Smoke Ch. 04

"You know, after that Christmas party, I never drank again. You're not a..."

"I was that night... I've been beating myself up, ever since." More than you'll ever understand. It took more strength to walk away than just accept it.'

"Then... why did you file? We could have talked it out. I was just as stupid as you were... worse. I..." 'was acting like a slut.'

"How can I explain it?" he interrupted. "It was the only way I could see to get my manhood back. That night killed me, what can I say? I've never been with anyone since you."

"Me, neither... after you, there could be no one else."

His hand reached for hers and suddenly they were both standing, embracing, kissing the lost years away.

*********

Out in the coffee shop, Greg and Cindy were having the Friday night special, fish and chips. "Not quite the dinner I was expecting, but it will do. How're your classes coming along?"

"Well, I'm doing pretty good with her help. How'd you like that last cream pie I brought home?"

"It was fantastic. Wait a minute... that was you? Wow! You're fantastic, baby, just fantastic!"

"Well, next semester is meats. I've already signed up."

He reached over with his napkin and wiped a little tartar sauce that was on her lip. The way he touched her made her feel a heat she had only felt in the bedroom. 'My God, I'm really falling in love with this guy.'

"When are you going to set a date?" he asked.

"Do you think we could wait and see what's up with Martine and Joseph?"

"Oh, yeah? Why?"

"Well, she hasn't left, as far as we know and I haven't heard any screaming and yelling so maybe..."

"You know, if you've gotten them back together, that would be the nicest thing I've ever seen anyone do."

"Well, when we're married, I'll show you a few nicer things," she said, giggling like a schoolgirl.

"You're blushing." Greg laughed. "You're blushing. What are you thinking, sweetheart? What's in that devious little mind of yours?"

"Nothing, just thinking about the honeymoon."

"Hrrrrmmm... excuse me, would you like dessert? And Mr. Shocley said it's on the house... the dinner, I mean."

"Pie!" they both said, laughing. "I want a whole damn pie," Greg said. "Just bring a big spoon."

"Do you think she's still going to need a ride home?"

"I don't know, we can just wait here and have more pie. What do you think? I bet, not."

A short while later, the waitress approached with his pie and two spoons. "Mrs. Shocley says you can go home, now; she's going home with her husband. Whatever you two did, thank you from everyone here. He's been a wreck every time she comes in. Oh, and he said when you've finished your classes, you have a job here, if you want it. I'll just clear your table for you. Will there be anything else?"

Greg looked at Cindy; she shook her head. "No, I guess our work here, is done. Thank you. Thank everybody for helping out on this; I know you all lost a lot of tips tonight with the dining room closed."

"Mr. Shocley said he'd cover whatever we lost. He must really be in love with his wife."

"You have no idea," said Cindy. "You have no idea, at all."

**********

Greg had to take Cindy to class the following week since neither of them had seen Martine for several days.

"Do you think they had another fight and he killed her?"

"That's not even funny, Greg. Shame on you... God, you don't suppose they DID have a fight, do you... and she left town?"

"I hope not. I could use another pie, right about now."

"Coming right up!" she said as she ran into the kitchen.

Life was good.

**********

Greg stirred on the bed...

He stood on the side of the hill with his corporal. "I don't like the looks of this," he said, pointing at some movement down in the valley below. "You see that?" he asked. "Over there, now... see it?"

"Japs..."

"Yeah, and they're coming this way. Get the men." Greg stood there in the shadows, waiting.

"Sarge..."

He could hear the loud whisper behind him. "We're ready."

"Good. You and Smiley take the ridge with the mortar; the rest of us will move over there and wait for them. Make sure they can't go home, again. All right, let's hump it."

The firefight was quick, loud and deadly and he woke up, screaming into the night as Cindy tried to hold him.

"Whoa," was all he could say as he sat up in the bed. He looked at the alarm. It was midnight and his return to Okinawa had left him drenched in sweat. "I'm sorry," he said as she hugged him, worried. It was the first time since she'd known him that he had such a violent nightmare and he had no idea what brought the nightmare back to him.

She hugged him and rolled on top. "I'm here, baby, I'm here, it's OK... go back to sleep."

He wanted to but couldn't. Soon, he heard her soft breathing and at least tried to get some rest, if not sleep.

