The Bone Triangle (24 page)

“That’s Gate 100. The edge of the old testing grounds.”

“You’re taking me to the nuclear testing sites, aren’t you?”

“Yes. Back in the sixties, ten thousand people lived in Mercury. They had a school, a post office, a gym, and restaurants in President Kennedy’s day. Now, no one in the public knows how many people still live out there. A few scientists, certainly.”

As I talked, we continued walking. We soon passed the signs and headed downhill over the embankment. We were in the open desert now, sliding on the uneven ground.

“There’s still radioactivity out there,” Jacqueline said. “They told us about that in school. Don’t try to tell me it’s safe, Quentin.”

“If you are with me,
nowhere
is safe. I can assure you it won’t be as bad as daylight on the beach world would have been.”

Her fingers tightened around mine. “I’m going to do this, but you have to tell me something.”

“What?”

“Do you like me? I mean—you know what I mean.”

“Of course,” I said, chuckling.

“Why haven’t you done anything about it, then?”

So we were back to that again, I thought, and smiled.

“I’ve kissed you.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I’ll get around to it,” I assured her. “I’ve been distracted—staying alive has taken up most of my time.”

She laughed. It was so odd to hear her next to me and feel her hand in mind while she was invisible to me. I felt as if I were walking with a lively ghost. Right then, I decided I would do what she wanted. There’d always been good reasons to put it off, and I tended to be an obsessed person anyway, even when I wasn’t being beaten to death in remote worlds. But what good was life if you didn’t pause to smell the roses now and then?

I gave her hand a squeeze, and she squeezed mine back. She talked happily about dinner dates and movies she wanted me to take her to. I agreed to everything. All in all, the walk was a pleasant one until she gasped and stopped, tugging at my hand.

“Look, is that Gate 100?”

I looked and saw what she was talking about. The gate was really a structure built over the highway that led north
from the exit off US Route 95. The gate looked rather like a tollbooth and blocked traffic with big stop signs that halted it in both directions.

I’d researched the area and thought I knew what to expect—but things had changed. The gate had changed from a roadblock into a barrier. Concrete pylons were lined up ten rows deep on both sides of the highway. Tumbleweeds and the like festooned the structure. It looked like it had been blocked off and gone unused for a long time. A faded sign on the roof identified the area as the Nevada Test Site, with quaint-looking mountains painted under the words. Across the sign was a yellow sticker that read
CLOSED.

“Should we check it out?” Jacqueline whispered.

I hesitated, but at last decided we might learn something. We walked to the structure and examined it. There was no way for a vehicle to pass. Anyone approaching the area would have to cross the open desert. Blocking each lane were signs that read
NO ADMITTANCE.

“They don’t want anyone going in here,” Jacqueline said, pointing out the obvious.

“They don’t want anyone leaving, either.”

We walked around the structure to the inside. There was another sign there, a much smaller one.
AREA QUARANTINED
, it said.

I heard someone hawk and spit then. I had been about to say something to Jacqueline, but the words froze in my throat. I didn’t see anyone, but there was someone around. Carefully, we walked around the structure. Jacqueline was resisting now, a weight on my arm. We’d spent a lot of time walking around in hostile territory on the beach world, and we didn’t always need to communicate with words. She still followed my lead, but I knew from experience she wasn’t happy when she became a weight pulling against my hand.
She did it automatically, I think, as if she was trying to slow me down. Maybe she just walked more slowly when she was frightened. In any case, we both knew enough not to talk.

Out in the desert past the northeast corner of the structure, on the side farthest from the highway, I saw a new building. It was low and made out of concrete. I could see dark movement inside and a gun barrel pointed outward. The barrel pointed to the north, toward Mercury.

I crouched down, and Jacqueline crouched with me.

“What the hell is that?” she whispered into my ear.

“Looks like a bunker with a machine-gun nest inside.”

“But it’s pointing north, toward that Mercury place.”

“Exactly. It’s meant to keep people in more than it is to keep people out.”

“What do we do?”

“We back out of here quietly, then run.”

She didn’t give me any arguments about that. We crept away, and when we were out of sight of the machine-gun nest, we ran into the desert together.

When we were a safe distance away and the bunker was hidden by the natural contours of the land, Jacqueline and I crouched in a gully choked with weeds and had a whispered argument. It was odd to argue with someone you couldn’t see but who was holding hands with you. Looking around to make sure we couldn’t be spotted, I let go of her hand. A moment later, she became visible, too.

She had a few streaks of dust on her cheeks. Sweat had made dark lines in the dust, but it didn’t make her any less attractive.

“We’re going back to the car, Quentin. If they haven’t towed it or blown it up or something, we’re driving home.”

“They can’t see us down here. We’re okay.”

“You don’t know that. There might be cameras or motion sensors everywhere.”

“Maybe,” I admitted. “But this is a lot of territory, and I’m not seeing patrolling choppers or tanks. This place has been closed down for a long, long time. I would guess those troops were just left behind on guard duty to be certain. If there was any real danger, there would be more activity.”

She made a sound of exasperation. “You are making stuff up! I thought I was the one in charge of dragging us into dangerous situations!”

“I admit, this is tame compared to wandering the surface of an unknown world full of hostile aliens. But it’s the best I can do as payback today.”

“What if I say I’m leaving? I’m going back to the car, and I’m ditching you out here. I could do it, you know. All I have to do is vanish. You’d never find me.”

I knew she was right. But it didn’t matter. I couldn’t do this without her cooperation in any case. “Whatever happened to wanting me to make a move on you?”

“That’s about sex. I’m still attracted to you. But I’m not keen on dying in a government cell—or being shot by some sniper with an infrared scope.”

I frowned at the idea. “Would we be visible to such a system?”

