David Dun - At The Edge

"Don't move or I'll snap your neck right where you stand," he whispered. He smelled of stale sweat and whiskey. She tried to breath, but couldn't, and the voice continued. "Why don't you take your goddamn nosy attitude someplace else? Down to the Sierras, maybe." While he talked, she forced her right hand behind her, feeling for his crotch. ''Bad things could happen around here if you and Young don't lay off. Real bad things, like to that kid of his. What's his name? Nate?" He slammed her against the wall again to make his point. "I promise I'll be back for a real dance. Unless you two lay off."

He ground his pelvis into her buttocks and consequently into her hand. She found his large testicles through his pants. Using her body weight, she squeezed, pulled, and twisted in one fluid motion. Every ounce of her energy went to her straining hands.

A scream burst into her ear and a meaty fist slammed the side of her head, then went to her throat. She yanked up again and then down. The hand disappeared. Choking sounds escaped her lips; then she felt herself dropping, crumpling to the floor. Only then did she release his testicles. His scream had turned to grunting. He staggered back.

"Oh fuck," he muttered, holding himself.

She tried to crawl up the wall, but her legs wouldn't work. Stumbling toward her, he took a swipe at her neck with one hand while he held himself with the other. He missed. She began sliding backward on the floor and screamed, but on the second try his hand took her neck and clamped her throat shut. No blood, no air. She felt the coldness that is death. Bending down to her, he put his face next to hers. When he began to speak-words that her mind never heard-she used her last bit of strength to ram her thumbs into his eyes, causing him to fall back.

From the floor she rammed her heel into his kneecap. Then she managed to get to her feet and half-ran, half-stumbled up the hall with him bellowing his pain as she reached the dining room, her head swirled and she fell headlong into Dan, who grabbed her.

Some crazy logger, she tried to tell herself. But she knew it was the Highlands and the lab and the bats and the damn equations, whatever it meant. This didn't happen because she was an environmentalist or because she had befriended Dan. It happened because Dan Young was after the Amada people. And they had to have been spying on them, trying to make it look like a coincidental meeting with a redneck.

"Are you all right?" Dan was saying.

"I think so."

"Can I help?" It was a young man.

"Someone attacked you?" Dan said.

"Bastard," she said.

"Hold her," Dan said.

"He's long gone and in a world of hurt," she said to Dan, who was moving rapidly toward the back hall.

She teetered as the waiter held her arm. Barely able to stand, she leaned against the wall to take inventory. Nothing felt broken, but she knew she'd have massive bruises. She hobbled back around a corner toward where they had been seated.

Dan ran into the back hallway, found the ladies' room, went to the back where the hallway ended in a T. To the left was a busy kitchen, to the right a storage area, and straight ahead the back door. Opening the door, he found an empty alley. Back inside he stepped into the kitchen. Only the kid washing dishes would have seen the hallway.

"Did you hear a scream and see a guy leave?"

"I seen a guy. Looked hurt bad. I couldn't tell where the scream came from. I thought it was in the alley."

"Can you remember anything about this guy?"

"Big, and wore a dark green shirtlike thing. He was doubled over."

"What color was the man's hair?"

"I don't know. I think he was wearing a stocking cap. He was in the shadows and didn't look my way."

Returning to the restaurant, Dan found the waiter and Maria exactly where he had left them.

He took her to his car, a 1990 Mercedes in virtually new condition. He and Tess had used it on special occasions.

"We've got to report this to the police," Dan said. "And I've got to go back to that compound."

"No. Absolutely not. They threatened Nate. You have got to stop fighting them. Let the police do it."

"I think you said that already."

"I'm afraid it's not sinking in. It was a warning, Dan. Somebody doesn't want us doing what we're doing. They may start with me, but it'll end with Nate." Her words made him silent.

''If you won't go to the emergency room, then at least come and sleep on the couch in my house. If you feel worse during the night, we can take you in."

They were parked in the Mercedes outside the Palmer Inn after filing a report with the police and then another session with the sheriff, who'd been angry when Dan told him they had checked out Corey Schneider and her alibi without talking to him.

"My adrenaline is pumping," Maria said. "I don't think lean sleep."

"Then you'll come," Dan said, starting the engine.

"You're forgetting something. My suitcase is in my room."

"Forget it. I still have the same toothbrush you used last time. The pj's you wore are cleaned. You're all set. I'll drop you off back here in the morning on my way to work."

"I have a favor to ask."

"What?"

"Are you not sleepy, either?" she asked.

"Not really. Not after all that. But it's eleven o'clock, and I have to try to get to sleep at least by midnight."

"So we have an hour."

"Yeah? What are you thinking?"

"Show me Tess's grave."

"What? Are you nuts?"

"I want to see it. And I want you to take me there."

"It's dark. And…"

"Many cemeteries are lit at night. Isn't this one?"

"Well, I think so. Some."

"Then take me."

"Not tonight. Some other time."

"What, you think I'm going to be stopping regularly for this?"

"Why do you want to go there? You never even knew her."

"You did. You been there?"

"You know I haven't."

"Frankly, it's Nate I'm thinking about. If you can't go there yourself, you won't be taking him there."

"What is it with you and visiting graves?"

She didn't answer.

"You think I have some emotional hang-up, that I’m not grieving, or something."

She said nothing, just looked straight ahead.

"You're all beat-up. It makes no sense to go right now, in the middle of the night."

"Say no and stop with the arguing if you won't take me. You don't owe me an explanation."

"Damn, you're stubborn."

"I believe the cemetery is to the left up here. True?"

Dan pulled the wheel around and the tires squeaked as the car went left toward the cemetery. He didn't know what this would prove. He was reluctant, but many healthy people didn't go to graves. He took a deep breath. This was no big deal and it would make her happy.

There were soft low lights around the cemetery and along the paths, just enough so that visitors could find their way. A big sign said the gates would be locked at midnight and the lights turned off. He pulled in by the gate and stopped the car.

"You should go by yourself," she said. It seemed that everybody but him thought he should go to the cemetery. Lynette, his mother, everybody who knew him, thought it, in one form or another. They thought he should make his peace with Tess's death. Or maybe it was that he should face it. Without saying anything, he got out of the car and began walking. He knew exactly where it was.

Sitting down on the grass next to the stone marker, he stared at the engraving: tess young-beloved wife of dan young and mother of nathaniel. What did he want to say to her? He closed his eyes and imagined her as he had seen her last: Nathaniel clinging to her leg, his cheek against her thigh; her eyes laughing at him as she explained that she wanted to steal him away to a desert island, where they would live off coconuts. It was almost as if she were right there in front of him.,