Jerry and Loco raced along the rim of the parking area and caught up with Darlene. The party went on behind them; participants dancing like naked savages by firelight. Jerry and the boy bent over and tried to catch their breath.
"Come on!" Darlene screamed. I found the last of my reserves and increased speed one final time. I heard another bullet screech by my ear and somehow above the din of the party heard it smack into the trunk of a parked car not three feet from Darlene. I whirled, knelt down in the sand and pumped the shotgun. Donny saw me and tried to come to a stop, arms pinwheeling comically. He threw his hands up, palms out.
"Mercy," he cried.
I fired. The shotgun slammed painfully into my shoulder and something cracked in my neck. The explosion was deafening. Donny Boy spun around soundlessly and dropped out of sight. I pumped the shotgun, but my touch told me no fresh shell entered the chamber. I threw the empty weapon down and stumbled back to the firelight.
I ran into Darlene's arms. I was soaking wet from rainwater and sweat and gasping painfully for breath. "Is he dead?"
Darlene kissed me. "I don't know, but I've got two speed loaders in the tent, so let's move."
The four of us limped into the human chaos, and I realized that the climax of the evening was nearly upon us. The gigantic stick figure was now lit with neon tubing. It stood towering over the mob and people were gathering into tight little groups, chattering in anticipation of the burning. Darlene led the way, tapping people on the shoulder, elbowing them aside; punching one drunk in the stomach to clear a pathway. I stumbled behind her, then Jerry and finally Loco.
As we approached the tiny city, a fat man wearing large plastic breasts with a huge fake penis blocked our way. The noise from the celebration was deafening. When Darlene tried to move the man aside, he giggled and hugged her. I'd regained some wind, so I worked my way closer. Suddenly the man frowned, a puzzled expression, as a piece of his skull disappeared. He fell to his knees and dropped face down on the foam rubber breasts, his shattered head pumping bright blood in a thin, precise stream. Someone screamed.
I turned and saw Donny Boy fighting through the crowd. He was favoring one arm, which was smeared with crimson, and still holding the smoking pistol in the other. His eyes were wild with rage and pain. He was perhaps twenty yards away and closing. I groped for my cell phone but it was broken. Just then, Donny Boy tried to fire again and realized his own weapon was empty. He threw the gun down and charged.
"Go! Move it!" I called.
Jerry and Loco simultaneously grabbed Darlene's arms and forced her to go faster. She complained and started to fight her way free, but then decided to try for the spare ammunition. The three of them vanished into the crowd.
I turned to face Donny Boy. I grabbed a large piece of lit firewood and waved it in front of me. Donny Boy smiled and began to circle. Meanwhile, three people glanced at us with clear disapproval. Assuming the dead man to be passed out, they stepped over the corpse and moved on. The climax of the festival was obviously of more interest than a common street brawl.
No one was facing backwards, so no one noticed the dark pool of blood flowing out from the prone body.
"
Oh, boy
, I been waiting for this," Donny said. He kicked some sand up and charged. I blinked the dirt from my eyes. Donny Boy crashed into me and knocked both of us into the fire. I screamed with pain. We rolled back out onto the parched ground, clubbing one another with closed fists, going for the nose or the chin.
I slipped one hand free just as I suffered a terrible shot to the jaw. I shook it off and grabbed Donny Boy by the ear; squeezed and twisted. Donny Boy bleated like a goat and elbowed me in the teeth. I tasted blood. I let go and clawed at the bigger man's eyes. I was losing the fight.
Weak, I'm too damned weak from the drugs.
Donny Boy rolled on top and hit me on the jaw. Fireworks went off in the heavens above, neon colors blazing through the evening sky. The crowd went "ooh" and "ah" and for a very blurry second I thought of Memorial Day back in Dry Wells and then it occurred to me that this time I was really about to die. I saw my stepfather Danny Bell standing in the shadows, watching us. Danny seemed very disappointed in me.
"So long!" Donny Boy said. He had a rock in his fist. He raised it up high, started to bring it down. I felt an empty sense of hopelessness that my life had come down to this. Danny Bell said:
Don't you fucking quit on me boy, don't you do it!
