by Guy Adams
‘I feel like I’m in a Western,’ said Rex. ‘The sky’s too damned big.’
They pulled in at the Garden of the Gods Park Tourist Centre and went into the gift shop to load up on maps.
‘Think we could use some postcards, too?’ said Shaeffer, browsing through a spinning rack. ‘Maybe some novelty pens?’
‘Had my eye on some of those coyote plush dolls myself,’ said Rex, pocketing a couple of maps and his change.
They drove into the next town, Harker’s Pond, and began cruising around for a place to stay. They eventually settled on a cottage motel on the edge of the town. What it might have lacked in amenities, it would make up for in privacy.
Rex rented the cabin furthest away from the reception office and they let themselves in, dumping their bags and sitting down on the beaten-up sofa in order to really enjoy their accommodation.
‘This place has atmosphere,’ said Shaeffer staring at a damp patch on the wall that looked to him a lot like Africa. ‘I don’t know when I last experienced such comfort.’
‘It is beautiful,’ Rex agreed. ‘I just wept for joy in the bathroom, that son-of-a-bitch was so clean.’
‘Thank you for showing me this glimpse into your hallowed life.’
‘No problem, happy to share it with you.’
Rex unfolded one of the maps he’d bought and spread it out over the small dining table. ‘Hell of a lot of ground to cover,’ he said. ‘This is looking more and more like a waste of time.’
‘How can you say that when relaxing in such opulence as this?’ Shaeffer retorted, looking to the corner of the room where a throw rug was piled up as if it had been trying to crawl away.
‘And in such great company,’ Rex countered.
‘I was going to add that myself.’
‘Given that Mulroney won’t appear on any official records for the area, we’re struggling to find a place to start. What we need is a map that actually shows all the ranches and farms in the area. That way, we can start to narrow down viable places. I can’t imagine Mulroney’s sunk his money into a Duplex in town, we’re looking for somewhere remote. Somewhere he can avoid prying eyes.’
‘Plenty of scope for that around here,’ said Shaeffer. ‘There must be a local office that would have registry papers, stuff like that.’
‘Yeah… Time to spend some hours going over town records. How I love the rock and roll business of investigative life.’
Rex asked at reception for directions to the town hall before, reluctantly, heading into town with Shaeffer to do some research.
It took them the rest of the afternoon, skin grey from dust, to accept that they had bitten off more than they could chew.
‘I’m so glad I agreed to this plan,’ said Rex later as they sat in a local diner staring at a laminated menu without really reading it. ‘I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun.’
‘Just wait until tomorrow,’ said Shaeffer. ‘We can do it all over.’
‘I doubt I’ll manage to sleep, I’ll be so excited.’
‘Doubt I’ll manage to sleep either, though that will more likely be due to the fact that the bed’s made of mould and gingham.’
They ordered almost randomly, pointing rather than reading, and hoping for the best.
A salad arrived. They poked it with forks.
‘How did you get into this?’ Rex asked. ‘Toppling governments for a living.’
‘Came up through the army,’ said Shaeffer. ‘Just kept saying yes when they offered me transfers. I’ve never been a man who planned a career path. You?’
‘I planned it.’ Rex stared at a coil of onion. ‘Every single step.’
‘Why CIA?’
Rex raised an eyebrow. ‘Why not?’
Shaeffer shook his head. ‘People don’t just opt for intelligence work on a whim. I joined the military because it was easy for me, it was the path of least resistance.’
‘And you’re a least-resistance kind of guy.’
‘Kind of ironic, given what I’ve done in my life. But, yeah.’
‘If that was true, you’d still be with Gleason now.’
The waitress arrived with their entrées. If nothing else, it saved Shaeffer the embarrassment of replying.
The next morning, Rex woke with an idea. He took it outside with him on a hunt to find decent coffee.
‘Esther?’
‘Rex… Make it quick, a girl can lose her career talking to you right now. Where are you?’
‘Colorado, saving the day as usual. I need you to access satellite imagery for the area around Colorado Springs, specifically the Garden of the Gods Natural Park and Harker’s Pond.’
