by Greg Herren
I climbed back on the sidewalk and waved as she put the SUV into gear and winked as she drove off.
Maybe she’s changing her mind about me, I thought, and laughed out loud. Not a chance in hell.
I stripped out of my clothes when I got to my bedroom, and collapsed into the bed. I was just starting to drift off when I felt Frank climb into the bed with me. He wrapped his arms around me. “I’ve missed you so much,” I said drowsily, and drifted off to sleep.
I was standing on the cliff again, facing the pedestal where I knew the incarnate statue of Kali rested. The sky was blue and free of clouds. I felt no fear; rather, I felt the peace and love I always felt in the presence of the Goddess.
I could hear birds singing.
I started walking toward Her. As I drew near the steps, I could see that both of Her eyes were shut. The necklace was just skulls again. Her long tongue hung down from between Her red lips. When I was a respectful distance from her, I dropped to my knees and bowed my head.
I felt Her awaken, and felt Her gaze.
“You may rise,” She said, Her voice soft and gentle.
I looked at Her and saw that Her open eye was brown and normal looking. “I failed you, Great Mother.”
She smiled, and I saw that the teeth were no longer filed sharp. “It is true that you did not find my Eye, Scotty, as I commanded you. But I am a merciful Goddess, and have no doubt that you will complete your quest.”
Her four hands began waving, undulating up and down. She was not holding a skull or a sword this time. The motion of Her hands was quite beautiful and hypnotic.
“I will continue looking, Great Mother.”
“You will succeed,” She replied. “As you succeeded in defeating those who would commit evil in my name. I am the Destroyer, but I am also the Creator. I danced this world into existence, and when I choose I will dance it into oblivion. But my hand will not be forced, and it will not be done in my name until I wish it to be done. And this creation of mine has much time as you measure it to continue to please me.”
“As you wish, Great Mother.”
“You may go now. Go and find my Eye, and see that is returned to me.”
“But Great Mother—where should I look for it?”
She threw her head back and laughed. It sounded like music to my ears, it was a wonderful sound I could have listened to forever. “You already know, Scotty, in your heart of hearts. You have begun to remember to listen to your heart, and have let me back into it. Look into your heart of hearts, and you will know where to look.”
I opened my eyes and looked over at the clock. It was just past seven. I felt completely refreshed—mentally, emotionally, and physically. I eased myself out from under Frank’s arm. He was snoring softly. I am truly blessed, I thought as I watched him sleep for a moment. I leaned down and kissed his scarred cheek. I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and walked into the kitchen. I got the coffee started, and while it brewed I sat down on the couch. The copy of Doc’s final note was sitting there on the table. I picked it up, remembering the dream.
Look into your heart of hearts, and you will know where to look.
Hmm, I wondered as I read it over again. What did She mean by that?
The note kept repeating the words freedom and shackles over and over again.
I puzzled over it for a while, and then it hit me in a rush. My heart started beating a lot faster. Damn you, Doc! I thought to myself as I ran back to the bedroom. You were one tricky son of a bitch!
And in the back of my mind, I could almost hear him laughing.
I tried to wake up Frank, but he just grunted and rolled over. I dressed and called Venus. “I think I know where the Eye is,” I said quickly. “Can I meet you at the station house?”
“Yeah, I’m here,” she replied. “Come on down.”
I hung up the phone. Frank was still snoring, so I didn’t bother trying to wake him again. I gave him another kiss on the cheek and headed out the door. It was a gorgeous day. I ducked into the coffee shop and got a coffee of the day to go, which I sipped happily as I strolled up Royal Street. The gutters were filled with debris from the storm, but I felt like singing as I walked.
I just knew I was right.
I said hello to every pedestrian I met. It was, truly, an incredibly beautiful day. There were no clouds in the sky, which was a brilliant shade of blue, and it was about seventy degrees with a cool, gentle breeze blowing. Finally, I reached the precinct house, which looked like an old plantation house and was painted a lovely shade of peach. I laughed as I climbed the steps. The last time I was in this building was on Lundi Gras, way back in 2005, when we were all trying to sort out the huge mess of my murdered half-uncles. I’d also been arrested for assaulting a federal agent, but the charges were dropped. That had been a hell of a night.