I grabbed the thick wrist with both hands and held it in place. That one action took everything I had. Then I bucked like a horse and yanked to my left. Donny sat back in an effort to keep his balance, and I threw him off. I drove a fist into the big man's throat. Donny Boy gagged, but made it back up to his knees and bent over me. I hit him again, and it hurt, but he held on. Meanwhile, I was now completely exhausted.
"Ouch."
Donny Boy looked startled. He clutched at the back of his head and fell heavily forward, right onto me. I pawed my way free and looked down at Donny, who was just stunned. He sat up, fingering his scalp; his hand came away red and wet. Someone had fired at him. I scrambled backward in the sand, eyes searching the crowd for Darlene.
Agent Fields stood at the edge of the shadows, holding a 9mm automatic in one hand and his ID in the other. His badge glinted in the firelight. He was smiling sweetly, warmly.
"FBI," he said.
Fields put the badge away. He slid closer to Donny Boy like a vampire; almost magically, as if his feet weren't even moving or touching the ground. I flinched and then realized that I was still hallucinating.
"Thank God," I said, or tried to say. My mouth wasn't working very well. Fields pulled Donny Boy's bloody hair back and stared deep into his eyes. He laughed and looked at me.
"This piece of shit is the new guy in town? This is
him
?"
I nodded. "That's him."
"By himself?"
"His partner was a girl. She's dead. There was some computer geek in on it too, but they took him out yesterday. He probably got greedy."
Fields shook his head, amused. "Jesus, he isn't much to look at, is he?"
Donny Boy tried to stand up. He froze when Fields cocked the gun. "Say your prayers, dickhead," Fields said softly.
Donny Boy had seen the badge. He smiled at Fields. "Aren't you going to read me my rights?"
Fields shrugged. "Nope." He put one palm up to shield himself from the splatter. Donny Boy tried to scream. Fields shot him, execution style, right in the head. Blood and brains blew up and away in a fountain. Donny turned into a large bag of sticks and crumbled to the ground.
"Wait." I got up on my knees. "Are you out of your mind?"
Fields walked closer. "You had me pegged correctly, Callahan. I had no intention of arresting the bastard."
"God damn it, Fields."
"And I also have to hand it to you. It looks like you were right about Fancy after all. He's only a pimp."
"I can't believe you just did that."
"Believe it." Fields searched, found the ejected shell casing and put it in the pocket of his slacks. He armed the weapon again and pointed it my way. "Can't have you telling on me, can I?"
I shrugged. "About what? I didn't see anything."
Fields laughed, lowered the weapon. "Come on now, Callahan. Under that country boy act, I know you're smarter than most people. You've probably figured out what's really going on. Tell me the truth."
"Maybe." A large star of white burst overhead, and the crowd screamed its approval. "And could be I have already passed the information on to somebody else."
"I doubt that," Fields said. "Not out here, anyway." He aimed the gun.
"Cell phone."
"What?"
"I said cell phone. I broke it somewhere along the way, but it was working fine a few minutes ago. Want me to show it to you?"
Fields frowned. "No. Keep your hands where I can see them." He lowered the gun, considered his options. "All right, I'll indulge you for a moment. What did you say, and to whom?"
"Q and A, Fields." I took a deep breath. "My turn first. An associate told me you lived pretty well for a cop, and that cover story about having a rich relative worked okay for her, but I couldn't stop thinking about how expensive your clothes looked. That watch is worth ten grand. I thought about how unorthodox and over the top your methods were, right from the start, and how the mysterious kiddy porn bad guys always stayed one step ahead of the law. So, it crossed my mind, what if that's because he
is
the law?"
"Not much to go on."
"True enough, so it wasn't until you showed up here without backup of any kind that you gave yourself away. That's what tipped me for real."
"Oh, nonsense," Fields said, a bit offended. "How would you know that was more than simple dedication on my part?"
"I know."
"What, because you're such a good shrink?"
"No, because it violates FBI procedure. Also, nothing else made sense in context, taken with all the other little hints. One question."
