At The Edge

17

Other than security people everywhere, the next day people returned to the courthouse as if nothing had happened. Maria had not called Dan.

She first saw him standing in the courtroom doorway, watching her argue another case. Once again there were plenty of people in the gallery. A San Francisco attorney for Metco was opposing her, and she was in her element, showing the judge a six-foot blowup of a clear-cut. Although she knew Dan would label her argument as full of grand generalizations, simplistic and biased, she also knew she was effective. And on these ancient trees, she was certain she was right.

Maria began gathering her things on the counsel table. When she turned around, she noticed him; for a brief second, before she caught herself, she flashed him her trademark smile.

In the main hallway, the crowd was thinning. Maria watched as Dan greeted Nate and an attractive red-haired woman.

She slowed to say hello.

''Pepacita had to tend to a sick cousin for a few hours,'' Dan said. "She left Nate with Lynette at the office, and he wanted to come see his dad."

''Actually, my son is sick and I have to go home,'' Lynette said. "I'm afraid if I take Nate, he'll get sick too. And then the boss will get sick."

"Vicious cycle," Dan said, smiling. "There is the old expression that is too common for the likes of you, Lynette, but I'll say it anyway: 'I don't know what I would have done without you.' " He glanced at Maria. "She's my organizer, some days my sanity, and when Pepacita's gone and Katie's at work, she's my second backup child-care person.''

"Don't forget nag. I'm his nag. When I get done with my husband, I start in on Dan."

"Maria Fischer, this is my assistant, Lynette Tisdale," Dan said. ''And this"-he smiled, tousling the boy's hair- "as you may already know… is your admirer."

"Well, I haven't seen you for a while," she told Nate. "You're getting more handsome every day." Nate grinned at her.

"Well, gotta go. See you later," Lynette said, nodding and moving off through the crowd.

"Hey, dude," Dan exclaimed to Nate.

"Hey, dude," the boy replied. "Are you done in court?"

"All done with the first one. I have one more quick one."

"Were you in court against Ms. Fischer again?"

"No, that was Monday."

"Who won?" He looked at them both.

Dan glanced at Maria. She did not try to hide her interest in his answer. "We both won."

"Were you mad?" Nate asked Maria.

"Nate apparently has some questions for you," Dan said. "I can tell."

She sat on a bench, getting to Nate's eye level. "I was mad. People cut down trees that I loved and I didn't have a chance to talk about it first."

"I like trees," he said. "But my dad likes to cut 'em so the mill people have jobs. He says growing new ones cleans the air."

"I think your dad's been teaching you."

"My dad's a pretty good guy, you know."

"Yes, Nate, I know he is."

"Could I get that on tape?" Dan said.

"It's a matter of perspective that I think might be lost on the tape," Maria said with a smile.

"Hey, we gotta talk. Let's get the science guys on the phone."

"I know, I know. Yesterday was awful. I'm doing what I can."

"Come for dinner. We can talk things out."

At that moment, Judge Traxler stuck his head into the corridor. "Could I see you a minute?" he said to Dan.

Dan hesitated, then reached for Nate's hand before following the judge.

"If you won't be long, I'll stay with Nate," Maria volunteered.

"You would?"

"I would be happy to entertain the better half of the family," she said. "Besides, I'm sure Judge Traxler would like your undivided attention."

Nate signaled to his father that he wanted to whisper, and Dan leaned over.

Finally Dan stood straight. ''If you were to come for dinner. Nate and I would help Pepacita cook for you," he said. "Nate figures that's an important sales feature that I omitted."

Maria was actually tempted for just a moment.

"Really, we need to talk about what I've figured out," Dan added. "Kim Lee disappears. Somebody tries to gas us. You know it was meant for you and me."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"It would be a working dinner."

"That's really thin." She half-smiled. "We don't need to go to your house to work."

"Please," Nate said.

Maria caught herself looking around to see if anyone was listening. "Just this one more time."

"Maybe you could just take Nate on home then."

"Yes, maybe I could."

"I've watched my dad in court before." Nate's round eyes widened and a look of concentration came over his face as he formed his next question. "Are you an enviro?"

"I'm an environmental activist. Can you say that?"

"Sure-'environmental activist.' " His pronunciation was flawless. "Is that the same as an enviro?"

"I think so, yes. But tell me the correct name again."

"Environmental activist." Like a sponge, she thought to herself.

"My mom died, you know."

"Yes. I was very sorry to hear that."

"You know, my friend Kenneth got a stepmom."

"He did, huh? What do you think about that?"

''I wish I could remember more about Mom. My dad tries to tell me, but he says it hurts too much."

