Andrew Neiderman - Deficiency

"Okay then," he said, "I'll be there in an hour." He flipped his phone closed and turned to reach for the gas hose, which had stopped its flow. For a moment, probably because of the black hair, he didn't recognize him. He even flashed a smile and said, "Just about done."

"Leave it," he told him.

"Pardon me?" Will said. He stared and then rose slowly as his eyes began to reflect recognition.

He pulled out the pistol.

"Leave it," he repeated. "Just walk to my car." Will Dennis looked about frantically.

"Move," he ordered firmly.

"Look, there are people who can help you. They're here now, and I was just going to meet with them, actually. Why don't you follow me in your car and..." He pulled the hammer back on the pistol.

"Walk to my car or die here," he said.

Will nodded and started toward his car. He backed up to let him pass. The driver's door was still open.

"Get in behind the wheel," he commanded as he opened the rear door. "Go on."

"What do you want?" Will asked.

He smiled.

"I told you that before. I want more. Now get in and close the door." Will did and he got in behind him and held the pistol close to the back of his head.

"Imagine," he said, "your brains splattered on that windshield. What a mess of thoughts and memories, huh?"

"I can help you," Will said. "Really. I'm on the phone with everyone involved. We have a solution."

"Oh, I know there is a solution. I know you can help me." He stopped smiling and added, "I want you to take me to her. Go on."

"Take you to whom?"

"The doctor, Dr. Barnard, the one who could make trouble for us. Go on."

"But..."

"Drive or decorate the windshield," he said putting the barrel of the gun against the back of his head.

Will dropped the shift into drive and pulled around his own car, looking at it longingly, as longingly as a man who was being swept past his last hope for rescue at sea.

"There's no need for this," Will said. "You're a very valuable person. They want to take you back, to help you, to make sure you're healthy and everything you need is provided."

"I know what I need and I know how to get it," he said. Will thought.

"I don't know where she is," he said.

"Then make a call and find out. You can find out anything you need to find out, and believe me," he added poking him sharply just where his neck and head joined, "you need to find this out."

"She's at work for sure," Will said.

"See. You're screwing up already. I know she's on vacation."

"Well, then she's gone. She's out of the area."

"She's only away for a few days. She can't be far. If she is gone, you are gone," he said. "Either you will die or she will die today. Who will it be?" he asked.

"Why do you have to kill her, or me for that matter?"

"We've got to protect ourselves."

"We?"

"Yes, we," he said.

"Look, if you're including me in this, I want to assure you..."

"We're not," he said.

Will gazed into the rearview mirror and saw him, his eyes fixed on the back of his head. He's mad, he thought. Whatever he is, he's insane.

"This won't help you," he said. "They won't take you back if you do something like this. I'm the chief law enforcement officer in the county!"

"That doesn't matter to us. We don't want to go back now. We want to go forward. Axe we going to her or what?" He leaned closer.

"Okay, okay, we're going to her," Will said.

"We knew you would make that choice," he said smiling. "We know you as well as you know yourself."

Will Dennis shuddered with a chill that brought him back to his childhood days when he first confronted something horrifying in a movie. He had gone with his older brother and his older brother's friends. His older brother wasn't supposed to take him, but he had to watch him that day and he wasn't about to be stuck in some G-rated film. He confronted his first vampire on the screen and cringed at the sight of blood dripping from those long, sharp teeth.

The creature seating behind him, for that was the only way he could think of him, a creature, revived those images. Would he lean forward any moment and sink his teeth into his neck, drawing out some precious nutrient and leaving him in mortal agony? Will Dennis thought his position had brought him face to face with some pretty cruel and violent people, but he always had the sense that he and the force behind him had the upper hand. They were there to punish, and punish they would. This was different. No court, no laws, no objections and motions to strike mattered. He was as helpless as the women who had fallen victim.

"You understand, I hope, that I was cooperating with your people. I've kept your existence secret, just like they wanted, and like I'm sure you want, right?"

"What did they promise you?" he asked.

"Me? I just do what I have to do to help. It's all for the better, isn't it? I mean as I understand it, you will be the answer to all diseases and illness, to aging itself. You're quite a wonderful thing."

Will saw him turn his eyebrows in. He had him thinking.

"You're absolutely right about this," Will continued, excited by the apparent breakthrough. "You've got to stop this Dr. Barnard. She doesn't have the same view of things. She's threatening to make trouble. She threatened me on the phone just an hour or so ago, in fact."

"Oh?"

"She said she was going to go public and expose you. She was going to put the blame on me. Actually, when you came up to me at the gas station just now, I was talking with your people, deciding how we would handle her."

"Well, now you know how we'll handle her."

"Yeah, right. That's good. She's at this cabin that belongs to the old doctor she works with, Templeman. It's on the lake, in the woods. We're about forty minutes away. I know exactly where it is. I've fished on that lake, hunted around it, too. I grew up here, you know."

"That's nice," he said.

Will actually felt himself relax.

"Now she's not alone. I'm giving you important information here. She's with her fiance, this lawyer, Curt Levitt. He's the one who you, I mean, who Dr. Stanley, confronted. You've got to be careful."

"Oh, I'm careful," he said. "Drive on and keep talking. It's better than the radio." Will saw him smiling. Was he really satisfied or was he toying with him. Keep talking? Yes, that was the way to handle people like him.

I'll slip out of this, he thought. Somehow, I'll survive.

He drove on and he kept talking.

Although the day began quite overcast, the cloud cover thinned and weakened until direct sunlight wove through the gauzy layers and brightened the water on the lake. In the distance it looked like ice to Terri. The wind had died down and the boat barely rocked now. She was lying back in Curt's arms. They had just eaten their cheese and bread and had nearly finished the bottle of Merlot. She felt cozy and warm as she leaned back. He leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead and move off some strands of her hair. She opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"Happy?" he asked.

"Content. Glad I followed your orders for a change, Doctor," she told him and he laughed.

"Why is it," he asked, "that I get the feeling this is really a unique occasion?"

"Don't worry. I'll settle down to just a mere twenty hours a day," she replied, and they both laughed softly. She closed her eyes again and he took a deep breath.

"I think I must have dug up sour worms or something. We haven't had a bite."

"Oh. I saw the bob thing bobbing."

"You did?"

He sat up quickly, moving her off him to seize the pole. When he wound in the line, he saw the hook was clean.

"Oh, that's great," he said. "We've provided a picnic for the fish, too." She laughed harder, her voice carrying over the water.