Below the Surface

by Tim Shoemaker

  Lunk ran back to Cooper, sliding to his knees in front of him. “You okay?” He leaned in close. “Your head is bleeding. Talk to me, Coop.”

  Cooper’s head felt heavy.

  Gordy dropped down beside Lunk. “Coop!”

  Cooper closed his eyes. He had to stop the world from spinning.

  “Should we call an ambulance?” Gordy said.

  No — he was okay. He was okay. Why couldn’t he speak?

  “Definitely,” Lunk said.

  I don’t need an ambulance, Cooper said. But did he say it out loud?

  “Stay with me, amigo,” Gordy said.

  Cooper struggled to sit up.

  Lunk held him in place. “Gordy . . . his helmet is split. Make the call.”

  I’m fine. Coop tried to open his eyes, but they wouldn’t open. Almost like they were glued shut.

  “Hi, my name is Gordon Digby, and my cousin just got clipped by a drunk driver.”

  Gordy must be pacing along the road. His voice grew more distant.

  “Coop, it’s Lunk. Squeeze my hand or something.”

  The ground stopped rocking. Coop felt a hand holding his. He squeezed it.

  “Okay,” Lunk said. “Thank God.”

  It was funny to hear Lunk thank God. He wasn’t a believer. Not by any stretch. But he respected Cooper’s beliefs. Kind of strange that Cooper was even thinking about that now.

  Cooper was lying on his left side with his arm pinned underneath him. It felt prickly. Was it asleep? He could smell the grass, and his head cleared a bit. His shoulder ached, and his head was pounding. He tried to shift his weight . . . but he felt so weak.

  “We’re getting help. Hang in there,” Lunk said.

  “I’m okay.” Cooper opened his eyes. “Just dazed for a second.” He tried once more to sit up.

  Lunk held him down. “Not until you get checked out. Relax.”

  Cooper didn’t want to be checked out. He wanted to get back on the boat. “No, let’s get out of here. If the paramedics come, they’ll have to call my mom. Then we’ll all be sleeping on the floor of the condo.”

  “Too late, Coop.” Lunk was studying him. “You hit hard. You need to see a doctor.”

  “They’re on their way,” Gordy said, squatting down beside him. He pocketed his phone and held up two fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

  This was ridiculous. Cooper tried to sit up again, but Lunk didn’t let that happen.

  “How many fingers?” Gordy said again.

  Well, if they weren’t going to let him leave, at least he could have some fun with this. Cooper stared at Gordy’s hand. “Four.”

  Gordy glanced at Lunk, and held up four fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up now?”

  Cooper made an effort to squint as though he were concentrating. “Eight?”

  Gordy froze and his mouth opened slightly, but he didn’t say anything.

  It’s time to finish them off. Cooper looked up at Gordy’s face, then over to Lunk, and back to Gordy again. “Who are you guys?”

  Gordy’s eyes widened. “He’s got amnesia!”

  Completely out of sight of the kids now, he eased off the accelerator. “Whoa, Beauty. Easy, big fella.” He didn’t need to speed — and he certainly wasn’t about to risk it. The Illinois state line was an easy ten-minute drive from here. But that was too obvious.

  He took a quick left on South Street and then another on Wells. He’d double back into town and head to the casino.

  He checked his passenger side mirror. It looked okay. He didn’t mean to clip the kid — but he wasn’t sorry he’d done it either. “Put a little scare into them. Give them something else to think about.” Those were his boss’s exact words, and that’s exactly what he’d done.

  The kid would be fine. He was shaken up, no doubt, but no permanent damage. He chuckled as he rolled down the window, stuck his left arm out, and let the warm breeze dry his sweaty palm. He wished he could drive back to the scene and see what was going on. But he could imagine it. Was the kid feeling a cold fear creeping over him yet? Hopefully. And there’d be more to come.

  “Watch your back, kid. I’m just getting warmed up.”

  Hiro sat on the couch with her phone in hand. Her mom was laughing, talking, and joking with the other three moms. They were all having the time of their lives, but Hiro felt miserable.

