Authors: Michael A. Kahn
The Sirena Quest (17 page)
At 11:14 a.m. the next day, Ray opened his eyes.
“Morning, Spiderman,” Lou said.
Ray tried to speak but all that came out was a raspy sound.
“Don't talk.” Lou touched his own throat. “Doctor's orders. You're pretty banged up.”
Ray winced as he tried to turn his head. He gave Lou a questioning look.
“You had
two
chopper rides last night.” Lou gave him a sympathetic smile. “We're in a hospital about sixty miles outside of Pittsburgh. The paramedics flew you down here after they carried you out of the woods.” He lifted the large cup of water off the tray and bent the straw toward Ray. “Want some?”
Ray nodded slightly, careful not to move his head much. Lou positioned the straw and watched as Ray took three sips. Then he put the cup back on the tray.
He said, “You reminded me a little of Major King Kong last night.”
Ray frowned and mouthed the word
Who?
Lou said, “Gordie's favorite character from his favorite movie of all-time,
Dr. Strangelove
. Kong is the commander of the lead bomber heading into Russia. Played by Slim Pickens.”
Ray tried to nod, though the motion made him wince.
“Remember at the end? He grabs his ten-gallon hat, straddles the bomb and rides it down to Earth hollering like a cowboy and waving his hat.”
Ray smiled.
“Unfortunately, your ride got away. You fell almost fifty feet. The paramedics said the only thing that saved you were the tree branches. They gave you a pounding on the way down, but they slowed your descent.” Lou shook his head. “You scared the hell out of me, Ray.”
Ray glanced down. His right leg was in a cast up to his knee and suspended off the bed by a cable. Lou followed his gaze and nodded.
“Compound fractures,” he said. “Tibia and fibula. They put pins in there when they set it. You have a broken left wrist. Just a hairline fracture, but serious enough for a cast. Forty-seven stitches on your right arm. Fifteen in the back of your head. Cuts and bruises all over your body. And two black eyes.”
Ray looked down at the cast on his left arm.
“I called Brandi,” Lou said. “She'll be here late afternoon. Billy's driving the van down to Pittsburgh to pick her up at the airport.”
Ray scowled.
“She loves you, Ray. And believe me, buddyâ” Lou winked “âI'm not changing your bedpan when you get out of here.”
Ray seemed to ponder the information as his gaze wandered around the room. Then his eyes snapped back to Lou.
Lou shook his head. “She's gone. Reggie and Frank had the whole thing planned out. Gordie's hot date was a setup. Probably a hooker. They must have been following us the whole time.” Lou sighed. “Poor Gordie.”
Ray looked puzzled.
“I found him in our motel room afterward. Bound and gagged on the bed. Totally naked. Totally humiliated. He's sitting out there now. In the waiting room. Refuses to talk to anyone.”
A nurse came bustling into the room. “And how's our patient doing?”
Lou stood up. “He's awake.”
She came over to the bed and flashed Ray a matronly smile. “Good morning, Mr. Gorman. Let's check our temperature and blood pressure. The doctor should be here in a few minutes.”
Ray's eyes moved toward Lou, who smiled and gave him a wink.
Brandi lowered her voice. “The doctor thinks he'll be able to leave in three days.”
It was close to six p.m. Lou and Brandi stood in the hall outside Ray's hospital room. Billy was at the pay phone down the hall talking to his wife. Gordie was alone in the lounge, staring at the television, which was tuned to a Pirates-Mets baseball game. The color was out of whack, the outfield grass orange.
“Three days,” Lou repeated, doing the mental addition. “June fifteenth.”
Brandi pulled a small calendar out of her purse and paged through it. “The reunion starts the sixteenth. You know he's gonna want to be there. The Sirena part is going to drive him crazy, but that's okay. He needs to be there.” She smiled. “I'll get him good and drunk that morning and strap him into a wheelchair.”
Lou nodded. “Good idea.”
“I'll book us flights out of Pittsburgh.” She jotted a note in the calendar and looked up at Lou. “You're still going, right?”
“Definitely. My kids are flying in on the fifteenth. Late afternoon. I've got the exact time in the van. If you can book a flight that arrives around then, I can pick you up when I get my kids.”
“That'd be great.” She glanced beyond him down the hall toward the pay phones and the lounge. “What are you guys going to do for the next three days?”
Lou turned. Billy was off the phone and walking back to the lounge.
Lou turned back to Brandi and shrugged. “Guess I'm about to find out.”
***
Billy shook his head. “I don't know, Lou. It seems impossible.”
“It seemed impossible the first time, too. But we found her, right?”
