Alternating Current: A Tesla Novel (12 page)

Lawson and Arnold
didn’t quite know what to make of Doctor Armaly’s son. He was a big man with calloused
hands dressed in typical island attire, cutoff shorts, floral shirt, and
flip-flops. And the odd patch of stubble on his chin indicated that he probably
had poor grooming habits. When he spoke, it was more redneck than any island
dialect.

“You boys c’mon up
to the house, there’s plenty of food leftover from the funeral.”

Lawson and Arnold
followed without a word.

“You boys ever
have Mutton Snapper?”

“No, can’t say
that I have.” Arnold said.

“What about you,
Spanky?”

Lawson looked at
Arnold. “Did he just call me Spanky?”

Arnold replied for
him. “No, he’s never had any, either. We don’t get that stuff in New York.”

“Well we get it
here, it’s good eating. Pop loved it.”

“Pop?”

“Yeah, that’s what
we called my old man.”

“That’s better
than Spanky.” Lawson mumbled under his breath.

The house was set
back behind the big metal building. Once inside, the young man introduced them
to his wife. “Boys, this is Aluna.”

Lawson’s grumpy
disposition vanished immediately at the sight of the well-tanned long-legged
woman with auburn hair. “Well, hello Aluna. My name is Michael---Michael
Lawson.”

He shook her hand
and then covered it with his other hand. “It is so nice to meet you.”

Aluna just stood
there.

“She don’t speak
none.”

Arnold pulled
Lawson away and introduced himself.

“What do you mean
she don’t speak none?” Lawson asked.

“She just don’t
talk---doctor said she knows how---she just don’t want to. Honey would you fix
these boys some of that Mutton Snapper we got in the fridge, and whatever else
ain’t got mold on it.”

Lawson looked away
from Aluna and straight at Arnold. He pointed to his watch. “You know that
sounds great, but we really better be going. We have a taxi waiting at the
bottom of the hill.”

“You have a taxi
waiting? Hold on a minute---Aluna, what time is it?”

She held up four
fingers.

“That’s what I
thought---there ain’t no taxi at the bottom of that hill anymore.”

“Why do you say
that?”

“It’s four
o’clock, that’s when all the cruise ships get in---it’s impossible to get a
taxi this time of day.”

“I told you to
take the keys and handcuff him to the steering wheel.” Lawson was perturbed. “Hey,
Armaly, you got anything to drink around here?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,
where are my manners. Aluna, please bring us some moonshine and some beers.”

“Moonshine?”

“Yes, Pop made it.
Get ready though, it’ll knock you on your ass.”

Aluna brought over
a small clay jug and four beers. She took the first swig from the jug and then
passed it to Arnold.

“No thanks, you
don’t happen to have any Red Bull by chance.”

“No, we don’t keep
any animals. We had a pot belly pig once, but it kept getting into Pop’s
experiments.”

Aluna again
offered the jug to Arnold.

“No, I’ll just
have a beer.”

“Well, I’ll take a
swig.” Lawson reached over and grabbed the jug and a beer. He spit out the first
swig. “Wow, it takes some getting used to.”

“The first one is
always the toughest, Spanky. Try it again.”

Lawson took
another swig.

“What kind of
experiments did your father do?” Arnold asked.

“All sorts of
stuff. Once he came up with a light that could shine for miles. I mean it---we
lit up the sky at night. We had to stop when some airplanes complained about
it.”

“Really?” Arnold
was interested in what the young man had to say. Lawson was more interested in
the moonshine and Aluna.

“What else? Arnold
asked.

“Oh there’s a
bunch of stuff. I’ll show you some of them after dinner.” He gave Aluna a
glaring look and she jumped up and went into the kitchen. “Pop spent most of
his time working on some special water. He always said we could run the boat
with it when he got the right formula---that’d be something, huh. Run them twin
outboards with water instead of gas. He never did get the right formula.”

“How did he die?” With
Aluna in the kitchen, Lawson decided to join the conversation.