**********

Stedman put the binoculars down and made several notes on the pad next to his leg. This was the third evening he'd sat there, waiting. Something soon, something soon or he was going to go crazy out of his mind. It seemed like a wild goose chase, anyway. 'They must know I'm here, by now.'

"Ah, there you are," he said to himself as the woman left the apartment house, got into the waiting car and drove away with the man. Stedman thought it was her 'brother,' but, maybe not. They were too far away to tell. Looking into his side-mirror, he started his own and pulled out into the street, heading south. Much to his dismay, though, he quickly caught two lights, falling farther and farther behind until finally, he lost the other car entirely.

"Damn it!" he cursed, beating the steering wheel. Now, he'd have to start all over again.

On a hunch, though, he headed east to Sepulveda and then north. By the time he passed the airport, he had again caught the car and smiling, settled into a steady five-car-back chase. This time, he knew where they were going and wasn't worried if they got out of sight once in a while. It was going to be a long, long drive; he settled in for the trip out to the desert by turning on the radio. Listening to Space Patrol, he watched as the sun set to the west behind the Santa Monica Mountains. Satisfied that he could identify the tail-lights of the car ahead, he listened as Buzz Corey flew to Mars to capture some spies. He laughed. How much closer to the truth could it be and for a split-second, he thought of his Ford as a space ship flying through the darkness of the Los Angeles night.

**********

Hours later, he was travelling eastbound on the Pearblossom Highway, just a quarter-mile behind his quarry. 'It's going to be a very good night for hunting,' he thought. 'A very good night...'

He put his Thermos between his legs and carefully unscrewed the cap and then took a long, slow drink of coffee. Unfortunately, his distraction was just enough to bring his car to edge of the embankment and then it flipped several times before landing upside down in the ravine.

"Ohhh," he moaned, wedged between the wheel and dash. It felt like his leg was broken and he could feel the warm wetness of blood cover his face. He was afraid he was going into shock and realized it was now a race between that and bleeding to death.

He tried to move and cried out as the broken bones of his leg stabbed his mind with pain. He settled back down, gasping harshly into the dust that had entered the car through the smashed windows.

"Ah, shit," he said, smelling gasoline. It was a miracle the car hadn't caught fire. He thanked God for at least that. Burning to death... he imagined that disaster and screamed into the darkness.

"What's that?" he asked, hearing a pattering on the car body. "Hello? Is anyone there?" he screamed, furiously angry at himself for such a stupid mistake.

Thousands of dislodged rocks rattled the bottom of the car for the next several hours, breaking the relative silence of Soledad Canyon until the car could no longer be seen from the road and the car he had been following continued on toward Edwards.

Stedman lay there, hoping that daybreak would bring rescue.

**********

"Cooper, we're sending you out to Los Angeles. Thompson, here, will brief you before you fly out tonight. Prepare to be there until this case is finished. You'll be staying at Stedman's apartment."

"Tonight?" 'Ah, crap. I was going to get lucky, tonight.'

"Will that be a problem?"

"No, not really..." 'Of course it is, you moron. What am I going to tell Sophia, now?'

Elliot Cooper looked to the doorway where Thompson had just appeared. In the mood Cooper was in, a nod of the head was all he was willing to acknowledge. "Anything else?" he asked, not really caring.

"Yeah, pack a bathing suit. I hear the beaches are pretty nice, there."

The two agents walked to Thompson's office but before Thompson could say anything, Cooper picked up the desk phone and called home.

"Sophia... something's come up... yes, I know... listen, pack a couple of bags for us and meet me at Washington National... wait a minute... what airline are we using?"

"TWA... you want me to change your ticket to two? I don't know if the Director is going to like it."

"I don't give a fuck... I'm not ruining my marriage for him or this investigation. Why can't the Los Angeles guys take care of their own mess?"

Thompson backed away. He'd seen Cooper angry before, but never like this. "I'll go next door and make the call," he volunteered.

Cooper nodded his gratitude and continued talking to his wife. "We're going to Los Angeles. I don't know how long so get your sister to watch the apartment... just let her know, I don't want no parties there like last time... and, honey, bring my other gun, too. I'll meet you at the TWA counter... it'll be the red eye but we can sleep on the flight... great, I'll see you there."

