Seeds of Fear

'Shaw!'

The gun blast lit the room and Bastine fell back against the tub as if a sledgehammer had been swung by a giant arm, slamming him in the chest.

'I'm no fuckith thaw.' Dory wiped the back of her hand across her split lips and broken teeth.

Bastine tried to rise again, to push away from the cold porcelain of the tub, but his arms would not obey him, and now he felt it. The zone of pain began in his right side and spread out a carpet of fire forward to encompass all the ribs on that side and to the back. It felt like someone with a burning razor ran through his lungs, hacking, hacking.

'What have you done?' he murmured. 'Why have you done this?'

'You busth my teef! You and your girfren tried to kill me!'

But no, he wanted to say and couldn't, thought he said and didn't. But no, it wasn't me, it was Shaw, it was her, and she's crazy as hell, don't you see, couldn't you tell, couldn't you just help me now because I'm dying here, I'm dying now, this is no game, girl, that gun's no toy, this was the worst idea, the all-time worst thing ever happened that shouldn't have, but if you'll take my hand, I'll..

His thoughts ran down like a weak truck battery without enough juice to start the engine, and he knew finally that she hadn't heard his pleas. She was gone, the doorway empty, the door swinging lazily on its hinges, quietly now shutting by itself, sealing him in the little old room in the little old house that had never once afforded a proper sanctuary for victims who meant to hide away.

HIGH CONCEPT J. N. Williamson

She wasn't necessarily the tallest woman in the world, Andy Chalminski told himself, gaping at the lady in question with scarcely concealed fascination, but it would definitely take someone special to top her —

Which was exactly what Andy meant to be and intended to do: the first man to climb the human alp named Donna Callaghan and plant his flagpole at the top of the mountain. Or more specifically, wherever his personal survey indicated Ms. Callaghan would prefer the flagstaff to be planted.

For an ambitious guy to get ahead, Chalminski thought as he studied the enormous woman at her solitary table across the restaurant, sometimes he has to get a little behind. The crude observation was not original to him but a rule of thumb in the dog-eat-dog business in which the slum-born Andy had struggled for the dozen years of his manhood. Hell, there was absolutely nothing personal about his plan for bed ding the current object of his attention.

Truth was, the midwestern giantess quietly eating soup and minding her own business had no more appeal to Chalminski than the zucchini his waitress brought along with his small steak. Her face was probably not as homely as the dictionary definition of zucchini ('a squash shaped like a cucumber') — he couldn't see much of it with that straight brown hair drooping over her ears and temples — but Andy had seen a picture of her in the newspaper before flying to Columbus, and her glasses were as thick and heavy as World War I flyers' goggles.

That photo had lured him to Ohio, or, more exactly, a caption beneath it reading: 6' 10' WOMAN REFUSES DATE WITH NBA STAR. Eddie Burgess, who'd appeared in a few of Chalminski's ultra-low-budget porn flicks be fore losing his ability to get it up on cue and retiring to the Midwest, had spotted the picture and sent the clipping to Andy. The local story with it — very short because Donna Callaghan was said to be excruciating ly shy — made it clear that six ten was just an estimate of her height, and she might clear seven feet. 'I feel awkward enough around people without letting any one measure me,' Donna was quoted as admitting. 'Besides, I don't much care for tall men.' All that in response to the local press's smart PR move of trying to arrange a date between her and one of the Cleve land Cavaliers.

The second thought crossing Andy Chalminski's mind had been I'm only five six when I really stand up straight!

And his first reaction had been the instant aware ness that a thirty-two-year-old virgin who had to stoop to enter a room — assuming she didn't look too damn awful with her clothes off — was possibly the only person alive who might save his sagging career as a movie producer!

It had started going bad when schmucks with their own cameras began making 'home video' porn and marketing them with the notion that these were 'real people in action,' maybe the neighbors down the block. So a lot of potential customers of Andy's had decided to watch ol' Bob and Suzy get it on. Well, fuck, did they think actors in a professional flick were androids?

Worse, it had gotten harder and harder to create gimmicks that made some jack-off at an adult vid store grab a box and run to the register to take it home. Every combination of gender, position, and racial mix was already on film! Even Eddie Burgess had said, before Andy hung up and came to Columbus, 'Unless you can talk some aliens from another planet into screwing our girls on camera, Andrew, skin- flick folks are going to be the blacksmiths of the twenty-first century.'

Since Andy privately thought Eddie Burgess was right, he had immediately seen the latent potential in a seven-foot-tall babe — he'd definitely claim she was that tall, right on the box — and instantly other exciting promotions swarmed through Chalminski's mind. Just glancing at Eddie sitting next to him now — the actor'd come to McGarrett's Restaurant to introduce him to Donna — was a reminder of how Burgess was hung. There'd been females who were turned off by the sight of him naked, and not every actress had been able to accommodate «actors» like the guy.

But with a seven-foot dame — the hell with anatomy experts who'd say Donna's size made no difference; studs with dongs like Eddie could be billed as 'Finally Meeting Their Match!' Shit-fire, flicks with her in them would go like hotcakes to broads as well as guys!

Now, persuading titanic Ms. Callaghan to earn a mint of money seemed to pragmatic Andy Chalminski the most down-to-earth and easy proposition.

'Not so, Andrew,' Eddie said softly. He had nodded in the giantess's direction and hadn't looked at her again. 'I've come to know her and she is shy as hell. Probably a virgin, as I said, and definitely a lady.'

'I never met a woman who hated the idea of big bucks,' Andy argued, and forked steak into his mouth. 'All I need t'do is make my pitch and be first to break her in.' Suspicious, he glowered at the still handsome Burgess. 'How the fuck did you meet Madam Amazon, anyways?'

'It happens Donna and I belong to a local amateur writers' club.'

'You?' Andy nearly choked on his steak. 'You and the female Lurch are budding Shakespeares?' He tried to regain his control. 'Sorry, babe, I just can't picture you romancin' the muse. Fucking the bitch, absolutely, but not in your mind!'

'Listen.' Eddie clamped a hand on Chalminski's forearm. He had the first serious expression Andy'd seen since Burgess began his career twelve, thirteen years ago and wondered if he could have sex with a stranger and a film crew watching. 'I like Donna, but I haven't touched her.'

'Bull hockey.'

'Andrew, she's written the story of a girl as tall as her dad by the age of ten; she was through puberty before she was eleven. Other kids saw her as a freak, so she couldn't relate to anyone. She's all alone in the world.'

Andy squinted his surprise. 'She's doin' an autobio? I don't see how that —»

'A retired actor moves to town,' Eddie went on relentlessly, 'and listens to what the tall girl reads to the class.' His fingers on Andy's arm tightened. 'He tells her,' Burgess whispered, 'he knows a film producer who's interested in finding hot properties, and he himself might introduce her to the noted Andrew Chalminski.'

Andy whistled low. 'Whew, that's smart! But, Ed, I don't wanta buy no fuckin' disease-of-the-week story. I wanta buy the use of her body! So how am I gonna —»

'I said,' Eddie went on, his grip bringing pain, 'if the famous movie guy wants to film her story, he will have a tough time finding an actress tall enough for the leading role!'

'Brilliant!' Chalminski exulted. Could Eddie-the-Meat-Man actually have a brain? 'It's a great setup. But what do you expect t'get out of this, old buddy?'

Eddie's forever-photogenic eyes opened widely. 'After explaining that producers are quaint fellows who enjoy