Coyote Blue Chapter 20~21

CHAPTER 20NevermoreSanta BarbaraWhen surface-to-air missile walked into his mightiness Gabriella met him with a cup of drinking chocolate. Mr. Hunter, Id indirect request to apologize for my behavior yesterday. I dont know w lid came oer me.Thats okay. I do.I hope you were able to resolve the difficulties at the Cliffs.surface-to-air missile wasnt prepared for civility from Gabriella it was like encountering a polite scorpion. Life was changing onwards his eyes. Everythings fine. whatever c eachs?Just Mr. Aaron. She checked her message pad. He would like you to stop into his forthice if it wouldnt be too frequently trouble.Exact words?Yes, sir.My my, has the Sugarplum Fairy been finished here today?Gabriella checked the pad. No message, sir.surface-to-air missile smiled and walked a room. Down the dorm Julia t ancient surface-to-air missile to go right in.Aaron stood and smiled when surface-to-air missile entered the office. surface-to-air missilemy boy, go a seat. We im ply to talk.surface-to-air missile express, Forty cents on the dollar, positive(p) interest. You keep the office. I require issue(p). Thats it. You talk.Aaron dismissed Sams comment with a wave. Thats completely behind us, buddy. Cochrans lawyer nominateed. thither isnt going to be any lawsuit. You and I are square.What happened? Sam knew he should be elated at the news, unless instead he felt up d get word. For a moment he had relished the idea of giving up all the pretending. Now what?No explanation. They on the nose reared off. They apologized for the mis stool. Youll get a ceremonial apology in the mail tomorrow. I never doubted you, small fry. Not for a minute.Aaron, did you talk to Spagnola today?Just briefly. Just a social call. He was pretty heavily medicated. Im not sure I trust him, Sam. You want to watch your back well-nigh that guy. Hes unstable.Sam felt his ears heat up with animosity. Aaron expected him to act like the betrayal had never happened. There w as a quantify when he would postulate, just not now. Forty cents on the dollar, plus interest.Aaron lost his friendly-guy salesmans smile. But thats behind us.I dont withdraw so. Youre a shit, Aaron. That doesnt confusion me. But it does surprise me that you went later me when I was down. I apprehension we were friends.We are, Sammy.Good. consequently you wont creative thinker having the papers on my desk by midweek. And you gage pay the lawyer fees. Theyre tax deductible, you know. And if youre late, you will need the write-off. Sam got up and started out of the office.Aaron called after him. We dont have to do this now.Without turning Sam said, Yes we do. I do.Sam nodded to Julia as he passed just he couldnt muster a smile. What have I done? he thought.In his outer office Gabriella was kicked back in her chair with her skirt up around her armpits. She touchmed to be hyperventilating and her eyes were trilled back in her head.Gabriella Again?She pointed to his office door. Sam threw the door open, whopping it against the wall and disturbing a farrow that was perched in the brass hat rack just inside. Sam stormed over to the bird, barely resisting the urge to seize it and rip its feathers out.Goddammit, I told you to stay off my secretary Sam agitate his fist at the bird. And what kind of bullshit did you pull over at Motion Marine to get them to drop the lawsuit? Cant you just contri bute me alone?why are you yelling at the bird? The utterance came from behind him. Sam looked around, his fist still threatening the feed. prairie wolf was rest in the opposite corner of the office by the telefax machine. Sams passion dour to confusion. He looked at the bird, then coyote, then the bird. Whos this?A raven? Coyote speculated. He turned back to the fax machine. Hey, what is this outlet that says nedeucerk?Sam was still looking at the bird. It sends simultaneously to the home offices of all the companies we represent.Coyote pushed the button . Like smoke signals.What? Sam dropped his fist, ran to the fax machine, and hit the vitiate button a second too late. The display showed the transmission had bypast out. Sam pulled the paper from the machine and stared at it in disbelief. Coyote had obviously lain on the copy machine to get the image.You faxed your penis? That machine prints my name at the top of each transmission.The girls in the home office will conceptualise highly of you, then. Of course, they will be disappointed if they ever see you naked.The raven squawked and Gabriella appeared at the open door. Mr. Hunter, a gentleman is here to see you from the law of nature department.Coyote held the run off up to Gabriella. A picture of your friend, he offered.A sharp-featured Hispanic man in a tweed sport peak pushed his way of life past Gabriella into the office. Mr. Hunter, Im Detective Alphonse Rivera, Santa Barbara PD, narcotics division. Id like to ask you a virtually questions. He held out a business ca rd embossed with a gold shield, but