I checked in with the desk sergeant and made my way back to Venus’s desk. It was everything I would have expected it to be—organized to within an inch of its life. She was wearing an LSU sweatshirt over a pair of black jeans. She smiled at me and put down her cup of coffee. I looked around. “Where’s Blaine?” I asked.
“Day off.” She shrugged. “I got some paperwork to catch up on, so I came in anyway. I’ve got your statement for you to sign.” She pushed it over to me.
I read it over and gave a laugh. “Reading it makes it seem even crazier.” I grabbed a pen from her desk and signed it.
“Every time I get a statement from you I feel like I’m in The Twilight Zone.” She shrugged. “But it keeps me on my toes. So what are you thinking?”
“Do you have the phony Eye?” I asked.
“Got it out of the evidence room as soon as you called.” She unlocked a desk drawer and pulled out the bag. “Right here.”
I took it from her and removed the fake sapphire. I smiled at her. “Check this out. You got a pocketknife?” She gave me a weird look but got one out of her purse and handed it over to me. I laid the fake Eye down on her desk and opened the knife. I sliced into the front of the Eye.
“Hey, don’t destroy evidence!” She grabbed my arm.
I shook my head. There was a groove in it where my knife had cut it. I rolled it over to the other side, where Abhwesar had cut it in front of me. “Look,” I said, “the grooves are about the same depth.”
“So?”
I put my knife inside the groove Abhwesar had cut, and tried to saw it. Nothing happened. With the knife in the thin groove, I twisted it. Flakes came off. I shaved at it, and more flakes came off.
“You mean—” Venus said, realization dawning in her eyes.
I nodded. “Where is the smartest place to hide something? Right in front of our eyes.” I shook my head. “I should have remembered how much Doc loved puzzles and mysteries. This is the real Eye. He just encased it in some material, the same color as the original. So a jeweler or an expert would look at it and say it was a fake.” I laughed. “And the real thing was there the whole time! What a great joke on everyone!”
“But how did you know?”
“All that stuff about shackles and freedom in that note,” I said. “He was telling us the real Eye was shackled, encased in something. We had to ‘free’ it from its ‘shackles.’ I thought it was weird when Abhwesar cut the stone in front of me. I thought it was weird that the cut was so shallow—I mean, if it wasn’t the real sapphire, he should have been able to cut it pretty deeply.”
I heard someone clapping behind me, and I turned to see Colin standing there. He had a big smile on his face. “I knew if anyone could find it, it would be you.” He took a seat next to me. “The president of Pleshiwar has canceled Abhwesar’s diplomatic status, by the way—and he started singing like a bird. Even as we speak, his colleagues over there are being rounded up.” He clapped me on the arm. “And you even found the Eye.”
“Will you answer some questions for me?” I asked.
Colin winked at Venus and stood up. “Come on, I’ll walk you home.”
As we walked, I
said, “So, Doc and his buddies really worked for Blackledge.”
He nodded. “Yes. They were never really in the military, nor were they from Biloxi. That was all a part of the cover Blackledge came up with after their mission, when it was obvious they were in danger and had to be retired. The Pleshiwarian underground had been trying to overthrow the theocracy for years—but obviously, no country was interested in helping them. The Western powers at that time were too busy fighting communism, and the Pleshiwarians didn’t want Communist interference inside their country. Once the uranium was found, of course, the Western powers couldn’t allow the Communists to get control of the country—nor could they allow the theocracy of Kali to continue in power.” He shrugged. “Several of the Western countries—I don’t know which, so don’t ask—hired us to bring down the theocracy. Stealing Kali’s Eye was deemed the easiest way to do it.”
“And the theft really brought down the theocracy?”