  She couldn’t track their conversation and didn’t want to. She wanted to be with the boys. Why hadn’t Coop texted her yet?

  They should have been on the boat by now.

  A siren wailed in the distance, and a sick feeling gripped her. She went out on the balcony to text Coop again. The night air was cool. Typical for late August in Wisconsin.

  The siren rode the airwaves easily as the sound circled Hiro’s head. Echoing. She tried to get a fix on its position.

  Just then a police car raced down Center Street — its lights flashing but no siren — and it was headed toward Lake Shore Drive.

  “God, no,” Hiro whispered.

  She dialed Coop’s phone this time, but it went right to voicemail. Hiro disconnected and stared over the balcony. Should she say something to her mom? To Coop’s mom?

  But what did Hiro know? Nothing. Yet her heart told her something different.

  The siren stopped wailing, but another one started up somewhere in the distance. And it sounded like it was headed in the same direction. Not good. Pacing the balcony, Hiro worked her Chicago Police star necklace between her thumb and forefinger and checked her phone again.

  Thumbs flying, Hiro tapped in Gordy’s number. She heard the phone ring. “C’mon, Gordy. Pick up.”

  When Gordy’s phone went to voicemail, she disconnected and growled in frustration. Something had happened, and Hiro knew that black pickup was involved.

  She couldn’t call Lunk because he still didn’t have a phone, and she’d given up on trying to sell him on the idea.

  Suddenly her phone rang and Cooper’s picture smiled at her from the display screen. “Coop!” She pressed the phone against her ear. “What took you so long? I heard the sirens.” She stopped. No sense telling him how worried she really was.

  “Ah, no, Hiro. It’s not Coop. It’s Lunk.”

  Hiro froze. “What happened?”

  “There’s been an accident,” Lunk said.

  “No!” It came out more like a wail. “Is Coop okay?”

  Lunk paused.

  “Lunk!”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “You think so?”

  “The paramedics are checking him out right now.”

  Lunk sat in the waiting room of the ER and watched the others from a distance. The initial frenzy had calmed. The doctor had been out to assure Coop’s mom and the rest of them that Coop was going to be fine. No signs of a concussion, thanks to the helmet. His right shoulder was bruised, and so was his right leg, thanks to the fall after the truck clipped him. But there were no broken bones. Scrapes and shallow cuts — nothing more serious.

  Coop’s amnesia act had Lunk going for a minute. Lunk smiled to himself. Coop was going to be okay. But Lunk didn’t deserve any thanks for that. His smile faded.

  He was Coop’s bodyguard — not that Coop knew it. But it was a commitment he’d made a year ago after Coop saved his hide at Frank ’n Stein’s Diner. The restaurant’s co-owner, Joseph Stein, had trapped them inside the restaurant, but Coop’s quick thinking saved their lives. Somehow Lunk would find a way to return the favor.

  Yet it seemed like Coop kept saving Lunk’s life instead. First of all, he’d pulled Lunk into his little group of friends. And for a guy like Lunk, who’d never really had friends before, this was huge.

  Lunk tried to be there for Coop. He really tried. But he hadn’t exactly been successful. Three months ago, he’d almost lost Coop when his friend pulled a “Lone Ranger” after Gordy’s abduction.

  And now he’d failed to protect Coop again. Why did that truck miss me and not Coop? Why did I escape
while Coop crashed into that lousy stone wall?

  Coop could have been killed, and Lunk wouldn’t have been able to stop it. Some bodyguard he was.

  Hiro walked over. “Hey.”

  Lunk nodded. He didn’t feel like talking.

  She studied his face. “You’re bleeding. You should get looked at too.”

  “It’s just a few scratches. I plowed into some nasty bushes. I’m okay.”

  “Hmmm.” She walked toward the women’s restroom.

  A minute later, Hiro was back with some wet paper towels. She folded up one of them and dabbed at his face.

  “Forget it, Hiro. I’m o . . . kay.” He overemphasized the word hoping she’d get the message.

  Hiro pressed her finger on one of the scratches.

  He jerked away from her. “Ouch! What are you doing?”

