Collins, Max Allan - Nathan Heller 11 (21 page)

Apparently they didn’t, as I was able to slip through a row of trees and onto another sidewalk, with hangars up ahead, the landing lights of a plane coming in, streaking through a wire fence in long white fingers, tickling me all over, and revealing another MP, patrolling along that perimeter. Heart pounding, I cut between two barracks, slipping within the safe haven of a row of shrubbery-surrounded trees planted between them, keeping low, almost tripping over two people on the ground.

Backing up, I was unsnapping the holstered sidearm, as somebody was saying, “Shit!”

Not me.

Down on the grass, an enlisted man—actually kid—had been embracing another enlisted man, both with their trousers around their ankles and a hand on each other’s, well, gun (as the DI back at boot camp used to say, “This is your rifle, this is your gun, this is for Japs, and this is for fun”). They looked up at me in wide-eyed horror, probably not unlike the expression I was showing them.

“Oh God, oh God,” one of the kids was saying. “Please don’t turn us in! We weren’t doing anything—honest!”

The other kid didn’t say a word—he was too busy bawling.

Resnapping the holster, I raised a finger to my lips in shush fashion, whispered, “As you were,” and moved on.

Thank God for those signs at intersections, because soon I was headed in the right direction. A black staff car rolled by, slowed momentarily, and I suddenly felt absurd in my baggy uniform, and even as my hand drifted over the holstered revolver, I wondered if I really had it in me to start shooting it out with the Air Force.

Then the car turned left, onto the adjacent blacktop artery, and slipped away into the night. Three minutes and no further incidents later, faithfully following the intersection signs, I found the building I was looking for: off by itself, with driveways flowing in and around for easy access, the long, low, unpretentious white clapboard structure with
USAF HOSPITAL
over its folksy screened-in porch.

I now had a wristwatch—a Bulova, courtesy of that colored sergeant—and it was shortly before ten o’clock p.m., which could be a piece of luck, as ten was when Air Force nurse Maria Selff’s shift ended. I needed one more piece of luck: for Maria’s powder-blue coupe to be unlocked. There were perhaps twenty-five cars parked in the front lot, but the sleek Studebaker, with its short hood and long trunk, was easy to spot.

The driver’s-side door was locked; but the rider’s-side wasn’t, and with a quick look around the rather brightly lit lot, to make sure I was unseen, I opened the door and slipped into the snug backseat, shut myself in, sitting low, below the wraparound rear windows. My timing was good, because within a minute, cars began rolling in as new personnel arrived for shift change. The lot was alive with slamming car doors and coworker chatter. I kept low and waited.

Not long: within five minutes, she exited the building with two other nurses, chit-chatting as they each withdrew keys from purses, the other two women separating off to the left and their own cars, while Maria headed right, toward me, as I spied her through the side window, from my backseat slouch. Clip-clopping in her white nurse’s heels, she came across the parking lot, the generous curves on the small frame packed into her khaki dress, overseas cap jauntily cocked, lustrous black hair pinned up.

I ducked down onto the floor just before she got in, the dome light briefly blinding me before she shut herself in with me. Before she had started the engine, I sat up—not way up—and said softly, “Maria, stay calm, it’s me.”

Startled, she turned, eyes wide, mouth open, and I said, “Just talk to me in the rearview mirror—I don’t want to attract attention.”

She turned away and the blue eyes, round with alarm, stared at me from the rearview mirror. “What are you doing?”

“Waiting for you.”

“In the backseat?”

“Well, we did have a date.”

Her eyes tightened in the mirror. “Nathan, why are you in an MP uniform? You’re scaring me.”

“Listen, I’ll go if you want me to. I’ll try to find a fence without an armed MP walking it, to climb over, and hoof it back to town. But what I want, if you’re willing, is for you to sneak me off this goddamn place; I’ll just duck down back here, or climb in the trunk—whatever makes you most comfortable.”

“I … I think the trunk. When I go out through the gate, the guard would see you back there…. What’s going on, Nathan? Are you going to get me court-martialed?”

“That’s a possibility,” I said, “and I’ll head for that fence if you say so,” and I filled her in on my kidnapping, up to and including my escape from the base “guesthouse.”

