Mine

by Robert McCammon

Part IV - Where the Creatures Meet Chapter 7: The Devil of all Pigs

 

  Behind Mary Terror was New York City. above her was the gray sky, armored in clouds. Beneath her was the deck of the boat, ferrying a group of tourists across the wind-whipped water to what lay before hen the weeping lady on Liberty Island.

  Mary stood within the glassed-in cabin, out of the wind, with Drummer in her arms. The weeping lady grew larger and larger, torch in one hand and book cradled against her breasts. The other passengers were mostly Japanese, and they took pictures like crazy. Mary rocked Drummer and cooed to him, and her heart slammed in her chest as the Circle Line boat neared its destination. In her large shoulder bag was her Magnum pistol, fully loaded. Mary licked her lips. She could see people walking around the base of the weeping lady, could see someone feeding sea gulls on the concrete dock where the boat would pull in. Mary looked at her wristwatch. It was about eight minutes before two o'clock. She realized how big Liberty Island was. Where was the contact supposed to be madei The message in the Stone hadn't said. a little burst of panic threatened her composure; what if she couldn't find Jacki What if he was waiting for her but she couldn't find himi Steady, she told herself. Trust in karma, and keep an eye on your back.

  Drummer started to cry. "Shhh, shhh," she said softly, and she fed him his pacifier. There were dark circles under her eyes. Her sleep had been uneasy, and filled with phantoms: pigs with rifles and shotguns, converging on her from all sides. She had taken stock of the tourists waiting for the boat as she'd bought her ticket: none of them smelted like pigs, and none of them wore shined shoes. But out here in the open she didn't feel safe, and once she set foot on Liberty Island she would unzip her bag so she could get to her gun in a hurry.

  The boat began to slow, the weeping lady gargantuan before her. Then the boat's crew threw out ropes, the craft sidled up against the dock, and a ramp was tied down. "Watch your step, watch your step!" one of the crewmen cautioned, and the tourists started getting off the boat with a chatter of excitement.

  It was time. Mary waited for everyone else to get off, and then she unzipped the carryall and took Drummer across the ramp onto the concrete of Liberty Island.

  Sea gulls screeched and spun in the eddies of cold air. Mary's eyes darted right and left: an elderly couple walked together near the railing; a heavyset woman herded two children along; three teenage boys in leather jackets jostled each other, their voices raucous; a man in a gray jogging outfit was sitting on a bench, staring blankly toward the city; another man, this one wearing a beige overcoat, was tossing peanuts to the sea gulls. He was wearing shined wingtips, and Mary walked quickly away from him, the back of her neck prickling.

  a uniformed guide was gathering the Japanese group together. Mary passed him, striding along the walkway that went next to the water. Clumps of oil and dead fish floated in it, white bellies bloated. a woman was coming toward her, walking alone. She had long black hair that whipped in the wind, and she wore a red overcoat. When the woman was about six paces away, she suddenly stopped and smiled. "Hi there!" she said brightly.

  Mary was about to answer, when a young dark-haired man passed her from behind. "Hi!" he answered the woman, and they linked arms. "You got away from me, didn't youi" he teased her. They turned away from Mary Terror, their bodies pressing against the railing, and Mary went on with Drummer.

  She threaded her way through another clutch of Japanese tourists, cameras clicking up at the weeping lady. Her eye caught the glint of a badge, and she looked to her right. a pig in a dark blue uniform was strolling slowly along, about thirty feet from her. She veered away from him and walked to the railing, where she stood with Drummer and stared at the gray-hazed city. One hand rested on the lip of her bag, the Magnum within an instant's reach. She waited a few seconds and then turned away from the view, her heart pounding. The pig had walked on, beyond the Japanese tourists. She watched him go, the breath cold in her lungs. Not safe, she thought. Too open out here. It came to her like a blow: this wasn't the kind of place Lord Jack would have chosen for a meeting. There was no shelter here, no way out if a trap was sprung. She saw a black man in a Knicks jacket sitting on a bench, staring at her. She stared back long enough to make him look away, and then she started walking again. Mary didn't like it; this place was wrong, it wasn't Jack's style. When she glanced back, she saw the Knicks fan stand up and walk to the railing as if to keep her in sight.

