For a moment she didn't say anything.
'How about a change of scenery? Let's go down to Mazzotti's and have a tiramisu.'
Dan leaned back, dubious.
'You have a couple bites,' Maria said. 'I'll eat the rest and work it off at aerobics in the morning.'
'What's wrong?' Maria asked, touching his forearm.
'Nothing.' Dan reached to pour her more wine.
The Italian place was run by a short, pudgy fellow who made the best minestrone Dan had ever tasted. That, and Italian desserts.
'We'll call the science guys tomorrow, OK?'
'Great.' He took a sip. 'Do they know anything? I mean, why all the suspense? Why didn't they just tell you?'
'I've dealt only with their department secretaries. I get the feeling that they figure they're doing us a favor and we should come and appreciate their help in person. I might be able to set up a conference call, but I'd like to go down there.'
'You're right. You can't smile over the phone.'
'What does that mean?'
'Your warm-up-the-audience smile.' He leaned back. 'Best I've ever seen.'
The waiter brought the tab with some coffee. For the first time she noticed that one of his blue eyes had a spot of hazel in the cornea. He'd probably shaved early in the morning and his beard, with its late-night shadow, was now rough and blond with a hint of red. She liked it.
'Now you're making me nervous. Are your friends doing more evil deeds that you haven't told me about?'
'It's like your boyfriend. We don't talk about him. We don't discuss my friends' upcoming evil deeds.'
'You seem to have a thing about my boyfriend.'
''One of us has to.''
'I've got to excuse myself to the ladies' room.'
After getting directions from a waiter, Maria moved down a shadowy hall. She forced herself to shrug off what seemed to be an irrational sense of alarm. She locked the bathroom door behind her.
On her way back to the dining area, her uneasiness turned to fear. Silhouetted by a light at the end of the hall, a large figure stepped out of the men's room in front of her. A shiver ran up her spine. He was a big man. Don't be silly, she told herself as she approached him. What can happen in a restaurant? She tried to make out his face, but couldn't see much in the silhouette he formed. As she turned to edge past him, she felt herself lifted and thrown head first against the wall-so hard it knocked the wind out of her and made her see stars. There she was held, engulfed in a sea of flesh, pressed flat, unable to move. A large hand clamped over her mouth, and she began getting dizzy.
'Don't move or I'll snap your neck right where you stand,' he whispered. He smelled of stale sweat and whiskey. She tried to breath, but couldn't, and the voice continued. 'Why don't you take your goddamn nosy attitude someplace else? Down to the Sierras, maybe.' While he talked, she forced her right hand behind her, feeling for his crotch. ''Bad things could happen around here if you and Young don't lay off. Real bad things, like to that kid of his. What's his name? Nate?' He slammed her against the wall again to make his point. 'I promise I'll be back for a real dance. Unless you two lay off.'
He ground his pelvis into her buttocks and consequently into her hand. She found his large testicles through his pants. Using her body weight, she squeezed, pulled, and twisted in one fluid motion. Every ounce of her energy went to her straining hands.
A scream burst into her ear and a meaty fist slammed the side of her head, then went to her throat. She yanked up again and then down. The hand disappeared. Choking sounds escaped her lips; then she felt herself dropping, crumpling to the floor. Only then did she release his testicles. His scream had turned to grunting. He staggered back.
'Oh fuck,' he muttered, holding himself.
She tried to crawl up the wall, but her legs wouldn't work. Stumbling toward her, he took a swipe at her neck with one hand while he held himself with the other. He missed. She began sliding backward on the floor and screamed, but on the second try his hand took her neck and clamped her throat shut. No blood, no air. She felt the coldness that is death. Bending down to her, he put his face next to hers. When he began to speak-words that her mind never heard-she used her last bit of strength to ram her thumbs into his eyes, causing him to fall back.
From the floor she rammed her heel into his kneecap. Then she managed to get to her feet and half-ran, half-stumbled up the hall with him bellowing his pain as she reached the dining room, her head swirled and she fell headlong into Dan, who grabbed her.
Some crazy logger, she tried to tell herself. But she knew it was the Highlands and the lab and the bats and the damn equations, whatever it meant. This didn't happen because she was an environmentalist or because she had befriended Dan. It happened because Dan Young was after the Amada people. And they had to have been spying on them, trying to make it look like a coincidental meeting with a redneck.
'Are you all right?' Dan was saying.
'I think so.'
'Can I help?' It was a young man.
'Someone attacked you?' Dan said.
'Bastard,' she said.
'Hold her,' Dan said.
'He's long gone and in a world of hurt,' she said to Dan, who was moving rapidly toward the back hall.
She teetered as the waiter held her arm. Barely able to stand, she leaned against the wall to take inventory. Nothing felt broken, but she knew she'd have massive bruises. She hobbled back around a corner toward where they had been seated.
Dan ran into the back hallway, found the ladies' room, went to the back where the hallway ended in a T. To the left was a busy kitchen, to the right a storage area, and straight ahead the back door. Opening the door, he found an empty alley. Back inside he stepped into the kitchen. Only the kid washing dishes would have seen the hallway.
'Did you hear a scream and see a guy leave?'
'I seen a guy. Looked hurt bad. I couldn't tell where the scream came from. I thought it was in the alley.'
'Can you remember anything about this guy?'
'Big, and wore a dark green shirtlike thing. He was doubled over.'
'What color was the man's hair?'
'I don't know. I think he was wearing a stocking cap. He was in the shadows and didn't look my way.'
Returning to the restaurant, Dan found the waiter and Maria exactly where he had left them.
He took her to his car, a 1990 Mercedes in virtually new condition. He and Tess had used it on special occasions.
'We've got to report this to the police,' Dan said. 'And I've got to go back to that compound.'
'No. Absolutely not. They threatened Nate. You have got to stop fighting them. Let the police do it.'
'I think you said that already.'
'I'm afraid it's not sinking in. It was a warning, Dan. Somebody doesn't want us doing what we're doing. They may start with me, but it'll end with Nate.' Her words made him silent.
18
''If you won't go to the emergency room, then at least come and sleep on the couch in my house. If you feel worse during the night, we can take you in.'
They were parked in the Mercedes outside the Palmer Inn after filing a report with the police and then
