had used to chauffeur them last night. Drake pulled
around it and made a U-turn. He had to maneuver back and forth
several times on the narrow road to complete the turn. He parked
behind the Ford and turned off his lights. Drake and Melody got
out.

Slick emerged from the Ford. The first thing
Melody noticed about him was that he wasn’t wearing his dark
glasses, but it was too dark to see what color his eyes were. He
stepped between the two cars to get off the road and pointed in the
direction they had been heading.

“The entrance is two hundred yards from
here. There aren’t any guards at the entrance, but there are at
least two inside the grounds. I got close enough to the building to
look in the windows. Casey is there along with a bunch of
grayheads. They were sitting around a big table. Dressed in
civvies, of course, but I recognized your father and the Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from pictures I’ve seen. This is a
high level meeting.”

“How many are there?” Melody asked.

“At least a dozen, probably more. I’m sure I
didn’t see them all. It’s your ballgame. How do you want to
proceed?”

Drake said, “The only way this has a chance
of working is the innocent approach. I’ll walk up to the front door
and try to crash their party. You two stay hidden. You’ll be my
backup.”

Melody started to say something, but he
glared her into silence.

“Hopefully, I’ll get inside and start
greeting people. ‘Hi, Casey, hi, Dad, a little bird told me you
were here. Thought I’d drop by and say hello. Can’t stay long; got
a race for a million dollars tomorrow, but maybe we can chat for a
minute.’”

When he said the words out loud, he realized
how lame they sounded. But what choice did he have? They walked
along the road to the entrance. What impressed Drake was how dark
it was. No outside lights shone on the grounds. Clouds covered the
moon and stars. Slick had a flashlight, but he would need it more
than Drake because he and Melody were remaining outside. Slick also
had a gun, which he offered to Drake, but Drake knew that carrying
a gun would be ineffective and counterproductive.

Slick pointed to a couple of lights faintly
visible in the distance through the trees.

“Those lights are coming from the windows.
You can follow the driveway. There are several vehicles, including
a bus, parked along it. I heard two guards talking at one point,
but I could barely see them. I didn’t want to cause a commotion by
taking them out, so I waited in the trees until they went away. Be
careful when you’re walking. It’s dark as the inside of a whale’s
belly.”

Drake’s eyes were still getting acclimated
to the dark. He could make out a few vertical trunks of trees but
not much else. They decided that Slick and Melody would wait for
thirty minutes. If Drake didn’t appear by then, they would take
whatever action they deemed appropriate.

Melody gave Drake a hug. “Don’t do anything
I wouldn’t do.”

“Not a chance.”

Drake started walking slowly along the
driveway, keeping his hands in front of him, feeling for real and
imaginary obstacles. After a few steps he looked back, but Melody
and Slick had already been swallowed by the night. The driveway was
uneven gravel; Drake had to watch his footing to avoid twisting an
ankle. Wouldn’t it be ironic to run over 500 miles without injuring
his legs or feet, only to have it happen here?

He wished he could see as well as he could
smell the woodsy scent of the pine trees. It reminded him of hiking
with his father when he was young. Those days were gone for
good.

He didn’t see the bus until he almost ran
into it. Strange, because the dark was a gray color, not black, and
he had the illusion he could see more than this incident suggested.
He redoubled his caution. If he could just get inside where he
could make contact with his father, he should be safe.

The driveway curved; he couldn’t head
straight for the lighted windows because tree trunks partially
obscured his view of them, and he suspected that the ground among
the trees was rough. He found one car and then another. He must be
following the same route that Slick had followed.

Nothing blocked his view of the windows now.
He could walk directly toward them. He saw people inside, but he
was too far away to recognize anybody.

Suddenly he hit the ground. He had tripped
over a rock and fallen forward so fast his hands had failed to
protect him. Judging from the all-encompassing pain, he had hurt
his head and just about everything else.

He lay on the ground for several seconds,
trying to determine what parts of him were operational. He heard a
noise and saw a light sweep over him. He rose to his knees but was
blinded by the light, which was now shining directly in his eyes.
The voice behind the light spoke. “What are you doing here?”

Drake was at a disadvantage. He couldn’t see
his questioner. He remained silent. He felt something running down
his forehead. He must have cut himself. Blood was heading toward
his eye. He reached for his pocket that contained a
handkerchief.

“Don’t move.”

The man thought he was going for a gun. He
raised his hands to show they were empty. Better to have blood in
his eye than a bullet. The man spoke to somebody else. The second
man appeared in the light of the flashlight. He walked up to Drake
and roughly twisted his hands behind him one at a time, handcuffing
them together.

“Get up.”

Easier said than done. Drake rose slowly and
awkwardly, feeling pain in both knees as he did. The man who had
handcuffed him patted him down, searching for weapons. He grabbed
Drake’s arm and urged him forward. The other at least had the
courtesy to shine the flashlight in his path so he wouldn’t trip
again. He walked slowly, not having his hands free to protect
himself. He could see with one eye; the vision of the other was
blurred by the blood. They escorted him around a corner of the
building and down a dirt slope strewn with pine needles and the
occasional rock.

One opened a door and then pushed him
through the doorway. A light was turned on. Drake could see through
a window that the guards had also turned on the outside lights.
They were in what looked like a recreation room. It had
wood-paneled walls. Drake saw a pool table and another for table
tennis. He determined that this room was on a floor below the one
where the conference was in session.