by Steve Gannon
“If you couldn’t get your hands on the original opener, I suppose you could try breaking the code,” Hank offered. “I’m not really up on it, but I do know that openers aren’t as simple as they once were. When they first came out, stray signals from CB radios and whatnot used to open garage doors all the time.”
“So they started making openers more complicated?”
“Right. By adding integrated circuitry to the transmitter unit, a binary signal could be superimposed on the carrier frequency. The receiver on the other end has to match for the door to open.”
“Like a lock and key. How about just trying all the combinations?”
“Interesting question,” Hank mused. “Assuming you know the transmission frequency, I suppose you could use a computer to generate a sequential string of codes, beginning with the simplest-say, eight-digit combinations-and work your way up. Using a fast laptop, you could probably hit every possible variation in a reasonable amount of time. Of course, if you didn’t know the transmission frequency, you would have to repeat the process for every channel currently in use. And that’s assuming there aren’t safety protocols in the circuit to prevent such an attack. Let’s see, besides a laptop and some basic programming skills, you’d need a signal generator, an RF amplifier, and maybe a Yagi directional antenna.”
“So someone with knowledge of electronics and computer programming could do it.”
“Theoretically. People have been cracking codes on everything since the beginning of time. A door opener couldn’t be that tough. Tell you what. Let me do a little checking and get back to you.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” I pulled out a card and scribbled my phone number at LAPD headquarters on the back. “I’m working downtown now. Phone me there.”
“Sure. I hope you get this guy.”
“Don’t worry. Sooner or later, we’ll get him.”
But on the final leg of my journey home, I admitted to myself that I was far less certain of success than I’d sounded. To date, all the task force had accomplished was to gather up various pieces of the murders-warehousing a meticulously labeled library of blood and fluid samples, hairs, prints, and other found material. And for reasons I couldn’t bring into focus, I knew that Alonzo Domingos wouldn’t pan out as a suspect. Discounting some fortuitous break, the task force’s best chance for success now lay in an area I didn’t want to consider.
Unless something changed, we would have to wait for the killer to strike again.
20
Early the next morning, as the sun began lighting the eastern sky, I hung motionless below the surface of the Pacific, suspended a dozen feet down in its clear blue water. Overhead, like a silvery ceiling, the roiling ocean moved with the rhythms of a southern swell that had begun battering the beach several days earlier. Lifted by an incoming surge, I watched as a forest of sea kelp and eel grass undulated shoreward on the rocks below, then reversed with the outflow. Several rockfish and a school of opal eye hovered in the swaying fronds, keeping careful watch on the human intruder above.
Upon waking, I’d found that Saturday evening’s five-foot sets had unexpectedly grown to a steady procession of ten- to twelve-footers. Barely able to contain my excitement, I made my way downstairs and walked barefoot to the shoreline, feeling the shock of the crashing gray-green slabs of water drumming the sand beneath my feet. Enveloped in roar and mist, I stared out at the angry Pacific, awed by its power. Briefly I considered forgoing my customary weekend swim. Getting past the break line through five-foot sets was one thing-getting out through twelve-footers was something else. Then I noticed the birds.
They were circling offshore a quarter mile up the beach, an avian anarchy of pelicans, gulls, and terns wheeling above the water, their flashing gray and white bodies catching the first glints of the morning sun. I watched for several minutes as singly and in twos and threes they dived, their wings folding like fans as they struck the water, tearing at what I knew to be a panicked school of anchovies. Over the past years baitfish had been making a steady comeback in the Santa Monica Bay, along with the larger fish that always followed.
After donning my surfing wet suit, I grabbed my swim fins and goggles and fought through the surf, deciding to get a closeup view. Riding a riptide out, I dived under each approaching wall of water, progressively sucked seaward by the out-rushing flow. Once through the breakers I swam to a small raft I had anchored offshore several summers back. As usual, I found its ten-by-ten redwood surface spattered with a collage of bird droppings. Before climbing aboard, I splashed water onto the deck to clear a place, then made a forty-foot dive to check the raft’s anchor, following the mooring line to the bottom. Satisfied with my inspection, I resurfaced and climbed aboard the pitching deck. There, tossed by the swell and shivering in the first rays of the sun, I waited. Fifteen minutes later, when the dark shadow of the approaching anchovies finally became visible in the water, I dived in and positioned myself directly in its path.
