Matt Hilton: Dead_s men dust

L.A. had barely raised more than an eyebrow.

His return was overdue. He intended executing a series of atrocities that would force even the jaundiced eyes of the LAPD to take note. If he could achieve that, then he would be cementing the foundations of his notoriety.

But that didn't mean a little fun along the way wasn't allowed.

Arriving in L.A. a few hours later than originally planned was no time at all to quibble over. Not for one whose name was destined to last an eternity.

He?icked on the turn signal, politely showing his intention to pull onto the wide shoulder, even though there was no traf?c behind him. Politeness was a virtue Tubal Cain believed he held in abundance. The man waving for assistance by the side of the road would never guess that such a gracious driver could be so dangerous.

"Boy, is this your lucky day," Cain said. The wing mirror made a?ne TV screen for the man jogging up to his SUV. Road Runner kicking up a plume of trail dust as he charged into Wile E. Coyote's trap.

Cain noted the possibility of trouble. Though harassed and worn down by the attempt to resurrect a dead engine, the man appeared moderately young and?t. Might put up a bit of a?ght if not taken carefully, he concluded. Best not to give the game away. Quickly he concealed his knives under the passenger seat. He stepped out, tasting the silicone tang of the desert.

Cain wasn't the only one acting here. Conscious that few people would even stop to pick up hitchhikers, the man was careful to show that he was harmless. His gait was amiable, boyish, friendly. As fake as Tubal Cain's smile.

"Having a little trouble, mister?" Cain asked.

"Yeah, car's broken down and I can't get it going again." Pushing an oil-smeared palm down a trouser leg gave him the look of a bumbler, but to Cain the act seemed premeditated. His offer of a hand was no more believable.

"You're not from around here, are you?" said Cain. "Here on vacation?"

The stranded driver shook his head. "It's been no vacation, believe me."

Cain studied the man's eyes. Beyond deliberate innocence, a certain amount of deceit shone through. He was hiding something, but that was all right. Everyone had something to hide.

"Not the best of places to break down," Cain noted. The Mojave nightscape demanded their attention. "Pretty barren."

Nothing much more than sand and gravel and sparse vegetation, offering neither shade nor protection from the extremes of the weather, surrounded them.

Concealment of a crime could be dif?cult here.

"No place is a good place to break down, mister," the man said, "but you're right about this desert. I'm only happy that it's nighttime and I'm not stranded in a hundred degrees plus."

"Yeah, things do get warm around here when the sun's up. It's a bitch having to walk any distance, believe me."

"Oh, I believe you," the driver said. He nodded toward the SUV. "I bet that beauty's reliable."

"Has been for as long as I've had it," Cain agreed. That he'd only had it for eighteen hours was academic. "You want me to take a look at your car for you? I know a thing or two about engines."

A shake of the head toward his abandoned vehicle. With its hood raised to the star-?lled heavens, it looked like a lizard attempting to swallow the distant moon. "It's done. Blown a cylinder, I think."

"Let's take a look." Cain brushed past. Shoulders touched brie?y. There was strength hidden beneath the man's denim shirt. Reasonably young,?t, and apparently strong. Could be trouble. Cain slipped his hand inside his sports jacket, caressing the hilt of the scaling knife.

"There's really no need," the man said. "A lift out of here'll be?ne."

Cain turned around slowly. Was that a demand? Am I supposed to be obliged? "Let me take a look at the car?rst. If I can't get it going, then?ne, I'll give you a ride."

"You're wasting your time." The man shifted his hands to his hips, inclined his chin at the broken-down vehicle. "Piece of crap won't be going anywhere."

"Let me take a look," Cain said again.

"Suit yourself… but it won't go," the driver said. Subtle words concealing an equally subtle action. His scratch at an itch on his side wasn't as mechanical as it seemed.

"I insist," said Cain.

Practice makes perfect. Cain had practiced this maneuver a thousand times. He pulled the blade free of his pocket, held it braced along his wrist, took a quick step forward…

And met the barrel of a semiautomatic pistol aimed directly at his face.

A short laugh broke unbidden from his throat. It was neither shock nor fear. His laughter was self-deprecating. Looked like a little more practice could be in order. Not least, the resheathing of his knife. Hidden from the man's view, he slipped the blade into an outer pocket of his jacket.

"No," the man said. "I insist."

Cain shook his head sadly. "You know, I can't believe you've gone and pulled a gun on me, when all I want to do is help."

"I appreciate your concern, mister, but I don't need your help. All I need is your car." A jerk of the gun was an invitation for a walk in the desert.

Casting his eye over the terrain, Cain saw a deep arroyo. It was steep-sided, the bottom choked with rocks and stunted sagebrush. A good place to hide a crime after all.

"So… you're going to shoot me?"

The driver sucked air through his teeth.

"You're going to put me down in that hole for the coyotes to?nd?" Cain shrugged his shoulders. It wasn't as if he hadn't done the very same thing to many others.

"I'll only shoot you if I have to," said the driver.

Was that so? BIG MISTAKE. Rule one: Never show weakness to your enemy.

"You're no killer."

"I will be a killer if I have to be," the man said. The new edge to his voice held a tremor. Fear or anticipation-either could cause a nervous man to pull the trigger. "Climb down in that ditch and kneel down. I'm warning you, mister, if you don't do as I say, I will use this gun."

Cain lifted his hands in supplication.

"Come on, man. You can't do this to a Good Samaritan."

"I can and I will." The man jerked the gun again. "Get moving. Down in the ditch."

"I'm not dressed for climbing."

"Well, jump."

Cain started toward the arroyo. "You think you could let me get something from my car? You're going to leave me out here in the middle of nowhere; at least let me get a bottle of water."

"In the ditch."

"It's called an arroyo."

"Well, get in the damn arroyo. If you don't, I'll put a bullet in your head and then throw you the hell in." Cain shook his head again. No urgency to his tread. "Easy now, I'm going."

The man watched him clamber down the embankment. Cain turned and peered up at him. His face was a spectral gray in the starlight. A blob of silver that would prove an easy target for a gunman. "Turn around and face away from me, kneel down, and put your hands on your head."

"Why the amateur dramatics?" Cain asked. "You're going to take my car. There's no way I can climb out and stop you, so why do you want me to kneel down?"

"Because I said so," the man answered.

"It's going to ruin a perfectly good pair of slacks," Cain said in a singsong voice, choirboy sweet. He turned and knelt in the gravel as though at a pew.

"Okay, stay right there," the man said.

The scuff of shoes through sand marked the man's progress. Fetching something from his own abandoned vehicle, Cain surmised. The unmistakable thud of a hood being slammed. Then the sound of footsteps returning to the brim of the arroyo. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the man outlined against the stars. In his hand he carried a backpack. He delved in the bag, pulled something out, and cast it down.

Cain's assumption was justi?ed. De?nitely not a killer. A plastic bottle three-quarters full of water settled against a boulder ten feet in front of him.