Lone Rock

by Duane Lindsay

  Corley Sayres was real. His desire to kill was real. The risk to Adrian Beck was real. He could stay atop his perch, safe until his nightmares reached him. Or he could go down and meet the threat head on and improve his chances slightly.

  “I have to go down,” he said again. Was it to convince himself?

  Maggie didn’t answer.

  “I came up here once,” Adrian said. “During the day. The sun was bright and warm and I sat on the edge with my feet dangling.”

  Maggie looked at him, listening.

  “While I sat there, with the whole world spread out under me, I first realized that I love you.” He stopped and the wind carried his words to the sky. “I love you. Maggie. I’m sorry I haven’t told you that before.”

  For a long while she sat still, watching him. Finally, Adrian shrugged and said, “I’m going down.”

  Maggie said, “I’ll go with you.”

  He could have argued. Captain America certainly would have. But this was real and her life was at risk.

  “All right.”

  “Do you have a plan?” Her voice was muted.

  “No. Not really. Yes.” He faced her. “As we go down, pick up rocks. When we get closer we’ll throw them. Maybe one will hit him and he’ll fall.”

  “Uh-huh. And if they miss? What do we do?”

  Adrian thought of the tire iron and didn’t answer.

  “Slide down feet first, on your butt. That way you can only slip a few feet, not fall face first. And aim toward the big rocks; they’ll break your fall and let you get settled.”

  “Okay.”

  “And go to the left. I’ll go to the right. With any luck we’ll confuse him. If you get to the bottom and if the car still runs, use the key to let the air out of his tires. You can get away and call somebody.” He fumbled in his pocket. “Here’s the key.”

  She took it. She never said, “I can’t leave without you.” Or “I can’t let you do this.” She just nodded solemnly with eyes as wide as saucers and placed the key in her pocket.

  From below they heard the sounds of muffled curses and sliding rock falls.

  “Let’s do it,” Adrian said. He spun around and let his legs ease over the edge. His body followed. He slid to the right and stopped every few seconds to listen. Above him he heard Maggie follow him, below he heard Corley.

  He aimed for Corley. Fifteen feet down he stopped his slide with one foot and paused to listen. At first all he heard was his own heart pounding in his chest. How could Corley do this? He was terrified of heights. Adrian had seen it at the plant. For a moment Adrian was overwhelmed by a feeling of supreme unfairness; how could Corley do this?

  He groped around, finding a few small stones, and his hand curled around a fist sized rock. Good. He stretched forward, craning his neck and saw Corley about sixty feet below and to the left. He was stretching forward, almost supine, as he reached carefully from one hand hold to another,

  Adrian aimed carefully and threw a smaller rock for practice. It landed with a sharp crack and rolled down the hill without coming anywhere near Corley. Adrian tried a few others with equal results. He hefted his large rock, aimed carefully and threw. And missed.

  Corley cursed and yelled, “Hey!” and went quiet again.

  Adrian slid down another fifteen feet, gathered more rocks and threw them all quickly, figuring his aim was so poor he may as well go for quantity. The rocks clattered and skittered and Corley probably just ducked his head to avoid them. Adrian dropped further and tried again.

  He peered over a boulder and stopped, puzzled. Where was Corley? He could see no sign of him. He stood up to get a better view and a rock, perfectly thrown, hit him in the chest. Adrian flew back as if kicked by a mule and began an uncontrolled slide. Frantically he thrust out his leg and fell it catch. It turned his body sideways and he collided with a sharp stone, cutting his side.

  “Oof.” His chest ached, his breathing was labored and he realized he was losing the battle with Corley before he even met him. At least he hadn’t hit his head, or fallen too far, both small but important consolations. Bruised was so much better than dead.

  “Beck?” Corley was close. His voice carne from the rocks nearby. Adrian turned his head to focus the sound.

  “Beck? Can you hear me?”

  “I hear you.” Adrian imagined Corley’s head pivoting like a radar antenna, locating him. He sounded only a few feet away.

  “I have an offer for you,” Corley said. “I’ll throw away my tire iron. You come out and face me. It’ll be man to man without rocks or weapons. Beck? Can you hear me?”

