The Scorpion's Tale (12 page)

Steven scrutinized Harry through the rearview
mirror. Harry was in his late fifties or early sixties, with dark
eyes and tan, leathery skin covered with a two-day stubble. He had
long, stringy, gray hair, tied in a ponytail with a rubber band,
and a bushy handlebar moustache. He wore an orange bandana loosely
tied around his head and was definitely a throwback to an earlier
age.

“Just tell me when you want me to shut up,”
Harry interjected. “If you remain silent, I’ll assume you are
either fascinated or asleep. Either way, I’ll keep talking.” Steven
chuckled, and Harry continued his soliloquy about the history of
Las Vegas.

As the cab cruised down the highway, Steven
could see striking red colored sandstone hills in the distance. He
noted the various geographical formations and striated color
patterns, which seemed to change as the cab moved closer to the
park. As if reading Steven’s thoughts, Harry pointed out that the
canyon was a contrast of red sandstone layered in gray
limestone.

“We used to come out here as teenagers and
climb these cliffs. They get as high as 2,000 feet. I lost a few
friends out there over the years. You drink a few too many beers,
mix in some tequila as a chaser to some peyote or acid, and those
rocks come alive.”

“Well, Harry, hopefully I’m not going to do
much climbing today.”

“As long as you’re not ingesting peyote
buttons, you’ll be fine.”

Steven laughed, but said nothing.

Harry looked at Steven through the rearview
mirror. “What exactly did you say you were doing out here?”

Steven looked at his tour guide. “Well,
Harry, I’m an aspiring geologist who adores rocks.”

Harry chortled. “Good one. Should I believe
that?”

Steven stared coldly at him. “All you have to
know is that I like rocks and I’m going for a walk.”

“Sure thing, pal. The visitor’s center is
over there,” he said, pointing to the nearest building.

Harry parked in front of the building. “Don’t
forget to get a trail map.”

“Thanks,” Steven said, closing the door.
“Just wait here for me.”

“Absolutely,” Harry grinned. “You’re on the
clock and it’s your dime!”

Steven ignored the comment and entered the
building. He emerged a few minutes later, map in hand. He glanced
at his watch. It was 12:20 p.m. “Okay Harry, take me to Turtlehead
Peak Trail, and step on it!”

Harry looked back at Steven with a quizzical
expression. “Of all the trails in the park, why the hell would you
want to do that one? For Christ sake, man, the temperature is over
ninety degrees and getting hotter! Let me show you some easier
trails.”

Steven had the map spread out on his lap.
“Nope,” he said, without looking up.

They drove in silence until Harry turned down
Sandstone Quarry Road and into the parking lot. There were quite a
few tour buses and cars already parked. Several small groups were
approaching the trail.

“The trailhead is over there, amigo,” Harry
said, pointing.

Steven noticed the signs for Turtlehead Peak.
He got out and leaned against the cab to stretch his
hamstrings.

“Wish me luck, Harry. How long do you think
it will take to walk the trail?”

Harry considered Steven’s physique as he
pondered the question. “Are you going to the summit?”

“I’m going as far as these legs will take
me.”

“The guides say three to four hours, but they
go slow and stop frequently. If you walk at a brisk pace without
stopping, it should take you a little more than two hours each
way.”

Steven looked impressed. “That’s a lot of
walking.”

Harry smiled. “Just think of it this way. You
will be dead tired when you get back, but I’ll be relaxed and
well-paid!”

Steven frowned and shook his head. “Just wait
for me.”

Harry leaned back against the front seat,
picked up his cowboy hat and tilted it over his eyes. He cranked up
a song by Tim McGraw. “In a while, crocodile,” he said, barely
audibly from underneath the hat.

Steven realized he had not budgeted enough
time to meet Veeksburn by the two o’clock deadline. He passed
slower hikers in the first few minutes and learned his quickness
was born out of naiveté. The heat radiating off the limestone rocks
turned the trail into a kiln.

