Where There's Smoke (50 page)

"Sure enough."

Balky left them.
 
Key opened the envelope and counted the bills inside, then stuck it in the breast pocket of his shirt.

"He paid you in cash?"
 
Lara asked.

"Uh-huh."

"No invoice?
 
No record of the transaction?"

"I struck a verbal agreement with my client.
 
Why involve anybody else?"

"Like the IRS?"

"I pay taxes."

"Hmm.
 
The FAA?"

"Mounds of paperwork for every little trip.
 
Who needs it?"

"Don't you have to file a flight plan, stuff like that?"

"Up to twelve hundred feet is uncontrolled airspace.
 
The see and avoid' rule applies."

"You always keep to' the twelve-hundred-foot ceiling?"

He had tired of the patter.
 
"Interested in flight instruction, Doc?

I've got my instructor's license and could have you soloing in no time.

I'm expensive, but I'm good."

"I'm not interested in flight instruction."

"You just happened by to shoot the breeze?"

"No, I wanted to talk to you."

"I'm listening."
 
He took a beer from the refrigerator, propped one elbow on the top of the outdated appliance, tilted his head back, and took a long draft.

"It's about a job."

He lowered the can and looked at her with interest.
 
"We've eliminated flying lessons, and I gather it's not another emergency flight to the hospital."

He regarded her for another long, silent moment before tilting the beer toward her and asking, "Want one?"

"No, thank you."

He took another swig.
 
"Well?
 
My curiosity's killing me."

"I want you to fly me to Montesangre."

He calmly finished his beer and tossed the empty can into the trash can with an accurate hook shot.
 
He sat down in the swivel chair, leaned back, and propped his feet on the corner of the desk, pushing aside the gooseneck lamp with the heel of his boot.

Lara remained standing.
 
There was no place for her to sit except on the cot.
 
He didn't offer it to her, and even if he had, she would have declined.

"You've asked me that more than once, and I've said no.
 
Is there something wrong with your hearing?"

"I'm not joking.

"Oh, you're not joking," he said, tongue-in-cheek.
 
"Excuse me.

Hmm.
 
Well.
 
Then are you figuring on parachuting out?"

She folded her arms beneath her breasts.
 
"Of course not."

"Surely you aren't suggesting a landing on Montesangren soil.

'Cause to be suggesting that, you'd have to be plumb crazy.

"I'm serious.

"So am I, Doc.
 
How's your Spanish?
 
Maybe you need to brush up on it.

Do you know how Montesangre translates?"

"Yes.
 
Mountain of blood."
 
I know firsthand that it's a literal translation.
 
I felt my daughter's blood running warm and wet over my hands."

He swung his feet to the floor and brought the chair upright.

"Then why in hell do you want to go back?"

"You know why.
 
I've been trying to go back for years, ever since I regained consciousness in that Miami hospital.
 
I can't get into the country through proper channels.
 
They're blocked."

"So you're looking at me as an improper channel."

"In a manner of speaking."

"In a manner of speaking, folks are getting blown away down there."

"I'm fully aware of that."

"And you still want to go?"

"I have to go."

"But I don't."

"No, you don't.
 
I was thinking you might regard it as an adventure."

"Well, think again.
 
I've been called many things, but never a fool.

If you want to go down there and get your ass shot off, that's your business, but I'm kinda fond of my ass, so you can X me right out of your plans."

"Hear me out, Key."

"I'm not interested."

"You owe me this."

"As you've said.
 
I don't buy it."

"You'll be gratified to know that I haven't had a single patient in the clinic since the morning of your mother's seizure.
 
Jody fought off my attempts to help her.
 
You brusquely denounced me in front of the crowd."

"I didn't have time to use tact.
 
My mother was near death."

"Precisely.
 
And when word got around that the Tacketts preferred death over my medical assistance, the few patients I had cultivated disappeared.
 
Months of hard work was destroyed.
 
The confidence that had been so hard won was invalidated with a few harshly spoken words.

Since then I've twiddled my thumbs."

"You're breaking my heart."

She took a deep breath to curb her temper.
 
"I wanted to conduct sex education seminars at the high school.
 
They're vitally important, something that would have benefited the young people of the community."

"Yeah, I read all about it in the newspaper."

"What they didn't print is how Jody bribed the school board to disallow the program.

"You really know how to get folks fired up, don't you?"

"Compared to your mother, I'm an amateur.
 
Once she got finished with me, what little credibility I had left, your lover Darcy ravaged."