  “Proving that you’re not o . . . kay.” She smiled slightly. “Now sit still and let me help, or else I’ll do that again.”

  Hiro had a way of making him want to tear his hair out.

  She wiped his cheek some more. “What’s on your mind, Lunk? What are you thinking about?”

  Like he was going to tell her. He was feeling closer to Gordy and Hiro, thanks to Cooper. But opening up wasn’t exactly his style. Not about this, anyway.

  “Going to make me guess?” Hiro held the paper towel in front of him so he could see the blood. “You’re thinking about that pretty girl in Scoops. Wishing you were a little older.”

  Lunk smiled. “You’re losing your touch, Hiro. I thought you could read minds.”

  “I can,” she said. “When I want to.”

  “Well, you’re not doing such a great job right now.”

  Hiro pressed on one of his scrapes.

  He winced. “Hey, watch it.”

  “It’s not smart to insult a girl when she’s helping you.” She moved to the other side of his face. “I saw you brooding over here. What is it?”

  “You tell me, mind reader.”

  Hiro looked at him.

  He looked at the floor.

  “You’re thinking I was right. That you should have listened to me when I thought that guy in the pickup was watching us.” She ducked her head a little lower so she could look into his eyes. “And you want to tell me that you’ll listen to me next time. Am I getting warm?” She dabbed at a scratch on his chin and raised his head at the same time.

  Lunk smiled. She was really laying it on thick. “Stone cold.”

  She nodded like she knew that. “I’m giving you a chance to tell me yourself.”

  “Right.” He laughed slightly. She was fishing.

  Hiro tilted her head to the side. “Okay. How’s this? You were beating yourself up about what happened to Coop. You feel like you failed him somehow.”

  He stared at her for a moment.

  One corner of her mouth turned up. “Am I getting warmer?”

  He shrugged. If she expected him to admit it that she was right, then she was truly delusional.

  “You didn’t let anybody down. You’re a good friend to him, Lunk. To all of us.”

  Lunk stared at the floor again.

  She tapped his forehead. “I know what’s going on in there, big guy.”

  Tough. Stubborn. Maddening. A tongue that could cut like a razor — or heal, depending on her mood. Hiro was all of that and more. And he had the feeling she’d known all along what he’d been thinking. Her first two guesses were just her way of playing with him, getting him to lower his guard. Which meant there was another word he could use to describe her.

  Spooky.

  Cooper sat on the bow of The Getaway. It had to be way past midnight. He didn’t want to know what time it was. It had been the longest day — but he still felt wired.

  There would be no more riding into town or back after dark. At least not on the road. Mom had laid down the law on that one.

  He could understand that rule, really, even though he didn’t like it. He was lucky his mom was letting them stay on the boat tonight. Of course, there weren’t any other great options with the size of the condo.

  Still, Mom could have figured out some way to keep the boys closer. But to her, this was all about a drunk driver. So she probably thought the safest place in the world was on the boat.

  And that’s all it had been, right? A drunk who just happened to almost kill Cooper. It wasn’t his first brush with death. There’d been that narrow escape with Gordy and Hiro after they’d witnessed a robbery at Frank ’n Stein’s Diner. That almost got him killed.

  Joseph Stein — now ex-partner of Frank Mustacci — had borrowed money from the wrong people to pay off his gambling debts. Did he realize that loan shark was up to his gills in organized crime? Maybe not at first. But when he was late with his payment — he found out in a hurry. So to save his own hide, Stein worked out a little payment plan with the loan collectors. The plan was simple: He set up Frank ’n Stein’s to be robbed by some mob muscle on a night when Frank was closing up the restaurant. The robbery was supposed to wipe the slate clean, but Stein never expected Frank to fight back. And he definitely didn’t expect the incident to escalate into attempted murder — or for there to be witnesses.

  Stein got a chance to clean up his mess when he trapped Cooper and Lunk with the intention of silencing them for good. But Stein messed up again, a fact for which Cooper would be forever grateful. God bailed out Cooper that night, and Lunk too. And that experience had forged a loyalty and friendship between Lunk and him that had been getting stronger ever since.

