The Wager (17 page)

"I did that a long time ago, my dear."

Malcolm did not believe his words for a minute. The

revelation that he had spoken Blanche's name aloud in the ambulance had shaken him much more than he had admitted. He did not tell Linda but Every time he got intimate with one of his youthful girlfriends he imagined he was making love to his former wife. She had been close to their age when she had gone off with one of his business rivals.

"Maybe Linda is right?" Malcolm found himself questioning. "Maybe I

should make an effort to try and deal with my past."

In the motorhome behind Malcolm, Gus grew more and more irritated as he was forced to step on the brake yet again as the truck in front of him slowed and hesitated more than it should have.

"Malcolm's having trouble shifting," Gus said to Gloria who was in the passenger side. He picked up the walkie talkie from the dashboard and called Tyler's phone.

"Hollywood 1 to Inferno. Come in Inferno."

"Inferno here." Gus smiled as Tyler's voice came over the phone.

"Find a safe place to pull over," Gus requested. "I need to change places with Malcolm. He's having trouble shifting."

"Right Hollywood 1."

Twenty minutes later Tyler pulled into a rest spot on the highway and waited until both Malcolm and Gus pulled their rigs up next to him.

The ladies and Tyler Thompson all went in the direction of the rest room but Malcolm and Gus remained at the picnic table.

At the picnic table Gus told Malcolm that he needed to switch vehicles.

"Can see you're having trouble with the clutch."

Malcolm told Gus that he would appreciate switching

but that he had to take Gloria with him into the front of the truck.

"Why?"

Malcolm decided that he didn't want to tell his best friend that he was afraid that his wife would hit on him.

"I brought Linda along to take care of Trump. She needs to be with me and him. His feet are still not quite healed from that encounter with my Pyranna tank."

"Hell, is that all you brought her for? Look, if you're not interested in Linda why don't you give me a chance?"

Malcolm was shocked at Gus's suggestion.

"Linda is too nice a woman to be just a short-term affair," he protested.

"Suddenly you're protective of Linda? Butt out! You've had more than a chance at her. I want a turn."

"That's what happened with Blanche," Malcolm suddenly felt himself turning white with anger.

"You Son of A Bitch! You turned Blanche on when I was too occupied with business and then when you dropped her she went off with one of my business rivals."

"I thought we settled all that years ago," Gus protested. "And look at all the lovelies I've sent your way over the years in reparations."

Malcolm's anger suddenly left him as fast as it had hit. He thought of him and Gus's long friendship.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

"Face it Malcolm. You're jealous of my interest in Linda."

"Maybe I am?" Malcolm tried to make sense of his sudden anger fare. A huge mixture of emotions was upsetting his usual calm.

"Look Malcolm," Gus told him. "Because of our friendship I'll give you a while to think this out. But only until the

middle of the next state. I'm telling you. I'm really interested in Linda."

Gloria and Linda interrupted the conversation as they returned. They were startled to find the two men in deep conversation.

"What's up?" Gloria demanded.

"We're trading places with Malcolm and Linda."

Gus got up from the table and handed the motorhome keys to Malcolm. Malcolm gave the keys to the truck to Gus. He limped over to the motor home. Linda rounded up Trump and Cleo and followed. Gus, Gloria, Honey and Tyler gathered up their dogs and went over to their remaining vehicles and got in.

As they sat down in the second cargo truck and Gus started up the motor to follow Tyler out, he thought of Malcolm and placed his hand on his forehead.

"Malcolm is a dolt," he said to his wife of many years.

"What's he done now?"

"It's what he hasn't done. That moron doesn't seem to know that Linda is crazy about him. Has been for years, apparently."

"He doesn't appreciate us older women. Can't get beyond the attraction of young things, apparently."

Gus shook his head.

"I don't think so. If you ask me, it's more likely that Malcolm is afraid of older ladies that possess both the looks and intelligence of his ex-wife."

"That's very perceptive of you Darling. Thanks for giving us older ladies credit."

"You deserve it, believe me."

"You could be right. Malcolm's dates all these years have certainly not been rocket scientists."

