So to give myself something to look forward to, I'm going to post bits of works I haven't yet given to the reading world. I'm hoping you all will give me honest comments. My writing group has gone into hibernation (because I can't be available, my fault totally), so I need fresh eyes. Anyone willing to give it a go?
SAVING THE SUN GOD
By Tracy Dunham
Chapter 1
The day my father was murdered, I
bought a Sig Sauer because the goateed guy told me the handgun would stop a
three hundred pound crack addict on a high. I also paid cash for a permit and a
box of ammunition. Then I drove into the country until I found a dead tree in
the middle of a field choked with weeds, and I pulled the trigger until my arm
ached and my finger throbbed and I finally stopped crying.
I wanted to kill the FBI agent who
talked my father into helping him recover a stolen Vermeer in some cheap hotel
room in Copenhagen. The men who’d stolen the Vermeer killed my father and got
away with the money and the painting. The
image of my father dying on a dirty hotel floor ate holes into my gut. Before I
go after his killers, though, I am going to terminate the man who put my father
in harm’s way.
That my father would risk his life
for a Vermeer wasn’t beyond my comprehension. What made me so furious was that
my mother and I had no idea he’d signed on to play hero. My gentle, antiques
expert father, with his owlish glasses, his shiny bald head, and rounded
shoulders should never have been recruited in the first place.
Now, at least I’m not in jail for
murder, which is a good thing, since my mother lost her mind the minute she
heard about my father’s death. Cameron Loudon was the center of her life, and I
was part of the circumference. Isabelle Langly Loudon, my mother, art and
antiques dealer with my father, now spends her days making ornate, museum
quality picture frames that hold nothing but air.
I should have moved into the family
business after finishing my graduate work at Winterthur and a doctorate in art
history from Yale, but there’s no way I can drag my mother back into the life
she knew with my father. She’d probably stop gluing and gilding the frames she
makes day and night, and slit her wrists with an X-Acto Knife. So I took a job
teaching art history in a small college in the Blue Ridge Mountains of
Virginia, where I try to enlighten kids who prefer their art on their iPods,
pixilated and miniscule, to slides of the stolen Vermeer that got my father’s
throat cut.
I keep the Sig Sauer in my desk
drawer, and whenever I’m sick of grading idiotic freshmen essays on the
similarities between Titian and Andy Warhol, I imagine what I’ll do when I meet
the man who led my father to his death and my mother into madness.
Now, I know how to use the gun. And
I will. When I find him.
Chapter 2
“You
really shouldn’t burn those.”
Leslie is a former student I hired
to watch my mother while I’m lecturing or holding office hours. She’s a lanky
girl with long mousy hair and thick glasses, the same sort of nearsighted my
father was. I think that’s one reason why I hired her. That, and the fact that
after she graduated, she drifted into my office one day and said she thought I
needed her and she needed a job, and she liked my mother, so I should hire her.
I have no idea why she gravitated to
my mother while she was an undergrad, but I’d come home and find her in my tiny
kitchen, having a cup of tea with mama, chatting away about the latest
Hollywood gossip while my mother nodded and smiled and didn’t answer.
She hasn’t talked in two years. My
mother, not Leslie. Leslie has a running mouth that would drive me to
distraction if I had to be with her eight hours a day, but her chatter seems to
calm mama down. When Leslie’s around, she works less maniacally on the frames,
and Leslie makes sure mama doesn’t start swallowing glue or nailing her hand to
the workbench.
The elegantly coiffed woman with a
chignon and classic Chanel suits now wears a pony tail, when I can get her to
sit still long enough to tie one, and baggy shirts over sweat pants. Feet that
strode in three-inch heels handmade in Italy now shuffle along in sneakers with
untied shoelaces. I used to dab some Joy perfume behind her ears, hoping the
scent would wake her out of her malaise, but she bats me away now when I try
it.
I’ve collected today’s output of
picture frames, only two, thank God, and per usual, I’m headed for the
college’s waste burning facility. Usually, I toss them in the heap headed for
the fire simply because there’s no place for any more empty frames in the tiny,
two bedroom house I’ve been assigned on faculty row. All the little brick
houses, with their 1960s sameness, share an anonymity I crave.
Before my father’s murder, my mother
would have slept on the sidewalks in London before agreeing to live in such
blandness.
“Why shouldn’t I burn them?” I’m
willing to give Leslie a say in this. I really don’t care about the damned
things.
“Let’s have this conversation
outside. Will you excuse us, please, Mrs. Langly?” Leslie pats mama’s hand and
gives me a look, which has become, strangely, adult.
She moves the teapot closer to mama.
“The tea’s still warm if you’d like another cup, Mrs. Langly,” Leslie tells
her.
Mama stares at the table as if
reading an enthralling book.
I’m always startled when my mother
and I are addressed as “Langly.” Even after two years, it sounds odd, as if
we’re not real people, but actors in some bizarre play.