  Cooper wasn’t the only one who escaped that night. Stein made a clean getaway and hadn’t resurfaced since. Probably because he was wearing concrete cowboy boots at the bottom of some pond. While the police still hadn’t found Stein, Cooper suspected that the guy Stein owed money to had, and he’d probably made sure that Stein would stay quiet — permanently.

  Cooper’s mind went back to the bizarre fact that he’d had so many close calls. His third brush with death — this time in a flooding basement — had happened after Gordy was abducted back in May. If Cooper was like a cat with nine lives, then he was going through them way too fast. He’d used up at least three of them. Maybe four now, thanks to this drunk driver incident.

  And what about that feeling of death he’d experienced after pulling off the stinking-fish prank on Tommy Kryptoski? But that was just a feeling, right? He wasn’t in any real danger . . . was he?

  Cooper shuddered and looked out over the lake. The water appeared as black as it had been inside that flooding basement, and just as deadly. All he wanted was a chance to escape all of that. Forget about his fears. Forget about his recent scrapes with death. But then tonight he’d had another scare. Not as bad as the others — not nearly as bad. Still, it wasn’t the best way to start a vacation that he’d hoped would help him forget.

  “Coop?”

  Gordy’s voice almost made Cooper jump over the bow.

  “Do you think you should be out here — all alone, I mean?”

  Did Gordy’s concern have to do with whatever had happened to Cooper under the water earlier? Or maybe he thought the hit from the pickup might still be affecting him.

  “I’m just thinking,” Cooper said.

  “Well, why don’t you think inside the cabin instead?” Gordy said. “What if you get dizzy and fall over the rail?”

  Now there was a comforting thought.

  “I’m working on a plan for a new prank. I’ll tell you about it inside.”

  Cooper shook his head. “That last one had some flaws.” The argument aboard Krypto Night hadn’t been a part of the plan. But something unexpected always seemed to happen. And truthfully, the idea of pulling more pranks wasn’t really doing it for Cooper. Not like it once had.

  “This plan still has a few kinks in it,” Gordy said. “But I’ll get ’em all worked out. This one’s a total knockout. A good prank will get you feeling better — pronto.”

  Cooper stood and winced at the sudden pain in his
shoulder. He skirted the windshield and followed Gordy below. He wasn’t in the mood to talk about pranks. But joining the others inside might be a good idea. Maybe the bright cabin would get his mind off his dark thoughts.

  Lunk was sitting at the table in the cabin — and he was wearing a lifejacket. All four nylon straps were buckled tight. Okay, so Lunk didn’t like the water. But obviously his fear went deeper than that.

  Cooper’s camping lantern sat in the center of the table, giving them all the light they needed.

  “I still feel this thing rocking,” Lunk said. “And it’s calm outside. Doesn’t the boat ever settle down?”

  Gordy laughed. “There’s always waves. Currents. Even when it’s calm. This is nothing. Wait ’til we get a storm.”

  Lunk shot Cooper a concerned look. “We’d stay in the boat during a storm?”

  Cooper shrugged. “The boat can handle it.”

  Lunk didn’t look so sure.

  “So, picture this,” Gordy said. “We prank the mailboat — aka the Walworth II.” He grinned like he expected Cooper to get all excited.

  “Picture this,” Cooper said. “The three of us handcuffed and standing in front of a judge. You’re talking about messing with government business.”

  “We won’t touch the mail. But the mail jumper — the girl who jumps off the boat to drop the mail in the box — we delay her just a bit so she can’t get back on board.” He patted the table. “This is the pier at The Geneva Inn. If we slow her down just right” — he used two fingers to simulate the mail jumper and his other hand to represent the boat cruising by the pier — “she’ll miss the boat and go for a swim.” He ran his fingers to the end of the table, made them jump — and miss.

  Cooper imagined a mail jumper leaping for the boat and falling short. Another girl in the water — just like earlier tonight. No way he wanted to see that happen. “She could get hurt.”

  “It’ll be safe,” Gordy said. “I want to scout out the Walworth II and work out some details. You interested?”