“Do I…does she live here?”
“For now. I think she’d like to go back to Europe, though. Listen, why don’t we trade places? I think those people over there are staring at us. It’s probably best not to draw attention to your situation.”
She gave me a hesitant, doubtful look. Then, nodding toward the gun on the seat, she said, “You and this other Elsa aren’t friends.”
“Not exactly. She’s done a few things that made some trouble for me and a few people I know.”
“If I switch places with you, are you going to hurt her when she…comes back?”
“No,” I said. I wanted to mean it, and I hoped that came through. “I’m not going to hurt her.”
She gave me a slow nod and moved her left hand toward the door handle.
“Just so you know,” I said before she could pop the handle. “If you decide to run or cry out to those people over there that you’re in danger, I’m not going to have a choice. I’ll have to paralyze you again, but if I can’t, I won’t have any option other than the gun. I don’t want to do that. If Elsa’s body gets hurt while you’re in it, then…it’s going to be you feeling it, understand? You seem like a nice person. The Elsa I know isn’t, though.”
“I wonder what she would say about you.”
“That I’m a meddler. That I’ve thwarted her plans. That I’m a lousy American standing in her way.”
“And what are her plans?”
I shook my head. “The less you know, the better off you’ll probably be. Are we agreed you’ll behave?”
“Yes. I just want this to end.”
“It will.” Then, still pointing the paralyzer at her, I said, “All right. Let’s go.”
The transfer went smoothly. After slipping my gun into my coat pocket, I got out, tipped my fedora at the people outside The Tidal Wave, and walked around the car, the little paralyzer held tightly in my hand. Elsa and I crossed paths at the trunk, and I kept a close eye on her as she circled around and got into the passenger door without making any sort of a fuss.
When the doors were closed, I said, “Thank you. I really appreciate your cooperation.”
“You’re welcome. Now what?”
“Now, I suggest you get comfortable and get ready to enjoy the ride.”
“Get comfortable?” she asked, her tone suggesting confusion.
“That’s right,” I said, and then without warning I clicked the paralyzer again.
“I’m sorry, Elsa. Like I said, you seem like a very nice person, but the Elsa I know isn’t. If I’m going to get through tonight alive, then I need the upper hand, and you’ve just given it to me. I only wish my Elsa could know that you helped me out. She’d hate herself for that.”
Having learned from Elsa’s mistake, I opted to set the paralyzer on the seat next to me, the beam pointed straight at her. Then I tucked the other end of it under my leg to hold it in place. I started the car and dropped it into gear, checked the flow of traffic and started east on Sunset again. “Enjoy the sights, Elsa. Maybe there isn’t an American film industry in your world. All these lights. Movie stars. It’s a little vulgar, I suppose, but it’s not boring. If you’re still here when I get to where I’m going, then…well, we’re going to have to figure some things out. For now, though, like I said. Just try to enjoy the ride, and I hope you’re back where you belong in no time at all.”
It felt odd to be driving along with her frozen in place that way, like I was driving with a Nazi mannequin. When the car came to a stop at red lights, I made it a point to look straight ahead rather than risk making eye contact with any other drivers who might pull up next to me and notice the strange look on the face of the woman beside me.
When I drove past Darkness, I slowed down and tried to scrutinize the club, but I could tell nothing from the front. There were a few people standing near the entrance, but nothing indicated anything other than business as usual. I thought of Sherise in there right now, probably flitting between the bar and the tables, making small talk with her regulars, checking on the dancers in the dressing room and Jack in her office. She was all right, I told myself. Nothing bad had happened. And nothing would. Even so, I still had the strong urge to pull over, to run in for just a minute and check. I could leave the paralyzed Elsa in the car, and no one would bother her. When a car behind me honked at my slow pace along the boulevard, though, I let go of the impulse and kept moving.
At La Brea, I turned left and headed up to Hollywood Boulevard, making a right and passing in front of the Hollywood Hotel a minute later. Here, too, I thought of Sherise. I thought of the havoc that Hennigar had brought into our lives when he’d tossed Sherise’s apartment, and I wondered what the chances were that Sherise’s room in the hotel looked like that now. Again, I drove on, though.