Now, as the first of the besieged school of fish began to reach me, I dived again and remained motionless, holding my breath. Above, below, and on all sides their shimmering bodies enveloped me, nearly obliterating the early morning shafts of sunlight angling down from above. Round eyed and staring, their mouths agape in the current, the river of six-inch fish parted like a curtain as they passed, closing behind me with seamless symmetry. I extended a hand. Like a flock of pigeons they darted as one, their flashing bodies staying just out of reach.
Able to hold my breath no longer, I rose to the surface with a quick flick of my fins. After taking several gasps of air, I again descended the clear blue depths. Once more the fish surrounded me. Unmoving, I hung in their silvery mass. And then came the birds.
With unremitting violence, the winged predators flung themselves upon the school. I observed from below as the horde of hungry avians dived into the churning throng of fish. With each attack the anchovies scattered in panic, then quickly reformed their ranks, programmed by nature to seek safety in numbers. The latter proved a tactic that did little to save them from the feathered death raining from above, and soon ragged wounds and dangling chunks of flesh in the escapees bore testament to the effectiveness of the birds’ voracious onslaught. I knew the injured wouldn’t last long. I could already see larger fish, mostly bass and sheepshead, moving in on the periphery.
Occasionally rising to the surface to breathe, I drifted with the long-shore current for thirty minutes or so, studying the interplay between the birds and their prey, fascinated and at times stunned by the brutality in which I found myself immersed. At one point, sparked by something I saw in the water, my thoughts inadvertently turned to similar brutalities I had seen in the Larson’s bedroom. Resolutely, I pushed those thoughts aside.
When the anchovies finally passed, I turned my attention toward the beach, surprised to see how far the current had taken me. Estimating that I’d drifted more than a quarter mile with the beleaguered fish, I set out again for home, electing to swim rather than walk. Arms cutting the surface, breathing on my right to avoid a chopping spray from windward, I began working my way upcurrent.
Despite my wet suit, by then the frigid November water had taken its toll. Ten minutes of steady swimming lessened my shivering, but feeling had not yet returned to my hands and feet when I stopped to check my position. Treading water, I felt a swell lift me high in the air. At the peak of my rise, I peered over the rounded hump of a wave that had just passed. Briefly I glimpsed a green thicket of cane and bougainvillea that marked my house farther up the beach.
The next wave lifted me even higher. To my surprise, this time I spotted Travis, Nate, and Callie sitting on a sandy berm near the water’s edge. Left to their own design, none of my children ever got up early on weekends, at least not without reason. Puzzled, I set out again, fighting the current.
Earlier, I had twice drifted too close to shore. On each occasion incoming swells had forced me to head for deeper water. Now, as I glanced over my shoulder, I
saw one of the largest waves of the day approaching, bearing down on me with the fury of an avalanche. Well over fifteen feet high, the huge wall of green threatened to catch me inside the break line, something I had to avoid. Heart pounding, I turned seaward and pulled for all I was worth, hoping to meet the wave and dive under it before it broke. Suddenly I saw Allison.
Forty yards farther out, she was treading water directly in the path of the oncoming giant, glancing over her shoulder to gauge its approach. Thrust skyward by the sloping ocean bottom, the monstrous wall continued to build. But instead of turning and diving under it, as the foot of the swell began to lift her, Allison sprinted for shore.