He nodded again. “The underground used their religion against them. It worked, the theocracy fell, and democracy found its way to Pleshiwar. The priests, of course, never took kindly to being out of power—and they recently hired the Wolf to track down the thieves and find the Eye.”
I took a deep breath. “So, when you first came here all those years ago, you had a lot of work in New Orleans, didn’t you? Looking for the Napoleon death mask, keeping tabs on my uncles, and of course, Doc.”
“It’s almost like our paths were meant to cross, isn’t it?” He smiled at me. “Seriously, Scotty, it’s like fate brought the three of us together. Don’t you think?”
“I don’t know, Colin.” I wasn’t just saying it. It would be so easy just to fall back into his arms, let him back into our lives. “I mean, we need to talk to Frank.”
“Of course,” he said, and we fell silent as we walked. “I can’t stay here permanently, anyway,” he said as we turned at the corner at Barracks. “My work takes me all over the globe. I mean, I can get back here whenever I can…”
“Colin—” I stopped walking. “I can’t speak for Frank, but I can speak for myself.” I took a deep breath. “Neither one of us ever stopped loving you. That’s obvious. Even though we were hurt when we thought—” I inhaled sharply. “Well, you know what we thought. But we never stopped caring about you, or missing you. But what you’re asking…” I shook my head. “I don’t know if I can live like that—knowing your life is always at risk, that you could be killed and we’d never know.” I wiped at my eyes angrily. Stupid tears, anyway. “That was really the worst part of the last three years—wondering if you were dead somewhere, and not knowing.”
“Hey.” He put his arms around me. I resisted at first, but finally let him hold me. “I wish I could give it up, but I can’t. I love what I do.”
“I know.” I pulled away from him. “And you wouldn’t be happy if you gave it up. And if you weren’t Superspy Colin, you wouldn’t be Colin.” I smiled a little ruefully. “You would have never stayed in the first place if it weren’t for my uncles and the Russian mob, right?”
“Well, Doc was here.” He kissed my cheek. “You have to know that leaving you and Frank was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” he added. “I do love you both.” He hesitated. “All the stuff I told you—about what happened to my family, why I left the Mossad—that was all true.” His eyes shone with tears. “Scotty, I never thought I’d be able to love another human being again as long as I lived. I thought that part of me died with my family. You and Frank—you made me feel alive—human—again.” He wiped at his eyes. “I love you both.”
“I know you do.” I laughed a little. “You let Frank beat you up yesterday, didn’t you? You could have killed him with your bare hands if you’d wanted to, right?”
“I don’t kill unless I have to—self-defense, or to protect someone else.” He started walking again. I fell into step beside him. “So, where do we go from here?” he finally asked when we reached my gate.
“One last question.” I held up my hand. “You killed Levi, didn’t you?”
He didn’t answer.
“He was working for the Pleshiwarians,” I went on. “They had no reason to kill him—he was working for them. You did it, didn’t you?”
“Don’t hate me,” he whispered. “He was going to kill you. He’d been hiding on the roof. I saw him climb down—and he had his bag of torture tools with him. He was going to torture you and kill you. I tried to stop him, but it was kill or be killed. I didn’t have a choice.”
“And how did he end up on my balcony?”
“I lugged his body back up to the roof. I hid his bag of tools in the shed in the courtyard.” He gave me a wry smile. “I was going to get rid of the body later. They’ll never admit it, but I think the Ninja Lesbians rolled him off.” He couldn’t look me in the eyes. “Just to fuck with me.”
“Nice friends,” I replied.
“They really liked you.” He still wouldn’t meet my eyes. “They thought you and Frank were great—especially during Operation Rescue Mom and Dad.”
“Oddly enough, I liked them.” I shook my head.
“So, what do we do now?”
This was the moment I’d been dreading.
I had to say good-bye.
“I will love you as long as I live,” I said, my voice quivering a little. I stopped and took a deep breath to steady myself to say the words I didn’t want to say. “But I can’t do this. I just can’t. Your work is who you are, Colin. You wouldn’t be Colin otherwise. I can’t ask you to give up your work, it’s not fair to you. But I can’t—Frank and I can’t—live on, wondering if this is the time you aren’t going to come home.”
