Spirals

by Scott Bergin

  "I can't live without cable T.V." Thomas said joking. Then, before they could respond, he continued. "Actually I'm using the international weather service to track that cloud, as well as some other storms."

  "Wow." Alex replied. "I guess you really will be the first one to know if we're going to be in any trouble."

  "I guarantee we are in no danger." Thomas assured them. "Come over here and I'll show you." Alex and Gabrielle quickly sat on the floor and stared at the screen in fascination. The display showed a map of around three hundred miles in diameter, and the cloud was in the center. Thomas pointed out their location, more than a hundred miles from the near side of the cloud. Then Thomas began typing.

  "This is where the cloud was twelve hours ago." He said, then typed some more. "And this is where it is now." Thomas pressed the enter key and the screen began showing the cloud's movement, one second for each hour. The screen showed the cloud slowly begin to engulf Cameroon's capital city, Yaoundé.

  "So the city has been evacuated?" Gabrielle asked.

  "No chance." Thomas replied. " There are millions of people in that city, and most of them have no way to leave except on foot."

  "Well, the government must have gotten them out then." Gabrielle protested.

  "I don't think the government was ever prepared for something like this." Alex said. "I'm sure they got as many people out as possible, but there's no way they could get them all."

  "You don't know that." Gabrielle insisted.

  "I do." Thomas said. "He's right. The government got out as many people as they could, but an hour ago they left the city and anyone still in it."

  "They couldn't have gotten very many people out, or we'd have seen them flowing in here." Alex said.

  "That's where we're lucky." Thomas replied. "They have been taking them west, to the other major cities."

  "How does that make us lucky?" Gabrielle asked.

  "Well, they have blocked off the city." Thomas began. "No one is being allowed on the roads that lead into Yaoundé for forty-eight hours."

  "But I still don't," Gabrielle's question was cut short by Thomas.

  "They are only closing off the city from the west." He explained. "Since that is where they have taken the people. We can still sneak in from the east."

  "Won't they be guarding those roads as well?" Alex asked.

  "Maybe, that's why we are not going by road." Thomas replied. "I had the tires removed from my jeep this morning. We will simply drive it down the railroad tracks, they'd never suspect that."

  "That sounds great." Gabrielle said. "What about the cloud?"

  "No problem." Thomas assured them. "The cloud will pass through the city in about thirty-six hours. After that it will dissipate and pass on. By ten in the morning on the twelfth, it will be completely harmless. We can get there at noon, and still be six hours ahead of anyone else."

  "I don't know." Gabrielle said, hesitating.

  "You want the best photos, don't you?" Thomas asked.

  "Of course." Gabrielle replied.

  "Well, then you've got to endure the risk." Thomas said.

  "Why do you want to help us?" Alex asked. "Shouldn't you be trying to compete with us?"

  "I'm sure there will be plenty of Yaoundé for all of us. We'll just split up when we get there." Thomas replied.

  "We'll think about it." Gabrielle said confidently.

  "Fair enough." Thomas said, shutting the computer system down. "Now what do you say we go waste some film, before we get there. After all, we can loot the stores in Yaoundé for all the free film we want."

  "Let's go." Gabrielle said, paying no attention to his looting comment.

  "Do you want to drive?" Alex asked.

  "My jeep has no wheels." Thomas reminded him.

  "Right." Alex replied. "I'll drive."

  Thomas gathered up a few things, then led them out the door.

  "Will you close that, my hands are full?" Thomas asked Gabrielle.

  "Sure." She replied, then closed the door.

  "Oh, and lock it." Thomas said chuckling.

  "You two monkeys plan this or something?" Gabrielle asked. Then she realized exactly how paper thin the walls were in this place, and a look of horror fell on her face. She couldn't remember if they had talked about Thomas in their room, and she wondered how many of their conversations he had heard.

  Ten minutes later they were in the wide open plains of the park. Alex was driving his jeep, with Thomas directing him in the passenger seat. Gabrielle was sitting sideways in the back seat. To the astonishment of Alex and Gabrielle, Thomas had led them right to a small herd of elephants. Thomas was equally surprised, though he dared not show it. After all, he had lied and told them that he knew all about the park. He just figured he would have to make up some excuse for not finding any animals, but now he had nothing to worry about.