With a feeling of horror, I watched my daughter’s slim form rising on the swell, higher, higher… her hands flashing in a quick clean series of strokes. One final kick… and she was in. Left arm extended, she skimmed down the nearly vertical face, a glitter of spray flying in her wake. Arching her back, driving her body into the turn, she cut left before bottoming out. Hair streaming like a pennant, she rose again on the translucent wall, then slowed and dropped again, accelerating…
As the looming monster started to curl, I took one final breath and scratched for the bottom. I caught a glimpse of Allison as she sped by. And then she was gone.
Even at depth, I could feel the power of the passing swell sucking me back. Somehow I managed to claw my way through. After what seemed forever, I resurfaced. Fighting panic, I turned toward shore and scanned the boiling water. I spotted Allison an instant later. With a surge of relief, I realized she had managed to cut out of the wave an instant before it broke. Raising an arm in triumph, Allison waved to me. Then, with a lazy overhand crawl, she started toward me.
Having grown up on the beach, all my kids were accomplished swimmers. As I had done earlier, Allison used an out-flowing riptide to carry her through the next swell. After diving under a smaller barrage of eight-footers, she joined me in deeper water. “Hi, Pop,” she said, smiling proudly when she arrived. “See me catch that last one?”
“I saw you, all right. What were you thinking, coming out here alone?”
“I’m not alone. You’re here.”
“I am now. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I distinctly recall telling you not to surf big waves by yourself.”
Allison’s smile faded. “I can’t help it if Trav was too chicken to come out. Besides, if I had gone over the falls on that last one, I’d have been toast. Someone else being out here wouldn’t have made any difference.”
“I disagree. And anyway, that’s not the point.”
“But-”
“No buts. When I give an order, I expect it to be obeyed.”
“Yes, sir. No big surf alone. Got it.”
“Good.” Treading water, I studied the waves. “I swear, kid, I thought you were the smart one of the pack. You nearly gave me a heart attack taking off on that wave.”
“Biggest one of the morning,” said Allison, brightening.
My teeth had begun to chatter. “I’m glad you survived. Saves me the trouble of killing you if you’d drowned. Let’s head in.”
“C’mon, Dad. Now that we’re out here, let’s catch a couple more. You’re not cold, are you?”
“I’m getting there,” I admitted. “Girls have more fat than men, Allison. Keeps ’em warmer.”
“Thanks, Pop. I knew there must be some advantages to being female. Our fat keeps us warm. Kinda like a seal, huh? Or maybe a big ol’ walrus?”
“Jeez, you’re getting as touchy as your mother. I’m not saying you’re fat; only that you’re better insulated, okay? Hell, if you were any skinnier, you wouldn’t cast a shadow. Now, let’s head for shore. I need to have a little conference with Travis.”
Minutes later, after waiting to ride in on a smaller set of waves, Allison and I reached shallow water. Callie, her fur crusted with sand, bounded into the backwash to meet us, then returned, shook, and dropped down beside Nate. Without speaking, Allison took a place on the berm between her brothers, her manner clearly signaling them that something was up.
“Travis, what were you thinking, letting your sister go out there alone?” I demanded when I arrived, raising my voice to be heard over the roar of the ocean.
“She was already in the water when I got here,” answered Travis.
“That’s no excuse.”
“I was going to go out, but Travis stopped me,” said Nate.
“It’s a good thing he did. Those waves would’ve eaten you alive,” I said, ignoring Nate’s crestfallen look. “Travis, if something had gone wrong, do you think you could’ve done anything for Allison sitting here on the sand?”
“I don’t know.”
“Not good enough. Could you have helped your sister or not?”
“No, sir.”
“It was my fault,” interrupted Allison. “I-”
“Don’t interrupt when I’m yelling at your brother, Allison. I’ll get to you in a minute. Speaking of which, I still can’t believe you went out there alone. If anything had happened to you…”
I hesitated. Things weren’t going the direction I’d intended. Granted, Allison had taken an unacceptable risk by surfing those waves alone, but I was also concerned that the other two hadn’t done anything to stop her. Unsure how to proceed, I decided to fall back on an old standby. I looked at all three and asked, “What’s the one rule about being a Kane that sets you apart from your thumb-sucking friends, the single thing I’ve insisted on from the time you were all in diapers?”