  Trap, she thought. an alarm began to scream inside her. The stench of pigs was in the air. The man who'd been feeding the sea gulls suddenly came into view, walking slowly beside the railing in his shined pig shoes, his hands deep in his overcoat pockets. She knew the look of a pig who was carrying firepower; the weight of a gun was in the bastard's walk. Tears of rage swelled in her eyes, and her mind shrieked the warning: Trap! Trap! Trap!

  Mary began striding quickly away from the Knicks fan and the bastard with the shined shoes. Drummer made a little mewling sound around his pacifier, perhaps picking up some of Mary's tension. "Shhhh," she told him. Her voice quavered. "Mania's got her baby. "

  Her shoulders tensed. She was waiting for the noise of a whistle or the crackle of a radio: a signal for the enemy to move in on her. She knew what to do when that happened. First kill Drummer with a single shot to the head. Then keep firing at the mindfuckers until they took her down. Reasonable. She would not die without taking some of them with her, and damned if they'd get her alive.

  Mary Terror suddenly stopped walking. a small gasp left her mouth.

  There he was.

  Right there. ahead of her, leaning against the railing and looking out toward the atlantic. His body was still slim and youthful, and his long blond hair hung around his shoulders in golden waves. He wore a battered leather jacket, faded jeans, and boots. He was smoking a cigarette, the smoke swirling back over his head in the wind.

  Lord Jack. Right there, waiting for her and the baby.

  She couldn't move. a tear - not of rage, but born of joy - streaked down her right cheek. There was a lump in her throat; how could she speak around iti She took a step toward him, her body tormented between frost and fire. He tapped ashes out on the railing and watched a sea gull wheel in the sky. Mary could see the fine etching of his nose and chin. He'd done away with his beard, but it was him. Oh dear God it was him, right there in front of her.

  Mary walked to him, trembling. He was smaller than she remembered. Of course he was, because she was larger than she'd been. "Jacki" she said softly, it came out garbled. She took a breath and tried again, ready to see the flames in his eyes when he looked at her. "Jacki"

  His head swiveled.

  Lord Jack was a girl.

  a teenager, maybe seventeen or eighteen. Her long blond hair danced in the wind, a tiny silver skeleton dangling from her right ear. She stared at Mary Terror with the cigarette gripped in her mouth, her eyes hard and wary. "Choo talkin' ta mei" she asked.

  Mary stopped, her legs freezing up. She felt her face harden, felt her joy spin away from her like a sea gull on the wind. She made a noise, but she wasn't sure what she said; maybe it was a grunt of pain.

  "Crazy fucka," the girl muttered, and she brushed past Mary Terror and stalked away.

  It came. Close behind her. The voice.

  "Mary. "

  Not a question. a knowing.

  She turned, cradling Drummer with one arm and the other hand in her shoulder bag. Her fingers rested on the Magnum's grip.

  "Mary," he said again, and he smiled with tears swamping his pale blue eyes.

  It was the man who'd been feeding the gulls. He had short brown hair flecked with gray on the sides, and he wore tortoiseshell glasses. His face was bony, his chin too long, and his nose too large. around his eyes were webbings of lines, and two deep lines bracketed his mouth. The wind caught the folds of his beige overcoat. Mary saw that he was wearing a black pin-striped suit, a white shirt, and a red tie with litt
le white dots on it. She glanced down at his shined black wingtips, and her first impression was that the devil of all pigs had just spoken her name.

  She didn't know his face. Didn't know his eyes. The pigs had sprung their trap. His hands were still in the pockets of his coat. She saw the uniformed pig walking toward them unhurriedly. The Knicks fan was lounging against the railing, staring at the gray water. It was time to play the game out, but on her terms. Mary drew the Magnum from her shoulder bag, her finger on the trigger, and she placed the barrel against Drummer's head. The baby shivered and blinked.

