Ikon

by Graham Masterton

  I would have thought Skellett’s behaviour was enough.’

  ‘Skellett might be nothing more than a lone crackpot. I don’t think that he actually is, but he could be; and we don’t have any way of proving that he isn’t.’

  ‘Did you have any more luck with the National Security Agency?’ asked Daniel.

  ‘Unh-hunh. Wall of silence time. “We regret that in the interests of national security we are unable to respond to your enquiries at this moment in time.” ‘

  Daniel stood by the shoreline, his bare toes dimpling the sand, his hands thrust into the pockets of his khaki slacks. ‘What do we do now? Who else do we talk to? Or do we just give up, and throw in the towel, and go back home?’

  ‘Is that what you want to do?’

  He turned and looked at her, and then shook his head. ‘Home isn’t home without Susie.’

  ‘How about Cara?’

  ‘Cara came like all the rest of them. Pretty, footloose, sweet and kind. She went the same way. I called the hospital this morning and they said she’d discharged herself. No forwarding address.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said Kathy. ‘You didn’t tell me.’

  There wasn’t any need, was there, really? They come and they go. Susie’s mother was just like that. It doesn’t stop you liking them; it doesn’t stop you loving them sometimes. But it stops you crying over them, when they’re gone.’

  They walked back to the car. A few yards further along the Pacific Coast Highway, sitting on a large backpack, was a suntanned young man of about 27, good-looking in a way that Daniel could only think of as prematurely battered, drinking a can of Tab. He wore lederhosen, with a halter front, and a green check short-sleeved shirt, and large grubby sneakers.

  ‘Hey, sir!’ he called, as Daniel opened the door of the car. ‘Pardon me,sir!’

  Daniel paused, and looked at him over the roof of the car. The young man hopped to his feet, disentangling his sneakers from the strap of his backpack, and said, ‘You don’t happen to be heading towards Hollywood? Well, I know you’re pointing south, but the way you walked on the beach, I wondered if you were heading back east.’

  ‘You’re on a north-south highway and you want a ride east?

  The young man sheepishly rubbed at the back of his neck. ‘Actually, I was trying to thumb a ride north, to Santa Barbara. I had a row with my girl this afternoon, and she sort of threw me out. I was going back home to see my parents. Now I’ve been sitting here for two hours without getting a ride and I’ve kind of cooled towards it, you know? I was thinking of going back to Hollywood and looking up this other girl I know.’

  ‘Indecisive, huh?’ asked Kathy.

  The young man nodded. ‘I guess you could say that. Mind you, it doesn’t take a lot to change my mind about going home to see my folks. They’re very heavily into Roche-Bobois furniture and Cy Twombly graphics.’

  Daniel reached into the car and pressed the trunk-release button. ‘Get in,’ he told the young man. ‘We can take you as far as Doheny.’

  On the way back along Sunset, the young man leaned forward and folded his arms on the front seats and told them all about his girlfriend. ‘She’s from weird, you know? I guess most Hollywood ladies are. Very beautiful. Excellent. But really from weird. Ever since she found out that Halley’s Comet was on the way back, she’s started getting these feelings. She thinks the comet’s going to fly past the Earth just to investigate her.’

  ‘Maybe she’s right,’ said Daniel. ‘You mustn’t underestimate the importance of the individual.’

  ‘Hey,’ frowned the young man. ‘You’re not into that stuff too, are you?’

  I’m beginning to feel that I might be.’

  The young man looked towards Kathy, and said, ‘Is your husband feeling okay, ma’am?’

  ‘He’s not my husband. But, sure, yes, he’s feeling all right.’

  The young man suddenly stuck out his hand. ‘I didn’t introduce myself. What an airhead. My name’s Rick Terroni. You’ve seen me a hundred times before, on the movies. And television. Pratfaller Extraordinaire, that’s how I advertise myself. That’s a specialist kind of a stuntman, like I make my living falling on my ass. Somebody

  gets pushed over, hit by a car, kicked by a horse, sits on a collapsing deckchair, slips on a squashed tomato, that’s what I do. You ever see that movie where Ryan O’Neal walks up those steps and then slides on all of those marbles? That was me, doing the sliding. Let’s face it, Ryan O’Neal doesn’t want to walk around for the rest of the week with a multi-coloured ass.’

  ‘Pleased to know you/ said Daniel.