“Yeah, but now they know who we are.”
“And we know who they are, Billy. This time we know exactly who took her. Even better, we know exactly where they're headed, and exactly where they'll be on June seventeenth. If we did it once, we can do it again.”
“Twice?” Billy said. “In less than a week?” He glanced over at Gordie, who was staring at the television and pretending to be oblivious to the conversation.
Billy looked back at Lou. “That's a lot to ask.”
I know it's a lot to ask
, Lou thought, frustrated.
Probably too much to askâespecially in our current situation: dazed and confused marooned somewhere on the edge of western Pennsylvania.
Lou sighed. “We found her, Billy. We were the ones.”
“Once. But not anymore.”
“And what? Just walk away. Just slink off to the reunion.”
“I know it's a lousy option, Lou, but it's the only realistic one.”
Lou turned toward the window overlooking the parking lot, trying to organize his thoughts.
It wasn't just the unfairness of what Reggie and Frank had done to them, although he certainly wanted his vengeance thereâtotal vengeance, which included embarrassing them in the process.
And it was more than just a desire to reclaim Sirena and whatever glory and money were associated with that. Those were reasons, sure, but he knew they weren't the real reason. At least for him. At the core of this crazy quest was Ray. This was about Ray. Especially now. Especially with that final image of him in Lou's mindâclinging to Sirena, legs thrashing in the air as the helicopter lifted them ever higher into the night sky, framing him for one moment against the stars
,
Ray's predicament was at once hopeless and insane.
And marvelous.
Ray's actions had been crazy, but gloriously crazy. A moment of mad inspiration so amazing that you just couldn't let it fade away in rural Pennsylvania. Ray's madness deserved something moreâeven if that something more ended in more failure.
Lou stared out the window, searching for the right words. He turned to face Billy.
“Remember last night on the rooftop patio?”
Billy nodded.
“Remember what you said?”
Billy frowned. “I'm not sure.”
“You were the one, Billy. You were the one who was so impressed by that bartender. You were the one who said you admired a person who would spend ten years trying to reach his goal even if he never reached it. Ten years, Billy. Think about that. All we have to do here is spend four more days. She's ours, Billy. We found her. We can't just walk away.”
“But where would we even start?”
“I have no idea.” Lou came over and sat down across from him. “We'll think of something. Even if we go down in smoke, Billy, let's do it trying to get her back. We owe Ray at least that much.”
Billy frowned. “Boy, I don't know, Lou.”
Lou took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, feeling the burden of Ray's absenceâand the frustration.
He stood up. “What do you want from me, Billy? A win-one-for-the-Gipper speech?”
Billy shrugged. “Jeez, Lou, it's just⦔
Billy's voice faded and he turned to Gordie, who was glowering at the television, his arms crossed over his chest. “What do you think, Gordie?”
Gordie turned toward them, his eyes fierce. “I want to totally crush those preppie motherfuckers. Nuclear humiliation. Period. I don't care about anything else.”
He turned back to the television.
“The best way to crush them,” Lou said, “is to take back the statue.”
Gordie scowled at the screen.
“This whole thing was Ray's idea.” Billy shook his head. “But now Ray's out.”
“Exactly.” Lou stood. “That's the point, Billy. Ray's out. We're not.”
Lou stared down at them. Neither said a thing. He checked his watch.
“Here's the deal, guys. It's quarter to seven, and I'm bushed. I'm going to bed. I'm getting up tomorrow early and driving to Massachusetts. And when I get there, I'm going to try to find her. You want to come along, be in the motel lobby tomorrow morning at six. If notâ” he paused, looking first at Billy, who was studying the carpet, and then at Gordie, who was frowning at the television “âif not, well, I'll look for you guys at the reunion.”
And then he left.
Ray opened his eyes at six twenty the next morning.
Lou leaned in close and put his finger to his lips. He gestured toward the other hospital bed, where Brandi was asleep on her side facing them, her hands tucked under the pillow.
“I came to say good-bye,” Lou whispered.
Ray nodded, expressionless.
“It's not overâyet. You'll be out of here in two days. Brandi gave me the flight info. I'll meet you two at the airport.”
“Good morning, Louis.”
Lou looked up. Brandi was smiling at him.
Lou winked at her. “Just checking in with Major Kong.” He looked down at Ray. “Barrett's an eleven-hour drive from here. That'll leave us plenty of time. Frank and Reggie are going to have to stash her somewhere near the college. I'll find her.”
Ray grimaced and shook his head.
“I know, I know.” Lou smiled. “They have helicopters and they have armed guards and they have lots of money. But guess what I have?”