“How should I know? We have shadows and show up on cameras. I’ve never teased any soldiers with scopes.”

I dug a water bottle out of my pack for each of us. We guzzled the water. Being out here in the noontime sun always dried a man out.

“Decision time,” I said when we were finished. “Are we pressing ahead or not?”

“Are you going to go on without me?”

“No. They’d just pick me up. But I want to go. I’m leaving it up to you.”

She pouted. “You really think your parents raised you out here? That you are some kind of a scientist’s kid?”

“I plan to find out.”

Jacqueline looked troubled. Then, finally, an idea seemed to occur to her. She reached out and grabbed me. Not for the first time, she kissed me. Hard.

I went with it. I had no idea what was going on inside that turbulent head, but I thought I might as well enjoy the ride while I could.

“Make love to me,” she whispered when she let me go.

“Now?”

“Yes.”

“Out here? It’s broad daylight.”

“Yeah. We’ll spread out your sweatshirt and we’ll be invisible the whole time.”

I felt my pulse quicken. She was so sexy—and so crazy. Moments like this were rare in a man’s life and hard to pass up. “Will you come with me if I do this?”

“I’ll get you into Mercury. That’s a promise.”

So we did it. In broad daylight, in the middle of an empty desert that ticked with old radiation. For all I knew, there were a dozen spy cams zoomed in on us, enjoying the action as much as I was. I figured, if they were watching us, we had a pretty good excuse set up for later as to why we were wandering a restricted area.

Jacqueline was invisible, but that only made things more exciting. I had to use my hands like a blind man, running them over her sweat-slick legs. When we finished, I sat up and drank some more water. I offered her the second half of the bottle.

“Keep it,” she said, becoming visible and adjusting her clothing. “You’re going to need every drop, I think.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re going to Mercury alone,” she said, looking at me seriously. “Don’t worry. I didn’t lie. Here.”

She took something out of her pocket and put it in my hand. I looked down at it in confusion. It was red and white and slightly sticky.

“A candy cane?” I asked. “This isn’t it—is it?”

“Yeah,” she said. “You can even lick it if you want. Tastes sweet. But I wouldn’t do it. Who knows how many tongues have been on that thing over the years?”

The candy cane was perfect, and to test it out, I cracked it down hard on a rock. It didn’t dent, chip, or snap. It made a nice whacking sound, however.

“Harder than steel,” Jacqueline said, tying her new shoes. “But you have to trade me for it.”

“Trade you what?”

“Whatever you have. I know you have several things like this stick of candy. Give me something.”

I thought about it, and selected the wedding ring. I felt a pang of regret, even as I twisted it off my little finger.

“This looks like an old ring,” Jacqueline said, examining the diamond in the sunlight. “Who was she?”

“Who was who?”

“Don’t play dumb. What woman’s finger did you pull this from?”

“She gave it to me—she was a friend.”

“An ex-friend?”

“No, she gave it away willingly.”

“What does it do?”

“Brings you luck—and takes away the luck of everyone else around you.”

Jacqueline chuckled. “Sounds like fun in Vegas.”

“Yeah. Why aren’t you coming with me?”

“You’re more likely to make it on your own.”

I couldn’t argue with that. One slipup, one moment we lost our grip, and I’d become visible. But I was still disappointed she wasn’t coming with me.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“Back to the car,” she said. “When you get back to the highway, call me. There are cell towers all along the roadway. But I doubt they will reach where you’re going. In fact, you should probably turn off your phone so they can’t trace it.”

I nodded. I turned off my phone, and as an added precaution I removed the battery. I knew some phones could be detected even when turned off.

“I take it you want this back,” I said, waving the candy cane at her.

“You’re damned right I do. It almost kills me to see it in your hand like that. But I want you back, too. Bring your body and my candy back to me. I’ll be waiting.”

She gave me a little teasing smile and kissed me again. We made out for a minute or two. Then she took off running toward the highway. I found myself sitting in the desert alone. I was left wondering about her motivations. Was she leaving me to a certain doom, after having had her fun? Or was she just trying not to be a burden? I had to admit, holding hands as we walked for miles was bound to be dangerous and difficult.

I rolled the candy cane between my fingers. I wondered if any little kids had ever cracked a tooth on this thing, trying to eat it.

I closed my eyes then and willed myself to vanish. When I opened them, I couldn’t see the candy cane, my hand, or the rest of me.

I stood up and began the long hike north toward the mountains. It took nearly an hour to reach Mercury, and
by then it was late afternoon. Along the way I had plenty of time to think about Jacqueline and the ups and downs of my love life. The last woman I’d been involved with had been Jenna Townsend, a jilted bride who’d become my friend and companion after a number of shared adventures. My relationship with Jacqueline was different. She was a less serious girl, someone who seemed to be out to enjoy life by getting into the thick of it. I had an adventurous soul myself, and if curiosity had ever really killed a cat, I was overdue for my own demise, but Jacqueline made me feel like a prude. She also made me smile, and I hoped we’d have more trysts in odd places.

Walking across an empty desert can put anyone into a daydreaming trance. Coming out of my reverie, I realized I’d arrived at the outskirts of Mercury. I stood out in the sage and dust, staring at the small, secretive town. It looked deserted. I circled it, walking around the dust-shrouded streets. There were no cars in the parking lots. The few trees that stood in the tiny park in the center of town were dead. The last brown leaves rattled on branches that resembled bleached bones.

I couldn’t bring myself to walk those streets. Perhaps there were still active cameras or more pillboxes full of bored soldiers. But that wasn’t the only reason I stayed away. Somehow, the place gave me a bad feeling. As if it were haunted—or worse. I hadn’t come to do a house-to-house search of Mercury in any case, I reminded myself. This wasn’t where the action had been. This was just the place where the scientists slept and played. I wanted to see where they’d worked.