‘Am I allowed to use the US satellite network as a personal Google Earth?’
‘Sure you are. I need you to look for any unusual heat traces. They’ll be centred on remote areas, ranches, farms, that sort of thing. Gleason’s team are holed up around here somewhere and they will have been playing with their stolen toys for sure. From what I saw in Cuba, that stuff’s going to light up a satellite image like Christmas.’
Esther thought about it for a moment. ‘OK, but I’m going to have to clear it.’
‘Clear what you like, but don’t set alarm bells off all across the network – the last thing we want is to scare him off again. We do that, we’re never going to find him.’
Rex hung up and walked into a promising-looking coffee shop with an actual spring in his step.
‘Well, look at you so happy,’ said Shaeffer when Rex returned to the motel with a pair of coffees. ‘You get laid while you were buying breakfast?’
‘Nobody in this backward town could be so lucky.’
Rex told Shaeffer his plan.
‘About time we started acting like we had the weight of the US Government behind us,’ said Shaeffer. ‘That mean we don’t have to spend the day going through files any more?’
‘What else you got in mind?’
‘There’s a UFO Watchtower a few miles up the road, thought I might settle in and see what flew by.’
‘Yeah? Maybe see if they’ll sell you some of their ray guns while they’re at it,’ Rex replied. ‘Might even out our chances with Gleason.’
They ended up looking at old files anyway, just in case the satellite images didn’t help. They had to do something to fill the time; Esther had made it clear how many hours they could expect to wait while she sifted through data.
At lunchtime, they left the town hall, just so that they could breathe air for a while, and took a stroll down the main street of Harker’s Pond.
It was a quaint little place, the sort of town that counted a night at the Lucky Steer – a particularly buttoned-down country and western bar they’d passed on their way into town – as the height of its social calendar. It was likely filled with ageing Republicans, Rex thought, as he browsed the racks of the general store, who all drove identical Oldsmobiles and ate at each other’s barbecues on a Sunday. The sooner their business was done the better. If he stayed here too long the attitude might get to him. He’d start ironing a crease in his jeans, or nodding while Fox News was on.
‘Just going to grab a pair of sunnies,’ said Shaeffer, ‘so I can try and look as cool as you.’
He walked over to a revolving rack by the front door, foraging amongst the clip-ons and mirrored aviators for something a little more his style. He grabbed a plain pair, put them on and then spun the stand around so that he could check his reflection in the small mirror fixed at head height on one of its sides. As the rack revolved, the mirror gave him a sweeping view of the street behind him. A barber’s shop, a grocery store, a small café, its brightly painted sign proclaiming it to be the ‘Cheery Bean’ in letters of red and blue stripe. Just stepping out of the grocery store was David Ellroy, a couple of shopping bags in his arms. Right after him came Joe Leonard.
‘Well now…’ said Shaeffer. ‘Why couldn’t that have happened yesterday?’
As he was staring, Leonard looked across the street
and the man’s eyes fixed on his back.
Stay cool, Shaeffer thought, don’t let him know that you’ve seen him, too. Just check out your sunnies and relax…
Leonard grabbed Ellroy’s arm and yanked him off up the street. Slowly, not wanting to be too obvious, Shaeffer moved the rack so that he could follow the two men down the street. They climbed into a navy-blue SUV and Shaeffer squinted, trying to read the license plate. No good. It was too far away.
He walked inside and looked for Rex.
‘We’ve got to go,’ he said, grabbing Rex’s arm. ‘Quickly. I’ve just seen two of our boys across the street. Problem is, they saw me, too.’
‘Shit.’
‘Yep.’
The two men ran out of the store and up the road towards the hire car.
‘Give me the keys,’ Rex shouted.
‘It’s OK, I can drive.’
‘My turn to smash up a hire car,’ Rex insisted. ‘Hand them over before I shoot you.’
With a sigh, Shaeffer tossed them over and Rex pressed the button to unlock the doors.
They climbed in, Rex slipping the keys in the ignition and turning over the engine.
