Primal Threat - Earl Emerson [50]
“He’s right,” added Stephens. “I’m hearing too much negativity concerning people I consider to be friends.”
“You just met them. How could you possibly call them friends?”
“I read people pretty well. I’m…It’s part of my business. We have associates in common. They own land over on Lake Chelan near where we bought a vacation cabin. They’re good people.”
A third gunshot punctuated the quiet.
21
It was early when Kasey saw the retard heading down the mountain on his bike, helmet pulled low, the thick-lensed glasses replaced by a dark pair of sport sunglasses that, along with the cycling costume he must have borrowed from one of his caretakers, contributed to make him look nearly normal. When he spotted Kasey watching him, he became self-conscious and molded himself into an exaggerated streamlined position for descending, a pose that was comic in its ridiculousness, then locked up his rear brake a couple of times, kicking up gravel and throwing his bike to one side. How he hadn’t killed himself before now was something Kasey couldn’t understand.
For the past couple of hours he’d been dozing in a camp chair while the Finnigan brothers drank and gabbed with Scooter and Jennifer. Mouths agape, Roger and Ryan were sawing Z’s in the Land Rover.
When Kasey finally got up for a call of nature, the sky was a bright blue-gray and smudged with smoke, though the sun wouldn’t come around the mountain for some time. He’d surrounded too much beer, and, along with the heat, it had given him a headache and a general malaise.
He pissed onto a pile of rocks and then, zipping his fly, ambled along the spur road and back into camp in time to catch Scooter and Chuck walking in the direction of the road. “What’s going on?”
“Gonna fuck up fire boy,” said Scooter, who gave him a smoldering look as if the pronouncement were a challenge. Kasey had been warning him all night not to mess with the other camp. Kasey didn’t particularly like Zak Polanski, but the idea of Scooter and Chuck messing him up with all those others around as witnesses didn’t strike him as a particularly smart move, and he told them so.
“I’m just tagging along to make sure none of the others butts in,” said Chuck.
“I’m going to put a wrist hold on that fucker,” said Scooter. “Here. Give me your hand. I’ll show you.”
“Yeah, so you can break my wrist?”
“I’m just going to show you.” Kasey dutifully held out his wrist and Scooter grabbed it, but instead of shaking hands he twisted Kasey’s wrist and bent it backward, levering Kasey’s arm into an awkward position that forced him toward the ground.
“Hey! Hold up there!”
“Pretty slick, huh? I’m going to make him bow down to the master and promise to stay away from Nadine. If he struggles, he might just break his own arm. Wouldn’t you love to see him ride out of here with his arm in a sling?”
“You break his arm,” said Kasey, “I guarantee the others are not going to take it lying down.”
“That’s why I’m along,” said Chuck, slurring his words. “Plus, I’m going to keep Scooter from throwing fire dude off the bluff.”
“He’s out on the bluff?”
“He’s been out there for half an hour,” said Scooter.
“Jesus, Scooter! It’s bad enough we stayed up all night making a racket. You want to know the truth, I’m kind of embarrassed about the whole thing, especially after Nadine and her friends found us. But what if something happens and he falls off? That’s a hell of a drop.”
“If he falls, that’s his tough luck. It won’t have anything to do with me.”
“The hell it won’t.”
“Don’t worry,” said Chuck, winking at Kasey as they walked away. “I’ll make sure nothing happens.” Chuck was just burly enough to back up his words. The only man in the bike camp close to his size was that downhill racer, Giovanni or something.
“You have to stop them,” said Jennifer, approaching as the group dissolved. “Chuck? Stay out of it. I mean it.”
“Jenn, we’ll be back in five minutes, and then we’ll pack up and go home, get some air-conditioning, read the Journal.”
As he watched the two march away, Kasey felt a breeze blowing up