Max stuck a finger down his throat, a gesture Nickie ignored.
Bird ladled a spoonful for her to taste.
Her eyes widened. "Wow!"
"Don't tell me," he gloated, "delicate but rich, tangy but smooth, familiar yet foreign, right?"
"Right!"
"And what about that surprising zing, eh?"
"Delicious!" she said.
"So, what do you call this big deal masterpiece?" asked Max.
Bird looked at him in surprise. "Why, chicken soup, silly. It's all in the preparation, you know."
Halfway through the magical soup course, Max's Linker started to beep.
"Sorry, my phone," he explained to Nickie. "Probably my…social worker. She's evaluating Mr. Bird this month."
"Oh. Well, go ahead," she said.
Max hesitated and looked to Bird for help.
"I think the lad doesn't want to talk to her in front of me," Bird said. "Why don't you step out into the hallway, Max?"
"I won't be long," said Max.
"Don't hurry. We wouldn't want to interfere with your 'personal business'," said Nickie.
Max stepped into the hallway. Great, he thought. First Bird gives Nickie some lame excuse that she doesn't believe, then he gets me kicked out of the apartment. I hope she lets me back in for dessert.
Max paced up and down the hallway looking for a clear signal, moved to the stairwell and finally, wound his way down the stairs and onto the street. He was just a few blocks from his motel when he had some success. He pushed the STANDBY button and it stopped blinking. That's weird, it's supposed to keep flashing if there's a call coming in. He tried to get a connection for another forty minutes until it finally crackled into life. He punched in the numbers, and waited. A rattle of static and then, "Leo Peterson, here."
"Leo! I've been waiting hours for your call!"
"You must be reading my mind, Max! How did you know I was going to call you? I've just been waiting for clearance," said Leo.
"No, Bird said – never mind, Leo, what's up?"
"It's good news, Max! Your grandma came through after all. You can come back tomorrow morning! In time for the sting! Isn't that great?"
"Tomorrow?" His thoughts went to Nickie. "Yeah, that's great, Leo, but I really need some time first to…to talk to somebody," said Max.
A picture of Nickie eating lunch alone in the library came to him. I wouldn't have let her eat alone behind a dictionary. I would have been her friend but does she care? Noooo, she – wait – dictionary! I was going to look up something in the dictionary…something Powers said.
"Max? Are you still there?" said Leo.
Keel awl? No…keel haul! That's it! He flipped through the K's in his infochip dictionary. Kayak, Kebob, Keel-haul: "To haul under the keel of a ship as punishment or torture, to kill," he read aloud.
"What ship? What murder, Max!?"
"Leo, it's okay. But I'm involved here. It's too complicated to explain but I can't leave yet. You go ahead with the Spinelli sting and I'll come back when I'm finished here."
"No, Max! If you're on a ship you've got to get ashore quick because the Chief said we're going to retrieve you at 6:00 am tomorrow. And you know, I'm so relieved. Call it my intuition, but I've had a bad feeling-"
"Can't do it, Leo. I'll take responsibility. Talk to you when I get back!"
Max hung up on Leo's protests. He turned the Linker on its side, removed the small, glowing red disc inside the slot and tossed it into a trashcan.
Chapter 22
Max looked at his internal time. Oh, gnartz! An hour and a half gone! She'll never let me back in now, he thought. But he headed that way anyway and ran into Bird in the next block.
"Hey, Max! What did headquarters have to say?"
"Nothing, just Leo checking in. Was Nickie mad that I didn't come back?"
"Weeelll, disappointed, I think. But we had fun after you left. Ted came home and we played musical chairs to his old rock and roll CDs."
"I've been thinking, Bird. We've got to walk this case through again. We're not any closer to solving this murder and it's only days away."
"But we don't have to solve it, Max, just witness it. We can't change things. Somebody's going to die."
Back in the motel, Max paced in the small foot space between his bed and Bird's and tried to ignore the big Indian's singing.
"We all live in a yel-low submarine, yel-low submarine, yel-low submarine..."
Just tune it out, thought Max. After all, a good cop has to learn concentration.
"Love Shack, baaaby, Love Shack, bay-beee!"