I was being paranoid.
Sherise was safe. Elsa was under my control. I was on my way to the rendezvous, where I would arrive early and maintain control. And Carmelita was on her way, ready to deliver a surprise neither Hennigar nor Elsa could be anticipating. All I had to do was keep my foot on the gas and be ready when I got to the tunnel.
Of course, Hollywood wasn’t interested in cooperating with my plans. Not much farther along the boulevard, I spotted a wall of brake lights ahead and a bit beyond that were bright white spotlights circling in the sky. A movie premiere, probably at the Paragon Castle. I’d been caught in more than one of these things, and the traffic around me was already slowing. The street would be blocked off, probably at Vine, and traffic would snake around the block before being allowed to flow again.
I cut north on Ivar instead, not willing to wait with the rest of the salmon swimming upstream. This street was relatively empty, so I gunned the engine, glancing over at Elsa as I went to make sure she was still held firmly in place. There was no sign of her having switched back to this world’s Elsa, but of course there was no sign of anything else either.
Past Yucca, the road climbed a hill and then made a sharp right turn next to the Alto Nido apartments. After that, it spit me onto Franklin, which ran right into Western eventually. Then it was a quick left, one more curve, and I was in Los Feliz with Griffith Park and the Observatory looming in the darkness on my left. I realized I’d probably made it here faster than if I’d stayed on Hollywood Boulevard, movie premiere or not.
“Pretty slick,” I said to Elsa as I rolled along Los Feliz, looking for Vermont, which I knew would take me the rest of the way up the hill and to the east side of the Mount Hollywood tunnel.
The houses here were fat and fancy, and I wondered how close I was to the scene of the Wheatley murders—now that I knew it had in fact been a double murder and not a murder/suicide. The Buckman home would be around here somewhere, too, according to O’Neil. What fun it would be to pull up and confront the chief with what I knew about his wife.
Another day, though. Another time. Maybe another world.
Near the top of the hill, the houses became sparser, and then there were none. Nearing the entrance to the park, I saw the road ahead of me barred by a closed gate. This was something I’d been expecting, as the public was not welcome in the park after sundown. Somewhere to the west, there’d be a similar gate for Hennigar to deal with when he made his way to the rendezvous. Killing the engine, I lifted my leg off the paralyzer and set it on the dashboard, its business end still aimed at Elsa. I hated leaving her here in the car like this, but I saw no other choice. Going as quickly as I could, I got out of the car, went back to the trunk and unlocked it. Inside, I’d stored a pair of bolt cutters for just this purpose. Grabbing the tool, I shut the trunk and ran to the gate; there, I found the lock and chain holding the gate in place and put some muscle into the bolt cutters.
The blades wouldn’t close. All I could do was scar the metal of the lock. If Carmelita had been here, it would have been like snapping a twig.
I put more effort in, my arms shaking as I squeezed the handles of the cutter. Just when I thought the whole thing was going to be a
bust or that I should risk a ricochet and use my gun on the lock, the hasp snapped in two. I pulled the chain free and gave the gate a shove. It swung inward as I raced back to the car and tossed the bolt cutters into the back seat before putting the key into the ignition again.
“Miss me?” I asked Elsa as I reached for the paralyzer and tucked it under my leg again before putting the car into gear.
Now, I was driving through the dark of Griffith Park, knowing the Observatory was somewhere to my left. My hands grew sweaty on the steering wheel, and my pulse started to race with excitement at what was to come.
Rounding one last corner, I pulled to the side of the narrow road and killed the engine. I took out my gun and switched off the safety. Then I turned in my seat so my back was to the door and I could face Elsa full on. Holding the paralyzer, I switched on the dome light first and then clicked the trigger on the paralyzer.
Elsa shrank a bit at first being freed from the beam. It lasted only a second, though, as she immediately reanimated, turning her face to me with a sneer and shouting, “What did you do to me!?”