  They drove in silence for a while, past the gates of Bel Air, and then Rick Terroni said; ‘You guys seem kind of down. Is that impolite of me to say so? Is there a bereavement in the family? You’re coming back from a funeral?’

  Daniel said, ‘It’s nothing, okay?’

  ‘If you say so. It’s just that I’ve got a nose for misery.’

  ‘A nose for misery?’ asked Kathy. ‘What kind of a self-commendation is that?’

  ‘Did I say it was a self-commendation?’

  Daniel pulled up at Doheny, with an unnecessarily violent jerk on the brakes. That’s it, then,’ he said. ‘You’re back in Hollywood.’

  Rick peered out of the Monaco’s window. ‘Hm,’ he said, ‘Doheny Drive.’

  That’s where I told you, Doheny.’

  ‘You can’t take me any further?’

  ‘Unh-hunh. That is it.’

  Rick took a breath. ‘Listen, he said, ‘the real truth is that I don’t have anyplace to go.’

  ‘You want a home, as well as a ride?’ asked Daniel.

  I didn’t say that,Rick protested. ‘If you want me to get out, I’ll get out.’

  ‘Daniel,said Kathy, ‘He’s not a bum. Come on, we can give him one square meal and floorspace for tonight. The Flag will pay for it. Hell, the Flag’s paying for this car, and for you. So you and he are just about equals, when you think about it. Two bums together.’

  Daniel turned around to Rick with a smile that would have soured cream. ‘You’ll have to excuse my wife,he said, as he pulled out into the traffic of Sunset Boulevard again. At the moment, he didn’t particularly care, one

  way or the other. He didn’t even know why he was here. He should be in Arizona, taking care of Cara and waiting for news of Susie. Two days ago, following Kathy Forbes to Hollywood had seemed like the only positive thing he could do. But now he was beginning to feel that it was a terrible dead end, a news story that never was, the tearful parent interviewed on the evening news bulletin, ‘If I’d known what those animals were doing to my daughter… .’

  He made a squealing left into Sunset Plaza, narrowly avoiding an oncoming truck, and pulled up beside their rented house. Kathy touched his arm, and said, ‘Are you all right?’

  He stared at her. He felt as if his eyelids would never close again. ‘Yes, sure, I’m all right. A little tired, maybe.’

  Rick Terroni said, ‘Listen, if you guys are into something that’s none of my business … I mean, I feel like I’m interfering or something like that… I can easily find someplace to sleep… .’

  Kathy said, ‘Do your parents really live in Santa Barbara?’

  ‘Sure they do.’

  ‘And do they really have Roche-Bobois furniture and prints by Cy Twombly?’

  Rick looked away; at a huge billboard of Olivia Newton-John. ‘Well, not precisely. But they’d like to. That’s if they knew what it was. I saw it in Architectural Digest while I was waiting at the dentist.’

  ‘When was the last time you worked? In movies, I mean, or in television?’

  ‘Couple of months ago. I doubled for Keiller Pierce in Nightmare II. He had to fall off a balcony. He looked over that balcony, you know, down at the ground where he was supposed to fall, and he said, “If you think I’m going to jump down there, you’ve got to be fucking joking.” And the director said, “Keiller, it’s cinchy,” and gave him a shove, and Keiller to
ppled right off that balcony and broke both of his ankles, and the picture was held up for seven months while he learned how to walk all over again.

  So that’s why, when it came to the balcony scene, they made me do it.’

  ‘And that was the last job you had?’

  ‘I’m shortlisted for Son of Cannon. That’s a new TV detective series, with this young fat guy. Well, plump.’

  Kathy shook her head, and smiled at him. ‘Come on,’ she said, ‘Daniel will fix you some of his special fried shrimp. Daniel runs a restaurant, you know. He’s a genius when it comes to cooking.’

  ‘Cooking is a substitute for oral sex, didn’t you know that?’ said Daniel.

  ‘I thought it was the other way around, said Rick. ‘I thought oral sex was a substitute for cooking.’

  They went into the house, Rick carrying his backpack slung over his shoulder. It was a typical rented Hollywood house: with a Spanish-style sitting-room with dark polished floortiles, a fitted kitchen, and off-white bedroom rugs that had probably been white when they were new.

  ‘It’s not the Wilshire House,’ said Daniel.

