by Alison Tyler
"Without proof? I can't do that. And I can't stop her following through on her plan. When a stunter steps into that car and the camera starts to roll, I lose all control. Sure, I told Cat I'd have her blackballed if she pulled that extra fancy maneuver. She looked me straight in the eye, with this innocent smile on that pretty little face of hers, and told me flat out that she wouldn't go against my wishes. Well, now, when Cat gives you one of those sweet smiles, you know something is cooking in that head of hers. I don't think she has any intention of following my orders. Now, like I said, I could be wrong…"
"But neither of us think you are."
Dodger nodded. "That's about it. I came all this distance because I believe if she'd listen to anyone, she'd listen to you."
"You're wrong, Dodger. She's known all along how I feel about those stunts. And to be perfectly honest with you, I can't really face watching her go through another one. Each time I feel certain she's about to kill herself. But like she told me— she never even gets a scratch."
"Well, this time, my friend, your fears are justified. I told you Cat was the best female stunter in the business. She's been the best because she's put herself one hundred percent into what she is doing. And she never got into something over her head before. She's got two strikes against her on this one. I think her heart is here with you… and her head is sinking in deep water."
Luke knew he would not be able to stop her. He also knew he had to go with Dodger and try, anyway.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"What time did you say that stunt was called for?" Luke asked, his eye on his watch as they waited for the ferry.
"Three o'clock, bar no hang-ups. The later, the better. These ferries are never on schedule." Dodger shook his head, trying to keep calm. In his business, a cool head was something you either learned early on, or you found some other line of work. Today, he never felt more like he should be out looking for a different way to earn a living.
Luke had to keep a cool head in his business, too. But he was having as much difficulty staying calm as Dodger. He still doubted that he could stop Cat, even if the ferries got them there on time. And that event in itself was not too likely. They needed to take one ferry to Alonnisos and then hook up with a second one to Skiros. On those rare days both ferries ran on schedule it was a three-hour trip.
It was eleven o'clock. They had that one-hour leeway but that was it. And if this ferry was late and the one from Alonnisos on time, they would be stranded. That was the only ferry that day out to Skiros.
The ferry was due in at eleven-fifteen. No one waiting on the small dock with the exception of Luke and Dodger seemed particularly perturbed that it hadn't arrived. Worse than that, Luke couldn't make it out on the horizon.
He walked over to a robust, darkly tanned man dressed in large trousers and a thin cotton work shirt, and who was selling ferry tickets.
"Any idea when that ferry will get here?" he asked him.
The man gave him a friendly nod. "It will come. It usually does."
Terrific. Luke groaned. But when? Luke shrugged and walked off, doubting he would have learned anything more, anyway. By eleven-thirty Luke and Dodger were not bothering to hide their edginess.
"We're getting down to the wire, Luke. What do you think?"
More people had gathered for the ferry. They must have known they had every chance of making it despite arriving late. The boat was still nowhere in sight.
"I think we'd better see if we can get to Alonnisos some other way. Maybe somebody here will take us across in a trawler," Luke suggested, scanning the area for a likely possibility.
"I'd settle for a rowboat. Only I don't think we'd make it in time. The thing to do is find us a fast little motor launch." Dodger pointed to one tied up at dock.
"How do we find out who owns it?"
"That's the problem. My Greek is limited to a few menu items. How about you?"
Luke shrugged. "Maybe the guy who sells the tickets can help."
When he walked back over to the ticket seller, the man was deep into a conversation with a small, frail-looking elderly woman who, despite the near one-hundred-degree temperature, wore a long-sleeved black dress and matching black kerchief neatly knotted under her chin. She was carrying a large wicker basket that Luke guessed must be quite heavy, yet the woman seemed to have no difficulty managing it.
The ticket seller looked up at Luke and smiled. "My mother," the man explained, his eyebrows raised.
Luke smiled. In some ways, Greece was no different from other places. Mothers were mothers the world wide.