She was shaking her head, and the eyes in the mirror were closed. “I told you … I told you I was putting all of us in danger. They warned me not to talk … I should never …”

I put a hand on her shoulder. “Now, you gotta get hold of yourself, beautiful. We just don’t have time, either one of us, to have a nervous breakdown right now. Understand?”

She swallowed, nodded.

“You okay? Got your composure back? Why don’t you dry your eyes.”

She got a hanky out of her purse and did.

“All right,” I said. “Okay. Let’s see if I can fit in that trunk….”

Some other hospital personnel on Maria’s shift—nurses, orderlies, a doctor or two—were getting their cars; we waited for a clear shot, then we got out, she opened the trunk and I crawled in—just me and a spare Goodyear, in the red blush of her taillights, a big fetus in an MP’s uniform. I heard her get back in the car, shut the door, ignition key bringing the engine to life, and the Studey had a smooth ride, as she guided the buggy down the blacktops and glided up to a stop at the front sentry.

I heard some muffled conversation, friendly, male laughter, female laughter—some son of a bitch was flirting with my date!—and then we were moving again, more quickly. My muscles and bones ached, as if I had the flu—or maybe it had something to do with my 190 pounds being stuffed in a car’s trunk.

In under five minutes, the Studebaker rolled to a stop. I heard her get out, and then the lid lifted and there she was, Maria, my personal nurse, framed against a starry sky that was the same color blue as those concern-filled eyes in the heart-shaped face under the cute, cocked hat. With her in my life, what was I doing dreaming about space men?

She helped me out of the trunk, and I needed the help, my legs still rubbery, joints creaky as a rusty gate, and I found myself in the alley behind the Mission Revival-style bungalow she rented on Pennsylvania Avenue. We went in the back way and she sat me down at a Formica table in a cozy white-trimmed-red kitchen.

“I’ll put some coffee on,” she said.

“Please.”

“You need anything to eat? There’s a couple kinds of sandwiches I can make you …”

“No. No thanks.”

Maria got the coffee going, then sat beside me; if she looked any cuter in that khaki nurse’s outfit I would have done hand-springs, or bust out crying. “They’ll be looking for you soon, Nathan.”

I nodded. “Do you think anyone’s connected the two of us?”

She took off her hat, tossed it on the table, began unpinning her shining black hair; her mouth glistened with bright red lipstick. “Other than Glenn, no—and he wouldn’t say a word. He’d want to protect me and, anyway, he has to do business at the base, wouldn’t want it known he gave you that information…. Oh my God!”

She covered her mouth in horror.

“What?” I asked.

“Your spiral pad … your notes,
my name,
everyone you talked to, if they took that from your hotel room—”

I shook my head, no, my expression reassuring. “It wasn’t in my hotel room; it’s locked in the glove compartment of the rental. I doubt they’ve got it.”

“How can you be sure?”

“If they did, we’d have company by now.”

I put the gun on the table, where it served as a strange centerpiece; the pageboy once again brushing her shoulders, she looked at the weapon gravely.

I said, “I need to get out of this town—this state. Look, I may still have a little time, before they find that MP, or he hobbles out of that bathroom…. I better go get my car….”

She touched my hand. “What if they’re watching, what if they’re waiting …?”

“I won’t go to my hotel room—I’ll just fetch my Ford, which is out in the open, in public. They grab me, I’ll make a big loud stink.” I patted the .38. “And loud noises. … I wasn’t arrested, remember—bastards kidnapped me. That’s illegal, even in New Mexico.”

Her eyes narrowed in thought. “Have you considered going to the sheriff’s office?”

I smirked, laughed once. “You really think I should go anywhere in Roswell, but here?” I pushed my chair away from the table, stood. “Listen, Maria, you’ve been terrific … but I don’t want to get you in a jam—I’m gonna walk over and get my car, and get outa this tinhorn town. I’m not even waiting for the noon stage….”

Now she stood, clutched my MP’s shirtsleeve. “In that uniform? You know, they shoot spies for that…. Just wait. Have your coffee, first … I may have a better idea.”

“Maria, I’m running out of time.”

The coffee had stopped perking; she went over and poured me a cup. “Cream or sugar?”

“Little sugar,” I sighed, walking over to her. “What’s your better idea?”