  ‘Who cares? As long as it’s not the Y.’

  Kathy said, ‘Daniel.’ There was a warning in her voice which immediately made Daniel freeze.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Someone’s been in here. Look. The garden door’s been broken open. I left it locked.’

  Daniel felt a chill sensation of sudden alarm. He moved quickly and quietly past Kathy, and checked the bedroom; then the bathroom, kicking the door open with his foot. The house was empty, but there was no question that during the afternoon someone had intruded here. Rick stayed where he was, in the hallway, his pack by his feet, looking puzzled and anxious.

  ‘Are you sure you guys really want me around? I don’t mind leaving if I’m getting in your way.’

  ‘It’s all right,’ said Daniel. ‘At least, I think it’s all right.’

  There couldn’t be a bomb anywhere, could there?’ asked Kathy.

  ‘A bomb?’ asked Rick. ‘You’re not the men from UNCLE are you?’

  ‘I’m not a man from anywhere, said Kathy.

  ‘Jesus,said Rick. ‘I think I’m beginning to wish I was back on the Pacific Coast Highway.’

  ‘Have a beer and settle down,said Daniel. They’re in the icebox.’

  Rick opened the icebox and took out a six-pack of Coors.

  ‘At least the icebox isn’t booby-trapped, said Kathy.

  Rick stared at her. ‘Supposing it had been?’

  Daniel shrugged.

  They found the letter in the sitting-room, on the table beside the sofa. It was neatly addressed to D Korvitz, in green fibre-tipped pen. Kathy said, ‘You think you should touch it? Maybe it’s got fingerprints on it.’ Daniel ignored her, and tore it open.

  In the same green handwriting, the letter said simply, ‘Dear Mr Korvitz. We are now in-Los Angeles, and we have your daughter with us. We have some serious business to discuss with you, and we would like to meet you personally. If you come to the multi-storey parking lot on Santa Monica Boulevard at Wilcox at 9.15 a.m. tomorrow morning, we will return your daughter and take you with us to a suitable locale for more extensive talks.’

  Daniel’s hand was shaking as he read the letter. When he had finished, he handed it to Kathy without a word.

  ‘You know what they meant by wanting to discuss business with me, don’t you?’ he asked.

  Kathy folded up the letter, and laid a hand on his arm. They want to kill you, Daniel, I’m sure of it. You can’t possibly go.’

  ‘And Susie?’

  ‘I don’t know. I don’t know what to say. Maybe it’s time we called the police.’

  They probably are the police, if what you’re saying about Cuba has any truth in it.’

  ‘So what are you going to do?’ Kathy demanded. ‘Give yourself up like a cow going to the cannery? What’s the point of Susie going free if they kill you? Who’s going to look after her?’

  ‘She’s got a mother.’

  ‘Oh, stop trying to be so ridiculously heroic.’

  Daniel snatched the letter away from her. ‘Damn it, it’s nothing to do with heroism, Kathy. She’s my little girl. I’ve brought her up day by day from the time she was tiny. She’s seven years old, and God knows what those bastards have been doing to her. Think what they did to you. Besides, they probably don’t want to kill me. Just frighten me off.’

  ‘Daniel, Kathy retorted, ‘if you were them, and you knew that somebody had discovered everything about the killings you’d been doing; and why you’d done them; what the hell would you do?’

  ‘I’m still going,’ Daniel insisted. His fear and anger about Susie were almost overwhelming. He felt like shouting at Kathy, except that none of it was Kathy’s fault. By God, if those animals had so much as laid one finger on Susie … But all he could think of was Susie’s face, bruised from repeated beatings; and Susie’s body, raped by foul-smelling men.

  ‘Daniel, said Kathy. Then, when he turned away, ‘Daniel. There has to be some other kind of answer.’

  I can’t think of one, can you? What’s the choice? Either Susie dies or else I take my chances. Come on, Kathy, I’m older than Susie. At least I’ve got the strength and the experience to protect myself. She’s just a seven-year-old kid who’s never known anything but friendly smiling people.’

  ‘Daniel -‘

  ‘You can’t change my mind! Don’t try!’

  Kathy rubbed her eyes in tension and tiredness. Daniel screwed off the cap of a bottle of Coors, and poured it out, too quickly, so that the glass was filled to the brim with foam. ‘Shit, he said, but drank it all the same.