Maria looked at Nate. Dan Young was a good parent, to have such a great kid-either that or awfully lucky.

Maria laughed. "Let's go," she said, walking to the exit. "You're a real charmer."

Nathaniel brightened at her tone. "What's a charmer?"

"A charmer is someone who pleases other people."

Nathaniel thought for a moment, then nodded. ''Do you like my dad?"

Maria smiled at him. His simplicity was pure, unspoiled- simple light in a world of shadowed complexities. "In some ways, Nathaniel, I think I do like him. I don't know him very well, though, and we don't agree about things."

"I like you a lot, but I don't know you very well," Nate said. "I can tell you're good."

"Now, how can you tell that?"

"You hold my hand tight like you don't want anything awful to happen. You'd yell at me if I played in the street." Maria laughed. "Well, that's all true. But you need to be careful about making up your mind about grown-ups too quickly."

Nathaniel gave her a conspiratorial look, ''My dad likes you."

"And how do you know that?"

"Will I get in trouble?" he asked with mischief in his tone.

"I won't tell."

"He let me go with you." He paused as if there were more. He motioned her to lean down in the manner that his father had earlier, and she stopped to put her ear to his lips. "He looks at you funny."

"I see."

"Are you married?" Nate asked as Maria backed her Cherokee out of its parking space.

"No, I'm not, but I have a man friend."

"Is he nice?"

"Yes, I think he is."

"Are you sure?" His serious demeanor and penetrating gaze called for a serious response.

"These would normally be considered very private questions," she said. Looking at him, she saw the disappointment in his eyes. "But among friends, I guess the question is OK. I suppose I'm not sure."

"My dad's nice."

Maria smiled and shook her head. She had never met such a determined nine-year-old. ''You and I can be good friends, but your father and I might just be what we call casual friends."

"What's 'casual'? I thought that was like pants." Nate thought for a moment. "So you and my dad don't do stuff together?"

''Right. But that doesn't mean you and I can't be friends.''

"We turn here," Nathaniel said suddenly. "This is the way my dad goes."

Nate was fast asleep in his bedroom, Pepacita was cleaning up in the kitchen, and they were in the den. It was 8:30 p.m. Maria was drinking coffee, Dan his Bud Light.

"Look at this picture," Dan said.

"It's a pretty good blowup of the giant round thing we saw. Almost looks like a kid's swimming pool."

"And this."

"What's that? It looks like a collapsed shack."

"Or a boarded-over hole in the side of the mountain."

"Like a mine."

''But this is still in the area where the mountains have a heavy coastal sediment content. I don't think there are any tunnel mines anywhere near the northern California coast. I've looked for historical mines."

He held up a listing of old mines kept by the state department of mines and geology. "There are none. And look closely here." He gave her a magnifying glass.

"Some kind of a line running from the pool to these boards or whatever this is."

"Something is going on here that doesn't look like Taxol."

"OK."

''I've got to go in there. And we've got to see our chemist. Maybe some of this would make sense."

"Seeing the chemist seems fine, but going back in is nuts."

"We can talk about it. Let's just find out everything we can for now."

"No, I mean it, Dan. If you don't control yourself, I'm going to the sheriff and fink on you. He knows how to be a real jerk. I speak from experience."

His jaw dropped.

"This can become an obsession. You aren't a cop. This has gone far enough. Sometimes breaking a bad law is justified. But this is just dangerous shit. You've got a boy."

Dan sighed.

"If we are going to do this together, promise me you won't sneak around without telling me. We're using our contacts at the university," she added. Dan frowned. ''Please promise me, no secrets on this."

"All right. You know I'm growing to like you."

She studied him, curious about his meaning.

"In a friendship sort of way."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Maria said.

Part of Kenji's face was going numb. The doctor said it was stress. He was also having nightmares. Dan Young standing in the fog watching him on a rickety footbridge, the bridge starting to unravel under his feet. He woke before the bridge disintegrated but not before his heart rate elevated to more than one hundred beats per minute.

The chemists were making some progress. They could now neutralize the effluent in small quantities, using a process suitable for mass-production efforts, but the cost was still too high. Ominously, a spring near the mine was coming up with trace amounts of the effluent-enough to kill wildlife that came to drink. That scared Kenji. If it ever got out that it was seeping into aquifers, he was finished. On the other hand, the only chemist who knew said if it traveled far enough-particularly far enough to get off Amada land-the earth would do the cleansing.