"Hurry."
"Do you run the kiddy porn outfit, or do they just pay you for protection?"
Fields pursed his lips. He paused, shrugged. "Protection, of course. I'm no freak. I don't dirty my hands with the day to day operation, I just get a decent piece of the action. Hell, if you can't beat them, join them."
"That's why you were so obsessed with finding these losers, to eliminate the competition."
Fields smiled. "And we have, thanks to you," he said. He raised the gun and aimed carefully. "Oh, one last thing, Callahan."
Don't do it, don't do it
. "Okay."
Fields asked: "Who did you call?"
"Who?" I wanted more time. I did not want to die. "Maybe I'm not going to tell you that."
"Suit yourself." Fields smirked, but his eyes were empty. He started to pull the trigger.
"Wait! I'll tell you, damn it, it was . . ."
Movement all around us, just as I felt overcome by a wave of dizziness from the drugs, somehow the very night itself sprang to life; the shadows wrinkled and changed shape in an eerie way, then moved in a confusing blur of fists and feet. Fields grunted with alarm, made a strange, gurgling sound . . .
. . . And simply vanished.
I rubbed my eyes and peered into the dark. I had seen some black fabric, Ninja style, and a bit of motion, but that was all. I got to my feet and stumbled away.
I met Darlene, Jerry, and Loco at the edge of the parking area. She was carrying her revolver and they had our backpacks. Darlene looked stunned to see me alive.
"Let's get the hell out of here," I said. The noise had intensified. The climax of the festival was only a few moments away.
"What happened, Mick? Where the hell did he go?"
"I'll tell you later." I was totally exhausted. "Jerry, go get the wagon, okay? We'll wait right here."
Darlene spoke to Loco in rapid Spanish. "
Nostros te vamos a sacarte de
aqui
," she said. "
Tenga paciencia
."
The brave little boy sat down and hugged his knees again. The fireworks were ending. The entire crowd had moved into the center of the camp to congregate around the Burning Man and watch the climactic event. No one paid us any attention. Jerry had a straight run to the wagon and an easy drive back. He pulled the wagon into the area with a spray of dust. I motioned for the others to get in; searched the area with my eyes, but saw nothing. Finally, I simply waved my arm in the air and got into the car.
"Drive."
Darlene spoke to Loco in Spanish again. "
No va ser mucho tiempo
." He smiled and began to cry with happiness. She turned back to me. "I told him we're going to get him out of here, and that he should just be patient. Now what the hell is going on?"
"Listen up," I said. "We will be in a world of trouble here, if we don't get our stories straight. Can we trust Loco to help us out?"
Darlene translated the question. Loco nodded with enthusiasm. "Tell him our lives may depend on his honor."
"It's okay," she said. "He's with us."
"Tell him this," I said, thinking aloud. "We just came here to make a documentary. He broke free of them on his own. He was wandering around and then recognized us because his aunt works for me. Loco told you in Spanish that the man who had abducted him and photographed him for sexual reasons was somewhere in the crowd. You told Jerry and me about it, and we all decided just to get him the hell out of Dodge."
Darlene translated. "Okay," she said. "What else?"
"That's it. He can tell the truth about everything else. He remembered having met me before and came over. He just got lucky."
"Will this work?" Jerry asked.
"It has to work, but it is going to look like one hell of a coincidence to the authorities."
"So we all stick to the story. Got it. What else do I tell him to say?"
"Tell him he ran away when they were not looking. When the cops check things out tomorrow, they will find two dead suspects. Eventually they will also figure out that their man Fields was here, too. Then they can put the story together any way they want."
"You mean any way that makes the bureau look good?"
"Bingo, and without us having been involved in that part of it."
Jerry headed for the highway. He hit the bright beams. He spoke over one shoulder. "Fields was crooked?"
"He was with the other outfit," I said. "He protected the kiddy porn group that Donny was competing with."
Behind us the feet of the Burning Man finally burst into flames. The crowd shrieked approval and the booming, macabre echo carried across the foothills. I rolled my window up to shut out the screams, both real and imagined. Darlene was still puzzled.