said.
“Hey, you
asked,” Lavachek said with a shrug.
“What’s
he going to do with it?” Habershaw asked.
“You
won’t believe what I heard,” Lavachek said.
“Try us,”
Habershaw said. “I’d believe just about anything that bastard did at this
point.”
“Well, I
heard he was going to move the entire settlement to it.”
“Now that
is bullshit,” Habershaw said.
“That’s
what I heard,” Lavachek said. “I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”
“How
would he do that?” Joan asked, mirroring Habershaw's disbelief.
“Well, if
you stop to consider that the machinery is already
sitting
on this ball to cut a road thirty meters wide—in one pass I might add—from here
to the sea, it’s not such a dumb idea.”
“You mean
you and me cut the road is what you mean,” Habershaw asked to make sure he
understood.
“That part’s possible.”
“Yep.
Then the trucks start hauling the stuff over. The only thing is whether he can
get the other Council members to go along with it. I heard they don’t have a
choice.”
“Goddamn,
Lavachek,” Joan said. “You hear it all, don’t you?"
“Hey, it
pays to have your ear to the ground.”
“So it
sounds like a done deal,” Habershaw said.
“I’d say
so. Weird, huh?”
Joan
shook her head in disgust. “Who is the sonofabitch that says he can do that to
us? Somebody tell me.”
“He’s the
Grand Poobah, is what he is,” Lavachek said. “He can do anything he wants. Did
you hear the rumor about the women?”
Joan
swallowed involuntarily. “No. What about them?”
“I heard
he—excuse me there, Joan. I heard he wants to fuck all of them.”
“Oh, for
shit’s sake, Lavachek,” Habershaw said, trying to put Joan at ease. “It’s bad
enough without you making it up.”
“Hey,
don’t blame me,” Lavachek grinned. “I’m just tellin’ you what I heard—I’m just
the messenger.”
“They used
to kill the messengers, too,” Joan said setting his coffee down hard in front
of him. “Don’t you go repeating that little rumor. You’ll have every woman in
the settlement in hysterics.”
Lavachek
shrugged. “Fine, then.”
“So if
you’re right we should be hearing about the road at any time,” Habershaw said,
wanting to change the subject.
“Any day
now, I expect.”
The phone
buzzed and Habershaw picked it up. Joan and Lavachek looked at nothing and
sipped coffee as Habershaw listened, I-see’d and uh-huh’d a few times. Finally
he said, “We’ll be there.” Then he
closed the connection.
When he
was done, he drew a deep breath through his nose.
Joan knew
the sign.
“Guess
who that was, Mister Lavachek,” Habershaw said. “Who?” Joan asked.
“Someone
who claims to be the Chief Engineer for the Sacred Bond, someone named Pen
Patel.”
Lavachek
pursed his lips knowingly.
“And . .
.”
“He says
he has plans to cut a road from here west to the ocean. He wants us to go over
the plan with him in the morning.”
Lavachek
shook his head and chuckled silently. “It’s a bitch to be right all the
goddamned time!"
“Kiss my
hind part,” Habershaw said.
“Mine,
too,” Joan added. “This isn’t funny.”
Lavachek
kept a little smirk on his face. They didn’t say anything for a while.
“You can
spend the night here if you want, Greg,” Habershaw said gently. “It’s farther
from Duggings.”
Lavachek
nodded his head that he’d like to stay. Listening to a man go mad with pain
wasn’t the best way to get a good night’s sleep.
“We should
do something, Bill,” Lavachek said. “I knew Duggings pretty good. He was a good
man.”
“Do
what?” Habershaw barked. “What should we do?”
“Sneak
over there and put him out of his misery is what,” Joan said.
“That’s
too goddamned risky,”
Habershaw
said firmly, looking into Joan's willful eyes.
“Maybe we
wouldn’t have to get too close,” Lavachek said. “If we had a gun, we could
shoot him from a
Eileen Griffin, Nikka Michaels