Awakening, 2nd edition (24 page)

“Going for another ride?”

Robert shoved the boat key into his pocket and looked at Stella.

“Yep. Why not?”

“Didn’t you have one this morning?”

“No. I was here. Didn ’t go anywhere.”

He emerged from behind the now unmanned receptionist ’s desk . The lodge was nearly deserted—the entire staff had left the building except for two of the kitchen personnel .

“What do you like so much about it?” asked Stella. “A ride or two—I get it. But you ’re taking it out every day.”

“Sightseeing. It ’s great here. Plus a couple of boats here are actually good. Lots of power.”

“So what?”

Robert clinked the keys in his pocket.

“You probably don ’t get to ride powerboats much.”

Stella shook her head.

“Never. I’ve been out on a rowboat a couple of times, and once tried a kayak, but that ’s about it. No powerboat experience whatsoever. You know that you haven ’t answered my question, right?”

Robert pondered for a moment, looking at her.

“How about coming with me? That ’ll give you the answer.”

“Ah . . . No, thanks, ” Stella ’s voice suddenly grew colder. “Appreciate the offer, but no. I don ’t feel like it right now.”

Robert shrugged.

“It’s your call. A previous engagement?”

“Just not in the mood for it . It ’s all right. Have fun.”

She turned back to the pile of gaudy magazines.

“Wait,” Robert said with emphasis. “What is this all about? I don ’t think I ’ve offended you in any way , have I?”

Stella took her eyes of the magazine and gave him a surprised look.

“Offended me? You? Of course you haven ’t.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just don ’t feel like going. Is that a problem?”

“Yes,” said Robert. “That’s a problem. But we can talk about this later. Take care.”

He went over to the vending machine, fed it a bill, extracted a bottle that banged loudly against the dispenser and headed for the door. Stella followed him with her eyes and then, as if having recalled something, called , “Rob!”

Robert stopped and turned.

“I’m sorry. I ’ve changed my mind. Does your offer still stand?”

Robert looked at her thoughtfully.

“It does. It ’s going to be cold out there, though, so you ’d better pick up something warm to wear. I ’ll be waiting for you at the pier.”

Robert turned the key in the ignition and steadily pushed the throttle lever down. The boat sped up obediently, the pier jumped back and a second later was left somewhere far behind. He pushed the handle all the way down and stood up, keeping his knee on the resilient seat cushion. A thick wind joyfully hit his face. Now this was really good. The cool stream of air blew into his eyes, flapping his sleeves. He glanced to the right—Stella sat silently, facing the wind with noticeable enjoyment. Robert smiled understandingly.

A small cape dotted with pine trees drew near, guarding the long snakelike-shaped part of the lake that lay behind it with its countless bayous. Why don ’t we cruise around it at the top speed? There ’s this little handle down here . . . The boat ’s bow rode up toward s the cloudless sky that was just beginning to darken. Robert glanced at Stella once again. So far so good. No gasping, no demands to slow down . . . Quite the opposite—she ’s smiling with her eyes half closed, almost dreamily .

He turned the steering wheel smoothly and cruised around the cape in a wide arc . A deep -blue expanse met them, waiting to be crossed. Now—to that waterfall. What about gas? Looks good. There ’s enough to go to the opposite end of the lake and back. They take good care of their boats. Yesterday there was hardly a quarter of the tank left and now it ’s filled right up .

He looked back. Somewhere behind the cape the lodge stood, not visible anymore. What a pathetic place. Notes, threats, this ridiculous blackmail . . . Although that at least makes it all a bit more interesting. Plus , blackmail is not so ridiculous. After all, there ’re indeed no rules around here. And a goon like that could ’ve indeed gained some serious advantage by taking the right people one by one to dark corners for a friendly negotiation. If you know how to negotiate in a dark corner and you’re careful enough to avoid any witnesses , you can secure quite a following for yourself.

But . . . Alex doesn’t have the guts for anything like that . It was enough to listen to his chirping about courts and lawsuits to see that. They ’re all like this, these pumped-up office workers. They have Arnold-sized mu scles they show off at every opportunity , they wear short military -style haircuts, the backs of their heads rival their shoulders in width, they hold a cue like a club, and they glare at you as if they ’re about to go for your throat. But at the first sign of the real deal , they immediately recall that they ’re civilized people, run out of steam and threaten you with a lawsuit. Such fakes.

Robert took a deep breath of the fierce air, enjoying every bit of it. The lake had narrowed and now looked more like a wide river. Steep mountain slopes covered with pines passed by slowly on both sides. The trees cast long shadows across the rare clearings. It ’s a real wilderness out here, he thought. Less than four hours ’ drive away from the city and such a godforsaken place. Indeed, a suitable place for this workshop. No distractions of any kind. You can fully concentrate and , with the utmost efficiency , start turning from a manager into a leader.

It’s getting boring. There hasn ’t been a whiff of the promised drama, unless you count the recent , “I ’ll sue that punk!” performance. It ’s starting to look more and more like a regular off-site meeting, spiced up to some extent by a few historical anecdotes and vague hints. That, plus the company of strangers. Although the company isn ’t that bad. Sure , there ’s Kevin , and Alex , and Ross. Familiar characters. But Mike seems to be an okay guy. So is Brandon . Stella . . . well , the jury is still out on her.

“So what do you think ?”

Stella turned to him.

“It’s great, ” she said simply. “Better than I expected.”