‘No way we’re going to catch up with them,’ said Shaeffer. ‘They’ve had maybe a minute and a half head start.’
‘Minute and a half?’ said Rex, slamming his foot on the accelerator and pulling out onto the road. ‘I can catch that up in no time.’
The car roared up the street, a little old woman stepping out from the general store and chasing towards them.
‘Who the hell is that?’ Rex asked, swerving to avoid her.
‘The owner, I think,’ Shaeffer replied. ‘Wonder what her problem was.’
Rex glanced at him. ‘Look in the mirror, you dumb bastard.’
‘Shaeffer flipped down the sun visor and realised he was still wearing the sunglasses, paper price ticket dangling to one side of his nose. ‘Oops. Can you get me off a thieving charge?’
‘Nope,’ said Rex, shifting up the gears. ‘I’ll be in the next cell, serving a term for reckless driving.’
Rex aimed out of town and hoped for the best. Earlier, he had looked down his nose at the town and its parochial quietness; now he was glad of it. There was virtually no traffic on the roads and he could go as fast as the car was willing.
Shaeffer writhed next to him, pushed back in his seat, gripping the edge of it. ‘Don’t let anyone else pull out,’ he muttered. ‘I do not want to survive countless warzones only to end up creamed across the tarmac of the most boring town in America.’
‘Chill,’ said Rex. ‘Put the radio on or something.’
‘Radio, yeah, right, find something upbeat to scream along to.’
As they pulled out of the town limits, Shaeffer caught a glimpse of dark blue dead ahead. ‘That’s them,’ he said. ‘We might pull this off yet.’
Rex slowed the car down. ‘Play our cards right and they might lead us right back to Mulroney’s place.’
‘Then what?’
‘Then we save the world in a blaze of glory and gunfire.’
‘Oh, OK. Just so as I know.’
Ahead of them, the blue vehicle also appeared to be slowing down and Rex was forced to put his foot to the brake again. ‘What’s their problem?’ he asked as the SUV renewed its speed. Rex accelerated and the SUV charged ahead.
‘They’re onto us,’ said Shaeffer. ‘Checking us out, seeing if we’d match them.’
‘Well what else can I do?’ asked Rex. ‘I can’t afford to lose them.’
‘Certainly not now, the minute they get back to Gleason and tell him we’re here, the whole unit will be gone again.’
‘And then we’ll never track them.’
‘You got it.’
‘How do we know that they’re not already calling him?’
‘With what? No cellphones allowed, and I bet you they didn’t take a radio just to go shopping. If we can stop them now, then we’ve bought some time.’
‘OK,’ said Rex. ‘That’s a plan. Hold on to your stomach.’
He kept the accelerator flat to the floor, the car shaking around them as he forced the speedometer higher and higher. The road was straight but not flat, the car leaving the road for several terrifying seconds as Rex crested a slight hill. Ahead of them, Ellroy and Leonard were also putting on speed, but their car was too big and heavy to be a match and Rex and Shaeffer slowly began to gain ground.
‘They’re going to realise that this isn’t just about speed,’ said Shaeffer, grinding his feet against the carpet of the passenger-seat footwell out of habit. ‘As long as we don’t run out of road, we’re going to overtake them, so they’ll need to think of something else to shake us off.’
‘They can think long and hard,’ Rex replied, feeling strangely calm as he kept the car moving forward at full throttle. ‘This man’s not for shaking.’
As the SUV grew ever closer, Shaeffer saw the sunroof begin to open and he realised what would come next.
‘They’re going to take a shot from the roof.’
‘At that speed?’
‘Wedged in the sunroof, wind to your back, there’s worse conditions to get an aim.’
‘I can’t get any faster,’ said Rex. ‘This is flat out. We’re gaining but not fast enough.’
Shaeffer began cranking open their own sunroof. ‘Then I guess I’m going to have to try and slow him down. Somehow. With the wind full in my face. I wish you’d let me drive.’
He gripped the edge of the roof and slowly pulled his face above the edge, keeping one hand pressed against his stolen sunglasses, trying to hold them in place so at least he could open his eyes in the slipstream that was rushing over the car. He shuffled so that one foot was on his seat while his other knee rested on Rex’s shoulder.
