Adam Then and Now

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  “Not very well. Is your dad still certified?”

  “Yes.” She thought how the vehicles moving beneath them looked like colorful bits of debris on a conveyor belt. She was about to mention the notion to Adam, then kept silent. They didn’t need to connect on that level. Finally, she picked out the dark blue cab with its elaborate wind foil crowning the roof. “He’s approaching the Strip, Adam.”

  “See if he turns down it. That steel could be going into a new casino.”

  “Or a new office building in Seattle,” she reminded him.

  “Yeah, but I can’t picture Haskett making that kind of long-distance connection. Selling the stuff to a builder in the nearest big town, which this is, makes more sense for a two-bit criminal like him.”

  “The truck’s moving into the right lane,” she reported. “And there he goes onto the Strip. Either he plans to gamble or you’ve guessed right.”

  “Hot damn.” Adam swept the plane in another circle over the canyon of hotels lining the Las Vegas Strip.

  Loren focused on the carnival-like street, where even during the day hotels glittered with millions of lights as marquees flashed the names of entertainers, bargain dinners and recent jackpot winners. “There he is.” Despite her determination not to become involved in the excitement, her heart beat faster. “He’s turning into a construction area. You’ve got him.”

  ”We’ve got him. Now let’s take his picture.”

  “From here?” She readied the camera.

  “No. I’m going down.”

  “What about air-traffic control?”

  “I’ll be fast.”

  “Adam, if there’s a fine”

  “I’ll pay it.”

  “Just how close are you planning to get?”

  “Very.”

  A jolt of guilty excitement shot through her. Darned if she didn’t like being bad with this man. “If you take us below a thousand feet you’re going to be in megatrouble.”

  “If I get caught, I’ll say the altimeter went haywire for a while. See how this pass looks to you, and then we’ll go in for the kill. I’d love to know how much of that building is being held up by Scorpio steel.”

  “When we print the pictures, we may be able to blow them up enough to see your company ID on the girders.” The skeleton of the casino rose beneath her lens. “Wings steady, Adam. That’s it. Good. I’ve got the truck in one of the shots.”

  “Now I’m taking the same flight line at five hundred feet.”

  “Five hundred feet? Have you lost your mind?”

  “No, I’ve lost my steel,” he said evenly. “You’ll only get one try at this altitude, so make it count.”

  “Who do you think you are, Luke Skywalker? You could lose your license!”

  “I’ll take that chance. Get ready. We’re coming in.”

  “So I see.” She snapped frantically as the structure loomed beneath her. the spires of steel seeming to reach for the plane like bony fingers. Then she saw only sky as Adam shot upward. She pulled off her headset and listened to the chatter on the radio, head pounding, expecting any minute to hear a barking challenge from the tower. None came.

  She took a deep breath and replaced her headset. “You are one lucky cuss, Adam.”

  “Sometimes.” When they reached seventy-five hundred feet once more, he banked the plane and pointed it southeast, for Sedona. “Did you get the pictures?”

  “Yes.”

  “With good detail?”

  “Well, I don’t know,” she said wryly. “There was a fly on one of the girders, and I’m not sure if we’ll be able to count the hairs on his little legs. But we might.”

  “Want to go back for another look?”

  “Don’t even joke about it. You are positively crazy.”

  “I just did what the situation called for, Loren,” he said quietly.

  And do you always know what that is? she wanted to ask. But that would open a line of inquiry best left closed.

  They’d worked well together, she thought. Mission accomplished. She’d been aiming for that goal for the past three days. Now it was achieved, and the sense of adventure and excitement drained away, leaving her emptier than she’d ever felt in her life.

  * * *

  AN ATTENDANT BROUGHT the cordless phone to Anita Riordan as she lay on a massage table having her skin buffed with a mixture of oils and crushed pearls. She lifted her head, grown heavy from the deep massage she’d had prior to the buffing process. With effort she placed the phone to her ear.