did not offer to shake hands. narcotics? Sam looked to Coyote, persuasion he would have disappeared, but the trickster had stood his ground by the fax machine. On the hat rack, the raven cawed.Nice bird, Rivera said. I understand they can be trained to talk. Rivera walked to the bird and studied it.Pig, the raven said.Hes not mine, Sam said quickly. He belongs to- Sam looked around and Gabriella was gone from the doorway. He belongs to this gentleman. Sam pointed to Coyote.And you are? Rivera eyed Coyote suspiciously.Coyote.Rivera raised an eyebrow and took a notebook computer from his inside jacket pocket. Mr. Hunter, I have a few questions nearly what went on at Motion Marine a couple of old age ago. Would you prefer to talk in private?Yes. Sam looked at Coyote. Go external. Take the bird with you.Nazi scum, the raven cawed.Ill stay, Coyote said.Sam was on the verge of screaming. Sweat was beading on his forehead. He composed himself and turne d to Rivera. We can talk in front of Mr. Coyote.Just a few questions, Rivera said. You had an appointment with pile Cable at ten. Is that correct?I was at that designate for about an hour.I was there too, Coyote said.Rivera turned his attention to the trickster. Why were you there, Mr. Coyote?I was raising funds for NARC.Narc the raven said.Narc?Native American Reform Coalition.Rivera scribbled on a pad.Sam said, I dont understand. What does this have to do with narcotics?We think someone put hallucinogens in the coffee over at Motion Marine. Two days ago James Cable claims he was attacked by someone fitting Mr. Coyotes description. He had a heart attack.I just asked him if his company would make a donation, Coyote said. He said no and I went away. He had taken the Xerox of his penis from the desk and fitted it back into the fax machine. He searched the buttons. Insurance commissioner, he read as he pushed the button.No Sam dove over the desk for the cancel button. Too late. He turned to Rivera. That document wasnt signed. He grinned and tried to take the conver sit downion away from his panic. You know, I was thinking weve got an Indian, a legal philosophyman, and an insurance broker. Were but a construction worker away from the Village People.Rivera ignored the comment. Did you have any coffee while you were at Motion Marine, Mr. Hunter? deep brown? No.And you didnt drink from the watercooler?No. I dont understand.Today, trine people at Motion Marine, including Frank Cochran, claim that they saw a polar ease up in the offices. Sam looked at Coyote. A polar bear?We think that someone slipped them some LSD. Were testing the water and the coffee now. We just wanted to talk to anyone who has been in the building in the last two days. You didnt see anyone strange hanging around while you were in the building?I only saw Cables secretary and Cable, Sam said.Rivera flipped the notebook closed. Well, thanks for your time. If you have any strange reactions or see anything strange, could you give me a call? Rivera handed a card to Coyote. And you too, if you would.Cabron, the raven said.He speaks Spanish, too, Rivera said. Amazing. The detective left(a) hand the office.Santa Barbara News-Press advertising, Coyote read as he pushed the button. The fax machine whirred.Sam started to go for the machine, then stopped and sat down in his chair. He sat for a minute rubbing his temples. If that cop runs a mise en scene check on me, Im going to jail. You know that, dont you?You wanted your old flavour back.But a jailer polar bear?Well, you have your old life back, whether you want it or not.I was wrong. It felt good truism it, the honesty in it. He wanted a new life. I just want you to go away.Im gone, Coyote said. The girl is gone too.What does that guess?The feathers on Coyotes shirt turned dull and his fingers changed to flight feathers. In an sec Coyote was a raven. He flew out the office door fol piteoused by the raven from the hat rack.CHAPTER 21All Happy FamiliesSanta Barbarasteam organ stood in the driveway, holding Grubb, waiting for Lonnie to return. Nina had been right she wasnt very good at worrying, but she was giving it a good effort. She was sure that Lonnie wouldnt hurt her or Grubb, but then again, Lonnie had never acted the way he had the night before. She wished that she could have asked Sam to stay with her and help her with a decision, but it would have been too much to ask so soon. She wished, too, that there were phones at the ashram and that she could call her mother for advice. And she couldnt just jump in the car and drive to see her mother as she always had before. She had her job, her house, and there was Sam now.She was trying to push the dark ghost of the unknown to the back of her mind when she heard the Harley approaching. She looked up to see Lonnie locomote the corner a block away, his new girlfriend clinging to him like a leech. Lonnie pulled into the driveway next to her a nd killed the engine.Im late for work, rallying cryiope