“What did you expect?”

“I thought you ’d be talking a lot. About speed and your passion for it.”

Robert only smiled back.

“Want to give it a try?” he asked a few minutes later.

“Sure,” she replied, getting to her feet.

They switched places.

“It’s very easy to operate, ” Robert was explaining a minute later. “Actually, it ’s like driving a car, only much easier. No traffic lights, no pedestrians, no cops. Total freedom. Here ’s the gas. You just push it down like this once , then you can forget about it. The steering wheel is exactly like in a car. No brakes. If you want to stop just move the gas handle up. That ’s it. Easy?”

“Uh-huh . . .” Stella answered, giving the gas handle a try. “Like this?”

Robert barely had time to grab the railing to prevent himself falling .

“Yeah, something like that , ” he muttered, looking at the billowed bow of the boat.

This time it was Stella’s turn to smile.

“Now I understand.”

She slowly pushed the gas handle down.

“Understand what?”

“What you like about this thing so much.”

“Told you.”

“By the way, where are we going? Should I go right or left here? If we don ’t turn, pretty soon we ’ll run into the shore.”

“Let’s go right. It ’s an island, and I went to the left last time.”

Stella turned the steering wheel with a sea wolf’s confidence and the powerboat sped into the right sleeve of the fork that lay in front of them.

“Well,” Robert observed reflectively. “Something ’s wrong.”

“What an astute observation, ” Stella dangled her fingers in the water. “It ’s been ten minutes since we stopped. But who cares ?” She studied the surroundings, “I t ’s so beautiful out here. The sunset is truly romantic. Now, if only we could get the engine to work . . .”

“The engine works, ” said Robert. “It just doesn ’t start.”

“Ah . . .” said Stella. “That does make a huge difference.”

Robert pulled the cord abruptly once again. The engine revved up, roared cheerfully, but a moment later choked and fell back to silence.

“Is this something that happens often?” Stella asked.

“No. Not at all.”

Robert examined the engine as if he were about take it apart.

“If anything, it looks like this thing is out of gas.”

“We’ve got plenty, ” Stella said, throwing a lazy glance at the gas meter.

“That’s the problem, ” Robert stood up. “There should be at least half a tank.”

“Half a tank?” Stella looked at the meter again. “It ’s full. As if we ’ve just been to the station.”

“What did you say?”

“The tank is full. Why?”

Robert tacitly crossed the boat.

“So it’s full . . .”

“Does that surprise you?”

“Yes. It can ’t be full. There ’s just no way it can.”

Robert returned to the stern and for a minute or so tried to talk some sense into the stubborn engine.

“Okay, now it ’s all clear, ” he stated with sullen satisfaction a minute later.

“What’s clear?” asked Stella. “Stop speaking like The Riddler .”

“It’s clear what ’s wrong, ” Robert clapped on the slick black metal surface. “There ’s no t a single drop of fuel in this baby. And no fuel means, ” he opened his hands, “no movement.”

Stella’s ironic smile vanished slowly from her face .

“So why does it show a full tank over here?”

“Ah!” Robert lifted his index finger. “That is a truly excellent question. I ’m afraid, however, that even answering it won ’t help us much in getting back to the lodge promptly. Besides, I don ’t have an answer.”

“Are you saying we ’re stuck?”

Robert nodded.

“And stuck for good.”

“Are we going to miss dinner?” Stella smiled.

“We’re going to miss breakfast. You don ’t seem to be concerned about it .”

“Why should I be?” Stella shrugged nonchalantly. “We ’ll spend the night on the boat, and tomorrow they will start looking for us. Soon enough they ’ll figure out that one boat is missing and will look no further than the lake, which is large but not huge. They ’ll jump into a couple of powerboats and will show up here by lunch. They may even call up a police chopper.”

Robert looked at her with interest.

“And what about food?”

“Who needs food? We can do fine without it for a day. It’s even good for your health. You know, some people do it intentionally, periodically. And it ’s so romantic . . . Just take a look around.”

“It is romantic, ” Robert agreed, watching the crimson disk of the sun that had just touched the tops of the mountains. “There ’re just two little problems with this plan.”

“Which are?” Stella asked with the same nonchalance.

“Well, it could be just one, assuming that the meter stopped working on its own. Have you ever met a leader who needs to be rescued? You know, a pitiful, pathetic, helpless leader . . .”

Stella became serious once again.

“Are you suggesting that if they come to rescue us, this will lower our chances of winning?”

“This will nullify our chances of winning, ” said Robert. “We ’ll have no chance at all of winning , period. But, again, that ’s assuming this, ” he pointed to the meter, “is a result of wear and tear.”

Stella shook her head in disbelief.

“What else could it be? Sabotage?”

Robert nodded.

“I’ve never seen a breakage like this. And if someone has helped this meter to stick, he doesn’t have to stop at that.”

“What do you mean ?”

“For example, tonight he could take our cars and park them far off in the woods. That way, no one would think about calling choppers and jumping into boats tomorrow morning.”

“Two cowards ran away?”

“Or two lovers got bored and left.”

Stella pulled a face.

“Two lovers . . .”

“People have vivid imaginations, ” said Robert. “It doesn ’t matter what explanation they come up with if the cars are missing. What matters is that they won ’t even bother to look for us. No cars—no suspicions.”

“Nah . . .” Stella glanced at the red gauge pointer. “That would be too much. Why would anyone do that?”