And a good cop has to learn patience.
"Darling, you've gooot to let me know…should I stay or should I goooo?"
"Biiiirrrd!"
"What? Want to sing along? How about a game of musical chairs? It's really fun, never played it before tonight."
"No! Are you sure Ted's home for the ni – wait, you played musical chairs with just three people?"
"Well, you find a winner pretty fast, that's true," said Bird, lying down on his bed. "But yes, Ted is in for the night, he was yawning several times before I left."
"Okay, tomorrow's the online press conference and we have work to do in the morning. So get some sleep."
"Speaking of the morning, I thought we could get up extra early and do a Sun Dance before work," said Bird.
"Forget it, Bird, we don't have time for games." Max went into the bathroom to clean his teeth.
"It's a simple, solemn ceremony, Max. But we'll need a pole or a lamppost or something. Anyway, we dance around the pole until we get faint and fall into a trance or a vision."
"Sounds as much fun as musical chairs for three. Besides, the only thing this meditating has gotten me is bad dreams."
"Exactly! That thunder dream is important, Max. We need to find out what it means. You were visited by the Thunder Being."
"The who?"
"Thunder Being, the one who protects warriors. That dream was a warning, Max. You're in danger. If we do a Sun Dance we might be able to get supernatural help," said Bird.
"Isn't there an easier way? Do a little jazz-hands or something?"
"If we were home, I could talk to my shaman and he might be able to tell us but-"
Max's phone rang. "Tell me this is a psychic Shaman," he answered. "Oh, sorry! Hello? Nickie?"
"Max! I can't believe it! I'm so mad I could just kill him!" said Nickie.
"Calm down! What's wrong?"
"Dad and I were just sitting around talking after Bird left. Our first talk in weeks, you know? And it was great! I told him what I wanted to do about college – I even asked him about Gloria. And do you know what he said? He said there's nothing between them. Nothing!"
"So that's good, right?" said Max.
"No! That's not good, because five minutes later Gloria calls and says she needs him at the capsule right away so he just runs off!"
"Now don't get upset."
"Upset! I've had it with him! He lied to me! If they're having an affair why don't they come out with it? I – I'm going to go down there and confront them!"
"Nickie! Listen! Don't go down there!"
"I've got to, Max. I'll call you when I get back!"
"Nickie! Don't hang up!" said Max.
"What's happened?" asked Bird.
"It was Nickie. She's going to the capsule and confront Ted and Gloria."
"So tonight's the murder, you think?"
"Could be. Okay, let me think. Bird, you…you go detain Nickie. I don't want her down there when things get bad. I'll go ahead to the capsule and witness the crime."
"You're the boss," said Bird, leaving.
Max grabbed his shoes and pulled them on. He flew through the door and crashed into Leo.
"Leo! What are – what?" He gave his friend a hand up and retrieved the Porta-Transfer box that was knocked out of his hands.
"Max, you gotta come home with me," Leo was shaken. "Internal Affairs thinks you're over-involv
ed. I had to convince them that I could bring you in."
"Look, Leo, you can bring me in later! Right now I've got to witness the murder!"
Max started to push his way past but Leo blocked him. "You don't understand, Max. You've been pulled from the case."
"But I can get the murderer for you!"
"It's not necessary! See, the lab crew found a hair on the corpse. A woman's hair, Max. They think they know who did it," said Leo.
"A woman's? I see. Alright, Leo, I'll go with you. C'mon inside. You set the atom timer and coordinates while I get my stuff."
Leo set the Porta-Transfer box on the dresser and fumbled with the settings. Max quickly scanned the room, then settled on the framed paint-by-number painting of Niagara Falls on the wall across from Leo's back. Circling behind him, Max raised the painting over Leo's head, hesitated, then firmly brought it down on his skull. Leo crumpled to the floor.
Max grabbed a pillow from the bed and placed it under Leo's head. He nestled the transport box in Leo's arms, set the dials and pushed SEND.
"Forgive me, Leo," he said. He rushed from the building just as Leo's atoms separated and spiraled ahead on their journey through time.