said, wiping a trail of slobber from Grubbs face with her finger.The charr behind Lonnie glared at her and Calliope nodded to her and said, Hi.Lonnie reached for Grubb without acquire off the bike. Calliope hugged Grubb close. She said, I dont want him relinquishing on the bike with you.Lonnie laughed. The way you drive? Hes a hell of a lot safer on the bike.Please, Lonnie.The adult female reached out and took Grubb from Calliope. The baby began to cry. Hell be fine, Cheryl hissed.Why cant you just stay at home with him? Calliope asked.Places to go, people to witness, Lonnie said.I could get Yiffer to watch him. Calliope felt her breath coming hard. She didnt like the look of this hard woman holding her Grubb.Lonnie said, You tell Yiffer to watch his ass or Ill shoot it off.Lonnie, I have to go. Cant you just stay here? Im only working the luncheon shift today.Lonnie grinned. Arent you going to stop by the hospital on yo ur way home?Hospital? No. Why?Lonnie fired up the Harley. No reason. He laughed and coaxed the big bike around in the driveway.As he gunned the engine and pulled into the street Cheryl shouted, Dont worry, bitch, well put a dollar on black for you.Over the roar of the Harley, Calliope could hear the woman grunt as Lonnie elbowed her in the ribs.Calliope saw Grubb looking at her as they travel the corner. Panic tore at her chest as what the woman had said sunk in. She turned and ran back up the steps.-=*=- By late afternoon the contractors had replaced Sams sliding glass door and patched the bullet holes in the walls. Sam canceled the weeks appointments, which gave him time alone with his thoughts. He soon bring, however, that his thoughts, like monkeys in church, were grown company.He tried reading to distract himself, but he found that he was simply looking at the pages. He tried napping, but as soon as he closed his eyes, images of Coyote and the police filled his head. When t he worry became too much for him he thought of Calliope, which deal off a whole new set of worries. What had Coyote meant, The girl is gone? Did it head?She was trouble. Too young, too goofy, probably too attractive. And the kid he didnt need a kid in his life either. Trouble. If she had gone somewhere he probably was better off. He didnt need the hassles. That thought still bouncing through his mind, he grabbed the phone and dialed her number. No answer. He called information and got the number for the Tangerine Tree Cafe. She hadnt shown up for work today.Where in the hell is she? Where in the hell is Coyote? The fucker knew where she went and he wouldnt tell. What had started as a niggling irritation turned to dread. Why in the hell does it matter? he thought.Terrifying and black, a word rose in his mind that matched his feeling. He recoiled from it, but it struck him again and again like an wild viper. Love the sickest of Ironys sick jokes. The place where logic and order go to die. accordingly again, maybe not. It was only bad if you were conceal, pretending to be something that you were not. Maybe the hiding could end.Sam got up and headed out the door in what he knew was a ridiculous effort to find Calliope. He legion to the cafe and substantiate what they had told him on the phone. Then he drove to Calliopes house and found Yiffer and Nina getting out of the van as he pulled up.Nina said, I dont know where she is, Sam. She left a note saying that Lonnie had taken Grubb and she was going after him. nonentity about where she was going?Any note at all is a big step for her. She used to disappear for days at a time with no note at all.Fuck. Sam started to get back in the car.Sam, Nina called. He paused. The note said to tell you she was sorry.For what?Thats all it said.Thanks, Nina. Call me if she shows up. Sam gunned the Mercedes out of the driveway, having no idea where he was going.He mandatory help. All his machines and access to information wouldnt help. He needed a place to start. Twenty-four hours ago he would have given anything to get rid of Coyote. Now he would welcome the tricksters cryptic, smart-assed answers at least they were answers.He drove around town, looking for Calliopes Z, feeling hope rise each time he spotted an orange car, and feeling it fall when it turned out not to be Calliopes. After an hour he returned home, where he sat on his sofa, smoking and thinking. Everything had changed and nothing had changed. His life was back to normal, and normal wasnt bounteous anymore. He wanted real.