"You are anxious to get to Alonnisos, yes?"
"Very anxious."
He turned to his mother and said something in rapid Greek that made her smile.
"Even on vacations Americans are in a hurry." He had a good laugh over his own observation, leisurely wiping the sweat off his brow with the palm of his hand.
"Sometimes when it is hot like this, the engine on that broken-down ferry goes crazy. It doesn't feel like making such an effort—back and forth, then back and forth again. You want to go to Athens? That ferry is much bigger, newer. You will have a good time in Athens."
"Look, I need to get to Alonnisos. It is very important. I—I'm a doctor and there is—"
"A doctor! Why didn't you say that?" He turned again to his mother to explain. This time she nodded slowly, her eyes moving to Luke.
"Dimitris," he called over to another man on the dock, then turned to Luke. "Go with him, Doctor. He will get you to your patient. That ferry… I tell you, one of these days they'll have to get another."
Luke motioned to Dodger, the two of them rushing over to Dimitris, who had donned his captain's hat.
Dimitris spoke no English. He led the two men to his small fishing trawler and spent what felt like an eternity readying the boat for the trip. However, Luke and Dodger were so relieved to be aboard anything that had a chance of making it across to Alonnisos they were not going to let their frustration get the better of them.
The water was choppy, the boat riding the waves with a surprisingly pristine grace. Despite its appearance, it turned out to be a worthy little seagoing vessel.
Luke kept shifting his gaze from his watch to the broad expanse of sea stretched out in front of him. Alonnisos was visible in the distance—a tiny, shimmering diamond in the early-afternoon sun.
Dodger was glad of his decision to get Luke and bring him to Skiros. Joanie had been the one to bring it up first. When Liz Fuller had left the bungalow this morning, Dodger was in a rip-roaring fit. Joanie calmed him down and forced him to think constructively about how to stop Cat from carrying out this stunt. Dodger wanted to go after the mechanics, tell them if they touched Cat's car beyond his specs, he would have them all fired. Joanie pointed out that Cat would try the stunt, anyway, if she got angry enough. And she might, if Dodger got into a strong battle of wills with his daughter.
Joanie did manage to calm him down, which was not an easy feat. Joanie was the best thing that had ever happened to him in his life. It sometimes made him literally ill at the thought that he had been almost pigheaded enough to lose her. Here he'd been worrying about the fact that he was so much older than her, only to discover in some ways she was more mature and wiser than him.
He agreed that Joanie's idea to get Luke to talk reason into Cat was a good bet. But he was hesitant about going after him. It was clear Luke and Cat had had some kind of a fight. He never got in the middle of other people's battles, especially not his daughters. Maybe the doc was out for a little fling, nothing more. Then again, maybe that was all Cat had wanted. But his own impression from that evening they'd all had dinner together was that both Luke and his daughter were running away from some far more serious feelings. Dodger understood that fear from his own experience.
Luke drew a quiet breath of relief when they were in clear sight of the island. Dimitris pointed to a small dock where he could easily let them off and swing his trawler back around.
&nb
sp; It was eleven-fifty. The ferry dock was only a few minutes from where they were being let out. They both shook hands with the captain, who smiled profusely and refused the money Dodger tried to offer him.
They made a run for it. Luke could feel his pulse pounding in his ears. He'd let himself go to hell these past few weeks. He was going to have to get back into shape.
Dodger was doing a bit of huffing and puffing, too. Being a stunt coordinator did not give you the same physical workout stunting did.
They were only a hundred yards from the ferry dock when they saw the boat.
"Come on, Luke. We've got to put on some speed." Dodger shouted off to his side as he heard the horn blast.
Damn it, Luke thought, running faster, the one time you want the ferry to be delayed a couple of minutes, and it decides today's the day it's going to surprise everyone and leave a couple of minutes early.
The boats engines grew louder. Slowly, it pulled out of shore. The two men were maybe fifteen yards from the ferry. Luke started to slow up. What was the point? They'd missed it by seconds.