Stirring in a spoonful, she said, “Let me change into civilian clothes, and
I’ll
walk over and get your car…. Where is it?”

“In that lot on Third Street, but—”

She put the cup of coffee in my hands, walked me over and forced me to sit; weak as my legs were, she didn’t have much trouble accomplishing that.

“I’ll drive it back here,” she said. “I’ve got a little garage just across the alley, where I usually park the Studebaker. I’ll tuck it away in there till you’re ready to leave.”

I was shaking my head. “Even so, I still need clothes, and going after my things in that hotel room is out of the question …”

“You’re right, that would be too dangerous, for either of us.” She looked side to side, as if an answer might be hiding somewhere in the kitchen; then her expression firmed, as if she’d found one. “I have … some things here you can wear.”

“Your husband’s?”

She nodded. “They’re in a trunk in my bedroom. May smell a little of mothballs, but they should do you fine—you must wear the same size Steve did, or darn close.”

“I can’t let you do this,” I said. “Too risky. What if you’re followed back here, and they find out you were helping me …”

“It’s no risk, not if we get you out of that MP uniform, and I dump it in a garbage can on my way over to your car. Then, if it comes to that, I simply plead ignorance: how was I to know the Air Force was after you?”

No question about it: she was making sense. Even if they had my notebook, and knew she’d spoken to me on the forbidden “saucer” subject, that didn’t mean she knew about my fugitive status.

So I got out of the MP uniform, and bundled it up in brown paper for her, while she changed into a maize-color T-shirt and blue denim slacks and open-toed leather sandals.

“You look like a college coed,” I said, handing her the bundle.

Those full cherry-lipsticked lips twisted sideways and she arched an eyebrow knowingly. “You look like a big lug in his boxer shorts.”

“That’s when I like you best,” I said.

“When?”

“When you get out of character. Who’d have guessed the sensitive waif I met last night could take charge like this?”

Her eyes lowered and her mouth quivered; I wasn’t sure whether she was taking offense or letting some nervousness show through. Quietly, she said, “Well, I am in the military, you know.”

Then, bundle under her arm, she slipped out the back way, and I sat thinking fond thoughts of her as I drank my coffee.

The trunk in her bedroom provided plenty of choices; I picked out a blue-knit T-shirt, some gray tropical slacks, and some socks with clocks on them. They did smell of mothballs at that, and I laid the clothes out on the dresser, to air out a little, and flopped onto the bed in my shorts, just to rest a wee bit before she got back. I knew I wouldn’t fall asleep, particularly after the caffeine in that coffee. But the alertness of my mind fooled me: my weary body had been right all the time.

I was asleep in maybe ten seconds.

Another dream, pleasant dream, of the small pale child/man with the big head and big eyes and silver suit, speaking soothing words, friendly, unthreatening….

I opened my eyes; it was dark and I was under cool sheets again, and someone was hovering over me—not a space creature, an exquisite creature: Maria, tousled black hair, blue eyes, red lips, creamy naked curves, bending down to kiss me on the mouth.

This was not a dream, but it was much, much better, as she buried that lustrous black hair in my lap, fingers fishing expertly in the flap of my boxers and if I really was only the second man she’d ever been with, that first guy had taught her plenty. I made her stop before I came, and she stroked me gently and mounted me and rode me, tenderly, like a child guiding its pet burro up an arroyo, and very soon she came and I came, in a mutual shuddering loss of control. She withdrew me from her, then slipped away, went off to do whatever women do, and, in bra and panties, came trundling back with a Kleenex for me and fell into my arms, whispering, “You must be very tired, very tired, very tired,” and I was, I was, I was….

The room was still dark, but sunlight was finding its way in and around the closed window blinds; birdies were tweeting and paperboys were missing porches and milkmen were clattering bottles and traffic was just starting to flow.

I sat up. I felt incredibly rested; never slept better in my life, and if I’d been dreaming, whether about spacemen or pretty girls or an imaginary day at the racetrack, I had no memory of it.

Hair pinned up under the cocked overseas hat, Maria was sitting in the kitchen, in her khaki nurse’s uniform, having toast and coffee, looking cuter than Shirley Temple. And these days Shirley Temple was looking pretty cute.

“Must be morning,” I said.

“Yes,” she purred, and her smile was gently wry, even if her toast was white. “Question is, what morning?”