  “Just letting you know we spotted a suspicious plane over the bridge site this morning,” Barnaby said. “Then we got a call from one of our drivers about some nut buzzing the casino site. Same color plane. I figure it was Adam and his aerial-photography friend.”

  Anita’s facial muscles contracted as she frowned. She made a conscious effort to relax them. “So what are you going to do about it? One more delivery and we’re finished. It would be a shame to”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll deal with it.”

  Anita swore under her breath. She should have dragged out the divorce proceedings another few months, but she’d become so tired of the endless haggling, and Adam hadn’t seemed the least suspicious about the steel shortages. But he was suspicious now. And she was far from convinced that Barnaby could handle him.

  “How will you deal with it?” she asked.

  “I’ll get the film. Without pictures he won’t be able to prove anything.”

  “And you think he’ll just hand you the film?”

  “Don’t worry, Anita. I’ll get it.”

  She felt a headache coming on. She’d have to have her shoulders remassaged. “See that you do,” she said, and punched the disconnect button on the phone before handing it to the attendant and repositioning herself on the table. She wished she had more confidence in Barnaby’s mental capacities. And less fear of Adam’s.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  HE’D ACCOMPLISHED his objective, Adam thought as red spires appeared in the distance and he contacted the Sedona tower for landing instructions. He had the evidence he needed to put Haskett behind bars. Of course, in the process he’d ruined his chances with Loren and alienated his daughter, but who said life was perfect? He gritted his teeth in frustration.

  Well, he might as well tie up the loose ends with Loren and get on with pacifying Daphne. He hoped to hell she hadn’t slept with Josh, not that he planned to ask that question. As he’d told Loren last night, he believed Daphne had a right to her privacy, just as he had a right to his.

  Anita had announced to him during Daphne’s senior year that their daughter was on birth-control pills and sexually active. He’d pushed himself into one awkward conversation with Daphne about requiring boys to use condoms, and she’d informed him loftily that she knew all about the spread of AIDS and wouldn’t dream of risking her life so some guy could have a better time.

  So he wasn’t concerned about Daphne, but he didn’t relish the idea that his daughter might have initiated Loren’s son into the mysteries of sex. Josh probably needed to be initiated—Adam just didn’t want his daughter to be the one doing it. The real kicker would be if Josh and Daphne started dating in earnest. He didn’t even want to think about that possibility.

  No, he needed to cut things off clean with Loren, because that was what she wanted. He wasn’t sure how he’d find the strength to walk away after what they’d shared the night before, but he would find it.

  So he’d just take his pictures and go.

  And then it hit him. They weren’t pictures yet. Terrific. He’d been so caught up in his personal turmoil, he’d neglected to figure in the film processing. And he wanted those prints right away.

  “Do you use a photo lab in Sedona?” he asked.

  “No. I mail the film to Phoenix or take it down if I’m in a rush.”

  Damn.

  “I might be able to do that for you today,” she said. “Then I’d have the prints back later tonight. It all depends on whet
her I can talk the lab people into working overtime on it.”

  He imagined her driving alone to Phoenix with the film. He didn’t like it. He doubted they’d been identified today, but there was always the possibility.

  Besides, he didn’t really want the film out of his possession for long. If the lab had been in Sedona, he could have subtly kept tabs on the film. But he couldn’t let Loren take the risk of driving down to Phoenix with it by herself.

  God, this would really louse up his standing with Daphne. But he couldn’t see a way around it. “I’m going to drive you to the lab this afternoon.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “Yes, I am. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a tricky landing to make.” He could imagine how she looked, her mouth compressed into a determined line, her chin jutting forward in defiance. But he figured she was probably more frightened than angry at the prospect of spending more time with him.

  If he could have spared her that, he would have. If he could have spared Daphne the disappointment, he would have. It seemed no matter what he did, he ended up the bad guy. Good thing he had broad shoulders.

  He throttled the plane back as they swooped in toward the black swath of runway perched on a mesa. The wheels touched down with a sweet gliding motion. He enjoyed flying such a well-maintained aircraft. He and Walt got along just fine, and he liked Josh, too. For all any of that mattered now.