  Rick said, I honestly feel like I’m intruding or something.’

  ‘You’re not intruding, said Daniel. ‘Just shut up and find yourself someplace to crash down.’

  ‘I don’t mean to be presumptuous or anything/ said

  Rick, ‘but it seems like you’ve got some kind of real gnarly problem going on here. Maybe I could help.’

  ‘Have you ever seen anybody killed?’ asked Daniel.

  ‘Only by accident. One stuntman I knew, got smashed up in a car crash when they were shooting The Kings of Ozark.’

  Daniel finished his foamy beer, and poured himself some more. Rick watched him expectantly. ‘Let me tell you something, said Daniel. .‘Tomorrow morning at a quarter after nine I’m supposed to go to a multi-level parking-lot on Santa Monica Boulevard and surrender myself to one or more known killers in exchange for my seven-year-old daughter Susie, who was kidnapped in Arizona last week. The possibility is that the killers will seek to widen their expertise by killing me, too.’

  ‘Are you kidding?’ asked Rick. Is this Candid Camera or something?’

  ‘It doesn’t matter to you whether I’m kidding or not, Daniel told him. ‘You don’t have to be there. You don’t have to worry about any of us. So why don’t you just unpack your bag, make yourself comfortable, and keep your mouth shut. What you don’t know about won’t hurt you.’

  Rick pushed his hands into the tight pockets of his lederhosen. Ts that the parking lot at Seward, or the parking lot at Wilcox?’

  ‘Wilcox. Why?’

  ‘Well… this is only a thought… but a friend of mine got spaced out one day when he was driving into the Wilcox parking-lot, and he drove right through the railings between Level 3 and the roof of the building next door to the parking lot, and that’s where he ended up, parked on the roof.’

  ‘What the hell does that have to do with anything?’ asked Daniel.

  ‘Well, just hold up a minute; what my friend said was that anybody who might have had a mind to could have driven clear across the roof, and clear across the roof of the next building, as far as Cole.’

  Kathy said tautly, ‘I still don’t understand what you’re saying.’

  ‘Well, is this real, what you’re telling me, or are you making a movie?’ asked Rick. He bit his lip, and his eyes flic
ked from Daniel to Kathy, and back to Daniel. ‘I mean, is it real?’

  ‘Supposing it were?’ asked Kathy.

  ‘Well, if it’s real … if you’ve really got to come face-to-face with some killers in the Wilcox Avenue parking lot, then you’ve got to plan it like a movie stunt, you know? Plan it first. I’m always looking for good stunt locations, and this place is one of them. I mean, you could snatch your daughter back, right, and then drive up the ramp instead of out of the parking lot - which is the way they’d normally expect you to go - and right through the railings and over the next-door rooftops. Then you could leap out of the car and get away while these killers are still fooling around wondering which level you’re on.’

  ‘You’re nuts,said Kathy.

  ‘But it’s what people do in the movies. For Christ’s sake. And if they can do it in the movies, why can’t you do it for real?’

  Daniel set down his glass, and looked at Rick thoughtfully. At last, he said, ‘Lef s go down to Wilcox, and see what this parking lot looks like. Maybe you’re right. Maybe we do have a chance. You said, drive across the rooftops?’

  That s right. You might knock over a couple of ventilation stacks, but nothing worse than that. You see what I’m trying to say to you, don’t you? You could snatch your daughter back and get away yourself, if you planned it properly. I can tell you something, all of the stunts we do for the movies are planned like clockwork. We could be in and out of that place in six seconds flat, and nobody would scarcely know we’d been there.’

  ‘We?’

  ‘You don’t think you’re going to leave me out of this, do you? Besides, I don’t have anyplace else to stay.’

  Daniel looked down at his empty glass. ‘Melech Ham’lo-chim,’ he said, under his breath.

  Twenty-Eight

  The same afternoon, Titus left the State Department and drove in his own Porsche down to Boiling Air Force Base in Virginia, wearing dark sunglasses and a white fishing hat in the hope that nobody would recognize him. The sentry outside Boiling had already been alerted to let him through without stopping him, and he was waved by a white-gloved MP towards the outer perimeter road, past rows of giant C-141 Starlifters, and all the organized confusion of Jeeps and ammunition boxes and half-tracked vehicles that were the hallmark of a Military Airlift Command base.