Backtracker (51 page)

In the end, the only thing that he could think of to do was wait. He could see no other option: he
couldn
'
t
take action to avert the disaster which he feared, for he
didn
'
t
know enough about it,
didn
'
t
even know if it existed; he
couldn
'
t
seek information from Larry Smith, for he dared not leave his parents unprotected; since he
didn
'
t
want to leave the house, he
couldn
'
t
track down his brother and ensure his safety; and he
couldn
'
t
immediately confer with Billy, since he
wasn
'
t
answering his phone. All that Dave could do for now was wait...wait and pray.

He would stay up all night, watching over his parents, waiting for a danger which might or might not threaten them. He would wait for his brother to get home, pray that he
would
get home, then stand guard over him as well. He would continue to phone Billy, call him at intervals, wait for him to finally answer...
if
he answered.

He would wait. Maybe, in the course of his vigil, a new idea would strike him and he could pursue a different strategy. Maybe, something would happen which would change the whole situation, something unexpected and fortunate.

Regardless, for now, he would wait.

He
wouldn
'
t
sleep. He
wouldn
'
t
leave the house.

He would wait.

*****

Part Three: The Fixit Man

 

Chapter
22

"
All right,
"
said Billy Bristol.
"
Just take it easy. You
'
re way too
worked up
, man.
"
Perched on a stool, the wiry guy leaned his elbows on the kitchen counter.

"
I can
'
t
help
it
!
"
blurted Dave, tossing his arms in the air.
"
I don
'
t know what the hell
'
s gonna
'
happen
!
I don
'
t know what to do!
"
Red
-
eyed and frazzled after his sleepless night, he paced across the kitchen, as much in an effort to stay awake and alert as to release his nervous tension.

"
Just try and cool
it,
"
advised Bil
ly.
"
We
'
re gonna
'
figure out
what to do.
"

"
Yeah, yeah,
"
Dave muttered grumpily, but he was secretly pleased at Billy
'
s words, his confidence. Dave was relieved just to have Billy in the house, just to be able to talk to him. It had taken him a long time to produce his friend, but Dave was glad that Billy Bristol was finally there.

As Dave had expected, it had been a very long and difficult night. For endless hours,
he'd
held his sentry post in the living room, waiting for something to happen, guarding his parents. Fighting off sleep with gallons of coffee,
he'd
maintained his watch, imagining shapes in the shadows, jumping at every sound.

Faithfully, every fifteen minutes,
he'd
telephoned Billy
'
s trailer. Though there had been no response to his calls for what had seemed like an eternity, Dave had been sustained by the routine; the calls had helped to pass a little of the time, had helped to break up the interminably long vigil.

Dave had waited, and prayed, and called Billy...and finally, at four o
'
clock in the morning, one of his prayers had been answered: his brother had returned home safely. Clearly drunk, but thankfully intact, Jeff had tumbled through the front door with a beer can in his hand. Loopy and talkative,
he'd
given Dave a synopsis of his antics that night, his far
-
flung wanderings with besotted buddies. Relieved just to have his brother home in one piece, Dave had listened to Jeff
'
s ramblings with keen interest; when Jeff had finally stumbled off to bed, Dave had been sorry to see him go, for his company had briefly enlivened the monotonous watch.

Not until six o
'
clock in the morning had Dave
'
s calls to Billy Bristol finally been answered. Dazed and sluggish, Dave had dialed Billy
'
s number for what would have had to have been the last time for a while;
he'd
known that his parents would be waking soon and he would have had to abandon the phone, retreat to his room to avoid awkward questions from Mom and Dad. Dave had made a last try at six A.M., not expecting to have any more success than
he'd
had all night...and, miraculously, Billy had responded after only two rings. Sounding unusually energetic for that time of the morning, just a little surprised at receiving such an early phone call, Billy had explained his lengthy absence:
he'd
spent the night in the dormitory room of an Orchard College co
-
ed and had only returned to his trailer a few minutes before Dave
'
s breakthrough call.

Ultimately, contacting Billy had proved far easier than getting him to come to the house.
He'd
been scheduled to work that morning and had resisted Dave
'
s pleas for him to call the steakhouse and feign illness; Billy
hadn
'
t
wanted to call in sick, for it would have been difficult for Mr. Wyland to round up a replacement for him at the last minute. In addition to his reluctance to miss work, Billy had been skeptical about Dave
'
s wild claims, Dave
'
s reasons for wanting him to hurry to the house. Since
he'd
been in a rush to get off the phone before his parents awakened, Dave had given only a partial explanation;
he'd
said that there was an emergency, that
he had
final proof that Larry was psychic, that he thought that Larry had foreseen disaster for his family. Billy
hadn
'
t
seemed convinced that Dave was in his right mind, and
he'd
seemed irritated by his friend
'
s strange demands.