“It was the darnedest
thing, Spanky. He was standing outside the workshop when this good-looking tall
blonde woman come driving up---and I mean she was good-looking. Anyway, she
gets out of the car and walks up to my Pop. She says something---I couldn’t
hear it because I was in the house. Then she pulls out a big pistol from her
purse and points it at him. I was watching through that window right there and
saw the whole thing. Then my Pop just fell to the ground, dead. I didn’t even
hear the gunshot---must have used a silencer. She just got back in her
rent-a-car and drove off.”

“Did you ever see
that woman before?” Lawson asked.

“No, never.”

“What about your father?”
Arnold asked. “Had he been acting funny lately?”

“No, not really,
except after that guy from New York called the other day. Pop’s hand was
shaking when he hung up the phone”

“What guy from New
York?”

“Pop called him
Rudy. I remember cause that’s one of my favorite movies, RUDY, RUDY, RUDY, did
you know it’s a true story.”

Aluna motioned
them to the dinner table.

During dinner,
Lawson flirted with Aluna while Arnold and Armaly talked about his father. According
to his son, Doctor Armaly resigned from NASA and went into seclusion after a
car bomb meant for him killed his wife instead. “He was working on that Star
Wars movie at the time---no not the movie, although it’s one of my favorites,
too---LUKE, I AM YOUR FATHER---I love that part, anyway Pops didn’t work on the
movie he worked on the real thing.”

“The real thing?” Lawson
was back in the conversation.

“Yeah, the real
Star Wars---the one Reagan came up with so we could zap them Russian missiles
from outer space.”

“He means the
Strategic Defense Initiative.” Arnold said.

“Yeah that too,
Pop worked on that, too, till they killed my mom.”

“Well, that’s very
interesting, but we really better be going if were gonna make it to the airport
on time.” Suddenly Lawson was ready to go.

“Don’t worry about
that damn Taxi, I’ll take you to the airport, but first you gotta see Pop’s
workshop.”

***

The workshop was a
cluttered mess. Although, Agent Arnold noticed right away that the huge metal
building housed four distinct laboratories. The first quadrant was a chemistry
lab. There was a long worktable with a variety of beakers, test tubes, Bunsen Burners
and other equipment. Arnold walked over to the table.

“This is where
Pops worked on the water.”

“Has anyone
tampered with those beakers?” Lawson asked.

“Nope. It’s all
just as he left it. All I did was turn off the gas line so the place didn’t
explode.”

“That was smart.” Arnold
picked up one of the beakers of water and smelled it. “Doesn’t have any odor.”

“Nope, it’s
water---you can drink it if you want.”

Arnold thought
better of it. He placed the beaker on the worktable. “What about the police,
did they touch anything?”

“Didn’t call them,
Pops always said if he was killed the last thing he wanted us to do was call
the police. We had a nice service and we buried him, that’s all.”

Lawson had
wandered past the Engineering Lab with its erector-set models on display, and past
what he figured was a Geology Lab based on the large porous rocks all around. What
caught his eye, however, was the large telescope in what was undoubtedly the
Astronomy Lab. He looked into the telescope and saw a jetliner soaring across
the night sky. “Shit. We’re going to miss our plane. We gotta go.”

Arnold, still
enamored by the beakers of water in the chemistry part of the building, agreed.
“Yes, we better go.”

Armaly drove them
to the bottom of the hill where Tevin was sleeping in his taxi. “I don’t
believe it.” Armaly was impressed. “You must have scared the shit out of him.”

Lawson and Arnold
said their goodbyes. “Thanks again for everything and please thank your wife
for us.” Then Arnold went over to the taxi to wake up Tevin.

Lawson stayed back
for a moment. “Hey Armaly, did that blonde who killed your Pop ever go inside
the workshop?”

“Nope, she just
shot him and left quick.”

“Are you sure?”

“Sure I’m sure; I
told you I saw the whole thing from the window.”

“Well do me a
favor would you, lock that building and don’t let anybody else inside---and I
mean anybody. Not unless you hear from me first, okay.”

“Well, okay, but
why?”

“It’s standard
procedure; there might be evidence inside.” Lawson reached into his pocket and
handed him a card. “You call me if anyone comes poking around, okay.”

“You bet I will.” Armaly
stuffed the card in his pocket.

“When I come back
you’ll have to take me out on that boat.”

“Definitely, we’ll
go fishing, maybe catch us a Mutton Snapper.”

