Larkspur (32 page)

“
And you let them in?” the
man in wool slacks asked.

“
This place is a wreck.
The assault team made a mess,” the young man said. “I figured the
cleaning crew could clean up, so we’ll have an easy getaway. Clean
house, and they’ll never think we stole those boys. I brought them
up, in case you wanted to see them.”

“
Where are they?” the man
in the wool slacks asked.

“
In the hall,” the young
man said.

When the man in the wool slacks turned to
leave, the young man took a step toward Yvonne. The man in the wool
slacks pushed the young man out of the room. Once in the hallway,
he took a look at the cleaning crew. There was a tall black man. He
was powerfully built, but he looked like moron. He wore thick
glasses and he reeked of stale beer and cigarettes. The man was
vaguely moving an enormous string mop along the floor. A small
Mexican woman was dusting with a rag, while a stooped, older black
woman carried what looked like a heavy upright vacuum cleaner.

“
What’s your name?” the
man in the wool slacks asked.

“
No sé,” the Mexican woman
said. She gave him a dull look. “No habla.”

“
She don’ speak English,”
the older black woman said in a heavy urban accent. “We don’ want
no trouble. But if we don’ clean, we don’ get paid.”

“
We gots to get paid,” the
tall black man said in a deep southern accent.

“
What’s your name, boy?”
the man in wool slacks asked.

“
Lee-roy, sur,” the tall
black man said.

“
Well, Leroy, there’s been
some trouble here tonight,” the man in wool slacks said.

“
Yes, sur.” The tall black
man’s voice had a dull, unintelligent tone that fed the man in wool
slack’s sense of superiority. “We don’ want no trouble, no
sur.”

“
There’s a mess right
here,” the man in wool slack said.

The tall black man moved into the waiting
room with his mop.

“
Say . . .”
the man in wool slacks said. “You. Mexican lady.”

The woman looked up at him.

“
You have kids? Bambinos?”
the man in wool slacks asked.

“
She gots fourteen kids,”
the older black woman said. “I gots eight. You want some loving? Me
and her, we can have some fun for not too much money.”

The man was intoxicated by the beautiful
Yvonne. This woman disgusted him. He sneered.

“
You like kids instead?”
the older black woman asked.

“
There’s a pregnant woman
in labor in here.” The man in wool slacks raised his voice as if he
was talking to someone stupid. “You.”

He pointed to the Mexican woman.

“
Qué?” The woman moved
closer to him. Her eyes were blazing red and she reeked of
marijuana. The man in wool slacks waved his hand in front of his
face.

“
You deliver baby?” the
man in wool slacks asked.

“
No sé.” The woman
shrugged.

“
She don’ know what you
talking about,” the older black woman said. “But I’sa birthed my
little sister’s kids.”

“
You did?”

“
Sure,” the older black
woman said. “We don’ have money for no doctor.”

“
Can you deliver twins?”
the young man from outside asked.

“
I don’ see why not,” the
older black woman said. “You care if the mother lives?”

“
Not particularly,” the
man in wool slacks said.

The older black woman nodded.

“
I don’ know, Jobolea,”
Leroy said. “We gots to clean. Da boss’s gonna be mad if we
don’.”

“
What you goin’ to give
us?” the older black woman asked. “We taking a big
risk.”

“
What do you want?” the
man in wool slacks asked.

The man in wool slacks whipped out his
handgun. He took a step toward the tall black man.

Bumpy threw a quick, hard punch into the
man’s face. The man in wool slacks dropped to the ground. Bumpy
took rope from his pocket and made quick work tying the man up.

“
Whaaaaa?” the young man
started.

Dionne bashed him over the head with the
upright vacuum she was carrying. He crumpled. Camille stuffed her
dust rag in his mouth. Bumpy threw Camille some rope, and she
quickly tied up the young man.

Bumpy ran into the waiting room, and began
checking on people. Camille ran through the waiting room to where
Jill was in labor.

“
She’s been given
Pitocin,” Camille yelled.

“
I’ve got this,” Dionne
said. “You help Jill.”

Bumpy nodded and jogged into the room.
Dionne noticed that Yvonne’s top was unbuttoned. She buttoned her
best friend’s blouse and woke her son.

Chapter Two Hundred and
Sixty-seven

In the pit

Friday night — 11:00 p.m. MST

Construction site near airport

Rodney landed on his rear on a pile of mud
in the bottom of the sink hole at the earthquake-shattered
construction site. His landing jarred every bone in his body. He
had to take a moment to get his bearings.

It was very dark. On the opposite side of
the pit, the methane fire glowed yellow and orange. The light from
the helicopter shone on the military people, who were digging out
their dirt-covered team member. He heard one of Jerry’s sharp
whistles. He looked up to see what was happening. They must have
found MJ and connected his safety rope to a wench. There was a low
whine and MJ rose out of the mud in front of him. There was another
sharp whistle and Colin was hauled out of the mud. MJ and Colin
swung on their safety ropes until they were just above the upended
construction trailer. Jerry and his team dropped them on top of the
trailer. The military people cheered.

Rodney groaned as he got to his feet.

“
For a tough man,” Abi
said, “you complain a lot.”

“
Me? What did I
say?”

“
In your head.” Abi
pointed to her head and Rodney grinned.

“
Why am
I . . .?”

There was a
whoosh
and a
whomp
when something
heavy dropped near him. Rodney instinctively moved toward the
sound.

“
Wait!” Abi flew beside
him. She held a headlamp out to him. “Put this on.”

He grabbed the headlamp. In the circle of
light, he saw something strange. He squinted.

“
Honey?” Rodney ran to her
side. “What . . .?”

“
I know, right?” Honey
shook her head. “Let’s throw the girl in the wheelchair into the
mud pit. Damned fairies.”

