David Dun - At The Edge

"Take off fifty pounds," he said.

"Seventy-five, and it's a deal," she said.

They took off the weight.

"Maybe we could call it a draw," he said.

She nodded.

What followed was a steady barrage of ''push, push, push, and harder." His muscle turned to jelly and every part of him shook with the effort. But he knew he was still impressive.

When they were done, and it was time to shower, she stood by him, as if pondering something.

"So what does our smart-ass farmer have to say now?"

" 'If you've acted like a donkey and you still feel like a racehorse, don't forget to thank her.' "

She smiled.

"Before I go home to my Sherlock gallery, let's go have a bite and talk," he said. She hesitated. Unconsciously, he held his breath.

"OK," she said.

After he showered, he went to the front lobby and sat on the leather couch, waiting. He was looking out through the glass doors and saw what looked like a familiar face and red head of hair. It was Lynette. Although he knew she worked out, he couldn't quite picture her in this place.

"Hey, you," he said as she came through the door.

"Well, look who's here. I thought that was the Mercedes, but honestly I couldn't believe you would be here. And if you were, I thought you'd be in your truck. The Mercedes was supposed to go to the shop. You had a Saturday appointment at one o'clock."

"Oh God." He slapped his forehead in disbelief.

"You could still take it. They're used to you."

"Maria is in the dressing room and we're gonna get a bite and I'm going to invite her over and she's kinda-" He waggled his hand like an airplane on a bumpy ride.

"Let me run it over. It's five minutes and I'll get one of the guys to give me a ride back here."

"Could you?"

"Why not? I'll just be doing it next week if I don't do it now, and it's a lot farther from the office."

Dan was looking out the window and waiting for Maria when he watched his good friend die.

Maria bent over to tie her shoes and was telling herself not to be giddy. Dan still hadn't promised to cease on the Highlands. Not one step had been taken toward a resolution and she could feel herself, despite her stubborn will, ready to keep talking to him-as opposed to shutting him off and letting him suffer. It was a fact that Dan suffered quietly but couldn't hide it. In the battle of the sexes, it was an endearing weakness.

Then the building shook and a concussive shock wave frightened her to the core. There had been a massive explosion. For a second every woman in the dressing room was dead silent. Then there was pandemonium. Instantly she thought: "Bomb." Then she thought "Dan." She ran from the dressing room, knocking into another woman. Along with a small herd of others, she came around the corner to the juice bar.

"Oh God," she moaned when she saw him. It was after she threw her arms around him that she realized Dan was staring out the window with tears running down his face. He didn't speak. Out in the parking lot the Mercedes was blown in two. The explosion hadn't occurred until the car was pulling out of the lot onto the street in front of the club. There was an ache in Maria's heart as she watched Dan's face.

"Who?" she said.

But he didn't speak. His face shook. ''Lynette," he finally gasped, then moved toward the door.

"No," she said, holding him back. "Don't go out there. Come over here." She pulled him toward a couch facing away from the window. "I'll bring the police here."

"I should-"

"No, no. Trust me on this. I'll go."

An officer came inside and took a long statement from both of them. They referred the officer to the sheriff for all the background on the Highlands when he was asked if there was a reason someone might want to kill Dan. It might be the man who had been seen at the courthouse, they explained. They understood that police sketches were being made. And finally both Dan and Maria repeated their prior suspicions of one Corey Schneider.

The officer offered Dan police protection and Dan, as she knew he would, adamantly refused.

After the officer left, Maria saw a most amazing transformation in Dan. It was as if he had gathered up the parts of his mind and put it back together, but missing a piece. It wasn't quite right, she could tell. Still he seemed calm, focused, and almost unaffected by what had just happened.

"I need to protect Nate. Could you take him to your parents'? Katie's place may not be safe. And my mother's ranch is somewhat isolated, but it would be easy for them to find him and then to take him. They wouldn't think of your mother."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going into the Highlands, but I'll need your help."

She thought for a few moments. This was crazy. But so was the grotesque pile of rubble and flesh in the parking lot.

"Only if you promise me not to do this on your own and you swear you will wait until I get back from delivering Nate."

"I'll wait," he said.

"You won't do anything."

He nodded in reply.

Maria sped down to La Jolla with Nate and returned the same day. Her mother took Nate to visit a Florida cousin, also a Fischer, who had a sprawling place, almost a mansion, with kids about Nate's age. Even Dan didn't want to know exactly where they were.

The moment Maria returned, she knew Dan had become a man obsessed. Motioning, he took her outside to the far corner of the backyard.

"They know too much. They knew to look in your purse. They knew to be at the restaurant. They knew we would be in court. They've got the house or the office bugged or both."

"That's pretty hard-"

But at the house he began ripping up everything, looking under furniture and pulling up the carpets. It took only twenty minutes to find the spike mike. Two hours later a detective and the phone company found the illegal tap. At least now the flow of information would stop.

The sign on Luna's was the worse for wear. In yellow neon, with part of the elements burned out, it looked like Lua's with a big gap after the u. Inside you could smell the burned oil hanging in the air, watch the waitresses with near-popping buttons, and listen to truck drivers hack their morning phlegm while washing down bacon and eggs with black coffee. It was 4:00 a.m.

"No one has ever figured out where to spit," Dan said as Maria curled her lip in disgust. "So I think they all swallow it."

"You just love grossing me out, don't you?"

"Not me."

"They teach you that at… where did you say you went to law school? Cal Northern in Chico?"

He nodded.

"You talk like a cowboy except when you forget yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, I don't know, that you put on this country-boy effect."

"Most of the girls think it's cute."

"The girls probably do. What about the women?"

"Sometimes I get the feeling that this 'save the world' stuff is like a telephone pole up your ass."

Maria laughed. "Oh, let's get down and dirty."

"You asked. Besides, I'm serious about what I believe," Dan said. "I think the best solution to saving the planet is to harvest and replant temperate forests at a rate that is perpetually sustainable."

"I'm sorry about Lynette, but fighting with me won't bring her back."

Dan paused. "I know; I'm sorry; it's a distraction."

"Perhaps a distraction other than pounding on me, please. And stop being scared to death to be sincere. Why don't you encourage me by being yourself?''

"What do you mean?"

"You graduated from Harvard."

"You've been spying on me."

"Daddy's been spying on you." They rose to leave and he helped her on with her jacket.

"Now you look really embarrassed," she said.

She put her hand on his shoulder and looked in his eyes. "I have my good side. You just need to get there." They walked outside the cafe. The sun was just over the horizon, the sky tinged with red, the moon still full. It was cold, and the coastal wind whipped through the parking lot. "Wait," she said as they were walking to their cars.