“I see you’re back, Elsa,” I said. “Welcome to the world again.”
She lunged at me, so I zapped her again. The momentum she’d had, combined with the fact that she’d gotten the top half of her body away from her center of gravity, prompted her to fall over on the front seat, her face hitting my knee.
“God damn it, Elsa,” I said as I tried to scoot away from her. I was already pressed up against the car door, though, so there really wasn’t anywhere to go but out.
Twisting myself around a bit, I managed to open the door while still keeping the paralyzer aimed at her. Then I unfolded my legs from the compartment and stood outside the car for a moment, imagining a few scenarios of how to fix this new complication.
“You were a lot easier to work with when you were a nice, married lady from Germany, Dr. Schwartz,” I said as I set the paralyzer on the seat a few inches from her head. Then, keeping my gun with me, I circled the car quickly and opened the passenger door but immediately backed away when I felt a sluggishness in my limbs. The paralyzer was now pointed at both of us, but her body was taking the brunt of its beam. I circled around the car again, set the paralyzer on the open ashtray door, so it was pointing at her from the car’s console, not aiming at the passenger door. Then I went back around, knowing that if there had been anyone around to watch me, it would have looked like I was acting in a screwball comedy about a broken-down car and a drunk passenger.
Reaching inside now, I realized there was no way to pull her away from where she’d landed without being indelicate, so I went ahead and grabbed her by the hips and pulled her toward me. She slid across the upholstery in an undignified manner, and I was rather glad that she was conscious enough to know what was happening but helpless to stop it. When I got her to the edge of her seat, I pulled up on one of her shoulders and got her into something close to a sitting position again. Then I closed the door, ran around the car one last time, and got back inside.
“All right,” I said, a little out of breath. “I needed to see if you were back, and you obviously are. Not that I owe you an explanation or anything, but you got hijacked. Another Elsa from another world slipped into your consciousness and took this model for a little spin. It’s harmless as far as I know, but it’s annoying as hell. According to Klaus Lang, it starts happening after you’ve made two crossings, which you’ve now done. Your susceptibility to getting taken over that way fades after a while, which is good news for both of us. I don’t know if that’s what happened to Jetpack back at your little stone house, or if something else went wrong with his mind. Regardless, we’re here now.”
I nodded to the dark road ahead. “The tunnel’s just up there. I’m going to leave you frozen for now and head over there. When we get to the tunnel, I’m going to unfreeze you, but I’m going to keep my gun on you. Misbehave, and you’re done. Hennigar didn’t say anything about delivering you alive and undamaged, so it’s really up to you.”
She could say nothing to this, of course, so I started the car and put it in gear. Keeping the lights off just in case I wasn’t the only one who’d thought about arriving at the rendezvous early, I let the car creep forward, wishing I had Carmelita’s ability to see in the dark. It wasn’t too difficult to stick to the narrow road since there was a hillside rising to my right. I knew that as long as I kept the hillside over there, I wasn’t likely to plunge off the other side of the road and go tumbling down the rest of the hill.
About a minute later, I came to the intersection I’d been expecting, the roads forming a Y that made me think of the diagram Guillermo had used to describe the splitting of the worlds. The conversation seemed like it had taken place about a thousand years ago. How many times had the world split since then, I wondered. How many other Jed Straits had started down the same path I’d faced when coming home from the war, each of them affected by an unfathomable number of changes, chances, and decisions?
Since getting the note from Hennigar about the rendezvous, I had driven up here at least ten times to get a sense of the landscape, so I knew that arriving at the intersection meant I had about another hundred yards until the road would turn one more time, feeding into the tunnel. And as it went along, it wouldn’t be at the edge of a drop-off anymore but would rather thread its way between two low hills.