Thompson reappeared in the doorway. "You're all set, two tickets to Los Angeles, 10:30 PM, non-stop... I wangled first class for you, just don't tell anybody."

"You're a real friend, Thompson, thanks. Sophia would kill me if I took off for the coast and left her here in all this heat."

**********

A couple of hours later, as Thompson finished briefing Cooper about the case and the disappearance of Special Agent Keegan, he pulled his car up to the terminal and shook Cooper's hand. "Good luck. I hope you don't need it but, something happened out there. Watch your back. You don't want to make Sophia a young widow."

"Thanks for the tickets," Cooper said one more time and walked into the terminal, looking for his wife. He finally saw her sitting near TWA's ticket counter with three bags and an overnight. She never looked more beautiful. 'Well, her wedding day... this comes a close second,' he thought, realizing that he had the same feelings every time he saw her.

Sophia melted into his arms, pressing herself so hard against him he thought they were making love in public. Even though they had been married over five years, now, each day was another in the never-ending honeymoon.

"I'm so excited! Los Angeles! The beaches... Hollywood... do you think we'll see some movie stars?"

"I don't know, sweetheart, maybe. I don't think they put them on parade for the tourists..." He laughed at his own joke.

"We can drive around Beverly Hills and see what we can, how's that? I'm sure the FBI can figure out where some of them live."

"Oh, can we?" She hung on his neck, lifting her head and kissing him deeply. If anyone from the Bureau... hell, I'll just tell them it's part of my 'cover,' that's all.

"Let's get our tickets and check in the luggage and then get something for dinner. Did you happen to see something still open?"

"There's a coffee shop that was still open when I got here; maybe, they still are."

"OK, first things, first..."

**********

They walked out onto the tarmac to the Constellation. As they climbed the stairs, it reminded him of a greyhound, ready to jump into the air. He gave his gratitude to the weather gods that it was not raining. The plane was packed with servicemen returning home from Germany and while not 'officially' allowed, after the plane took off several bottles were passed back and forth by the men.

The stewardess pulled the drapes shut, closing off the first class section from the rest of the plane, but the thrill of take-off was replaced by sleepiness and Sophia soon dozed off. Elliot pulled out the paperwork he had been given by Thompson and started to read through it, again. Stedman's disappearance only meant one thing as far as he could see... the agent had been discovered and eliminated. He wondered, 'Would that make the Russians Stedman was following that more circumspect or would they believe they were in the clear? No real way to tell until I get there and see what they do. For all I know, they've already disappeared and this trip will just be a short vacation for the two of us.'

Soon, he put his papers away in his case, slipped it between the seat and his legs, covered himself with a blanket and went to sleep. Eight hours later, the plane landed in the early morning dark at Los Angeles International. After collecting their baggage, they were met by an agent who, after showing them his credentials took them to Stedman's apartment.

"Here's the keys; the place has been cleaned up. You'll have a report of what we found tomorrow... I mean, later this morning. I'll be back at eight o'clock to pick you up."

"Are we going to have any time together?" she asked.

"Oh, yes, don't worry about that. We're going to be doing some sightseeing while some of the locals keep an eye on our quarry. I need to learn the neighborhood and so we'll be doing some driving around... maybe, maybe to Beverly Hills, you never know where the bad guys are..." He smiled at Sophia. 'This trip might not be all work, after all.'

After a breakfast at Du-par's, they walked back and waited for their ride downtown. "I don't know how long we're going to be here, babe, but if you like living out here, I can put in for a transfer. Of course, that means this case is going to have to be done right, even if it takes longer than we'd like."

"I'll help you any way I can, you know that, especially if it means we can move here. I'm tired of living in Baltimore. It's no fun, anymore, honey. I want out."

"OK, then, to us and Los Angeles." He 'clinked' an imaginary glass with hers and they waited outside for whoever was coming.

A dark red Ford pulled up and double-parked. "Cooper? Good, let's go."

"Let's see some ID, first."

Nonplussed, the agent pulled out his badge and identification. "Here," he said, holding them out. "Glad to meet you, Agent Cooper, Mrs. Cooper. Welcome to Los Angeles." He raised an eyebrow in Sophia's direction.

"She knows... it won't work without her."

"Well, then, maybe we should put her down as a consultant or something... give her a little spending money. Now, here's what we know..."