Lawson joined
Arnold in the taxi. Tevin was awake. “Hey Tevin buddy, tell the truth. Did you
stay right here the entire time?”

Tevin just nodded
his head, not making eye contact with Lawson.

Lawson chuckled. “Tevin,
you’re so full of shit.”

Turbo waved as the
rented truck pulled out of the driveway. He and Maria hadn’t talked much since
the night he left her bed for the garbage dump. Still, he was thankful she let
him spend time with the kids before they left.

As the moving
truck faded from sight, Cosmo pulled up to the house in a brand new Lexus. “You
want a ride?”

Turbo’s first
thought was that he had stolen the car. But Cosmo would never do such a thing. Nonetheless,
he asked, “Whose car did you steal?”

“It’s my car. Do
you like it?”

“Where the hell
did you get the money to buy a car like that?”

“No money down,
it’s the American way.”

“You took out a
loan? Are you crazy? How much are the payments?”

“Only $725 a
month.”

Turbo got in the
car. “You need to take this car back. How are you going to pay $725 a month? We
haven’t had a customer in days.”

“It’s okay, I got
some money saved.”

Cosmo’s last
statement took Turbo by surprise. In all the years they had been friends, Cosmo
hadn’t saved enough to buy a bicycle, let alone a Lexus. Nonetheless, Turbo
didn’t want to talk about it. He couldn’t worry about Cosmo’s car payment, not
with everything else he had on his mind. “So, where are we going?”

“Tony O’s, I’m
gonna buy you dinner.”

Turbo’s mouth hung
open. “You’re gonna buy me dinner?”

Cosmo smiled. “Yep.”

“At Tony O’s?”

“Yep.”

“Did you hit the
Lotto?”

“Nope.”

“Rob a bank?”

“Nope.”

“You get lucky
with the ponies over at Aquaduct?”

“No, can’t I just
buy you dinner without all the third degree?”

Turbo let it go. They
were near the restaurant and his last remark about Aquaduct made him think. He
hadn’t spoken to Phillip or Carrie since that day, and the image of Rudy in a
pool of blood made him quiver. Did they see Rudy, too? They must have, so why
haven’t they contacted him? Why haven’t they called to see if he was okay? Maybe
he shouldn’t have trusted them. Maybe he shouldn’t trust Cosmo, either. The
truth was he didn’t know whom to trust.

***

Two orders of Veal
Scaloppini and a bottle of Chianti later, Cosmo paid for dinner with a
hundred-dollar-bill he retrieved from the wad of money in his pocket.

That did it, Cosmo
was selling drugs, Turbo was sure of it. Outside the restaurant, waiting for
the valet to bring the car around, Turbo confronted him. “Cosmo, you dealing
drugs?”

Cosmo took
offense. “What the fuck, you know me better than that.”

“I used too---the
Cosmo I knew didn’t have a fancy car and didn’t walk around with a wad of
hundred-dollar-bills either.”

“Turbo, I’m the
same Cosmo, I been saving my money and I made a few good investments.” The
valet arrived with the car and Cosmo handed him a Twenty.

“And now you’re a
big tipper, too.”

“Turbo, its only
money, get in the car.”

Turbo refused. “No
you go ahead, I want to walk awhile, you know, to clear my head. Thanks for
dinner.”

“Okay, if you say
so, see you in the morning.” Cosmo sped away.

Turbo immediately
flagged a taxi.

“Where to Buddy?”

“Barnes and Noble
over on Seventh.”

***

Turbo entered the
bookstore, but couldn’t find Carrie. He walked down the main aisle of the store
glancing up and down the other aisles. Then, not wanting to waste anymore time,
he did something he wouldn’t usually do. He asked for help.

At the customer
service desk, he asked the woman if Carrie Lockwood was working.

“Oh, you just
missed her. She got off at 6.”

Turbo looked at
his watch; it was 6:30. “What about Phillip Washington?”

“No, sorry, he
doesn’t work here anymore. Is there something I can help you with?”

“No, that’s okay.”
Turbo left the bookstore.

Alex jumped out of
bed and dressed in a hurry. Almost frantic, he grabbed his coat, made sure his
gun and Tesla’s paper were still in the pockets, and headed for the door.