After several minutes of frantic begging and wheedling, Dave had heard the beeping of his parents
'
alarm clock.
He'd
made a last, desperate plea, beseeching Billy to help him in the name of friendship, if for no other reason. Escaping to his room just as his mother and father had emerged from theirs, Dave had nervously waited and prayed for his friend
'
s acquiescence.
He'd
tried to think of what he would do if Billy
didn
'
t
show up, and
he'd
dreaded the potentially deadly day ahead.

In the end, though, Billy had come through, as he almost always did. Still peevish and skeptical, hiding only some of his displeasure at Dave
'
s inconvenient entreaties, Billy had appeared on the doorstep just a little after nine o
'
clock...the time at which Dave had begged him to be there, when his family had all departed for work and school.

Dave had told his friend the whole story then, sparing no details. At first, Billy had remained staunchly skeptical...but gradually, as Dave had unfolded his tale, Billy had seemed to become more convinced. When
he'd
heard about Boris
'
stab at self
-
destruction, Billy had reacted with surprise and disbelief;
he'd
also been taken aback when
he'd
learned of Larry
'
s appearance at Martin
'
s house. Each bit of evidence that Dave had presented had seemed to sap more of Billy
'
s resistance, reduce his efforts to poke holes in the incredible story. By the time that Dave had finished telling all that he knew, Billy had seemed largely won over; he still expressed doubts about Larry
'
s claims of psychic prowess, but he accepted that Larry was involved in some kind of dark business which might be threatening Dave and his family.

And so, with Billy brought up to date and into Dave
'
s camp, the two friends were now brainstorming, trying to decide how to handle the situation. Of the two, Billy was the most rational and collected; Dave was in a virtual panic, pacing and fretting, worrying that something terrible might be happening to his family even as he tried to plan with his partner.

"
Okay,
"
Billy said calmly, frowning thoughtfully.
"
Let
'
s go over this again. Larry told you that he can see the future, but he can
'
t change it himself. He needs to finagle other people into doing it for him.
"

"
Right,
"
Dave pitched abruptly, marching to one end of the kitchen, then turning on his heel to retrace his steps.

"
Okay,
"
said Billy.
"
He uses people, but he can
'
t use just anybody. For one thing, he can
'
t use someone if they know he
'
s psychic. Plus, if the person he
'
s trying to use is related to the person he
'
s trying to help, it won
'
t work for some reason. Relatives aren
'
t any good
-
brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, the whole shootin
'
match.
"

"
Husbands and wives, too,
"
tossed Dave.

"
Right. Same difference,
"
shrugged Billy...and then he paused and his frown deepened.
"
Y
'
know, doesn
'
t that seem pretty weird to you
?
"
he asked quizzically.

"
Does what seem weird,
"
grumbled Dave.

"
Well...that there
'
s all these
rules
,
"
said Billy.
"
I mean, there
'
s an awful lot of
rules
on what Larry can and can
'
t do.
"

"
Hey,
I
don
'
t know,
"
snapped Dave.
"
I just told you what Larry told me, all right? He said
he
didn
'
t even know why things
'
re like that.
"

Squinting puzzledly, Billy leaned further forward on the counter.
"
Right, I understand...but it still seems kind
'
a weird, doesn
'
t it? I mean, this guy
'
s got more rules than a card game.
"

"
The whole
thing
is kind of weird,
"
barked Dave.
"
It doesn
'
t matter! We
'
ve gotta
'
do
something, like right
now
!
"
Jerking his head to one side, he glanced at the clock over the stove; it was ten o
'
clock, over an hour since the last member of his family had left the house.
"
For all I know, it might already be too late
!
"
he ranted.
"
Mom or Dad or Jeff might already be
dead
, for all I know!
"

"
All
right
, all right,
"
said Billy.
"
Just calm down, man. We aren
'
t gonna
'
get anywhere if you keep freaking out on me.
"

"
I think I
am
pretty calm,
"
protested Dave.
"
Considering the fact that my whole
family
might be about to
die
, I think I
'
m being
real
calm!
"

"
Whatever you say,
"
replied Billy, emitting an exasperated sigh.
"
Okay, so we
'
ll just accept what Larry told you as the gospel truth...for now, anyway. He needs other people to keep his visions from coming true, but he can
'
t use anyone who knows he
'
s psychic or who
'
s related or married to the ones he
'
s trying to save. Now, sometimes, if he can
'
t get anyone to handle things for him, he
'
ll go ahead and try to mess with the future himself, right? Either that, or he
'
ll try to use those relatives, even though he knows neither way
'
ll probably work.
"

"
Yeah,
"
nodded Dave, scratching under the collar of his Wild West shirt.
"
That
'
s what he did with Martin.
"
Dave was still wearing his steakhouse uniform,
hadn
'
t
changed clothes since returning from work the previous night. The chocolate
-
brown trousers were caked with dried muck, the striped shirt was splotched with unidentifiable grime; the outfit smelled horrible, but Dave had been so caught
-
up in his worried vigil that he
hadn
'
t
thought to remove it.