“I’m not leaving Daddy.”
Bill tried to lift her by the armpits, but she fought him. He had an irrational impulse to slap her, make her get up so he could leave, and that made him feel even guiltier than he already was.
“I want to put a flower on his casket.”
She allowed Bill to help her up, and they approached the grave.
The hole was already filling with water. So cold and wet and alone. Awful.
Theena picked a rose and dropped it. The flower bounced indifferently off the casket and fell alongside. Theena shook herself free of Bill’s arms and ran, across the cemetery, towards the parking lot, her face in her hands.
Bill watched her go. He wanted to follow, but his feet had something else in mind. They took him in the other direction, up the hill.
Kristen’s headstone was black marble. All it listed was her full name, her birth date, her death date. The carver had asked Bill if he wanted anything else, a phrase or line.
To sum up a person’s life in one phrase had seemed so pathetic at the time, and Bill had passed. Now he wished he’d put something, anything there, to set it apart from all of the other nondescript graves, rows and rows of them.
“I’m sorry, Kristen. I’m so sorry.”
He cried, letting it all out, sobbing with his whole body like Theena had. He was so overwhelmed with grief that he didn’t notice the two men approach him from behind.
“Well, lookee here, Franco. It’s the Doc’s wife.”
Bill spun around. It was the two thugs who’d almost killed him the day before.
“It’s nice that you visit her, ain’t it Franco?”
Franco put out a palm and shoved Bill backwards. Bill tripped over his wife’s stone and landed hard on his butt.
“I thought we told you not to call the cops.”
“Easy, Franco. Can’t you see the guy is grieving here? You gonna kick his ass on top of his wife’s grave? Show some respect.”
The older man, Bill remembered his name was Carlos, held out his hand to help him up. Bill refused to take it.
Carlos shrugged and got down on his haunches.
“Franco is right, though. We warned you not to call the cops, and you went and called the FBI. We feel like maybe you didn’t take us seriously.”
“Fuck you.” Bill spat in his face.
Carlos smiled. He took out a handkerchief and wiped his cheek. Then he backhanded Bill across the face.
“I’m sentimental, so I’ll forgive that. But we need you to understand that no one’s gonna help you, Doc. You could call the CIA, Internal Affairs, the goddamn Governor, and no one will help. But we’ll hear about it. And we won’t be happy.”
Bill probed the inside of his mouth with his tongue, tasting blood. A tooth was wiggly. He stared up at Franco, but there was no fear. There was no pain, either. All Bill felt was a coldness inside him. He embraced it, drew strength from it. This wasn’t going to be a repeat of yesterday.
He made a show of getting to his feet, looking weak and beaten. Then he made a tight fist and hit Carlos with everything he had.
Carlos went down. Franco stood there, immobile and confused. Bill lowered his head and charged the bigger man, connecting solidly with his gut. Franco grunted and doubled over, and Bill swung hard between his legs, an upper cut that he put his whole body behind.
Then he ran.
The grass was slippery, and it was hard to keep his balance. He heard the thugs yelling after him, heard a shot and felt it go over his head, but he didn’t stop. Not until he reached the parking lot and found Theena sitting in his car.
Bill scrambled for the door handle, his free hand digging for the car keys in his jacket pocket.
They weren’t there.
He tried his blazer pockets, vest pocket, pants pockets, patting his body all over.
No keys. They must have been lost in the scuffle.
Theena hadn’t even noticed him-she was staring blankly out the window, an emotional zombie.
“Theena! We have to get out of here!”
She didn’t bother looking. Bill glanced over his shoulder, saw Franco and Carlos coming down the hill.
He reached in the car and wound his fingers around Theena’s long, black curls. Then he yanked.
She was jerked from her seat, the pain making her yell. Bill locked his hand around one of her flailing wrists and pulled her out the driver’s side door.
“We have to go!”
There was a boom and a crash, and a spider web of cracks blossomed in the Audi’s rear windshield. Theena’s eyes widened, and Bill dragged her away from the car as another bullet smacked into the open door.
With her long legs, Theena had no problem keeping up with him. They ran, hand in hand, through the parking lot and onto the street. There were apartment buildings on either side, for blocks in either direction. Bill tugged her towards the nearest one, heading for the front entrance. The security door was locked. He frantically pressed buzzers, hoping someone would let him in.
“Who is it?”
Bill put his face to the intercom speaker.
“Please! Someone is trying to kill us!”
“Who is this? Lionel?”
“Open the door!”
Another thunderclap, the bullet slapping into the brick wall and peppering Bill’s face with bits of wet rock.
They took off in a crouch, making a beeline for the next apartment building.
No one answered the buzzers.
“They’re coming.”
Theena’s voice was soft, fatalistic. Bill chanced a look. Carlos and Franco were jogging towards them, less than a hundred yards away.
Bill looked in the other direction. The street was deserted, not a vehicle in sight. They ran for it.
Halfway down the block, a car turned the corner and began to approach. Bill released Theena and waved his hands over his head, yelling for the car’s attention.
The car didn’t slow down, and veered slightly out of their direction as if to drive past. Frantic, Bill tried to position himself in front of it, holding out his hands, praying the driver would stop.
The driver slammed on the brakes. The tires couldn’t find purchase on the wet pavement and the car hydroplaned, rushing at Bill faster than he was able to get out of the way.
It slid to a stop just a foot before impact.
Bill placed his palms on the hood. The driver was invisible behind tinted gray glass. He was probably petrified, wondering if this were a robbery or a car jack. The car was a late model Lincoln Continental, the rain beading off the many coats of wax.
Bill motioned for Theena to come over.
“We need help! Someone’s after us!”
The driver’s window rolled down.
“Bill May? Theena?”
It was DruTech President Albert Rothchilde.
Jack Kilborn
Disturb
Theena glared at Rothchilde. He was in all black, except for a blood red rose pined to his lapel. He had come to the funeral late, and left early. But she had a pretty good idea why he’d stuck around.
Rothchilde returned her obvious anger with a blank stare, then focused on Bill. “Are you both all right?”
“Some people are chasing us. They have guns.”
“Guns?” Rothchilde raised an eyebrow.