Gus told Gloria that it took a lot of self esteem to date someone as attractive and intelligent as Linda. That he figured Malcolm had never got over his wife Blanche leaving him and that he bet Malcolm had some kind of inferiority complex that he could not shake. Probably about his prowess in bed.

Gloria whistled.

"My God. I never suspected that. The man is handsome enough and his wealth certainly would act as an aphrodisiac of some sort."

"I'm going to come on strong to Linda and see if I can get Malcolm jealous enough to do something about it? You don't mind, do you?"

Gloria looked at her husband oddly.

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Come on to Malcolm. Maybe you could give him some confidence that an attractive, intelligent, older woman would actually appreciate him."

Gloria laughed. She did not want to tell her husband that she had been doing exactly that for years.

"Gus's conclusions must be wrong," she thought. "Actually I think Malcolm's just into revenge. Showing off with all the young things to goad his ex-wife."

"All right Dear, if you insist."

By nightfall the three vehicles had reached the border of the first state. Tyler drove into a RV park just before the state border and shut off his motor. Gus parked into another spot and left room for the motorhome in the centre. He went to pay the camping fee before the owner realised the number of dogs present in the vehicles. The rest of the crew with the exception of Bea and Turk moved into the motorhome. Bea and Turk had been instructed to stay put no matter what.

Turk groaned as he reached into the hidden food supply

and pulled out cereal bars, potato chips, and canned vegetable juice.

Bea comforted him.

"Don't worry. We'll make up for it in Mexico."

"Could have left some ale," Turk complained?

Back in the motor home, Linda, Honey and Gloria started heating up food in the kitchen. In a few minutes they could hear the joyous barks of the dogs as Gus, Malcolm and Tyler let them all out for a run near the river. By the time the food was ready the men had finished walking the dogs and returned. Gus secured Bourbon to the back door of Tyler's truck and Cleo to the back door of the truck he was driving. He brought the other dogs over to the picnic table by the motorhome and doled out their evening dinner from a large bag of dry pet food. He made sure that Cleo and Bourbon had their share as well as a large bowl of fresh water.

Conversation was limited inside the motorhome as all were weary from their long drive. Gus decided to assign the beds.

"It's an early start tomorrow," he encouraged the others to hit the hay. "Gloria and I will take the back bedroom with Gigi and Inuvik, Tyler, you and Honey will have to climb up on the bed over the cab and Malcolm, this table folds down into a double bed. Trump and Inferno can go in the back of the trucks."

"What about Bea and Turk? I'll take some food over for them."

"No," Tyler ordered. "I've left a supply of dry food and liquids in a hidden place in their truck. We can't take the chance of raising suspicions."

Shortly afterward Linda found herself in bed with Malcolm. They were even physically touching each other as

the bed was quite small. She laughed to herself as a slight snore alerted her that he had fallen asleep the moment his head had hit the pillow.

"I must be daft," Linda mused as she realised that she had been hoping for just such a situation as this for the last ten years. To make things even worse a slight rocking of the van told Linda that Honey and Tyler were making love in the bed above the driver's seat. Minutes later Linda clenched her teeth as she realised she was becoming physically aroused. The feeling became quite intense.

"It's Malcolm's physical presence so close," she mused. "Now what am I supposed to do. Wake everyone up as I take a cold shower?"

Linda tried shifting positions, removing covers, scrunching herself into the wall below the window, thinking of anything but Malcolm, reviewing her childhood, counting to ten thousand, revisiting her mother's funeral in her mind,

but nothing stopped the tormenting sexual arousal that was striking her.

Outside Tyler's truck, from the picnic table of an adjoining campsite, Norm Dixon was eying the Pitbull tied to the back door of one of the trucks. The detective had broken every speeding law in the book and had managed to catch up to Tyler's Thomson's convoy just before they had pulled into the RV campsite.

The dog seemed to be aware of his presence. It was facing him chewing one of its red phosphorescent balls.

"All I've got is intuition," Norm warned himself. "But I'm willing to bet Bea Broughton is in one of those trucks. It's best if I grab her before we reach Mexico. It would be far less complicated to take her back from this side of the border to that care home and pick up my money. I'm going to have to get inside those trucks and fnd out."