“Maybe,” Frank said from behind me, “we can.” He put his arm around me. “What is it you always say, Scotty? Life doesn’t give you anything you can’t handle, it’s how you handle it that matters.” He put his other arm around Colin. “We love him. He’s in our blood, whether we like it or not.”
Colin’s eyes got wet.
“And life is about grabbing brass rings, right?” Frank went on. “Well, I’d rather have this brass ring for whatever time we can steal with him then never see him again. If he gets killed, well, we’ll deal with that when the time comes. But when that time does come, I’d rather have memories to cherish than wish we hadn’t made him leave.”
My own eyes were getting wet. “Do you mean that?”
Frank kissed the top of my head, and kissed Colin on the cheek. “I mean it.”
“In that case,” I gave them both a sly look, “we’ve got some lost time to make up for.”
The gate slammed shut behind us as we ran for the stairs.
Epilogue
The entire auditorium was dark. The crowd was restless and murmuring amongst themselves.
Suddenly a spotlight shone on a curtain. Over the loudspeaker announced, “Our next contest is one fall, twenty-minute time limit! Introducing first—at six feet four, two hundred and thirty pounds, FRANK SAVAGE!”
The entire crowd started booing, and Mom whispered to me, “What is wrong with these people? Why are they booing Frank?”
Before I could answer, he leaped through the curtain and our little group started cheering. Of course, we were drowned out by all the boos, but we were all jumping up and down and clapping and screaming.
He looked incredible. His head was completely shaved down, as were his torso and legs. He was more tan than I’d ever seen him, and he wore it well. His every muscle rippled as he struck poses, which made the crowd boo him even louder. He was crammed into a pair of skimpy black tights with two silver lightning bolts coming from either side, meeting over his crotch to form an arrow pointing down. It made his bulge look enormous. His oiled skin glistened in the light. He was wearing black kneepads, black elbow pads, and black leather boots that stopped just below his knees. Every muscle was crisply defined. He ignored the boos at first as he started walking down the ramp toward the ring, where his opponent—a lean young man with lon
g hair and wearing all white—was waiting for him. He started flipping off the crowd and acting like he was going to punch certain people who leaned over the rail to get in his face.
“Jesus,” Colin whispered from my other side, “he looks amazing. I want him to fuck me right here and now.”
“That’s later,” I whispered back, watching as Frank climbed up on the side of the ring and vaulted over the top rope.
I was so proud I was ready to explode.
It had been four weeks since I’d found the Eye. Abhwesar had been extradited back to Pleshiwar to be tried, and the Eye had been returned to Kali. Frank and I hadn’t wanted to keep the fifty grand Blackledge had paid us, so we wrote a check to the NO/AIDS Task Force so the money would do some good for some people. And for two glorious weeks, the three of us had a blast—until the training school reopened and Frank had to go back.
And now he was grabbing that brass ring, experiencing the dream he’d had since he was a little boy.
The referee was patting him down, and Frank was yelling at his opponent. He was doing a great job—the audience absolutely hated him.
The bell rang, and Frank started beating on the kid—whose name I couldn’t remember. Kid Kharisma, or something like that. He was good—he and Frank worked really well together. Frank had told me that the Kid—despite only being twenty-two—was an old pro and had been working the wrestling circuits since he was seventeen. Kid Kharisma was a lot shorter and smaller than Frank, but he had a great body, too—it just looked like nothing next to Frank’s.
Of course, I was just a wee bit prejudiced.
As the match went on, it became more and more apparent that the Kid was just a punching bag for Frank. What was really funny was the way Mom and Dad were getting into it. They were yelling and hollering, screaming at Frank to kill the Kid.
They are so cool.
And like Colin, I was getting more than a little turned on.
At one point, as Frank hoisted the Kid into a torture rack over his shoulders, Colin whispered, “Damn! You think he’ll do that to me?”