  "No!" the stranger said. "Jesus, no!" He blinked, too, as surprised as Drummer. "I'm Edward," he said. "Edward Fordyce. "

  Liar! she thought. Dirty fucking liar! He didn't look at all like Edward! The pig was coming, approaching from behind the stranger. He was about ten or eleven paces away, and Mary's finger tightened on the trigger as she saw the noose falling.

  "Put it away!" the man said urgently. "Mary, don't you know mei"

  "Edward Fordyce had brown eyes. " The trigger needed a quarter-ounce more pressure and the gun would go off.

  "They're blue contacts," he said. "The glasses are fake. "

  The pig was almost upon them. In another moment he'd see the gun. Mary licked her lower lip. "Make me believe you. "

  "I got you out. Remember where we hidi" He frowned, his mind working furiously. "We kicked at rats all night," he said.

  The rats. Oh yes, she remembered them, licking at her blood.

  The pig was right behind Edward Fordyce. Edward was aware of him, too, and suddenly he turned toward the pig, keeping his body in front of Mary. "Cold out here, isn't it, Officeri"

  "It's a bitch," the pig said. He had a square, wind-chapped face. "Snow in the air. "

  "We haven't had a lot of it yet, so we're due. "

  "You can have the white crap! Me, I wanna go south for the winter!"

  Mary had no time to debate it any longer. She slid the gun into her shoulder bag, but she kept her hand on the grip.

  The pig took a step to the side, and he looked at Drummer. "Your kidi" he asked Edward.

  "Yeah. My son. "

  "Oughta get him out of this wind. Not good for a kid's lungs. "

  "We will, Officer. Thanks. "

  The pig nodded at Mary and walked on, and Edward Fordyce stared at her with his falsely colored eyes. "Where'd you see the messagei"

  Him. Not Lord Jack. Him. Mary felt a wave of dizziness swirl around her, and she had to lean against the railing for support. "Rolling Stone. " she managed to say.

  "I put it all over the place: Mother Jones, the Village Voice, the Times, and a couple of dozen other papers. I wasn't sure anybody would see it. "

  "I saw it. I thought. . . somebody else had written it. "

  Edward glanced around. His eyes might be the wrong color, but they were as keen as a hawk's. "We'd better split. The boat's loading up. I'll carry the baby. " He held out his arms.

  "No," she said. "Drummer's mine. "

  He shrugged. "Okay. I've got to tell you, taking the kid out of that hospital was crazy. " He saw her eyes blaze at the use of that word. "I mean. . . it wasn't too wise. " She was a couple of inches taller than he, and maybe thirty pounds heavier. Her size, and the suggestion of brute strength in her hands and shoulders, frightened him. Her face had always had a dangerous, sullen quality about it, but now there was something savage in her face, too, like a lioness that had been squeezed into a cage and taunted by dumb keepers. "You've been all over the news," he said. "You drew a lot of attention to yourself. "

  "Maybe I did. That was my business. "

  This was no place to get into an argument. Edward turned his overcoat's collar up and watched the cop walking away; the pig was right, there was snow in the air. "You got a cari"

  "a van. "

  "Where're you stayingi"

  "a motel in Secaucus. What about youi"

  "I live in Queens," he told her. Now that she'd put that damned gun away, his nerves were starting to settle down, but he kept an eye on the cop. It had taken him a few minutes to recognize her after she'd stepped off the boat. She'd changed a lot, just as he knew he had, but realizing who she was had been a real shock. The FBI had to be hot on her trail, and even standing next to her made him feel like a target at a shooting gallery. "We'll go to your place," he decided. "We've got a lot to catch up on. " He tried for a smile, but either he was too cold or too scared and his mouth wouldn't work.