‘Watch what you’re doing!’ Rex shouted. ‘One thing a man does not need when driving at this speed is a knee in his face, it puts him off his steering. Hear me?’
‘I’d gladly swap, asshole,’ said Shaeffer, trying to wedge himself back against the rear edge of the sunroof, one hand laced over his sunglasses, holding them tight across his face, the other held back against his chest keeping the barrel of his gun facing straight forward. He figured that if he let the wind rush catch the gun side on, it would be out of his hands and clattering on the road behind them. It was not the most comfortable position to take a shot.
Ahead of them, Leonard was having a similar problem but in reverse, the wind forcing him face down towards the rear of the car. He was using one arm to try and brace himself upright, wedged against the rear edge of the sunroof, while his other, protected from the wind by his body, held his gun.
It all came down to who would get the first shot.
Shaeffer fired. The shot wasn’t on target but it did crack off the roof of the SUV to Leonard’s left. The recoil threatened to dislocate Shaeffer’s wrist due to the awkward position in which he was holding the gun. Nonetheless, he didn’t risk trying to move and just squeezed the trigger again and again figuring that quantity might be the way forward at this point.
The third bullet hit its target, taking Leonard in the chest. He dropped his own gun, and the arm he was using to brace himself crumpled, letting the wind push him forward.
Shaeffer shoved himself down into the car as he saw what was coming. Leonard’s body, dragged by the slipstream, came forward through the sunroof and jettisoned from the SUV.
‘Careful!’ Shaeffer shouted, throwing himself to his right so as to give Rex room to steer. If they hit Leonard’s body at this speed it would total the front of the car.
Rex dabbed at the brake, wanting to slow enough to grab a little extra control but not so much that he threw the car into a spin. He yanked the steering wheel to the right and then straight back again. The car skimmed the dirt at the side of the road but darted back onto tarmac quickly enough not to go flying into one of the fields that lay on either side of them.
Leonard’s body, arms pulled back, face jut
ting forward, hit the ground with the briefest glimpse of red before becoming nothing more than a distorted lump on the white line in the rear-view mirror.
‘One down,’ said Rex. ‘You want to pop back up there and shoot him for me too?’
Nah,’ said Shaeffer. ‘This one we’d better take alive.’
Ahead of them, Ellroy was weighing up his options.
He considered heading straight for Mulroney’s ranch, but there was no way he’d get there in time to actually warn Mulroney and Gleason – all he’d be doing was leading his pursuers right to their doorstep. And that would help nobody.
It was clear he couldn’t outrun them. Both cars could keep driving along like this all day, but sooner or later they’d run out of road or petrol. He needed to shake things up a bit, change the odds somehow.
He reached for one of the shopping bags, dragging it upfront and dumping it on the passenger seat. There was a baguette poking out of the top which he tugged free and tossed onto the floor, rooting around blind for something heavier. His fingers grasped a tin of chopped tomatoes.
He lined the SUV up so that it was more or less directly in front of the car behind. They were creeping up closer and closer, and Ellroy could see Shaeffer’s face in his rear-view mirror. Traitorous bastard, he thought. Lunch is on me.
He tossed the can up through the open sunroof.
‘What the hell is—’
Rex had neither the time nor room to avoid whatever Ellroy had thrown. They were only twelve feet or so behind the SUV now, and if he tried to steer away he’d just lose control of the car. The object caught a glint from the sun, almost a cheeky wink, then punched through the windshield. Rex squinted against the spray of glass but forced himself to maintain control and speed.
‘Can’t see!’ he shouted. ‘Help a guy out here!’
Shaeffer was scrabbling for whatever the object was, fearing it was a grenade. If it had been a grenade, he realised, then neither of them would still have been driving along the peaceful highways of Colorado.
He turned back to face the front and, using the butt of his gun, knocked away as much of the broken glass as he could, opening up a clear space for Rex to see. ‘Here,’ he said, popping his sunglasses on him, ‘you can even borrow these, if you like.’