Dodger grabbed hold of Luke's wrist. "You ever done a stunt before, Doc?"
"Huh?" Luke was being jettisoned forward by Dodger's powerful tug.
"There's nothing to it, Doc. We're going to take a real easy running broad jump. Hold on."
"Dodger, you're crazy! We'll never make it. I'll never make it." But he kept running.
When Luke's feet left the wooden dock he had a fleeting image of a bird soaring into space. He prayed his wings would hold out as he sailed over the water toward the boat. It had to have been a stretch of over twelve feet. As Luke touched the solid ground of the ferry's deck, he felt both the thrill of success and the terror of having almost landed on those churning blades cutting through the water.
Dodger looked over at Luke and grinned. "You've got an innate talent for stunting, Doc. But something tells me it's not a skill you want to develop."
Cat had won. Everything was going according to her plan. She walked down to the garage to check on her car one last time.
Bill was giving the Porsche a final once-over, and when he saw Cat approach, he nodded that everything was as ordered. He didn't smile as he usually did. A sullen, worried expression replaced his normally sunny disposition. Cat was getting used to that look. She was seeing it on everyone's face since she'd decided to go ahead on this stunt.
This morning Peter had come down to her cottage to talk with her about the stunt again. She knew he was having misgivings before he said a word.
"Cat, I've connived for some risky stunts on my pictures. You know my reputation and you know a few of the fellows that have broken an arm or leg pulling some gag off. I accept the fact that it's a dangerous business, and I realize there's always a risk when a stunter goes out to do any gag. But I've never had somebody seriously injure themselves on any picture I've ever directed. Certainly no one has died. Cat, don't do this if you have even a fraction of a doubt. It isn't worth it. I'm not bucking for an award won over spilled blood."
"Peter, I don't have any doubts at all. And I'm not going to spill any of my blood. I promise. The way I've got that car rigged, it can't roll over. We're going to take a pretty two-wheeled slide that's going to look a hell of a lot harder to manage than it really is. Believe me, Peter. I do know what I'm doing."
"I hope so, Cat. I sure hope so."
Cat patted him on the back and led him to the door. After he left, she walked down to a nearby beach. Staying at the compound meant bumping into other upset people like Liz, Joanie, and Dodger. She knew she wasn't pulling the wool over her father's eyes, just as she knew there was no way to stop her. Cat was banking on the fact that once she pulled off this stunt, he would come around. That's what had happened in San Francisco when he had finally consented to letting her do Ben's tricky crash gag. It was all going to work out—at least as far as her career was concerned.
Another notch on her belt. Another amazing accomplishment. She was a woman in a man's world pulling her equal weight. And after this stunt today, there would not be a single coordinator or director who would doubt her ability to stand in for any stunt required. That was what she wanted, wasn't it? It had been her dream since childhood—what she had fantasized about when she watched her father perform his daredevil feats.
So where was the excitement, the heady anticipation? All she had accomplished so far was to alienate everyone she loved.
She sat down on the sand, along the water's edge, letting the rivulets of water tickle her bare feet. She missed Luke with a pain that wouldn't let up. She missed the feel of his embrace, the sound of his laughter, his whispered words of pleasure as she surprised and delighted him. She missed his gentle, tender warmth. She missed his love.
They had given that love freely, but once it had been discussed openly, they had both gotten scared. She and Luke were independent, self-contained people, sure of themselves, sure of where they were heading. The only thing they weren't in the least bit sure of was how loving each other, making a commitment to nurture that love, would affect their lives. And they were both scared to find out.
Luke would bury himself in his work and Cat would bury herself in hers. Really, it was no different than before they'd ever met. But before then, neither of them had ever experienced what it felt like to be jealous. They had never been in love before. Their goals were uncomplicated, unencumbered.
She had been so confident of what she wanted. She had always told herself there was plenty of time to fall in love, to settle down. But then she discovered that love had no time schedule.