  Adrian considered. Despite Corley’s hitting him, the rock had probably been a fluke and Corley knew it. And he knew that Adrian had the advantage, being above. Even with a bad aim he was bound to connect eventually. He was probably fighting his own fear and wanted to get this over with.

  So he was offering to give Adrian an advantage, thinking he could overpower him anyway. Adrian decided to agree. His belief in his throwing skill was realistic, he couldn’t hit the stone he was standing on.

  “Let’s do it.” Adrian stood up and waited. Moments later Corley appeared from behind a rock outcrop, swaying unsteadily. He made a show of raising the jack and throwing it away.

  Adrian crabbed his way forward and down to where Corley waited. As he neared he was struck again with the aura of power surrounding the larger man, and he knew it had nothing to do with his size. He radiated a vitality, a feeling of confidence that was nearly overwhelming. Adrian felt his own resolve shrinking as he approached.

  “I’m going to kill you,” Corley said.

  “Why?” Adrian had one leg braced beneath him as he perched on the forty-five degree slope. The idea of falling didn’t bother him. His attention was focused on Corley.

  “Come closer and I’ll tell you.” Corley had found a flat spot to stand on, the reason he’d challenged Adrian when he did.

  Adrian crab stepped forward until he was slightly above Corley, looking down. The moon lit them like a dim spotlight. The wind whispered and moaned.

  “I went to the office yesterday,” Corley said. “Ruth Simpson was there.” He watched Adrian for a reaction.

  So? Adrian thought. He remembered Ruth’s firm refusal to get involved.

  “She was in Wally’s safe. When I asked her, she said you wanted her to spy on us.” Corley’s face twisted into an angry grimace. “Dafari was searching the office because of you. It’s always you, poking around, screwing things up.”

  Adrian wanted to protest, say it wasn’t true, spying was the last thing he wanted, but he could see it was too late. Corley had made up his mind.

  “What about Ruth?”

  “She’s safe.” Corley laughed, a menacing sound. “For now. I have Wally keeping her company back at the office. She’ll be fine, at least until I come back.”

  “Corley, this has to stop. Don’t you see that? You can’t keep hurting people like this.”

  “Actually, I can.” He curled one hand slightly, a flick of the fingers; Come over here.

  Adrian closed his eyes in resignation, feeling like he was going to his own execution. He had no illusions of the outcome of a fight. His only hope was to last long enough for Maggie to get away.

  He slid forward, one leg bent to step onto the ledge and Corley hit him in the face.

  Adrian fell like a stone, landing at Corley’s feet. His head rang and his eyes bulged. He rolled to his knees and Corley kicked him.

  “I’m going to enjoy this,” Corley said in a remarkably conversational voice. He might have been talking about the weather. “Wally said you were a pushover.” He kicked again, hitting Adrian in the shoulder. “Maybe he was right.”

  It couldn’t end this quickly, Adrian thought, it just couldn’t. When Corley got close enough, Adrian threw a handful of sandy rocks in his face, and rolled to get to his feet. Corley bellowed and stepped back, for a moment it appeared he’d go too far and fall. Adrian dared to hope but the big man
stopped himself, clawing at his face.

  Adrian swayed in the breeze like a scarecrow. He felt used up and tired and the fight hadn’t even started yet. He sucked in huge lungs full of air, gasping at the pain.

  Corley wiped the grit from his face. His eyes were red and wet and he glared at Adrian. “Nice one. I thought this was going to be too easy.”

  Adrian had that same thought. The small respite gained from the sand didn’t raise his confidence even slightly. He was about to die. He took a very small comfort in knowing that he was saving Maggie. He wondered where she was. Had she reached the cars yet? If she had she was safe. There was no way Corley could get down to her fast enough.

  Corley stepped forward as if approaching a punching bag. He studied Adrian briefly, cocked his head like a Robin, and slammed a fist into Adrian’s stomach.

  His breath exploded and this time he retched, dry heaves that continued forever. He doubled over and Corley hit the back of his head, knocking him to the ground. It looked like a television wrestling match; one fighter beating the other senseless before the victim suddenly rallied to win the fight.