  As they approached the hangar, he saw the black Geo parked in front of it, and as they drew closer he took in the tableau. Josh had his head stuck under a cowling as usual, but Walt glanced up at their approach. Daphne stood by the door of the hangar in a pair of borrowed coveralls. She held a wrench and was tapping it into her palm as she gazed at them. She looked as if she’d like to hit somebody with it.

  Adam turned off the engine. Time to face the music.

  “You are absolutely not coming with me to Phoenix,” Loren said.

  “I need the film developed now and you’re not going alone. It’s possible we attracted some attention, and I’m not sure who we’re dealing with. I’m riding shotgun on the way to Phoenix.”

  “You’re being melodramatic.”

  He turned in his seat. “Look, I know you don’t want me along. I know Daphne will hate it, too. But I’m not putting your life at risk so everybody can be happy. Please don’t let stupid pride get in the way of your safety, Loren.”

  He watched the taunt take effect, as he’d guessed it would. He added another. “You can handle the trip with me, can’t you?”

  Her brown eyes gleamed with defiance. “Of course. I just thought I’d free you up to be with Daphne.”

  “That can’t be done right now. I’ll talk to her.”

  “And tell her the whole story.”

  He desperately wanted to, but she could still contact Haskett and warn him. He’d be a fool to trust her in her present frame of mind. “Not yet.”

  “Okay.” Loren shrugged. “Your funeral.”

  His smile felt tight. “Yeah, that is the way it looks, isn’t it?”

  “And for God’s sake, don’t come around and help me out of the plane,” she warned.

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.” He opened his door and hopped down.

  Walt approached, wiping his hands on a grease-smudged rag. “Get some good pictures?”

  “Exactly what I wanted.” Adam glanced at Daphne, who hadn’t left her sentry position. Josh continued to look absorbed in his work. “How’s everything here?”

  “Okay.” Walt nodded. “At breakfast Josh asked if Daphne could help around here today. I said she could.”

  “That was decent of you, Walt,” Adam said. He was glad to hear that Josh had at least been home for breakfast and that Walt wasn’t the sort to bear grudges against either Josh or Daphne. “Guess I’ll go say hello to my daughter.”

  He liked the effect of the coveralls, and not just because they were more modest than what she usually wore. With them on, she looked more serious about life and her place in it. If only she’d accept Loren, and Loren would accept her, all sorts of possibilities would open up. But Daphne didn’t look open to any possibilities at the moment.

  “Hi, Daph,” he said.

  “Looks like you could use a shave, Dad.” It wasn’t delivered as a teasing remark.

  He tensed for the battle. “As you know, I hadn’t expected to stay overnight.”

  “Or so you said.” She slapped the wrench against her palm.

  “You’re a pilot. You knew what the weather was like.”

  There was no give in her. “I think you flew into that weather hoping to get stuck.”

  Adam sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

  “So what happens now, Dad?” Smack, smack went the wrench. “Are you going to spend the rest of the vacation with her?”

  “No.” He met his daughter’s rebellious gaze. “Loren and I are not involved with each other.” At least not anymore, he amended silently.

  “Could’ve fooled me.”

  He resisted the urge to pull the wrench out of her hand. The rhythmic slap of it against her palm was getting to him. “However, I’m taking her down to Phoenix this afternoon so we can get the film processed and developed.”

  “Are you really? I suppose she needs you to show her the way down there? I mean, since you’re not involved, or anything, that’s the only explanation.”

  He expelled a breath of air in one sharp puff. “I need to personally supervise the processing of the film.”

  “Sure you do.” The wrench slapped against her hand harder.

  “Daphne, dammit, I” He struggled with his anger. “You’re welcome to come with us if you want,” he said in desperation.

  Her laugh was harsh, echoing against the corrugated metal walls of the surrounding hangar. “Now that’s an offer I can hardly bear to refuse.” She balanced the wrench across two spread fingers. Finally, she looked up. “But I will refuse,” she said. “You see, Josh and I have plans.”