Mika ran ahead of
him, her still naked body blocked the door. “Alex, what’s wrong? Where are you
going?”

“Anywhere but
here.” He buckled his belt and asked her to step aside.

“But why?”

“I need to get
away from you.”

Mika remained in
front of the door. “Why do you need to get away from me?”

“Because, I’ve
only known you a few days and you’ve already killed two people. Two people that
could have helped me.”

Mika began
laughing.

“I don’t think it’s
funny.”

“Yes, Alex, it’s
very funny. All of a sudden, you’re afraid of me. Now, after we’ve had sex
twice. I could’ve killed you many times by now. So, tell me the real reason you
want to leave in such a hurry.”

“It’s just time
for me to go. I’ve spent too much time here already.”

“But where will
you go?”

“Back to America. There
is only one-person left who can help me now.

“I’ll go with
you.”

“No, you better
not.”

“Why not, it’ll be
fun.”

“Mika, just
because we’ve had sex twice and you haven’t killed me yet, doesn’t mean I trust
you.”

“I’m sorry you
feel that way, Alex.” She moved away from the door and went into the bedroom
slamming the door behind her.

Alex’s better
judgment told him to leave right then, but something made him stay. He walked
over to the bedroom door, but didn’t go in. “Mika, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to
hurt your feelings.”

“It’s okay, Alex. Just
go.”

“What if you were
me, how would you feel if I disappeared for a day-and-a-half and then came back
and told you that I had just killed the only person in the entire world who
could tell you who killed your father.”

“Alex, I had to
kill him. It was an order.”

Alex leaned
against the doorframe. “And that’s another thing, who ordered you to kill Doctor
Armaly, and why couldn’t you disobey the order like you did with Sava.”

“Alex, it’s a long
story, I’m sorry we don’t have time to talk about it now because you’re
leaving. Soon, you’ll be in America and I’ll be here. So, just forget about
it.”

Alex had an uneasy
feeling in the pit of stomach because of what he was about to say. “So, if you come
to America with me you’ll tell me everything?”

“I guess so.”

“Don’t guess. Promise.”

“Well, okay, I
promise.”

“Fine, hurry up
and get ready.”

Mika screamed with
excitement and rushed out of the bedroom fully dressed with suitcase in hand. “I’m
ready.”

Alex laughed, and
then carried her suitcase.

***

Hailing a taxi
proved much harder in Belgrade than in New York. Alex had a hard time getting one
to stop. Mika stepped off the curb and one stopped at once.

“Where to?” The
driver asked.

Mika replied, “Airport
please,” while Alex replied, “Tesla Museum,” simultaneously.

“Which one is it?”
The driver asked.

“Tesla Museum
first, then the Airport.” Alex told the driver. “I have to make a quick stop at
the museum.”

“What for?” Mika
asked.

“It won’t take
long; you can stay in the car. I need to thank someone who helped me
yesterday.”

Alex entered the
museum and noticed Bojana at once. He called out to her. “Bojana.”

“Alex, I have been
worried about you. You were not here when I arrived this morning. How did you
get out?”

“Some friends of
yours let me out?”

Bojana looked
puzzled.

“The cleaning
crew.”

“Oh, Octavio and
Bruno, I forgot about them.”

“Well everything
worked out fine. I just wanted to thank you before I leave.”

“Where are you
going?”

“Back to America.”

“Did you find what
you were looking for?”

“I’m not sure, I
hope so. Goodbye Bojana.

***

The next flight to
New York was already boarding. There were seven coach and four first class
seats still available. Alex asked for two coach tickets.

“Give us two first
class tickets, please.” Mika handed the agent her Platinum American Express
card.

Alex glared at
her.

“It’s okay, Alex, company
expense account.”

Mika took the
tickets and they walked to the gate. Alex deposited his gun in a trashcan in
the terminal.

The first class
seats were plush and inviting. It wasn’t long after takeoff before Alex was
fast asleep. He awoke somewhere over the Atlantic, Mika was also asleep. The
overhead reading lamp aimed at her face gave her skin an angelic glow. Unfortunately,
Alex thought her far from angelic. How could this beautiful woman be such a ruthless
killer? He tried not to think about it.