  That wasn’t going to happen. Adrian was already beaten. Unable to feel even the rock scraping his cheek, his breathing still not natural, his head spun in dizzying waves. Corley pulled him up by the collar, his hand swung back and rocketed forward. Adrian’s whole body came off the ground with the blow and he fell on his back, barely conscious.

  Adrian had already won. He knew that even as consciousness left him. He’d won when he slid down the hillside to meet his fears instead of running from them. He’d won when he gave Maggie these few minutes to escape. He lay on his back, bruised and bloody, and felt satisfied.

  Corley stood over him, waiting, but Adrian didn’t move. He felt strangely unsatisfied, that the fight was over so quickly, that Adrian hadn’t even hit him. He felt stripped of pretense. For the first time Corley looked at his actions, and he wasn’t the hero of his dreams, or the victim of some unidentified conspiracy. This beating was his own nature on display under bright lights.

  He pulled Adrian up and hit him again, but it was like hitting a paper bag; there was no resistance left. He let go and Adrian fell to the rock.

  “It’s not my fault,” Corley said. This had been his mantra since childhood; it’s not my fault, I couldn’t help it, they made me do it. A parade of excuses, uttered through the years, now rumbled through his head and he tried to duck out of their way. “It’s not my fault...

  He looked down at Adrian, bleeding at his feet and was filled with a deep anger. Adrian did this. Adrian Beck was to blame. He dropped to his knees and took hold of Adrian’s collar, twisted the shirt in one fist. He lifted him by the shoulders. Adrian’s head rolled.

  “You made me do this,” Corley hissed, his last chance at placing blame. Astoundingly, Adrian smiled. It was a weak gesture, barely a twitch of the lips, but it rocked Corley as if he’d been punched.

  “You made...me...love you,” Adrian said. His lips were swollen and purple and blood spilled freely from the side of his mouth. One eye was pulpy and shut. He started to choke and Corley raised one fist to break the smirk into a mass of broken bones.

  That’s when Maggie hit him in the head with a rock.

  40 – The Way it Goes

  Though nearly closed eyes, Adrian watched the fist that would kill him. He saw the slow back swing, the moment when the arc stopped. He saw Maggie’s red hair appear over Corley’s right shoulder. Her lips were curled into a tight bow of concentration. Her shoulders twisted back and her arms pivoted.

  He saw her swing the rock forward in the same movement that Corley would have made if the ham sized stone she held in both hands didn’t strike him on the temple. There was a meaty thud and Maggie fell onto his legs. Corley’s head jerked to the side and his whole body rose off Adrian and fell over the edge of the little platform. Then there was only the sound of stones rattling and a body careening a hundred feet down the mountainside.

  And Maggie touching him gently, the sound of her crying, and the wind, blowing her hair into tendrils of red, the color of blood.

  It was nearly dawn when Adrian returned to consciousness. The sun was a sliver on the horizon, the moon long vanished with the night. He woke to find his head cradled in her lap. She stared unmoving out at the valley below, an image of patience, like a statue.

  She felt him watching her and smiled down in apparent relief. “Adrian,” she said softly. “You made it. I knew you would.”

  “I didn’t.” He noticed a tear on her cheek and wished he could reach up and wipe it away.

  “Corley?” he said.

  “He’s dead. I think. “Down there. He hasn’t moved for hours.” There was no sound of regret or remorse in her voice. The tears weren’t for him.

  “That was amazing what you did,” he said.

  “That was amazing what you did.” Maggie said. “He was going to kill you.”

  “Almost did.” Adrian agreed. “I hurt everywhere.”

  “You look awful.”

  “You look beautiful.”

  “I love you,” Maggie said. Softly she began to cry.

  Around nine she gently lay his head back on the stone. “I have to get help.” She slipped away down the slope and was gone for a very long time. When she returned she had a half empty bottle of purified water. “From Corley’s car. I had to go through his pockets for the keys. For some reason he locked it.”

  She lifted his head enough for him to drink. “I found a cell phone and called the state police. They said they’d send someone soon, maybe a helicopter. I told them you probably couldn’t get down by yourself.”