  His stomach clenched. “To do what?”

  “There’s an outdoor rock concert in Flagstaff tonight. I sort of figured you wouldn’t want me hanging around, so Josh and me, we made plans to go.”

  “Daphne, I do want you around. Once this film’s developed...” He paused. Once the film was developed, he’d want to deliver it to the authorities, which meant they’d have to leave Sedona in the morning. His “vacation” with Daphne was officially over.

  “Yeah, just as I thought,” she said, her eyes suspiciously bright. “Mom sure has you pegged. She warned me not to expect you to give up business for me. But as usual, I had to find out for myself.”

  He felt as if she’d been slapping him on the side of the head with the wrench. He could make her a promise that after he finished with this problem, they’d take a trip together. She wouldn’t believe him. His credibility had never been very good, especially with the digs Anita had been getting in. Now it was shot to hell.

  “Have a good time at the concert,” he said with a sigh. “How’s the money holding out? Do you need any more?”

  “I don’t need anything from you, Dad.” She turned and walked into the hangar.

  * * *

  “SO THEY’RE GOING to a rock concert together,” Loren said as she sat in the passenger seat of the Geo headed for Phoenix, the film in a canister at her feet. They put the convertible top up against the possibility of rain, and it fluttered occasionally in the wind.

  “Walt said Josh was there for breakfast this morning.” Adam took a curve a little faster than she would have liked, but she decided not to comment. She had other fish to fry.

  “That only means Josh didn’t stay with Daphne until sunrise.” She crumpled up the wrapper from the hamburger they’d grabbed at a fast-food outlet and stuffed it into the carry-out bag. “That leaves a whole lot of hours unaccounted for.”

  He handed her his empty soda cup and she added that to the bag. The crunch of the paper sack as she shoved it beside her seat seemed unnaturally lou
d.

  Adam tapped his thumb against the steering wheel. “Did you ask him about what happened last night?”

  “There was no chance.” Besides that, she’d been thinking about what Adam had said about privacy. Her parents hadn’t quizzed her when she was that age. Once they were sure she understood about birth control, they’d left her alone to make her own decisions. Maybe that was what was bothering her. Taking stock of those decisions, she wasn’t terrifically happy about the outcome. Not that she’d trade Josh for the world, but...last night had shown her what she’d missed by being pigheaded.

  “But you believe they’re having sex,” Adam said, breaking into her thoughts.

  “Don’t you?”

  He frowned. “I’m not quite as ready to assume it as you are. But if you’re sure, I hope your son carries condoms.”

  She decided not to dignify his remark with a response.

  “Well, does he?”

  “I haven’t the foggiest idea!” she snapped. Her indignation gave her the courage to ask a question that had been eating at her for hours. “And speaking of that, how come you were so well prepared for our ‘spontaneous’ behavior last night?”

  He grimaced. “I was wondering if you’d call me on that.”

  “Consider yourself called.” When he didn’t answer right away, she glanced sideways at him.

  He caught her glance and gave a little shrug. “I don’t have a good answer. I was buying a magazine and telling myself we didn’t have a chance in hell of making love. The condoms were there by the counter. I picked them up on impulse. I really had no idea I’d use them. I felt dumb getting them, to tell the truth, like someone buying sunscreen on a rainy day.”

  She thought about his explanation while she stared out the window at storm clouds boiling up from the southwest. They mushroomed as if attached to a helium tank. How appropriate that she’d meet Adam during the most volatile season of the year.

  “I suppose you don’t believe me.”

  “Actually, I do.”

  “Well, that’s something.” His sigh was deep. “Now, if only Daphne believed that I didn’t set out to hurt her.”

  She wondered if he realized how vulnerable he sounded just then. She didn’t want to feel sympathy, wasn’t even sure he deserved it, but her heart ached at this evidence of how much he agonized over his daughter. “I still think you should tell her about Haskett and the steel shipments. The sooner the better. How can you expect her to understand if she doesn’t have the facts?”