He gestured behind him with his thumb. In the doorway stood Gordie and Billy.
Gordie stepped into the room. “Did you just call him Major Kong?”
Lou nodded. “I told him the sight of him riding Sirena into those trees reminded me of Slim Pickens on the bomb.”
“Major T.J. âKing' Kong.” Gordie was grinning as he stepped into the room. “A great American. Remember the pep talk he gave his bomber crew?”
“No,” Lou said, “but I bet someone here does.”
“Well, boys,” Gordie said, slipping into a Texas drawlâ
“Way-ell, boys
, I jes' may. Yes, sir.”
“Let's hear it, Major,” Lou said. “We could use a little inspiration this morning.”
“Now looky here, boys,” Gordie said in his best Slim Pickens voice, “I ain't much of a hand at makin' speeches, but I got a purty fair idea that somethin' doggone important is goin' on back there. And I got a fair idea of the kinda personal emotions that some of you fellas may be thinkin'. Heck, I reckon you wouldn't even be human beans if you didn't have some purty strong personal feelin's about combat. I want you all to remember one thing, them folks back home is a-countin' on you and, by golly, we ain't about to let 'em down.”
Gordie paused and hooked his thumbs under his belt.
“I tell you somethin' else, boys. If this thing turns out to be half as important as I figure it just might be, I'd say that you're all in line for some important promotions and personal citations when this thing's over with. That goes for ever' last one of you regardless of your race, color or your creed. Now let's get this thing on the hump, boysâ'cause we got some flyin' to do.”
Brandi applauded. Gordie bowed, and then he gave Ray the thumbs-up as he backed out of the room.
Lou turned to Ray and leaned over. “Heal fast, buddy. I expect you out there on Remington Field with us.”
As he turned to go, Ray grabbed him by the wrist. Lou looked down. Ray held out his hand. Lou clasped it.
Ray stared up at him. Lou could feel the passion in those eyes.
In a raspy voice, Ray whispered, “Good luck.”
We are stardust,
We are golden,
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.
âJoni Mitchell
Billy hung up and turned to Gordie, who was on the bed, head propped against two pillows, watching MTV.
Gordie looked over at him. “Well?”
Billy shook his head.
Gordie groaned. “Terrific. That's fucking terrific.” He turned to Lou. “Well?”
Lou was seated on the floor with his back against the wall, telephone directory open on his lap. He looked up and shook his head. “That was the last one.”
“How many have we called?” Gordie asked.
Billy counted the phone numbers he'd jotted down on the notepad. “Nineteen.”
They were in the Barrett Best Western Inn just off Route 39 on the outskirts of Barrett, Massachusetts. For the past two hours they'd been calling area motels and hotels, trying to find where Frank and Reggieâand possibly Sirenaâwere staying.
Lou checked his watch. Almost noon. Today was June fourteenth. The kids arrived tomorrow. The reunion officially started the morning after that.
He flipped back to the beginning of the phone book and skimmed the first few pages. He looked up and shook his head. “This one only covers towns within about a twenty-mile radius of Barrett. There must be another directory for all of western Massachusetts.”
He stood and moved toward the door. “I'll see if they have one at the front desk.”
“Assuming they registered under their real names,” Gordie said, “which is doubtful.” He leaned back on the pillows and shook his head. “There's got to be a better way to do this.”
“Actually,” Billy said, “there just might be.”
Lou stopped at the door and looked back. “Oh?”
“Last summer someone stole my wallet at the public beach in Evanston,” Billy said. “I had my MasterCard in there. The police never caught the thief but they were able to trace him to Hammond, Indiana.”
“How?” Gordie asked.
“He bought some gas in Hammond. He charged it on my card. Apparently, there's this national credit data system. Every time a clerk runs your card through one of those readers it registers in the data bank.”
“That's great if you're a cop looking for a criminal,” Gordie said. “No credit card company is going to tell one of us what Frank and Reggie are charging.”
“But they might tell Ray,” Lou said.
Gordie frowned. “Why Ray?”
“He owns shopping centers. His organization must have contacts with every credit outfit in America. I bet they run credit checks on people all the time.”
Lou reached for the phone. “All I need is a name and an address. I bet we can get their home addresses out of our class reunion directory.”
He punched in the number for Ray's hospital room. Brandi answered. Lou explained the idea to her.
As Lou listened to Brandi describe it to Ray, Billy handed Lou the class reunion directory.
Brandi came back on the phone. “Ray can do it, Louis.” She sounded excited. “He says it may take a few hours to get what you need, but he'll put his people right on it.”