  "Wait a minute," she said as he started to walk toward the boat. He paused. Mary took a step toward him, and he felt dwarfed. "Edward, I don't take orders from anyone anymore. " Her guts were twisted with disappointment. Lord Jack wasn't here, and it was going to take her a while to get over it. "I say we go to your place. "

  "Don't trust me, huhi"

  "Trusting can get you killed. Your place or I'm gone. "

  He thought it over. There was a nettled scowl on his face, and by it Mary saw that he really was Edward Fordyce. It was the same scowl he'd worn when Jack Gardiner had jumped his case about backing into the pig car.

  "Okay," he agreed. "My place. "

  He caved in too fast, Mary thought. Something about him put her on edge; his clothes and shoes were Mindfuck State goods, the uniform of the enemy. He bore careful watching.

  "You lead," she said, and he started toward the boat with Mary a few paces behind, Drummer cradled against her and her hand still on the Magnum's grip.

  In the Circle Line parking lot, when they were away from people, Mary slid the gun from her shoulder bag and put its barrel against the back of Edward's skull. "Stop," she commanded quietly. He did. "Lean against that car and spread your legs. "

  "Hey, come on, sister! What are you -"

  "Now, Edward. "

  "Shit! Mary, you're pushing me!"

  "Do tell," she said, and she shoved him hard against the car and spent a minute frisking him. No guns, no wire microphones, no tape recorders. She came up with his wallet, flipped it open, and checked his license. New York issued, under the name Edward Lambert. address apt. 5B, 723 Cooper avenue, Queens. a picture of a young, smiling woman and a little boy who had his father's long chin. "Wife and kidi"

  "Yeah. Divorced, if you want to know. " He turned around, his face flamed with anger, and he snatched the wallet from her. "I live alone. I'm an accountant for a seafood company. I drive an 'eighty-five Toyota, I collect stamps, and I wipe my ass with Charmin. anything elsei"

  "Yes. " She put the Magnum's barrel against his stomach. "are you going to fuck me overi I know there's a price on my head. " It was twelve thousand dollars, put up by the atlanta Constitution for her capture. "If you're thinking about it, let me tell you that you'll get the first bullet. Dig iti"

  "Yeah. " He nodded. "I dig it. "

  "Good. " She believed him, and she put the gun away but she left the bag open. "Now we can be friends again, righti"

  "Yeah. " Said with a measure of new respect and maybe fear, too.

  "I'll follow you. I'm in the van over there. " She motioned to it. Edward started to walk to his red Toyota nearby, but Mary caught his arm. She felt a warm glow of nostalgia rise within her, and it helped to soothe the hurt that Jack wasn't here. "I love you, brother," she said, and she kissed his smooth-shaven cheek.

  Edward Fordyce looked at her, puzzled and still angry about the frisk. She was off her rocker, that much was clear. Taking the baby had been insane, and put him in as much danger as she was in. He had a pang of wishing he'd never decided to write the message. But Mary was his sister in arms, they had lived and fought and bled together, and she was a link to a younger, more robust life. He said, "I love you, sister," and he returned the kiss. He smelled her body odor, she needed a bath.

  He got into his Toyota, started the engine, and waited for her to get into the van with the baby. Drummer, she called him. Edward knew the kid's real name: David Clayborne. He'd followed the w
hole story in the news, but since that plane explosion over Japan the news hadn't given much coverage to Mary and the baby. He pulled out of the parking lot, glancing in the rearview mirror to make sure Mary - big old crazy Mary - was following. He hadn't expected to see Mary Terror step off that boat. Placing the message had been a shot in the dark, but he realized he'd hit a target far greater than he'd ever have hoped.

  "Twelve thousand dollarsi" he said as he merged into traffic heading for the Williamsburg Bridge. He glanced back; she was still with him, following closely. "Babycakes," he said, "you're going to make me a millionaire. " He grinned, showing capped front teeth.

  The Toyota and the van crossed the bridge, along with the flow of other cars, as small flakes of snow began to spin from the clouds.