I’ve taken my mother’s maiden name
and made sure everyone uses it for her too. After father’s murder, the FBI
couldn’t offer any assurances that the art thieves who killed him wouldn’t come
after us. Father was well known in the art world, as was mother. The federal
agent who briefed me implied that the thieves might assume mama was in on the
scam to steal the Vermeer back, and revenge was a definite possibility,
especially since the ransom money, all brand new American dollars, disappeared
into the void. The Vermeer’s thieves were madder than Rasputin that they didn’t
end up with the cash, feeling, as amoral idiots are wont, that they deserved it
and the Vermeer.
The man who warned me had a twitch
at the corner of his left jaw and fingers that tapped his knees. When his eyes
refused to meet mine, I knew the threat was worse than he’d said. “Take
measures to protect yourselves,” he said.
Leslie and I stand on the front
porch, which is really just a concrete stoop, and I’m not paying too much
attention. Everything’s out of kilter these days: the weather, my temper,
mama’s frame-making mania. I just want to shut my eyes and make the world
reverse two years.
Leslie’s explaining something to me
about having senior art students learn framing from mama, when I realize
there’s a car coming up the hill, one I don’t recognize. Faculty row is jammed
with older Toyotas and Subarus, economical cars that suit young and newly
minted PhDs, counting the days until the tenure vote. The black Mercedes with
tinted windows defies the norm.
“Whose car is that?” Interrupting
Leslie, I nod at the Mercedes. “Seen it around lately?” I can’t see the license
plates clearly enough to tell if they’re in-state.
Glancing at the car, Leslie shakes
her head. “Some rich kid coming to check out the school, probably heading up to
the stables to see if it’ll be good enough for the horses she’s planning on
bringing.”
A plausible explanation, I think,
until I notice the driver’s wearing dark sunglasses and has a grim mouth. My
distance vision, much better than my ability to see up close, seldom fails me.
Instincts for self-preservation jump through the barrier of my seasonal malaise
and I grab Leslie’s arm and shove her into the house.
“Get mama,” I hiss, trying to remember
my plan, “and take her out the back door. Go to the stables through the trail
in the woods.”
A line of old forest rims the small
back yards on Faculty Row. Riding students trot along an uneven trail looping
through it to reach the lower campus to avoid leaving horse droppings on the
road. When I’m tired of hiding in my office, I strike out on the trail,
stalking its dirt path from its end at the highway a couple of miles uphill to
its end at the main entrance to the school.
"Why, what's wrong?"
Leslie's staring at me as if I've grown horns and fangs.
I glance at mama, unsure how much I
should say to Leslie with mama within hearing distance. When mama’s eyes lift
to mine, I’m shocked at the recognition in them.
“There may be a problem. I don’t
want you and my mother here, that’s all. It’s probably nothing, but I’d like
you to do as I’ve asked, and get out of here. Now.” Taking mama’s hand, I pull
her to her feet as gently as possible, but Leslie’s frowning at me as if she’s
contemplating calling Social Services to report a case of elder abuse.
“Mama, it’s okay, I can handle it.”
I need my Sig Sauer, just in case, and then
I’ll feel like facing whatever’s coming up the hill in that black Mercedes. “Go
with Leslie and pat the horses. I’ll be up to join you in a bit.”
Leading mama to the back door, I
practically shove her out of it. “Leslie, don’t argue,” I interrupt as her
mouth opens and I recognize the stubborn glare in her eyes. “This isn’t the
time, do as I ask, right now. Stay in the woods and don’t come back until I
fetch ya’ll. Do you understand?”
My dreams, night after night,
exhausted me as I tried to work out an escape plan from the college, should we
need one. In every one, I was as unprepared as I am now. Yet the woods figured
in each panicked flight through my nightmares, offering the only hope of
safety. I’m nowhere near as prepared as I thought I was. In fact, I’m about to
lose it.
“How long…?”
“I don’t know. Now go,” I watch
Leslie tug mama across the small grassy area towards the first tree line while
my mother stumbles and turns to me, her eyes, I swear, imploring me to come
with them. I wish I could.
The Sig Sauer is in my room beside
the kitchen. Fumbling in the drawer of the bedside table, I grab it and slip in
the full clip I keep with it. Women my age sleep with condoms nearby – I keep a
weapon instead.
Fisting it into my hand, I’m at once
relieved and terrified. Even with hours of practice, I doubt I’m going to be
any match for a professional who kills for a living. My only chance is that
whoever wants us, mama and me, wants the money more. The money that disappeared
while my father bled to death on the floor of a cheap hotel room. The money the
FBI agent said was in a briefcase one minute, and gone the next, along with the
Vermeer. Neither have surfaced in two years, and the bad guys and the FBI are
royally pissed. The bad guys expressed their displeasure by killing my father.