  "Let me off here." Gabrielle said.

  "O.K." Alex said, stopping the jeep within a hundred fifty yards of the herd. "Just be careful."

  "I will." Gabrielle promised.

  "We'll drive alongside them, so we don't scare them off." Alex told her.

  "All right." Gabrielle agreed. "Just don't get in my shot." Gabrielle hoped out the back of the jeep, taking her camera and several rolls of film. Alex turned the jeep, and drove along the left side of the elephants. He kept the jeep more than two hundred yards off, and kept his speed at twenty miles an hour. When he got to be about five hundred yards from where he dropped Gabrielle off, he turned the jeep around and parked it.

  "I never expected them to be so huge." Thomas admitted.

  "What, you've never seen elephants before?" Alex asked.

  "Well, not so close." Thomas said, trying to cover his error.

  "Then how did you know they were here?" Alex asked.

  "Uh, one of the locales told me where to find them." Thomas lied.

  "Well then, what type of animals do you usually film?" Alex asked.

  "None." Thomas admitted. "I came here to photograph storms."

  "Well, shouldn't you have come here during the rainy season?" Alex persisted.

  "No, I film all kinds of weather patterns." Thomas said. "Just most people don't understand it if you tell them you film sunny days."

  "Oh." Alex replied.

  "That's why I have all the fancy equipment in my room." Thomas added in the hopes of convincing Alex of his lie. Alex paid little attention to what Thomas was saying, he was busy playing with his camera. Thomas noticed Alex was ignoring him. Alex was off in his own little world pawing though lenses and filters.

  "Well would you look at that." Thomas said, pointing toward Gabrielle. Alex looked up, and saw Gabrielle standing within eighty yards of a massive male elephant. The bull was waving his trunk wildly in the air, and violently shaking his head up and down. Gabrielle continued to shoot photos, while inching ever closer. The elephant trumpeted and took several steps forward and back.

  "What the hell is she doing?" Alex asked.

  "Is something wrong?" Thomas asked naively.

  "He's going to charge her!" Alex shouted, dropping his camera and starting the jeep. Alex started driving toward Gabrielle, closing in on the elephant simultaneously. He tried to go slow enough to keep from startling the elephant, while still getting there in time.

  "Well, how do we keep an elephant from charging?" Thomas asked.

  "What I don't need right now is a joke about credit cards." Alex replied, his eyes fixed on Gabrielle.

  "Actually, I was serious." Thomas insisted.

  "Well, we've got no gun. So we can't stop him." Alex replied. They were now only two hundred yards from the elephant, and another seventy from Gabrielle. Their course had taken them right alongside the elephant's path, and the bull was still only preparing to charge.

  "Can't we just scare him off?" Thomas asked. He didn't even wait for a response. Thomas reached over and pounded on the horn.

  "No!" Alex hollered, and tried to fight him off the horn, but it was
too late. The elephant started to charge Gabrielle.

  "Get in the back!" Alex ordered Thomas, as he floored the jeep. Thomas stood in his seat, then slipped at the sudden burst of speed. He landed in the rear seat and fell against the spare tire that hung on the back. They raced alongside the elephant's path, gaining quickly on him. The elephant was only forty yards ahead of them, but Gabrielle was now only forty yards ahead of that. Ten Seconds later they passed beside the elephant, and could clearly see Gabrielle standing frozen in her tracks. Alex aimed the jeep toward her.