A bedraggled-looking pink fairy appeared
next to Honey. The little fairy must have said something, because
Honey laughed.

“
Never trust a fairy,”
Honey said. “That’s what MJ’s dad used to say.”

The fairy laughed so hard that even Rodney
heard it.

“
That’s Mari,” Abi said.
“She likes to harass people. She thinks it’s funny.”

“
She’s met her match in
Honey,” Rodney said.

Abi crossed her arms and nodded.

“
Any idea why we’re down
here?” Honey asked.

Rodney glanced at Abi. She pointed to the
side of a trailer.

“
I think we’re here to
help get people out,” Rodney said. “But don’t quote me.”

“
Why us?” Honey
asked.

“
We’re tough?” Rodney
raised his eyebrows to see if he was right. Abi smiled. “She needs
a light.”

A headlamp appeared on Honey’s head.

“
Can you move your chair
through all this mud and muck and rubble?” Rodney asked.

“
Mari says I can,” Honey
said. “But who knows?”

Rodney smiled when he saw how offended her
fairy acted. Abi pointed straight in front of them.

“
Abi says we need to go
this way,” Rodney pointed.

“
Good as any,” Honey
said.

They started down the mound of mud. The
landscape in front of them seemed like another planet. The
vibrating earth had caused mud to pool in places and large boulders
to appear out of nowhere. They moved as fast as they could, while
the fairies flew next to their ears.

“
It’s like a video game,”
Honey said, and ducked under a low beam.

“
Honey?” MJ leaned off the
construction trailer so that he could see.
“What . . .?”

“
Hey look, it’s
MJ!”

Honey pointed above where MJ was working.
She waved.

“
What are you doing?” MJ
asked.

“
I’ll explain everything
later,” Honey said.

“
Rodney?” MJ
asked.

“
I’ll take care of her,”
Rodney said. “I swear it on my Yvonne.”

“
Get back to work.” Honey
blew him a kiss. He gave her a worried nod and went back to
work.

“
Up here!” Abi pointed up
a mud hill near where MJ was working.

“
Over here!” Rodney yelled
to Honey.

Honey took off up the hill and Rodney had to
run to catch up with her. He was halfway up the hill when he heard
a tired voice say, “Help me.”

“
This way!” Rodney
yelled.

Rodney waved Honey to the left side of the
hill. Near the top they found the old site manager for Lipson
Construction. The mud had trapped him against the construction
trailer.

Honey and Rodney skidded to a stop. This man
was despicable. When Jake, Aden, and Sam weren’t around, he would
call the young men who worked for Rodney “monkeys.” He had
regularly called Rodney “that gorilla” in site manager meetings and
always implied that Honey only had a job there because she was
Jacob’s lover. He’d blasted hate-filled talk radio on the job site
even after Sam had ordered him to stop. It was no surprise that his
child was cruel to Noelle. As if stuck into the mud, Rodney and
Honey stared at the man.

“
You have to help him.”
Abi flew in front of his face.

“
Why?” Rodney
sneered.

“
Because that’s who you
are,” Abi said.

“
He doesn’t deserve it,”
Rodney whispered.

He must have spoken loudly enough for Honey
to hear, because she looked up at him.

“
He doesn’t,” Honey said.
“But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t help him.”

Rodney looked down at this little pixie of a
woman in the big wheelchair.

“
You know I’m right,”
Honey said. “But I won’t help him until we agree.”

“
Why would you help this
man?” Rodney asked. “He told Jacob he should pull your health
insurance when you were in the hospital the first time!”

“
I know,” Honey said. “But
I’m not the kind of person who lets someone die just because
they’re different from me. You’re not either.”

Rodney looked at Honey for a long time
before looking up the hill again.

“
If he were a stranger,
would you help him?” Honey asked.

“
I would.”

“
A stranger could be just
as reprehensible,” Honey said.

A corner of Rodney’s mouth raised in a
smile.

“
What?” Honey
asked.

“
Just something Yvonne
said while we were in Paris,” Rodney said. “She keeps pressuring me
to forgive Alvin.”

“
Big task,” Honey said.
“But you’re a big man.”

Rodney’s head moved in a slight nod.

“
Ready?” Honey asked. He
nodded.

They went the rest of the way up the
hill.

“
You’re a lucky man.”
Rodney kneeled down next to the man.

The man looked at Rodney and then at Honey.
Honey slipped out of her chair to sit next to him.

“
Can you feel your feet?”
Honey asked.

The man shook his head. Honey grabbed his
arm to check his pulse.

“
Are you bleeding?” Honey
asked.

The man was either ignoring her or dazed by
his injury. When he didn’t respond, she looked at Mari.

“
He was halfway out of the
window when one of those big earthquakes hit,” Mari said. “The
glass in the window broke and sliced through his right leg. The
pressure from the dirt is what’s keeping him alive.”

“
If we move you from where
you are, you’ll easily bleed to death,” Honey said.

“
Don’t leave me here,” the
man said.

Honey looked up at Rodney. He nodded and
turned to Abi.

“
I need a shovel,
round-tipped, long-handled,” Rodney said.

He held out his hand and the shovel
appeared.

“
How’d you do that?” the
man asked.

“
Gorilla magic,” Rodney
said. He turned to Honey to ask, “You don’t happen to have medical
supplies do you?”

“
Sure. Water, too.” Honey
scooted back to her chair and grabbed her medical kit. “We’re going
to have to treat you here.”

Rodney watched Honey for a moment. He took a
gallon water jug from her chair and poured some into a plastic cup
that appeared in his hand out of nowhere. He helped the man
drink.

“
I need a tourniquet,”
Honey said. One appeared on top of the medical kit. She took
anti-coagulant and pain killers out of her kit. “Ready?”