Ken Douglas - Scorpion

Earl slowed, then stopped behind a police car with flashing blue lights, telling the world that there was danger here. He leaned his head out the window and asked, “?Que pasa, agui?” What’s going on here?

“ Accidente,” a young policeman answered back.

“?Es alquien lastimado, muerto?” Is anybody hurt, dead?

“ No veo a nadie, nadie esta aqui,” I don’t see anybody, nobody’s here, the policeman said.

“ Esta bien que nadie esta lastimado.” It’s good that nobody’s hurt, Earl said.

“ Claro,” the policeman said, then he moved away and Earl slowly maneuvered around the police cars and the crowd.

“ The Mexican accent was a good touch,” Dani said.

“ I’m from Texas,” Earl said. “It was natural.”

“ Whatever, that policeman will remember a Mexican, not an American,” she said, and she caught him looking in the rearview mirror. “Is he writing down the tag number?”

“ No, but you should turn the car in first thing in the morning, because when they find that body they’re going to be interested in any cars that were seen coming up this road. Especially after they link our undertaking friend to the Jeep back there.”

“ As I said earlier, I’m going to like having you around, Earl.” She was mildly surprised to find out that she meant it. She was more than a little attracted to him. Although she’d known him for only a very short time it was plain that he understood her better than anyone she’d ever met, better than Broxton, her father and even better than her ex-partner, the late Kevin Underfield.

“ I have another room, besides the one you booked for me, at the Dynasty across the way. Room six-fourteen,” he said. “Not that I didn’t trust you, but if things didn’t go as planned, I didn’t want to be where anybody might be looking.”

“ Booked in another name, of course?” she said.

“ Of course,” he said. “I carry a couple extra passports, just in case.”

“ Earl, you continue to surprise me.” Both her admiration and infatuation with the West Texas Sheriff were growing. “But why are you telling me about the other room now?”

“ I was kind of hoping you might like to spend the night there,” he said. His eyes were straight ahead as he took the corner and aimed the car down the road toward the Sans Souci on the right and the Dynasty on the left.

“ I have to see someone at the Sans Souci,” she said.

“ I understand,” he said. There wasn’t a trace of disappointment in his voice. She liked that.

“ I’ll try to cut it short. Can you take a raincheck for a couple of hours?”

“ I’m a light sleeper,” he said.

“ I’ll bet you are.” She laughed, and he turned into the Sans Souci parking lot. She jumped out of the car, tossed him a promising smile and said, “Keep a light on for me.”

“ Count on it,” he said. Then he put the car in gear and in a few seconds was gone.

In the lobby, Dani went straight to the elevator. There were no police, no firemen, no reporters and no milling or panicking people. She punched the up button and looked at her watch. Less than an hour and everything was apparently back to normal. Kudos to the staff, she thought, nothing must be allowed to interfere with the comfort of their guests. The door opened, she stepped in and punched nine. She studied herself in the mirrored wall on the trip up. She was definitely flushed. She was excited and couldn’t wait to get the unpleasant business with George over with so that she could keep her appointment with Earl, the small town sheriff with so many surprises.

She stepped out of the elevator on nine and straightened her blouse. Then she took a deep breath and went to his room. He answered while she was still knocking.

“ Well?” he asked, his deep brown eyes sparking.

“ It didn’t go well,” she said. Then she told him everything.

“ Did you have to kill Kevin?” he asked after she was finished.

“ Yes,” she said.

“ What a cock up!” He waved a newspaper like it was a signal flag. He looked ready to explode. His alluring eyes were glazed and hard.

She wanted to tell him to calm down, but he had every right to be mad. She’d abdicated her responsibility. Turned the job over to someone else. Although she was confident that Earl was up to it, his failure was her failure. It damaged her reputation and by extension, her.

“ What were you thinking of?” He met her straight on, eye to eye. His gaze was fierce and she felt like taking him down a peg or two. She knew she was capable, but she couldn’t do it, because he was right.

“ I wanted to be with Broxton when it happened,” she said.

“ Lord why?” he asked.

“ Two reasons. One, I didn’t want him hurt, and two, it was the perfect alibi. If I was with him every second for the three or four hours leading up to the blast then I couldn’t have done it. I’d be in the clear, but things didn’t happen the way there were supposed to. I didn’t expect Ram to start taking Broxton’s advice right off the bat. He was supposed to be up in that room alone while the two of us were having dinner. And it’s not Earl’s fault. He couldn’t have known Broxton would change rooms on him.”

“ You’re worried about being tied into it?”

“ Not this one, no. I had larger considerations.”

“ My ears are burning, but I’m listening,” he said.

“ I was worried about the future. Thinking someday someone might connect my travel itinerary for Save the Children with the close proximity to the Scorpion’s attacks, just like you did. I decided to buy myself a little insurance.”

“ You thought that if you were with Broxton when Ramsingh was hit that you’d be in the clear. If Scorpion killed Ramsingh and you had an alibi, then you couldn’t be him.

“ Something like that.”

“ But the idiot set off a bomb.”

“ At my instruction. When they reconstructed it they’d have found out that I was in an airplane sitting next to the man sent by the United States to protect Ramsingh when the bomb was set.”

“ And what about your wayward sheriff?”

“ He’s still useful,” she said.

“ You’re sure?”

“ I need him,” she said.

“ I just hope you know what you’re doing,” he said through pursed lips. He reminded her of a snake.

“ So do I, George.”

“ And I hope I don’t ever have to regret recruiting you.”

“ And I hope you don’t mean that as a threat. This whole thing was your idea.”

“ I want him dead before he can make the police dedication speech next week,” he said. “He plans on announcing a new drug treaty with the United States. Once he tells the world, I’d have to sign it, even if he dies.”

“ What’s the treaty entail?”

“ It allows America’s drug agents free run of Trinidad. We can’t have the DEA over here arresting anyone they want. We might as well be in Washington.

“ He’ll never announce the treaty, George.”

“ I have your word?”

“ You have it,” she said.

Earl had just poured himself a stiff Scotch when he heard the rapping. He was waiting on room service. He’d only ordered for one, because he was convinced she wouldn’t come. He lumbered across the room with an eye on the tube. Rocky was playing on one of the hotel channels, and although he’d seen the movie dozens of times it still hit him in the heart. He was addicted to courage and he loved happy endings.

“ You wanna take a shower?” she said when he opened the door.

“ Sure,” he said. She swept past him heading for the bathroom. He heard her start the water as he picked up the phone and canceled his order of steak and fries.

“ Come on, big guy,” she said from under the spray.