  "You're going to have to grab her!" He shouted to Thomas. Thomas leaned out the side of the jeep, only hanging on with one hand on the back of the front seat. Thomas quickly glanced back and saw the charging elephant right behind them. He turned toward the front again and saw Gabrielle just in front of the jeep. As Alex got beside her he slammed on the brakes, throwing Thomas against the front seat he was holding. The jeep slid past Gabrielle, and Thomas managed to grab her with his free hand around her waist. Alex caught a glimpse of this and stomped on the gas. Thomas was thrown back against the spare tire again. His arm still around her waist, and his hand on the small of her back. Thomas clenched his fist on fabric, and realized he still had her. Thomas looked up at the charging elephant, less than ten yards back. Then he felt the jeep catch firmer ground and jerk forward. There was a tearing sound, and Gabrielle began to slip down his arm. His hand slid up over her shoulder, and he saw her pink panties that he had been holding her by. She was still dragging on her toes, when Thomas threw his chest onto the tire and grabbed her by both underarms. He quickly pulled her up into the jeep, where she fell on top of him in the back seat. They both lay motionless with exhaustion and disbelief for several seconds.

  "I owe you my life." She whispered into Thomas' ear.

  "Maybe someday I will collect." He softly whispered back. Though exhausted, she managed to lift herself off him. Then she just stared at him puzzled by his comment. Thomas sat up as well, then reached down onto the floor.

  "Did you lose something?" Thomas asked, holding her panties in his hand. He caressed her cheek with the dangling undergarment, then threw her an eerie grin. She quickly took the tattered remains, and said nothing. Alex turned the jeep off the elephant's course and began to slow down. Gabrielle climbed into the front seat, and breathed a sigh of relief.

  "Are you all right?" Alex asked her.

  "Yeah." Gabrielle said, holding her underwear up. "He just scared the pants off me." Then she forced out a smile.

  "I'm just glad he didn't scare the shit out of you first." Thomas said, sticking his head between the seats. They drove without another incident, or word, all the way back to the hotel.

  After dropping Thomas off at the front, Gabrielle insisted on staying with Alex while he parked the jeep. Once Thomas was out of ear shot she felt safe enough to talk.

  "I don't like him." Gabrielle said. "He gives me the creeps."

  "I know." Alex said. "I don't trust him."

  "What's worse, I think he's been listening in on us." Gabrielle said. "Maybe even spying on us."

  "I think you're being a little paranoid." Alex replied.

  "Probably, but only a little." She said smiling.

  "O.K." Alex said. "So we'll just do a little spying on our own."

  "You really think he's up to something?" Gabrielle asked.

  "I don't know." Alex admitted. "But I don't think he is any kind of photographer, and if he is up to something, we're going to find out what."

  "That's fine by me." She replied. "Just so long as it isn't today. I'm too spent."

  "Yeah." Alex said. "It can wait until tomorrow."

  "Good." Gabrielle said, getting out of the jeep.

  "Oh, one more thing." Alex said.

  "What's that?" Gabrielle asked, closing the door.

  "Try to be a little more discerning with the men you let into your pants." Alex said, holding up her torn panties that she had left on the seat.

  "Good one." Gabrielle said, smiling. Then she walked off toward the hotel.

  Chapter 14

  April 11

  6:50 p.m.

  90 Miles Northwest of Yaoundé, Cameroon

  Robert Mason had been traveling for more than a day, by any means he could get a hold of. The last of his methods of transportation was a truck. The owner had abandoned it on the side of the road, and Robert took the liberty of commandeering it. That was several hours ago. Now he had reached his destination, the secret warehouse that he had been using as a headquarters for his ivory smuggling operations. Robert had stopped the truck fifty feet before the front door. The body that lay on the ground did not stop him. He had already run over two others just to get this far. What did stop him was shock. The shock of seeing the huge front door wide open, exposing the whole operation. He got out of the truck and looked through the door, everyone and everything inside was motionless. Robert didn't even get a chance to close the door to the truck before the smell hit him. The smell of rotting flesh rose up from the badly decaying body in front of the truck. Robert left the truck door open and ran into the building. The smell inside was much stronger, it rose off a hundred rotting corpses and drifted up his nose. Robert quickly took off his shirt and used it to cover his mouth and nose. Now he could smell his own sweat, and only a faint odor of death.