The number of hikers dropped dramatically
after the first quarter-mile. The amateurs were being culled.
Still, Steven quickened his pace, motivated by vague whispers of
his daughter. He was still in great shape from his golden glove
boxing days. Steven no longer was glad he had purchased hiking
boots and wished he had used his worn-in sneakers. If he’d had time
to break them in, he wouldn’t have to deal with the blisters that
were already forming. The trail became steep and rocky, giving
Steven a glimpse of its true difficulty. Steven used his hands to
grab rocks and scramble over a dry waterfall; in the process, he
cut himself in several places. He stopped and glanced at his watch.
It was 1:35. So much for reaching the peak by 2:00, he thought.
He’s an asshole for making me come out here in the first place!

Steven followed the trail, which slowly
ascended to the saddle and the summit ridge. Three young women were
seated on a blanket having a picnic and drinking wine. One of the
women looked vaguely familiar but he couldn’t place her. It was
2:30 and Steven didn’t see anyone else. He sat on a flattened rock
beyond the visibility of the women and finished his second bottle
of water.

“Hell of a view, ain’t it?” a voice from
behind him shouted.

Steven turned to see a pair of long,
muscular, tanned legs standing ten feet behind him.

The man moved closer to the edge, parallel to
Steven. “You’re late,” he said, smiling arrogantly.

“Billy?”

Billy Veeksburn laughed. “One and the same,
Capresi.”

Steven studied him for a few seconds. Billy
was rugged looking with life experience chiseled into his face from
years of exposure to the desert sun. He had a high forehead framed
by stringy, shoulder-length, dirty-blond hair. “I’m surprised you
waited,” Steven remarked.

Billy cackled as he sat next to Steven. “Look
out there,” he said, pointing into the desert. “Where the hell do
you think I was going?” He smiled as he took a sip of water. “I was
just trying to motivate you to be punctual. With my binoculars I
could see you coming from the trailhead, so I caught up on some
reading.” He pointed to a Playboy protruding from his backpack.

Steven looked quizzically at Billy. “How the
hell did you know it was me?”

Billy smiled. “Just a good hunch,” he
chuckled.

“Did I miss something? What’s so funny?”

“It wasn’t exactly a hunch,” he coughed
loudly and turned his head away. “Sorry. That’s from years of
smoking. I couldn’t kick the habit so I got the ‘Big C.’ It could
be worse. I could have had emphysema, and we would have had to meet
somewhere else. But as I was saying, I was there when you checked
into the Venetian yesterday, and I followed you around the hotel
for an hour.”

Steven looked at him incredulously.
“Son-of-a-bitch! I knew someone was following me!”

Billy shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry man,
it’s what I do. I just wanted to see who Charlie was pushing on
me.”

Steven thought about how Billy Veeksburn had
seen him coming for miles and how he had been followed at the
hotel. “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“Why the hell did you make me come out here?
Couldn’t we have met for a beer?”

Billy smiled and looked pensively into the
distance, giving Steven a good look at his mangled left ear.

Billy knew Steven was inspecting his ear. “A
real thing of beauty, isn’t it? That was a parting gift from the
man you’ve come to see me about. I had you come out here for a
number of reasons. First, I can see everything for miles and I
don’t have to worry about someone sneaking up on me. Second,
nobody’s going to get a long-range rifle shot off out here, because
I’ve got the only vantage point for miles. Third, there are usually
a bunch of people on the summit, and if anyone tries killing me,
he’s gonna have to kill everyone else. Finally, if you happened to
be somebody who I didn’t like, I knew the hike would leave you
weak, especially since you stupidly purchased new boots. I bet
you’ve got blisters on your blisters!”

Steven ignored the insult. “Did you think I
came here to kill you?”

“No, I was never worried about you. But I am
worried about someone else.”

Steven turned his face toward Billy. “Charlie
thinks you’ve seen him. Tell me what he did to you.”

“You mean Charlie didn’t tell you?” Billy
said in amazement.

“He said he didn’t know for sure.”

Billy took a few chugs of water and wiped his
mouth with the back of his hand. “Why the hell should I tell you
anything? No disrespect intended, but you mean absolutely nothing
to me. You’re just some guy from New York whose family was in the
wrong place at the wrong time. I feel sorry for you, but that
doesn’t mean I want to stick my neck out.”

“I understand if you don’t want to talk to
me. But you came this far, so that means something.”

