'I'm talking about soon. If you want, I'llgo to one of those meetings tomorrow.'
'Believe me, it's not angina I've beenhaving. I
'Deal or not?'
They stopped and looked at one another. Harryswallowed at the dryness that had recurred in his throat.
'Deal,' he said. 'Provided you agree notto take a drink of any sort of booze without calling me first and giving me achance to dissuade you.'
'Deal.' Her smile was warm and hopeful.Then suddenly, her expression changed. Her eyes widened. 'Harry!' she cried,staring over his shoulder.
'Not a word, neither of you!' the manbehind Harry growled.
Harry recognized the voice immediately. Itbelonged to the larger of the two men from Desiree's apartment. Harry startedto turn, but the thug, several inches taller, locked an arm under his neck andthrust a gun into his ribs. Maura instinctively whirled to run and collidedwith the man's partner, who had come charging down the path from the road,cutting off any attempt to escape in that direction. The spot they had chosenwas totally hidden from the road above and from the reservoir below. Mauracried out as the shorter, stocky one grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm highbehind her back. Then he forced her off the path and up the hillside into thedense woods. Harry's captor shoved him rudely after her.
'No sucker punches this time, asshole,' hesnarled.
Harry tripped on a thick tree root, butthe giant's grip across his neck kept him from falling. After twenty yards, theunderbrush and steepness of the hill made it impossible to continue. It wasmuch darker than it had been on the path.
'Okay, down on your knees, both of you,'the taller man ordered.
He dropped Harry with a sharp kick to theback of the knee. Maura, her hand bent up nearly to the back of her neck, waspowerless to resist.
'Nice body,' the thug said as he forcedher, face down, on to the ground. 'Real nice.' He kneeled on the small of herback.
'Shut up and just do what you have to do,'the other rasped.
'Leave her alone,' Harry pleaded. 'She'sno threat to anyone. She doesn't remember a thing. Nothing. You've got tobelieve me.'
'Shut up, dammit!'
Something solid — the man's fist or therevolver butt, padded somehow — slammed down on a spot just behind Harry'sright ear. Pain and a searing white light burst through his head. He pitchedforward and landed heavily, air exploding from his lungs.
'No! Please don-!'
Through a semiconscious haze, Harry heardMaura cry out. Then suddenly her words were cut off, replaced by a dreadfulgurgling. He could feel her kicking, her feet flailing desperately against theground beside his face. He lifted his head. His vision was blurred, but throughthe darkness he could see the man with the cinder-block build straddling Maurafrom behind, his beefy hands tight around her throat, pulling her head up as hestrangled her, bowing her back.
'No!' Harry cried, his voice only a harsh,impotent whisper. 'No, don't!'
He struggled to push himself up, but thebehemoth standing beside him drove him back down with a foot between hisshoulder blades.
Suddenly, the man on top of Maura grunted,pitched forward and to one side, then toppled like a stuffed toy down the hilltoward the reservoir. At virtually the same instant, the taller man cried outin pain and spun to the ground clutching his right arm. Instinctively, herolled over twice and scrambled for cover behind a large oak. Harry's head wasclearing rapidly, but he still could not figure out what was going on. Then hesaw the man's gun lying six feet away. He crawled unsteadily toward it,expecting the giant to beat him there. Instead, the man, still holding his arm,lurched to his feet and stumbled off through the brush.
Harry snatched up the revolver and thencrawled to where Maura lay. She was face down and very still, but she wasbreathing. He turned her over gently and cradled her head in his free hand.
'Maura, it's okay,' he whispered into herear. 'It's Harry. You're all right.'
His senses keyed, his finger tight on thetrigger of the revolver, he peered into the darkness, straining to see movementor a silhouette. The noise of his assailant's escape faded, replaced by asilence as dense as the darkness in the grove.
Harry checked the carotid pulses on bothsides of Maura's neck. They were bounding and sharp. His own pulse wasbludgeoning the inside of his head. Maura's eyes were open now, and she wassobbing softly. Harry continued scanning the woods. He set the gun on his legand caressed the side of her face.
'He was strangling me,' she said, tryingto clear the hoarseness from her throat. 'I couldn't breathe.'
'I know. Easy does it. You're okay now.'
'Wh-what happened?'
'I'm not sure. I think both men were shot,but I didn't hear any gunfire. Are you all right?'
'As soon as I stop shaking I will be. Ithappened so fast.'
'They work for that doctor you saw. Ithink they wanted to kill you and leave me alive, trying to convince the policethat I didn't do it.'
He helped her sit up, but continued tosupport her with an arm around her shoulder.
'Is someone out there?' she whispered,gesturing toward the darkness.
Again they listened. Again there was onlysilence. Holding the revolver loosely, he helped her to her feet. The throbbingin his head persisted, along with some dizziness. A mild concussion, hedecided. Nothing more. He touched the bruise behind his ear and winced from thepain. But there was virtually no swelling — no support for his story that theyhad been mugged. The two thugs knew what they were doing. Professionals. Butsomeone out here had beaten them both.
He and Maura helped one another down thesteep slope. The path, dark but still somewhat lighter than the woods, wasempty. Harry again rested his finger on the trigger of the revolver as theysearched slowly along the treeline.
'I was certain the bastard fell this way,'Harry said.
'Maybe he was just wounded, like the otherone.'
'He didn't roll that way, but maybe.'
'I'm not sure I like it here in the parkanymore,' she said.
'I think leaving may not be such a badidea myself.'
At that moment, she pointed at the base ofa tree several feet up the slope. An arm protruded from behind it, the limphand dangling palm up. They swung a wide arc and then approached the tree fromabove. The man who had so nearly strangled Maura to death was wedged againstthe trunk. He wore dark jeans and a black turtleneck. The side of his face waspressed into the damp soil. His visible eye was wide open, staring sightlesslyup the hill.
'Here,' Harry said, pointing to a spot inthe upper middle of the man's back. 'Look.'
Maura bent down and could just discern thedime-sized hole and expanding disc of blood.
'What should we do?' she asked.
Harry felt the man's jeans for a wallet,but knew there would be none.
'I didn't hear any gunshot,' he saidagain. 'Did you?'
'No, but I was busy listening to thepearly gates creaking open.'
'I think whoever shot these guys had asilencer.'
'So?'
'Professional killers use silencers.Maura, I think we should get the hell out of here.'
Maura rubbed at her neck.
'I'm with you,' she said.
Chapter19