At the garage, watching Bill make some final adjustments to her car, she forced her mind back to the task at hand.
"It's looking good, Bill," she said, forcing a cheery note in her voice, afraid it might betray the faint doubt that clung to her. Why was she really doing this? What did she want to prove? Could pushing herself into bigger and riskier stunts help her forget the gnawing pain in her gut, the emptiness that engulfed her?
"I've checked it over a half-dozen times, Cat. Every single sharp objects been torn out of the car. I've triple-reinforced all the padding. We'll make sure there's only enough gas in the tank to run the stunt. It's those damned explosives that are giving me nightmares. I even welded in an extra roll bar. If the car does go over, at least she'll only rock like a cradle, possibly—just possibly— preventing the explosives from going off on impact. But I can't give you good odds, Cat."
"Bill, you've thought of everything. I'm not going to need those odds, because I'm not rolling this baby over." She patted the hood of the car.
"Well, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes—or should I say, your asbestos suit. God, I sure hope there aren't any early fireworks from this beauty." He glanced from Cat to the sleek, silver sportscar that would, after Cat leaped to safety, collide with the other two cars, and all three would burst into flames.
"Has Dodger been by?" she asked, spotting the flicker of consternation on Bill's face.
"He came down for a minute, but he didn't double-check the car. He said he had some business to attend to on one of the other islands this morning and would be back for the stunt at three."
"What kind of business?"
Bill shrugged, but Cat had a pretty good idea Dodger had headed for Skiathos to have a heart to heart with Dr. Luke Eliot about his crazy daughter. What was he hoping to gain?
Cat strode out of the garage and went hunting for Peter Whitney. She had one more change she wanted to make.
The ferry to Skiros took two hours on good days. This was not one of them. The boat had been adrift in the middle of the sea for the last twenty minutes as the engineer tried to get it going again. Luke and Dodger had no idea what was wrong, but they did know that if it wasn't fixed soon, their whole madcap race against time would be a complete bust.
"Don't ask me the time again, Dodger. It's five minutes later than the last time you asked." Luke got up from the bench and walked over to the railing. He turned
back to face Dodger.
"Why the hell does Cat want to do this?" Then, before Dodger could respond, he went on, "It's my profession to understand what makes people tick, but for the life of me, since I met Cat, I haven't been able to figure out what makes either one of us tick." He sat back down next to Dodger, shaking his head, rubbing his jaw. "I didn't even shave this morning," he said abruptly- "I always used to shave first thing in the morning. A habit of mine since I went off to college." That morning at the Drake Hotel flashed in his mind. He had to smile, remembering how he had stopped to grab a shave in the men's room before showing up at that medical conference. "Now I forget to shave; I'm unable to concentrate on my work for more than a few minutes at a stretch without Cat popping up in my mind; I'm watching her do these crazy stunts; and I'm even doing some of my own. No one I know would believe I'm the same person anymore. I can't believe it myself."
"Listen," Dodger said, looking across at Luke, "I've found out myself that love does strange things to people. Shakes you right up. Makes you have to rethink a million thoughts you figured were nice and clear in your mind. Turns you topsy-turvy."
"Well put." Luke grinned.
"You know what I would do if I were in your shoes, Doc? I'd grab hold of that little girl, shake some sense into that stubborn head of hers, and then I'd perform one more stunt. I'd get a good grip on her, throw her over my shoulder, and run like the dickens until she stopped kicking and bucking."
"You really think that would work?" The fact that he would seriously consider doing just that confirmed in his own mind that he must be going nuts.
Dodger sighed. "Nothing else has. I'd sure as hell help clear the way for you." He smiled.
Luke never got the opportunity to find out if carrying Cat off would have done any good.
The boat, after what felt like endless hours at sea, finally pulled into the dock at Skiros at two-thirty. They still had half an hour, and they were less than ten minutes from the starting point of the chase scene. They ran, anyway. It was not going to be easy to get hold of Cat and talk her out of her extra fancy maneuvering.