"You know, I've heard about mental cases like yours.
 
They're called persecution complexes."

She let that pass.
 
"I've officially closed the doors of the clinic.
 
I dismissed Nancy today.
 
My career has been temporarily suspended.

So, you got what you wanted.
 
Your family has effectively demolished any chance I had of practicing medicine in Eden Pass.
 
All things considered, I believe you owe me a concession."

"I owe you zilch."

"I've closed the clinic, but that doesn't mean I'm preparing to leave town.
  
She was down to one final ace.
 
She had to play it.

"Your mother vowed she would live to see me leave Eden Pass in disgrace.
 
I doubt she will.
 
I can remain here without working until my savings run out, which, if I live frugally, could be several years."

"That's bullshit.
 
You love medicine too much.
 
You wouldn't give it up."

"I wouldn't want to, but I would."

"Just to spite us?"

"That's right.
 
However, I'm willing to bargain.
 
I'll spare your family any more discomfort and embarrassment, provided you fly me to Central America.
 
As soon as we return, I'll leave.
 
Believe me, I won't be that sorry to go.
 
I'm tired of constant strife and petty gossip.

I'm tired of examining myself every time I go out, hoping I'll pass muster.

"Let me tell you something," she said, leaning across the desk, "as far as I'm concerned, the people of Eden Pass have failed to pass muster.

They're judgmental and narrow-minded hypocrites, cowards bending to the will of an embittered old woman.

"Take me to Montesangre, Key, and I'll leave this town to you, not because I'm not good enough for it, but because it's not good enough for me."

He said nothing for several moments, then spread his arms out from his sides.
 
"Is that everything?"

She gave a terse nod.

"Good," he said, rolling off his spine and coming to his feet.
 
"I gotta run.
 
I'm hungry as a bear, and Janellen is expecting me for supper.

Lara caught his sleeve as he rounded the desk.
 
"Don't patronize me, you son of a bitch.
 
You've trashed me and my practice, but I won t let you ignore me.

He flung off her hand.
 
"Look, I don't give a damn about local politics and gossip.
 
What my mother does with the school board or anybody else is her business.
 
Unless it involves me directly, I stay out of the boiling pot.

"I guess you're a pretty good doctor, and your clinic has come in handy on occasion, but I couldn't care less if you do brain surgery there, or twiddle your thumbs, or shut it down entirely.
 
Darcy Winston is not my lover.
 
And if you've got a hankering to sneak into a country that's on our government's shit list, fine.
 
But count me out."

"How conveniently you turn ethical," she said heatedly, indicating his shirt pocket.
 
"You run illegal charters on a daily basis!"

"Turning you down has nothing to do with ethics.
 
I'm not looking to get killed.
 
Beyond that, I don't trust your motives any farther than I can throw you.
 
So you wasted-" "What if Ashley is still alive?"

He fell silent and regarded her with piercing intensity.

"Uh, excuse me, Key?"
 
Balky was standing in the doorway, his rheumy eyes darting between them with uncertainty.
 
"I'm leaving for the night.
 
Will you lock up?"

"Sure thing, Balky.
 
Good night."

"Night.
 
Night, Doc."

"Good night."

They listened to his departure.
 
The interruption defused the tension, but only marginally.
 
Key turned his back on her and ran his fingers through his hair.
 
"Is that a possibility?"

"Probably not.
 
The point is that I don't know.
 
I guess in the back of my mind I've clung to the faint hope that she somehow survived.

"Her body was never shipped back like her father's."
 
Wearily, she rubbed the back of her neck.
 
"Of course, as a physician and considering the severity of her wound, I know that's highly improbable.

She died and was buried.
 
Somewhere alien and unknown to me.
 
I can't live with that.
 
If nothing else, I want to bring back her remains and bury them in American soil."

He turned to face her, but said nothing.

"I need you to do this," she pressed.
 
"One way or another I want to take my daughter out of that place and bring her home.
 
But I can't get into the country.
 
Even ally nations have very few airlines that serve Montesangre because the government is in such constant upheaval.
 
When and if I did get through, as an American citizen I'd be denied entrance into the country and shipped out on the next flight."

"I'd say that's a fairly accurate guess.

"More than a guess.
 
I've been in contact with people in similar circumstances.
 
Many Americans have loved ones in Montesangre whose fates are unknown.
 
Their fact-finding missions have been futile.
 
If they got as far as Ciudad Central, they were dealt with harshly.
 
A few were imprisoned for hours, even days, before being returned to the airport to await the next outbound plane.