Even more worrisome, Dan Young was not giving up. Tired of palpating his numb upper cheek, Kenji rose from his desk and took the elevator to Groiter's office one floor below. It was late but he figured Groiter would be there. Groiter was dedicated if nothing else. It was locked. He knocked.

Groiter opened the door. "I've got a live feed to the recorder. When I'm listening, I keep the door closed."

"Can this be traced to us?"

"Not with all the relays. Not the way it's set up. If somebody tried to tamper with it, the network would self-destruct."

"Well, don't feed it in here. I don't give a shit how foolproof you think it is. Nothing is going right."

"They're intimidated. Or she is. She's stopped him from going back out to the compound."

"What about the pictures?"

"You've told us not to break into Young's house again. They won't learn anything critical."

David Dun

At The Edge

"And Schneider?"

"Even if they figured her out, she doesn't know who we are."

"She saw a helicopter. We're not some petty criminals. She knows that."

"She has alibis for everything. Good ones. So I don't think they can squeeze her."

"You seem awfully sure of yourself for someone who hasn't succeeded at much in this mess. Why the fuck aren't those two lawyers dead?''

"Fluke. But they're contained. Maria Fischer is nervous for the boy."

"Make her more nervous."

"It could backfire."

"Don't use Schneider, just hire some thug who'd like to fuck her. I don't care how you do it. Just deliver a strong message. Got it? Don't you have someone just sitting on his ass up in Palmer?"

Groiter nodded.

"Call him. Now."

"I want to talk about something more personal," Maria said.

"Have at it."

"You're not doing well, are you?"

''What do you mean?''

"I think after your wife died you started drinking a lot."

Dan shrugged. "I hoist a few."

"A lot, they say."

"Who says?"

"Just people. It doesn't matter who says. Just tell me to mind my own business if you want to. Choice is yours."

"Go on."

''You figure you're tough. People die. People get over it. You'll handle it." When she spoke again, her voice was much softer, much more understanding. "Well, am I right?"

"I suppose."

"You're in control of your life? You don't notice any depression, lack of energy, or mood swings-nothing like that? The drinking and the isolation are by your choice?"

"I can deal with it."

"As good a father as you are, can you see this is affecting Nathaniel?'' She locked eyes with him.

"Yeah."

"You can trust me and yourself on that."

Dan knew she was right.

"So," she said, staring at him. "How do your friends see you?"

Dan smiled. "Oh, they probably say I'm not quite my old self, drink more."

"What does Lynette think?"

"We're really close. She helps me."

She put a hand over his. "Am I intruding too much for someone from the enemy camp?"

"Of course," he said. "But we've gone this far, we might as well get all your theories out on the table. Lynette arranged a counselor, nagged me into going. I went a couple of times, but I'm not the counseling type."

"What we really need here is a temporary truce. This isn't the timber wars. This is just two colleagues talking. Tell me about how Nate has coped with his mother's death."

Dan sat forward. "The other day, right out of the blue, Nate asked if his mother used to fold his socks. After explaining how she did it, I followed him back to his room and peeked in at him. On the floor there was a box full of old clothes. He'd taken out a pair of socks that were all turned in and rolled up with the toes sticking out, the way she used to do it. And he was just sitting there gently rolling those socks around on the bed. I wanted to talk to him. About her."

For a moment she didn't say anything.

"How about a change of scenery? Let's go down to Mazzotti's and have a tiramisu."

Dan leaned back, dubious.

"You have a couple bites," Maria said. "I'll eat the rest and work it off at aerobics in the morning."

"What's wrong?" Maria asked, touching his forearm.

"Nothing." Dan reached to pour her more wine.

The Italian place was run by a short, pudgy fellow who made the best minestrone Dan had ever tasted. That, and Italian desserts.

"We'll call the science guys tomorrow, OK?"

"Great." He took a sip. "Do they know anything? I mean, why all the suspense? Why didn't they just tell you?"

"I've dealt only with their department secretaries. I get the feeling that they figure they're doing us a favor and we should come and appreciate their help in person. I might be able to set up a conference call, but I'd like to go down there."

"You're right. You can't smile over the phone."

"What does that mean?"

"Your warm-up-the-audience smile." He leaned back. "Best I've ever seen."

The waiter brought the tab with some coffee. For the first time she noticed that one of his blue eyes had a spot of hazel in the cornea. He'd probably shaved early in the morning and his beard, with its late-night shadow, was now rough and blond with a hint of red. She liked it.

"Now you're making me nervous. Are your friends doing more evil deeds that you haven't told me about?"

"It's like your boyfriend. We don't talk about him. We don't discuss my friends' upcoming evil deeds."

"You seem to have a thing about my boyfriend."