**********

"It sure is spread out; here... it's taking forever to get anywhere. How long's it been?"

"Oh, about thirty minutes, that's all."

"That's all? It must be because everything looks the same, street after street." 'Maybe moving here isn't such a good idea, after all.'

"We'll be there, soon enough. It does show one problem, though..."

"What's that?" She interlaced her fingers with his as two agents drove them to Hermosa.

"Stedman's apartment is too far out to do anything worthwhile at the beach. We're going to need something much closer."

"We'll see what we can do."

Eventually, they reached the apartment. "We're just going to drive by, right now and give you a lay of the land. Then we'll see what we can do about something closer. These beach towns can get expensive during the summer. We're better off looking at houses, maybe. We'll see."

"What about?"

"So, what've they been doing? Everything they mail goes through us, so it's not getting out that way, at least everything they've sent so far has been anything you can just find out reading the papers or just driving around. Edwards base security is lax, to say the least. Just 'cause it's all desert doesn't mean nobody's watching. Maybe they need to move the secret stuff out to Nevada or something. I wonder if they were out there the day the Wing crashed?"

"Say, you don't think they're just biding time because Los Angeles beats the hell out of Moscow, do you? You know, just send enough so it looks like they're doing something but not enough to raise any 'red flags?'"

"I see you're a comedian. I don't know about that, but the X-2 program just started and they're probably going out there for that."

"Who's that guy?"

"That's the owner... Greg Knotts... let me check my notes... here we go... big war hero at Okinawa... shacking up with the widow of some guy got iced by a bookie... name of Cindy Louden... used to be a rental across the hall from him... got mixed up in a big shootout with four of the bookies enforcers... Knotts killed all four of them here... Hermosa closed the case... no charges brought... a Mrs. Shocley up the street got involved accidently... now good friends... was teaching Louden how to cook, if you can believe that but stopped because she reconciled with her ex- and is burning up the sheets with him... he owns Raymond's in Hawthorne... popular place... seems Knotts and Louden had a lot to do with that... let's see, what else... oh, yeah, Louden was a parking lot slut... whether Knotts knows about it isn't exactly clear, he's a pretty straight-laced guy, so I doubt it.

"The Meadows moved in after Louden changed apartments. That's the connection."

"What'd he do in Okinawa?"

"Not too much... Navy Cross, two silver stars... you know, the usual..."

"Damn! OK, we can take him off the watch list, it's just an accident they're together. We might have to bring him in, later, and let him know what's going on."

"You think that's wise? He seems like a real cowboy."

"Maybe that's what we need, right now. He's definitely not afraid of anything.

"We get anything yet on Stedman? It's been almost a week, now."

"No, not yet. Hey, look at that! He's putting up a FOR RENT sign. This is our chance. What do you think?"

"No kidding. Pull over there and we'll get out. C'mon, honey, here's our chance for a place by the beach."

"Excuse me? We couldn't help but notice your sign. Could we take a look? My name's Elliot and this is my wife, Sophia."

"Hi, I'm Greg Knotts, the owner. Sure, c'mon in." He led them into the apartment house and indicated apartment A. "New in town?"

"Uh, yes, we moved here from Baltimore and are looking for a nice place to live."

"This place was built in '47. Each apartment has two nice-sized bedrooms, one bathroom, kitchen, dining room and living room. The rent's eight-five dollars a month, pay your own utilities, first and last plus deposit. I'll let you two look around; I'll be outside in the back." Greg walked out to let them talk it over but they already knew they were taking the apartment if approved.

They did a cursory walk-through. Sophia smiled. The apartment was almost new, much bigger than the one they had in Baltimore and she could walk to the beach. "I like it," she said, "and I hope that he says OK."

They walked out the back and found Greg washing out trash cans. He turned off the water and walked over. "Well?" he asked.

"We like it. Do you have any forms for us to fill out?"

"No, that's all right. You in the war?"

"Yeah, North Africa, Italy... I don't talk about it, much."

"Yeah, me neither." When he saw the man look at him, inquisitively, Greg added, "Pacific... Okinawa."

They shook hands, members of a fraternity no one could ever understand... members only.

"We'll have the cash for you this morning. How much is the deposit?"

"Ah, forget that, just give me a month's rent and we'll call it even."