Backtracker (75 page)

"
No no,
"
interjected Dave, hastily getting to his feet.
"
Really, I
'
m okay. He nailed me pretty good in the stomach, but that was about the worst of it.
"
A hard blow to the gut; Dave figured that would explain the vomiting. Though he
didn
'
t
think that it was necessary to cover up his visit to the...

Red and white and...

There had been flies.

...to the kid, he was embarrassed by his nausea and faintheartedness and
didn
'
t
want Billy to know how extreme his reaction had been.

"
Are you
sure
?
"
grimaced Billy.
"
You
'
re white as a
ghost
,
man.
"

"
I
'
m sure,
"
Dave replied firmly. He
couldn
'
t
help but note the irony of the scene: Billy looked fine, though he was the one who had been beaten, while Dave apparently looked awful, though he
hadn
'
t
been touched.

"
Are
you
okay
?
"
Dave asked then, trying to turn the conversation away from his own condition.
"
He
really
got you.
"

"
Yeah, I
'
m okay,
"
Billy drawled disgustedly, rubbing the back of his head.
"
Got a sore jaw and a killer headache, but I
'
ll live. How long was I out, anyway?
"

"
I don
'
t know,
"
shrugged Dave.
"
Half
-
hour, forty
-
five minutes, I guess. I wasn
'
t really watching the time, y
'
know?
"

"
That son of a bitch,
"
hissed Billy, scowling angrily.
"
I didn
'
t even see him waiting for me. Just reached right up outta
'
that crack and snagged me like he was pickin
'
an apple off a tree.
Shit
.
"

"
It looked like you fell pretty hard,
"
said Dave.
"
Are you sure you
'
re okay?
"

"
Yeah yeah,
"
snorted Billy.
"
I just wish I would
'
ve put up more of a fight. That bastard put me away before I knew what
hit
me. I didn
'
t even clip him once.
"

"
There
was nothing
you could do,
"
offered Dave.
"
Larry
'
s seriously dangerous. I guess we
'
re lucky he didn
'
t kill us.
"

"
Shit, you can say
that
again,
"
nodded Billy, and then he paused, frowning thoughtfully.

"
Beats me,
"
lied Dave.

"
He must
'
ve
known
we
'
d get the
cops
after him,
"
mulled Billy, cocking his head to one side.
"
It doesn
'
t make sense, man. Are you sure he didn
'
t say anything about that?
"

"
I
'
m sure,
"
confirmed Dave, regretting that
he'd
brought up the subject of Larry
'
s decision to spare them. He admonished himself for being so careless, leading to a question for which he
hadn
'
t
cooked up a good answer; he wanted to kick himself, but all that he could do was hope that Billy would accept his plea of ignorance.
"
I don
'
t know
why
he let us live,
"
he added,
"
but I
'
m not complaining.
"

Billy nodded but
didn
'
t
look satisfied. Head still cocked, he stared contemplatively down at the stone; his mouth opened slightly, and for a moment, he seemed to be about to say something.

Tensing, Dave tried to prepare for the questions which might come next; frantically, he tried to cobble together explanations in case Billy
wouldn
'
t
let go of the matter. He
couldn
'
t
come up with anything which he thought would serve the purpose, and he started to panic...but then, Billy Bristol shrugged and sighed.

"
Oh well,
"
said Billy.
"
The guy
'
s a psycho. I guess he doesn
'
t
have
to make sense.
"

A great plume of relief spread through Dave. He promised himself that he would be more careful from then on,
wouldn
'
t
allow offhanded remarks to spoil his critical assignment.

"
Hey
!
"
snapped Billy then, raising his voice in surprising hostility.
"
By the way,
what
the hell are you still
doing
here, man? Why didn
'
t you do what I
told
you?
"

"
What? Like what
?
"
fumbled Dave, taken aback.

"
I told you to
run
for it,
"
clipped Billy.
"
When that bastard was reeling me in, I told you to get the hell
outta
'
here, remember?
Why
in God
'
s
name
did you stick around?
"

"
Well, uh...
"
Dave hesitated, wondered if he ought to lie about what had kept him there, if he ought to avoid mentioning Larry
'
s threats to kill Billy.
By omitting them, Dave thought that he could diminish the likelihood that Billy would reject the plan; probably, if Billy knew that the killer had threatened to murder him, Dave would have absolutely no chance of restraining him from racing to the cops.

"
Well, I couldn
'
t just leave you here,
"
Dave said finally.
"
I mean, I didn
'
t know what he might do to you.
"
There; that much was true, at least. That
was
why
he'd
stayed
,
because he
hadn
'
t
known what Larry would do.