Continuing forward, I leaned in toward the steering wheel and windshield, willing the mouth of the tunnel to come out of the dark. It didn’t come soon enough, and I felt the right side of the car getting off balance. I had gone off the road, the car’s right wheels edging up onto the hillside. Staying calm—and relieved that I’d waited to go off the road until now when doing so wasn’t going to get me killed—I turned the wheel to the left and felt the car level off again, back on the road.
And then, a few yards farther along, I saw the tunnel’s mouth, a black hole in the looming hillside, ready to swallow me up. I pulled up to the opening and stopped the car, peering into the darkness toward the tunnel’s western end with my engine still idling. With my headlights still off, it was too dark for me to make out the other side of the tunnel. Everything was darkness layered on more darkness. And yet, when I peered into the inky opening, I thought I could make out a shape at the other end.
Holding my breath, I pulled on the knob that turned on the Winslow’s lights.
Having done so, there was no point turning the off again.
I sat there for a moment, staring ahead as icy sweat broke out on my forehead and neck.
“Don’t gloat, Elsa,” I said to my paralyzed nemesis.
At the other end of the tunnel, now clearly visible in the beams that shone from the front of my vehicle, a car was blocking the western entrance. Two people stood outside the car next to its grill—a man and a woman. At this distance, I couldn’t have identified the man, but I didn’t need to be any closer to pick out Sherise’s form. She stood next to him, her body language all wrong. This, along with the way the man had his arms folded and was standing slightly behind and to her side, told me that Andrik Hennigar had a gun trained on Sherise’s midsection, the muzzle probably pressing into her kidney.
I felt it as intensely as if it was pressing into mine.
Chapter Fifteen
“This is not according to plan,” I said to Elsa despite her inability to respond. Then I killed the engine and sat still for a few seconds, pondering.
With no Carmelita in sight, my original plan was going to have to get put on ice—maybe not permanently, but at least for now. Backing away and pretending I wasn’t here for a rendezvous wasn’t something I could do, not with Sherise in peril like that. And coming out of the car with my gun blazing wouldn’t work either.
“I’m sure you’ll excuse me,” I said as I set the paralyzer on the dashboard, checking the angle to make sure it was still pointed right at Elsa. “This fellow must be lost. I’ll just get out and give him some directions. Shouldn’t be more than a minut
e.”
I tucked the gun into my waistband, pulling my jacket over the handle so I could grab the gun easily but still keep it concealed from Hennigar. Then I pulled on the door handle and opened the door slowly, making a show of keeping my hands visible as I got out of the car but not holding them in the air either. The last thing I wanted was to look like I was deferring to his stronger position.
“Where is Dr. Schwartz?” I heard the man say from the other end of the tunnel. He spoke with an accent, and his voice was more high pitched than I had expected of a cold-hearted killer; it echoed off the tunnel’s walls.
“Let Sherise go and we can talk about Elsa. Sherise wasn’t part of the deal,” I said.
He shook his head, and for the first time I realized he wore spectacles, the lenses reflecting in the beams from my headlights. “There was no deal, Mr. Strait. Just Elsa. I see you have someone else in your car. Get her out now, please.”
“I’m not doing anything until you—” I started saying, but then I saw him move his arm and Sherise let out a little yelp at the same time. “Sherise!” I shouted.
“Bring me Dr. Schwartz and we can stop this silly game, Mr. Strait,” came Hennigar’s reply.
I turned back to the open door of my car and bent down, reaching in to get the paralyzer. “Just so you know,” I said, “that son of a bitch is a dead man now. You’ll be smart to just hang back and let me do what I’m going to do. Get in the way, and I can’t promise you won’t join him.” I took a breath then and said, “I’m going to set you free from this thing now. Then you’re going to open your door and get out. We’re going to walk together through the tunnel. I can freeze you at any point, and then I can use your body as a shield if he starts shooting, so don’t try anything.”
I clicked the paralyzer and watched as her body relaxed for a moment. Then she turned her face toward me, a little sneer on her lips. My warning apparently merited no reply, as she reached for the door handle without saying a word.
The Fedora Fandango: A Dieselpunk Adventure (The Crossover Case Files Book 5) Page 19