Chapter 23
The office was dark and empty. Big Red, the paper mache rat creaked and spun gently as Max closed the etched glass door. A buzz rang out and he ran to the elevator. The light above the closed doors lit B for Basement. He ran to the stairs and swiftly slid down the banisters to the bottom floor. Silently he opened the stairwell door and crept his way along the dark basement wall. Silently, he entered the vault room, heard a voice, and froze.
"Gloria! Gloria?" called Ted in the darkness.
Max ducked down behind a stack of empty cartons. Ted passed near him as he trailed his fingers along the basement wall and groped for the light switch.
"Ouch!" Ted said, "Darn cart!" His hand finally found the switch and he turned on the light. Cautiously, he made his way through the mountains of empty cardboard boxes and peered inside the open vault.
"Gloria?" He heard a loud CLICK and spun around to find Powers aiming a gun at him.
"Powers! You nearly scared me half to death! What's going on?"
"Don't come any closer, Ted," said Powers. "I got your passport from your desk." He tossed the passport to Ted. "Put it in our pocket. You're going to need it for your trip."
"But I'm not going on a trip," said Ted.
"Oh, but you are. A nice long cruise. Of course, you don't reach port for a hundred years," said Powers.
"Powers, hold on a minute –"
"But don't worry, Ted, I'm sending Gloria with you. After I kill you, I'm going to ask her to help tidy up. Then I'll kill her, too. Everyone will think you two left the country with the money I've embezzled from the company."
"You! I knew someone was – but why?!"
"You know I love to gamble, Ted. And those bookies can get so grouchy when you can't pay up. So I borrowed the company money, signed a few checks and withdrawals in your name, that kind of thing."
Ted moved slightly forward. "Look, Powers, we can work something out, or you can pay me back!"
"No time, Ted. We're going to pipe you aboard now. So if you'll just back up a few steps onto the gangplank…" He moved forward menacingly but Ted hurled the passport into his face and rushed him. They scuffled, the gun fired, and Ted slid to the floor.
Powers tugged his blazer down and straightened his tie. "Rough waters there for a moment, Powers, old boy, but it's smooth sailing ahead," he said to himself. He went to the vault timer and set it. "Okay, Ted, all aboard!" He bent down to drag Ted into the capsule.
"Hold it right there, Powers!" Max cried.
Powers looked up in surprise and dropped Ted. Max suddenly realized that he didn't have a weapon. He gaped at Powers then, THUNK! Everything went beautifully black.
Max floated in the lovely, soft darkness. He had a nagging feeling that he needed to do something but it didn't matter. He'd just float. He felt pain floating with him, but it didn't touch him.
He drifted on the black river for a thousand years until he hit a snag. It hurt his head and burned his eyes. Let me sleep! I just want to sleep. But the drifting stopped and the pain set in. He heard his father's voice, "Don't open your eyes, just play possum." Why is Dad here? Where am I? Whose voices are those?
"How'd the kid get here?" someone said.
"Shut up!" a woman said.
Who is that woman? Don't open your eyes, don't open your eyes…a loud, familiar CLICK and Max's memory billowed up. He opened one eye a crack and stared at the backs of Powers' shoes.
"Gloria! What a surprise! Quick thinking, knocking out the kid that way!" said Powers nervously. "I was just going to call you, sweetie. All according to the plan."
"So I heard. And you had a little surprise planned for me, didn't you, Captain Bligh? A one-way ticket on the Titanic!" said Gloria.
"That was a…that was a joke, Gloria! Ha-ha. You can put that gun away now. Can't you take a joke?" he said.
"Sure. In fact, I know a really funny story that I'm going to tell you while you drag the hero here into the vault," she said, pointing to Max. Max shut his eye.
"Gloria, sweetie…" wheedled Powers.
"Heave to, sailor!" she barked. Max felt himself dragged onto the cool steel floor of the vault.
Gloria's voice came from the vault doorway. "My funny story is about two partners who get killed and put into a time capsule by their secretary. Are you laughing yet?"
"Gloriaaaaaa!"
"Wait, it gets better, Powers. The secretary covers up her crime by tearfully telling the police that she's discovered the partners' plot to embezzle money and leave the country. She can even show them the books."