"Maybe the dog doesn't remember me," Norm thought hopefully. "But I'll try the other truck first. He got up and moved slowly over to the other truck beside the motorhome. Cleo gave out a sharp, warning bark. Norm retreated and moved toward the first truck. Bourbon did not bark but his eyes followed the large detective's every move.

"I've got to stop being afraid. The dog is quiet now but he'll react if he senses my fear."

Norm cautiously approached Bourbon. The dog still did not seem to be reacting, just chewing its red ball. The detective took a deep breath and decided to push his luck. He slowly moved further toward Tyler's truck and spotted the padlock on the back of the door. He reached for his bolt cutters. Bourbon waited until the detective was within his range and was reaching for the lock. He spit his ball out of his mouth and grabbed the detective by his right foot. His teeth sank through the leather of the detective's shoe and he bit deep into the foot. It was the same foot he had chewed on before. Norm muffed a scream as he could feel the stitches which still had not healed pulling out.

Norm desperately tried shaking the dog loose with his leg. Bourbon hung on tight. Blood was now pouring out of Norm's shoe. Norm kicked the dog as hard as he could with his other foot. The Pit Bull held on even more tightly. Norm desperately tried to pull his foot out of his shoe. There was a flesh ripping sound. Intense pain seared through Norm Dixon's mind and his foot suddenly came free from the shoe. Norm was sent sprawling on to the concrete pad with a thud. Fear helped Norm pull himself up and he turned to make it back to his car. However Bourbon spit out the shoe, and grabbed the seat of Norm's pants before he could get out of his range.

"Christ," Norm smothered a scream as the Pitbull sank

his teeth into the flesh of his seat. He could feel the stitches from the attack of the large bird at Malcolm Brook's yard pulling out.

"Oh no," Norm realised as he managed to pull his seat free but felt his flesh rip out in the grip of the dog's teeth in the process. Bourbon's jaws were firmly locked on the cloth of his pants and boxer shorts. The dog pulled him down to the road. In deepening desperation Norm reached for his belt and unzipped his zipper. His pants and Boxer shorts were pulled down in a fash. The now, a half-naked detective leaped clear as the Pitbull was hanging on for dear life to the pants. The bleeding detective realised he was going to have to sacrifice his pants. He placed his hands on his genitals to protect them from the dog, moved away from the truck and frantically lumbered towards his car as fast as his bulk, and his damaged bleeding foot plus rear end would allow.

Cleo was not as quiet as Bourbon when he saw the detective moving toward his car in a running limp. She let out another sharp bark as the detective passed her truck. Norm placed his jacket around his naked and bleeding lower half, threw himself into his car as he reached it, ignored the burning pain from the dog bites, turned on the engine, reversed and headed out of the campground.

"I should have brought some fresh meat to distract the dogs," the detective cursed. " Damn, I'll have to go get some as well as shorts, pants, a first aid kit and some shoes. It's the only way those dogs will let me close."

"Where the Hell am I going to find meat, pants, Boxer shorts and a first aid kit at 12:00 at night?" Norm realised through sharp burning pain and the frantic thumping of his heart that he was going to have to find some pain killers and something to calm his nerves as well.

Linda heard Cleo's barks through the haze of sensuality that was striking her. She realised that Cleo only gave that kind of bark when an intruder was present.

"I better take a look," she realised. Linda moved carefully over Malcolm ignoring her instinctual urges to fling herself on him and managed to get to the floor without disturbing him. As she quietly opened the motorhome door, Linda spotted the headlights of Norm Dixon's car leaving the RV park.

"That's odd," she thought. Linda quietly crept out the motorhome door and went over to Cleo. The dog panted rapidly and she gratefully licked Linda's face. She barked and looked anxiously over at the campsite next to the truck. Linda could see the embers of a fire in the campsite fire pit.

"What's going on?" Gus's voice suddenly startled Linda. He loomed up beside her dressed in his robe and pajamas.

"I heard Cleo bark and came to investigate."

"There's a fire in that campsite next to us."

"Right, I saw the lights of a vehicle leaving when I opened the motorhome door."