  “I don’t think I can.” Adrian said.

  “Is there anything broken?”

  “Probably, I don’t know. Ribs maybe, or my nose. Nothing else, I don’t think.” He paused and added carefully. “Is Corley—?”

  “Dead? Sure.”

  “Are you okay with that?”

  “Sure,” Maggie said clearly. “I killed him. I hit him with a rock and knocked him off this god forsaken mountain and watched him fall. But he was about to kill you.” She looked out at some distance, perhaps seeing the recent past.

  “I’m planning to keep the rock as a doorstop.”

  The police arrived with lights and commotion. They inspected the damage to Adrian’s Studebaker and sent a pair of uniformed officers up to the ledge and asked questions until a helicopter arrived and an ambulance was called to take what remained of Corley to the morgue in Salt Lake City.

  They arranged a stretcher and airlifted Adrian. Maggie drove away with the police.

  She told them, in the first burst of attention, about Ruth and her potential kidnaping. An alert looking young cop took a statement and vanished in the excitement, promising nothing.

  He returned, after Adrian was settled in a small room at St. Vincent’s Mormon Hospital, with Maggie in tow.

  “I just heard from the Denver police,” he said. His hair was red and his face freckled. He looked twelve and carried a large black gun in a brown holster on his hip. “Thought you might like to know.”

  Maggie sat on the edge of the bed and held Adrian’s hand. The sun was yellow and his pain was being controlled by drugs.

  The young officer was having trouble concealing his amusement. He flipped the pages of a notebook and said, “I called Denver and gave them the story you told me about the kidnaping. They sent some guys over and guess what they found?”

  Maggie shook her head, Adrian just waited.

  “They broke in and sure enough, there was a woman being held there, but as it turned out, she didn’t need rescuing. Evidently she managed to free herself and she attacked her guard, a mister...”

  “Clooner,” said Adrian. “Wally Clooner,”

  “Right. It seems that Ms. Simpson was a bit...peeved...at being held and mad that the company was folding. They say she kept yelling at him that her job was over and it was his fault. She sort of beat the h
ell out of him.”

  “What?” Maggie looked wholly interested now.

  “Yeah. They say she jumped him when he returned from the bathroom and knocked him about quite a bit. When the police got there they had to rescue him from her.”

  He closed his notebook with a grin. “Your Wally Clooner is under protective custody at St. Luke’s hospital. They said he’s looking forward to prison.”

  EPILOGUE

  Pieburn Dafari recovered and was released from Porter hospital after a six week recovery. He worked at Control-logics for a year, finishing the Kelly Ridge project. He and Adrian became firm friends and it was with deep regret that Adrian took him to Denver International Airport and watched him fly back to Nairobi.

  Ruth Simpson was detained by the Denver Police Department. She was released by a very amused detective in less than an hour of questioning. A week later he called her and asked for a date. She continued to work at Control-logics, with a pay raise and promotion to office manager.

  Toby Hernandez worked for two months helping Adrian rebuild the Lark. In May he went to the prom in a powder blue tuxedo that clashed horribly with the newly restored Studebaker. His date was Sue Mazur. His mother cried when Adrian gave him the title to the car.

  Wally Clooner was released from the hospital after receiving multiple bruises from his evening with Ruth Simpson. He was arrested for kidnaping, a class A felony, but plea bargained the charge to “detaining a person against their will; a class D felony. He served three years at a low security facility near Durango and moved to Tahiti where he lived off the income from his sale of Control-logics.

  Maggie Powers continued to work at Carlton Electric, making substantially more money in commissions from her new customer. She rehearsed for nearly a year before making her debut at the Buffalo Grill night club, playing piano and singing the torch songs she loved. She and Adrian were married and honeymooned a long way from Utah.

  Adrian Beck returned to Ohio and faced a lawsuit filed by Christine Gengler, the woman he’d rescued. A jury took only seventeen minutes to dismiss the case. Adrian met with Wally Clooner and negotiated the purchase of Control-logics, a sale which left him with an eye popping debt load and the title of chief engineer. He hired a manager to run the company and continued to work at the trade he loved.