"Glooooooria!"
"Then, after a reasonable time, the secretary leaves for Bali with the embezzled money." Max peeped through one eye and saw Gloria wave a huge wad of cash at Powers.
"My MONEY!" he screamed.
"It's not safe to keep so much cash in your apartment, Powers. You could get robbed," she said.
"Give me my money!" He sprang at her, she shot, and Powers fell. Holding the gun on him, she approached him slowly, cautiously. She kicked him slightly with her pointy toe. He lifted his head weakly.
"Gloria?" he wheezed.
"Die!" she hissed.
"Blast!" He slumped and was forever still.
Gloria retrieved the passport and Powers' gun and threw them into the vault. She turned away toward Powers' body and grabbed it under the arms.
Now's my chance, thought Max. Get up and rush her! He lifted his head and a wave of nausea broke over it.
Gloria struggled on her high heels and half-dragged, half-shoved Powers into the vault. She turned to drag Ted in to join them. "Room for one more, Teddy!" she said.
Now, Max thought! Get up, it's your last chance! He got to his hands and knees and looked up into the barrel of Gloria's gun.
"And where do you think you're going, little boy?" she said.
CLICK!
"PPPPbbbbhhhh!"
"AAAEEEEIIIII!" Gloria screamed.
"PPPPbbbbbhhhh!" snorted Bluebell.
"It's a…."
"Buffalo," said Bird, snapping forcecuffs on her wrists. "Though I'll admit she's oversized. Won her in a poker game." He threw Gloria's dropped gun into the vault, then bent down to smile at Max. "Hey, Max, nice work! Bluebell, give Max a hand!"
Bluebell nipped the back of Max's shirt in her teeth. She walked him like a giant marionette to a pile of boxes where she gently released him. Bird pulled out his Linker and pressed some numbers.
"Bluebell, blow that paper money back into the vault and close the door on it, please," said Bird.
Gloria shivered fearfully and hugged her cuffed hands up to her face as Bluebell passed by. The big buffalo stamped and snorted, wafting the paper money into a fluttering pile in the vault. She disappeared inside and rummaged around noisily. Max held his throbbing head and wished f
or the peacefulness of the black river.
HICCUP! BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Bluebell! Don't eat the guns! Now you'll be up all night with gas. Come here and take charge of the prisoner."
"BBBBWWWHHH," blasted Bluebell, covering Gloria with spittle.
"Don't let him eat me!" she cried, holding one toothpick-thin leg out against Bluebell.
"Don't be silly, she just had a snack," said Bird.
"HHHMMMPPPP!"
Bird laughed and looked from Bluebell to Gloria. "Oh, good one, Bluebell! Yeah I get it – buffalo floss!" Chuckling, he went to the pile of boxes where Bluebell had deposited Max.
"Bird, you were supposed to warn Nickie."
"I was supposed to witness a crime, Max."
Max bent forward and rubbed the back of his head. "You knew about Powers all along, didn't you?"
"We gamblers tend to think alike," shrugged Bird. "Besides, I had Big Red rigged up with a camera. I taped everybody's doings all day long."
Max pointed to Ted, still lying on the floor outside the closed vault. "What do we do with him?"
"I think he falls under the Policy of Non-Involvement," said Bird.
"He's sniffing me!" yelled Gloria from under Bluebell's nose.
"I've got to get her out of here. We'll go to the stairwell and get an immediate prisoner retrieval. Are you alright, Max?" asked Bird.
"Yeah, you go ahead. I'm going to sit here for a minute."
"He's going to eat me!" Gloria howled.
"Hey, don't worry, she's a vegetarian," said Bird. "Most of the time."
When they were gone, Max lied down across a row of boxes.
"Dad?"
Max rolled down behind the boxes when he heard Nickie's voice.
"Dad? I know you're here!" she said.
Max peeked between the cartons. Nickie caught sight of her father and ran to him.
"Dad! Dad, are you okay?" She cradled his head in her lap and he opened his eyes. "You're okay, Dad, you're going to be fine. It's all over now."
Max watched her for a moment, and then sneaked away.
Chapter 24
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