  Robert walked around to the side of the truck that was parked just inside the warehouse door. He saw two bodies laying on the ground. One body was missing a substantial piece of its head, but Robert knew that he did not know the man. The other man laying on the floor, he recognized in an instant. This was not accomplished by looking at his face, since most of the flesh had been burned off. What flesh remained was badly blistered and discolored. The size of the man was what gave him away. It was his partner and friend for more than five years, Charles Silthe. Robert walked over to the bodies. He squatted down in the pool of dried blood and stared into Silthe glazed eyes. Robert let his hand holding the shirt fall away from his mouth, and he didn't even notice the smell returning.

  "Who has done this to you?" Robert asked the corpse. He paused for a moment then spoke again.

  "Who has done this to you, my friend?" He asked, still staring at Silthe. Robert reached forward and put his hand on Silthe's blistered forehead.

  "Goodbye." Robert said softy, then slid his hand over Silthe's eyes. As he tried to close Silthe's eyes, the flesh of the lids slid down over the eyes and fell off. They slid down onto his cheek, and eventually landed on the floor. Robert took the flesh from Silthe's forehead and pealed it off. Then he laid the piece over Silthe's eyes. As he did this to Silthe's eyes, he closed his own eyes as well. Robert's mind began to wonder.

  Before he knew it, it had taken him back to Paris. It was January fourth, two years earlier, and Charles Silthe was visiting for dinner. Christine was staying overnight at a friend's house. Dana had gone through hours of hassling over the stove, which she only did on rare occasions. Charles was greeted at the door and let in. Robert took his coat and showed him to the living room. Dana came into the living room and asked Charles if he had remembered the wine she had asked him for. He had nothing but the sincerest apologies for forgetting the wine. Dana had not complained or criticized him for it, which was odd considering how flustered she had become while cooking. She had simply said that she would go pick something up, and be back in an hour. Then Robert remembered how Silthe had asked if that would ruin dinner, and offered to go correct his own mistake. Robert had said how ridiculous it all was, and Robert went out for the wine. When Robert returned, he was quite surprised to find that Dana had burned the dinner anyway. Apparently she and Charles had gotten into lengthy discussions, and neglected to check on anything until they smelled smoke. When Robert arrived they were trying to salvage what was left, but it hardly consisted of much more than ash. In no way would it serve as dinner for three. Robert decided that the proper solution was to simply take Charles out to dinner. Dana apologized for ruining the dinner, and agre
ed. Then she explained that she felt she had monopolized enough of Charles' time, and that she would prefer to stay at home. Robert had told her that this was nonsense, and that she was welcomed to go. She insisted on staying behind, and mentioned that she would not be interested once the talk turned to business anyway. After several unsuccessful attempts to convince her to join them, Robert and Charles eventually went out to eat without her. Robert realized that Charles was not only his partner and friend, but that he was a friend of his entire family. Robert opened his eyes and saw Silthe still laying there, motionless. Robert realized that he was going to have to tell his family that their friend was dead.

  Robert got up and walked away from his dead friend. His feet clung to the dried blood on the floor, and for a moment he almost thought he was in a movie theater. He walked up the staircase and onto the catwalk. Robert looked across the warehouse and saw nothing but losses. The loss of life in the hundred workers laying dead on every chair, table, and floor space. And the loss of his money, now in the form of useless ivory. Robert realized that there was no way for him to do anything with all this ivory. Robert knew plenty of people in the French customs who would let him sneak it into the country, for the right price. That was no problem. The problem was getting it out of Cameroon. Robert knew only one person who was capable of pulling that off, and Robert had just tried to close that man's dead eyes. The situation was grim. Robert knew that there was more than half a million dollars in ivory in the warehouse, because the shipment was supposed to have already left. Everything he had invested in was lost. There was no way to get any of the ivory out of Cameroon without Silthe. Any attempt to smuggle the ivory out could result in Robert being arrested, or even killed. The only thing he could do was to leave it all behind, and just hope that someday he could have it smuggled out. Though, Robert assumed that if he left the ivory, someone else would find it before he got a chance to return. That person would either turn it over to the police, or keep it for themselves. No matter what they did with it, Robert knew it would no longer be his.