“Kane’s stand together, no matter what,” they answered as one, their response as reflexive as breathing.
I nodded. “No matter what. Not ‘unless something better is going on,’ or ‘unless you don’t feel like it,’ or ‘unless the waves are too big.’ No matter what. Allison, you screwed up by going out there alone. And Travis, you screwed up by not dragging her back in-whether she wanted to come or not. You may think I’m making a big deal out of this, but this is important. It’s a tough world out there, and things go a lot better with family backing you up. Now, I know some people, your mother included, think I’m overly hard on you three. If I am, it’s because you’re the smartest, strongest, and most athletically gifted kids on the face of the planet. As such, I expect a lot from you. And if I have to boot your butts to get you operating at full potential, then that’s what I intend to do. Is that understood?”
All three nodded.
“Another thing,” I went on. “Seeing as how I have your attention, this seems as good a time as any to go over some other breaches I’ve been noticing.”
“Oh, joy,” said Allison, rolling her eyes.
“Don’t worry, princess. I’ll make this quick. And as you seem so eager to run your mouth, let’s begin with you. Maybe you’d like to explain all the moping you’ve been doing around here lately. Teen angst is one thing, but your behavior is in a class by itself.”
“You’ve been talking to Mom,” said Allison.
“Your mom and I never talk; we just pass notes back and forth,” I said, noticing that Nate had begun working on his nails. “Of course we talk. Now, answer my question.”
“Sorry my cheerfulness hasn’t measured up to your expectations, Pop. Now that you’ve enlightened me on the wonder of my existence, I’m sure it’ll improve.”
“See that it does. There’s more to life than hanging out in your room. And while you’re at it, how about losing the attitude? Don’t be such a wiseass. It’s not an attractive trait in a girl.”
“Yes, sir. No more sarcasm for me. That’s charming only in the men of the family.”
“Right,” I said, deciding she had a point and to let that one go. Instead I turned to my youngest. “Nate, why have you been punching out all your little classmates at school?”
“They aren’t all little,” said Allison. “He’s been working his way through the older kids, too.”
“Nate?”
“They asked for it,” Nate replied sullenly.
�
�Kid, like I told you, sticking up for yourself is fine, but too much of a good thing can land you in trouble. You have to learn to get along with others.”
“Like you, Pop?” interjected Allison.
“Nate, I also hear your grades haven’t been that hot,” I continued, deciding for the moment to ignore Allison. “Like all your siblings, you’ve been blessed with plenty of intelligence, so I expect you to excel in all of your academic endeavors. From now on I want to see straight A’s. Allison, you’ll help. Make sure his homework is completed on time and go over anything he doesn’t understand.”
“Aw, Pop, ” Allison protested.
I turned to Travis. “Speaking of school, what’re these calls I keep getting from the music department? Have you been screwing up?”
“I… I don’t think so,” Travis stammered. “Who called?”
“Petrinski. He left another message on the machine last night. Says he wants to talk to me. Any idea what about?”
“No, sir.”
“I haven’t got time to be holding your hand, Trav. Going into music was your choice, so if you’re going to do it, you need to give it your level best.”
“I’ll speak with Petrinski and-”
“I’ll take care of that myself, as soon as I get a chance,” I said, cutting him off. “Meantime, keep your end of the bargain. Now, one last thing. Before your mom left, she expressed concern that during her absence you three weren’t going to flourish under my care. I’m expecting a call from her around dinnertime, and I intend to calm her fears. Okay?”
“We’re not eating out tonight, are we?” asked Travis in a transparent attempt to change the subject.
Steve Gannon
Kane
“Don’t worry, we won’t miss her call. We’ll be eating at home.”
“Are you cooking?” asked Allison, also clearly trying to steer the conversation in another direction.
Yep,” I said, deciding to end my harangue and hoping I’d reached them. “I’ll be whipping up something we haven’t had in a long time.”