Billy frowned at Steven, the folds of skin
beneath his eyes wrinkling. “And yet you still came out here to ask
me that question, knowing I’d most likely tell you to jump off this
cliff?”

Steven heaved a sigh and looked directly into
Billy’s veiled eyes. “I had to take that chance. I’m going after
this guy no matter what.” Steven cast his eyes downward and drew
imaginary figures on the sandstone rock. Then he looked up and
cracked a thin smile at Billy. “I don’t have to make you
understand. As you put it, you’re nothing to me but a source of
information. But since I’m out here with nowhere else to go, I’ll
tell you, because in the end, it really doesn’t matter.”

Billy sat back, finished his bottle of water,
and made himself as comfortable as possible on the hard rock
surface, ready to listen.

“My father was murdered when I was a kid. He
was a really good guy and worked hard to provide for us.” Steven
smiled as he recalled his father. “They never found the killers.
Anyway, after his death I turned my back on God. It wasn’t until I
met my wife that I began changing. She was loving and compassionate
and, in a way, she brought me back to life. I remember praying the
night my daughter was born, because Amanda had complications. That
night I committed myself to God as long as he protected my wife and
daughter.”

Billy gazed into the distance, but said
nothing, moved by Steven’s words.

“So, Billy,” Steven continued, “when I lost
my wife and children, it was the second time God betrayed me. If
tracking down this killer means I have to throw my lot in with
Satan, then so be it! When I find him, I
will
kill him. And
then, Billy, it will be over, and I can die fulfilled.”

Billy whistled, and shook his head. “Wow,
that’s certainly a lot to lay on a guy on a first date. But it’s
your life, man.”

“No,” Steven responded, “it’s my
destiny.”

Billy frowned. “Hell, if you’ve already made
your pact with the devil, who am I to stand in your way? I might
even make it easier for you to get down there faster,” he said,
grinning. “And at least I’ll know someone when I get to the party!”
Billy laughed until he started coughing again. “I believe Charlie
told you how I met the Scorpion.”

“He told me you were involved in a police
chase and that there was an accident.”

Billy frowned. “There never was a chase. I
was just stupid. I wanted a look at the man nobody had ever seen,
and I thought I was smart enough to pull it off. I was instructed
to deliver a car to the Scorpion after a hit. Instead of leaving,
as instructed, I waited for him. It was early evening and there was
a huge, well-lit billboard off the road on a sand dune. It was
surrounded by thick shrubs and prairie grass, which provided good
cover. The car was positioned so I would have a perfect view of his
face as he drove away.”

“So what went wrong?” Steven asked.

“He drove up on a motorcycle. I heard the
bike, and I saw it coming down the road. He pulled up behind the
car and walked around to the driver’s side like he was going to get
in, only he continued walking around the car and disappeared into
the brush. The next thing I know, there’s a gun pressing against my
head. He quietly tells me not to move a muscle. I literally pissed
my pants, laying there in the sand.”

Billy continued, staring into the distance as
the memory came flooding back. “He didn’t shoot me, just kept the
gun against my head and lectured me. It was unbelievable, really.
He told me I had been foolish and mutinous. His exact words were:
‘
The success of a military mission was fundamentally dependent
upon the effectiveness of the chain of command and the
unquestioning execution of orders by subordinates
.’”

“Did he really speak like that?”

Billy laughed, blinking his eyes as if
awakening from a nightmare. “Yeah, I remember lying there in my wet
trousers, waiting to get my head blown off, and all I could think
about was the way this nutcase was carrying on.” Billy snorted as
he continued. “It gets weirder because he tells me that he likes me
and that I’ve been a good business associate. That’s when he tells
me that I had to learn a lesson. As he says that he isn’t going to
kill me, he cuts off my ear and leaves me writhing in pain, like a
wounded animal. The last thing I remembered him saying, as I
screamed in agony, is that next time, I’d better be a good
soldier.” Billy grimaced. “Well, he left me alive to tell the tale
but warned me there would be no more Mulligans, and my next mistake
would be my last. A week later, I got a federal express package
with a gift.” Billy pointed to the stub remaining in place of his
ear.