I pulled up an eyebrow and a chair and sat. “What do you mean?”

Her lush lips formed a mocking kiss. “Are you hungry, by any chance?”

“Actually … now that you mention it, yeah! Ravenous.”

“That may be because you’ve been sleeping since the night before last.”

“What? Straight through?”

My private nurse rose and began making me breakfast; she was prepared: a skillet waited on the stove, and—on the counter nearby—two eggs in a bowl, a bottle of milk, several strips of crisp bacon already shedding their grease on a paper towel, toast in a toaster poised for pushing down.

“How do you like ’em?” she asked, an egg in hand.

“Like my brains, scrambled. Maria, tell me I didn’t sleep straight through.”

She cracked two eggs and started scrambling. “You roused once and wanted to know where the bathroom was. And I showed you. And you used it. And went right back to bed, to sleep.”

“God, I don’t remember that, at all. They must’ve pumped a lot of drugs into me, for me to need to sleep it off like that…. What about the car?”

“I got it. Notebook, too.”

“Any sign of trouble out at the base?”

She shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I called in sick yesterday to baby-sit you. Today I start back on morning shift.”

I rubbed my face; heavy beard but not outrageous. “Jesus—we’re lucky they didn’t put your absence together with my ‘jailbreak.’”

She stirred the eggs, adding some milk. “If they haven’t connected us by now, they’re not going to. But I did have a call from the commanding officer, himself.”

“Blanchard! What the hell did he want?”

“I’m being transferred. Remember, I had that hanging over me? The colonel wanted to thank me personally for my ‘fine service.’”

“Transferred to where?”

“I haven’t received my orders yet.”

“Could it have anything to do with …”

“I don’t think so—this has been a long time coming. Anyway, Nathan, if they knew about us, they’d be here, wouldn’t they?”

“You would think. You would think. Maria, I have to go.”

“Go sit down. I’ll serve you.”

I sat, and soon she placed the plate of scrambled eggs and bacon before me, and a glass of orange juice, buttered toast and a cup of coffee. “Where do you have to go, Nathan?”

I began eating; God I was starved. “Not home. I’m going underground for a few weeks, maybe longer—my friends in Chicago will tell me if the heat is on or off.”

Her brow furrowed. “What if the heat
is
on? And what if it stays on?”

“I don’t know.” I took a bite of toast, chewed as I talked; we knew each other well enough for that. “I do have a few friends in high places, and low ones, and I’ll call on them, if need be. But I won’t make an issue out of this unless I have to. I just want my life back. Maria, I have learned one thing from my investigation, and one thing only: that I do not give a flying shit whether men from outer space crashed near your fair city.”

Her expression was blank. “Then maybe your stay at the guesthouse served its purpose. Maybe that’s all they were after.”

“Then they succeeded. Flying colors.”

When I’d finished my breakfast—which was soon—she took the dishes to the sink and ran water over them.

I stood and found a small notepad and pencil by the fridge. “Maria, this is my business number. Call that when you know where your new duty assignment is.”

She took the slip of paper, folded it, and snugged it in her breast pocket. Then she slipped her arms around my waist; the blue eyes looked up at me, as if daring me to dive in. “Does this mean you want to see me again, Nathan?”

“Yeah—anywhere but Roswell.”

“Aren’t you going to kiss me goodbye?”

“Sure …”

I kissed her, and she kissed back, and it was passionate and sweet and I asked, “When do you have to be at work?”

“Not for a while yet …”

“How would you feel about hiking up that skirt and taking off your panties and really saying goodbye. …”

“I think that could arranged,” she said with a wicked little smile.

“And please,” I said, “leave the little hat on….”

“Where shall we …?”

“How about one of these chairs….”

“Oh my,” she said, a little while later, breathing hard, still straddling my lap; me, I was ready for another long nap. “Nathan, that … that was out of this world….”

“I bet you say that to all the Martians.”

My car was, as promised, in the garage across the alley. My nurse—her skirt only slightly wrinkled—waved goodbye from the kitchen doorway and, wearing her late husband’s clothes, I waved back at her, like she was the little woman and, like a good breadwinner—even if I was unshaven and lacked a lunch pail—I might have been heading for work.

Not preparing to hide my sorry ass.