''One of us has to.''

"I've got to excuse myself to the ladies' room."

After getting directions from a waiter, Maria moved down a shadowy hall. She forced herself to shrug off what seemed to be an irrational sense of alarm. She locked the bathroom door behind her.

On her way back to the dining area, her uneasiness turned to fear. Silhouetted by a light at the end of the hall, a large figure stepped out of the men's room in front of her. A shiver ran up her spine. He was a big man. Don't be silly, she told herself as she approached him. What can happen in a restaurant? She tried to make out his face, but couldn't see much in the silhouette he formed. As she turned to edge past him, she felt herself lifted and thrown head first against the wall-so hard it knocked the wind out of her and made her see stars. There she was held, engulfed in a sea of flesh, pressed flat, unable to move. A large hand clamped over her mouth, and she began getting dizzy.

"Don't move or I'll snap your neck right where you stand," he whispered. He smelled of stale sweat and whiskey. She tried to breath, but couldn't, and the voice continued. "Why don't you take your goddamn nosy attitude someplace else? Down to the Sierras, maybe." While he talked, she forced her right hand behind her, feeling for his crotch. ''Bad things could happen around here if you and Young don't lay off. Real bad things, like to that kid of his. What's his name? Nate?" He slammed her against the wall again to make his point. "I promise I'll be back for a real dance. Unless you two lay off."

He ground his pelvis into her buttocks and consequently into her hand. She found his large testicles through his pants. Using her body weight, she squeezed, pulled, and twisted in one fluid motion. Every ounce of her energy went to her straining hands.

A scream burst into her ear and a meaty fist slammed the side of her head, then went to her throat. She yanked up again and then down. The hand disappeared. Choking sounds escaped her lips; then she felt herself dropping, crumpling to the floor. Only then did she release his testicles. His scream had turned to grunting. He staggered back.

"Oh fuck," he muttered, holding himself.

She tried to crawl up the wall, but her legs wouldn't work. Stumbling toward her, he took a swipe at her neck with one hand while he held himself with the other. He missed. She began sliding backward on the floor and screamed, but on the second try his hand took her neck and clamped her throat shut. No blood, no air. She felt the coldness that is death. Bending down to her, he put his face next to hers. When he began to speak-words that her mind never heard-she used her last bit of strength to ram her thumbs into his eyes, causing him to fall back.

From the floor she rammed her heel into his kneecap. Then she managed to get to her feet and half-ran, half-stumbled up the hall with him bellowing his pain as she reached the dining room, her head swirled and she fell headlong into Dan, who grabbed her.

Some crazy logger, she tried to tell herself. But she knew it was the Highlands and the lab and the bats and the damn equations, whatever it meant. This didn't happen because she was an environmentalist or because she had befriended Dan. It happened because Dan Young was after the Amada people. And they had to have been spying on them, trying to make it look like a coincidental meeting with a redneck.

"Are you all right?" Dan was saying.

"I think so."

"Can I help?" It was a young man.

"Someone attacked you?" Dan said.

"Bastard," she said.

"Hold her," Dan said.

"He's long gone and in a world of hurt," she said to Dan, who was moving rapidly toward the back hall.

She teetered as the waiter held her arm. Barely able to stand, she leaned against the wall to take inventory. Nothing felt broken, but she knew she'd have massive bruises. She hobbled back around a corner toward where they had been seated.

Dan ran into the back hallway, found the ladies' room, went to the back where the hallway ended in a T. To the left was a busy kitchen, to the right a storage area, and straight ahead the back door. Opening the door, he found an empty alley. Back inside he stepped into the kitchen. Only the kid washing dishes would have seen the hallway.

"Did you hear a scream and see a guy leave?"

"I seen a guy. Looked hurt bad. I couldn't tell where the scream came from. I thought it was in the alley."

"Can you remember anything about this guy?"

"Big, and wore a dark green shirtlike thing. He was doubled over."

"What color was the man's hair?"

"I don't know. I think he was wearing a stocking cap. He was in the shadows and didn't look my way."

Returning to the restaurant, Dan found the waiter and Maria exactly where he had left them.

He took her to his car, a 1990 Mercedes in virtually new condition. He and Tess had used it on special occasions.

"We've got to report this to the police," Dan said. "And I've got to go back to that compound."

"No. Absolutely not. They threatened Nate. You have got to stop fighting them. Let the police do it."

"I think you said that already."

"I'm afraid it's not sinking in. It was a warning, Dan. Somebody doesn't want us doing what we're doing. They may start with me, but it'll end with Nate." Her words made him silent.