"
Shit
, Dave
!
"
slung Billy.
"
I
told
you to
go
!
You could
'
ve had the
cops
here by now! Maybe they
'
d
'
ve
caught
that bastard already!
"

"
Right,
"
said Dave.
"
And maybe you
'
d be
dead
by now, too.
"

"
You
'
re lucky
you
'
re
not dead, man! For cryin
'
out loud, how
'
d you think you were gonna
'
help
me? You think you were gonna
'
take him on?
"

"
I didn
'
t know what I was gonna
'
do,
"
shrugged Dave.
"
I just knew I couldn
'
t run off and leave you here to die.
"

"
You should
'
ve
gone
,
"
pressed Billy.

"
Yeah
?
"
growled Dave.
"
And what would
you
have done? Left me here to be
killed
by that maniac?
"

Billy
'
s mouth popped open and he seemed ready to let fly a retort; he said nothing, though, just hung there for a moment. He glowered at Dave, then darted his eyes away...and then, with an exasperated sigh, he shook his head.

"
Of course not,
"
he mumbled irritably. There was a long pause as he stood there, head bowed, shoulders pumping. Dave guessed that he was feeling the effects of the day
'
s incredible stress, that that was what had made him fly off the handle, erupt so uncharacteristically over a deed already done.

"
All right,
"
said Billy at last, his voice returning to a civil pitch.
"
We
'
d better get moving. We can
'
t waste any more time. The cops
'
re gonna
'
have it tough as it is, what with the head start Larry
'
s got.
"

Dave tensed; his pulse and breathing quickened. His stomach twisted painfully and a sharp shudder coursed through his body.

The hardest part;
he'd
reached the hardest part of his plan so far.
He'd
dreaded it, had hoped to forestall it, but it had come up quickly.

There was no way around it, now.
He had
to pull Billy into the crusade.

He
wasn
'
t
ready. He
didn
'
t
even know how to begin. He
didn
'
t
want
to begin.

Yet again, he questioned what
he'd
decided to do. He tried to convince himself to sidestep the unpleasant duty, abandon the plan, save himself the trouble. He strove to declare, for once and for all, that he
didn
'
t
care what Larry did next.

He
didn
'
t
care,
didn
'
t
care,
didn
'
t
give a damn.

He did.
He did give a damn.

He had
to stop Larry;
he
ha
d
to protect Billy.

It was all up to him.

"
No,
"
he said quietly, and then he cleared his throat.
"
No cops,
"
he said, and that was enough;
he'd
committed himself.

"
Huh
?
"
Billy said querulously.
"
What did you say?
"

"
No cops,
"
repeated Dave.
"
I said we have to keep the police out of this.
"

Billy frowned.
"
You
'
re kidding, right
?
"
he snorted, nodding as if to enforce his supposition.

"
No,
"
Dave said steadily.
"
I
'
m not kidding. We can
'
t go to the police.
"

"
Whoa,
"
said Billy, pushing both hands before him, palms out.
"
You can
'
t be serious, man. We
have
to get the police.
"

"
No, we don
'
t,
"
said Dave.
"
Matter of fact, we can
'
t.
"
'
Can
'
t
'
; that was the only way to put it. He could leave no room for negotiation;
he had
to make it clear that there was only one choice.

Now, if he could just come up with a
reason
why there was only one choice.

"
Whatta
'
you mean, we can
'
t
?
"
Billy asked sharply.
"
Why can
'
t we?
"

Dave hesitated, shifted his eyes down.
"
We just can
'
t,
"
he said, deliberately delaying, combing his mind for the answer to Billy
'
s all
-
important question.

"
Why
?
"
persisted Billy.

Why
?
Why, why indeed?
Why
could they not seek the cops? Larry was a killer; the corpse of one of his victims lay in a trench just yards away. The logical course was to go to the cops, send them after the psychopath...so
what
could keep Billy from doing just that? What could make him exchange a
sane
respon
se for one that was patently
in
sane
?

Why
shouldn
'
t
they send the cops to catch Larry? He was a
killer
, would probably kill again; he was dangerous, a real threat.

A
threat
.
That was it.

There had to be a
threat
.

Dave had already lied about a threat, Larry
'
s threat to kill Billy, because
he'd
known that it would probably set Billy off, send him flying to the cops...but perhaps a different threat could have a different effect.

Even as the idea dawned on him, Dave knew that it was right; he knew that there had to be a threat. There had to be a possibility of
disaster
, one which could be realized if the cops were summoned...and which could be nullified if the cops were kept out of it.

There had to be a greater threat than that of Larry killing strangers. It had to be personal, immediate, unignorable, powerful enough to motivate Billy.