-=*=- At the Guilds clubhouse play was digging at a flea bite on his leg, trying to pull his grimy jeans up over heavy boots to get at the tiny invader. Fucking fleas, he said.The Guilds president, Bonner newton, let out a raucous snort. You know what they say, bro, Newton said. brood down with dogs A din of harsh laughter rose in the room from the other Guild members.Fuck you guys, Tinker said, feigning anger while enjoying the attention. It wasnt that he liked ugly chicks, but who else would have him?nineteen of the twenty full members of the Guild were draped over furniture and sprawled on the floor, smoking joints and cigarettes, drinking beers and feeling at the few old ladies present. Outside, two strikers, members who had not earned their full colors, sat on the front porch ceremonial for the law.The house was a ramshackle stucco bungalow that had been built in the 1930s as part of a housing tract, before the bourne housing tract was part of the language. The walls were stained with blood, beer, and vomit. The carpet was matted with go oil the furniture was minimal and distressed. Only Tinker actually lived at the clubhouse. The rest of the club used it for brush and partying.The Guild had paid a hundred thousand dollars in cash for the house. The deed was registered under Newtons unite sisters name, as was the facing pages house the Guild owned in the Santa Lucia Mountains higher up Santa Barbara, which housed the lab that provided their income. Ironically, the ranchs nearest neighbor was a wobbly-headed ex-president who had declared a state of war on drugs, and who, from time to time, would stand on the veranda of his palatial ranch house sniffing the odor of cooking orchis and calling, Mommy, theres a funny olfactory property trickling down out here.The lab produced enough income to support all of the Guilds members and gibe that none of them had to work except to man the counter of the Harley-Davidson shop that Bonner Newton used to launder drug money.Newton held an M.B.A. from Stanford. In an earlier time, before he fell from grace for smuggling cocaine, he had stalked the glass-cube buildings of te Valley, wearing Italian suits and commanding crews of brilliant computer designers who could define the instauration in terms of two digits, explain the chaos theory in twenty-five words or less, and build machines that emulated human intelligenc e but who thought a vulva was a Swedish automobile. Newtons experience in coddling these wizardry misfits served him well as president of the Guild, for the members of the Guild were nothing more than nerds without brains fat, ugly, or awkward men who found no acceptance in the outdoor(a) world and so escaped into the security and belonging of an outlaw biker club. A Harley-Davidson and blind loyalty were the only requirements for membership.Listen up, you fucks, Newton said, calling the meeting to order. Bitches outside. He paused and lit a cigarette while the women filed out the door, glaring at him over their shoulders. He was not a large or imposing man compared to the other members, but his authority was not to be questioned.Lonnies not here yet, Tinker said.Lonnies running an errand for us, Newton said. Were going to take an impromptu road trip. A small-scale business and a little pleasure.Fuckin A, someone yelled. Newton gestured for quiet.Seems like someone forgot to tell me that we were running low on ether up at the facility. Newton always referred to the crank lab as the facility. Tinker stopped scratching his leg and hung his head.Tink, you fucking idiot, someone said.Anyway, Newton continued, I wasnt able to arrange a delivery, so we have to go get it. Theres a rally in entropy Dakota in a couple of days. At Sturgis. The Chicago chapter is going to meet us there with a couple of barrels. I want three fifty-five-gallon drums rigged with false tops so if we get stopped by the law it looks like were hauling motor oil. Tinker, youll drive the pickup.Aw, come on, Newt, Tinker whined.Warren, Newton said. A thin biker with curly red hair looked up. You localization principle one of the barrels for weapons, and make sure no one is packing. I dont want any weapons on anyone while were riding.A series of snorts, moans, and Oh, fucks passed around the room. Newton dismissed them with a wave. Advice from the Gator, he said. Gator was short for the li tigator, the Guilds attorney, Melvin Gold, who handled all their criminal cases free of charge in exchange for the assurance that he could also handle their personal injury suits. Bikers got run over a lot.Look, Newton insisted, half of you are on probation. We dont need some rookie pig looking for glory to fuck us on a concealed-weapons charge. Are we clear? Newton paused until someone answered, Were clear.All right, then. Lonnies qualification a run to Vegas with his old lady to get the money to pay for the ether. Hell meet us in South D. Were out of here at nine tomorrow morning, so dont get too fucked up tonight. study your camping shit. Let your bitches carry your stash. Newton dropped his cigarette and ground it out on the carpet. Thats all, he said.The room filled with conversations about the trip. A few of the members got up to leave. When they opened the door a single flea hopped out with them. in one case past the steps the flea changed into a horsefly and took flight. A block away the horsefly changed into a raven and headed toward the mesa and the Cliffs condominium complex.