Even though the FBI says the money didn’t go home with their agent, I’ve always
wondered.
So I am both maniacally angry and
worried. I feel as if hours have crept by while I argued with Leslie about
taking mama to the stables, but when I check, peering through the front
curtains like a neighborhood gossip, I see the Mercedes hasn’t yet made it as
far as our house. If they’re looking for us, mama and me, they saw me with
Leslie on the front stoop. Running will only send them after mama, so I need to
handle this on my own.
I’ve never understood the expression
about knees knocking up with fright, but I do now. My hand frozen on the Sig
Sauer’s grip, I have no idea if I can shoot someone I haven’t dreamed of
killing. Revenge is one thing, but this may be another.
Sure enough, the Mercedes stops in
front of my tiny house. I wait for what seems like hours. Finally, a door
snicks open. Somewhere where I don’t want to face this, I’m thinking about
German engineering and its precision, realizing their standards apply to
weapons as well as cars. Thank God.
“Dr. Loudon?” Sunglass Man, his
shoulders straining the seams of his dark jacket, wears a black shirt, opened
at a very large neck. No chest hair peeps out. His skin is as pale as a grub’s.
“Sorry, no. Can I help you?” I pray
I sound as nonchalant as I think I do.
“My employer wishes to speak with
you,” His English is accented, but his meaning in clear. “Dr. Loudon.”
“I’m sorry, you have the wrong
person. Check with security in the administration building. Better yet, I’ll
call them for you.”
“Don’t do that.”
Before I realize he’s moved, he’s
striding up the walk to the stoop. My instincts say run, but I’m tired of my
instincts. For two years, I’ve waited for this moment, and now that it’s here,
I’m not about to give in to my fears. Not again. I don’t know what’s changed,
but I want this to be over with, once and for all.
“My wife told you she’s not the
person you’re looking for. Is there a problem?”
Jumping at the sound of a voice
coming from behind me, I twirl and fall face-forward into the arms of a man
about six inches taller than I, blocking the door to my house.
“Who’re you?” I blurt into his
shoulder, where he’s pressed my head with one large hand as his other splays
against my lower back.
His chest hard against mine, I fight
to free myself until I realize it’s useless. He’s as strong as anyone I’ve ever
met, although, granted, academicians and antiques dealers don’t tend to work
out much, if at all.
“Shut up and do as I say.”
Whispering in my ear, he jerks me behind him, hiding me as effectively as a brick
wall. I’m insanely grateful I don’t have to face Sunglass Man by myself, but
still, how the heck did he get into my house?
“What the…?” I stumble into the
small foyer, sure I’m in the middle of some bizarre dream. Hunching over, I can
see what’s happening on the walkway from under my fake husband’s arm. The Sig
Sauer seems awfully small in comparison to these two men, facing each other
like gunfighters in a spaghetti Western.
I just hope my guy has the faster
draw. I like his size compared to Sunglass Man’s, but that doesn’t mean he’s
quick. He’s wearing a worn denim shirt, smelling like it needs a good wash. I
don’t care, he’s between me and Sunglass Man.
“No problem. We’re looking for
Isabelle Loudon, and we understand she’s living with her daughter, here at the
college. Her daughter Francesca.” Sunglass Man spreads his legs, his knees
slightly bent as if he’s getting ready to leap, his hands crossed under his
jacket.
“No one here on Faculty Row by that
name. Like my wife said.”
“I’m calling Security,” I croak from
behind the dark-haired man who’s taken over my house and seems to know why I’m
terrified of the Mercedes and its occupant. Words has a hard time emerging when
there’s a huge, scary lump in your throat.
The older men who form the campus
security force, most of them retired from the military, are no match for the
hunk of muscle blocking my walkway. I don’t want them hurt any more than I want
to die. I’m all bluff, but no one needs to know that.
“You heard the lady. Good day.”
If someone talked to me in that tone
of voice, I’d turn tail and run like the wind.
My intruder’s shoulders are as wide
as those on Sunglass Man, looming on the sidewalk. Turning his head slightly,
his eyes still on the front door, my imposter of a husband slams it shut behind
him. His eyes blue and dark with intensity, he gives me what he probably thinks
is a smile, but the lines beside his mouth look as if they hurt.
“Run. Don’t stop until I find you.”
I have no idea how he got into my
house or where he came from, but as far as I’m concerned, I’ve been given
another chance. To heck with facing my fears and fighting them out on Faculty
Row. If my savior is half as smart as he is handsome, he knows what he’s
talking about. Twirling, I try to race for the back door, my heart thumping
peanut butter and my feet encased in leaden shoes. The horror of my nightmares
floods over me, carrying me into the fear that I’ll scream and no one will
hear, that my mother will bleed to death at my feet, and I won’t be able to move
to help her. I can’t get beyond the kitchen.
“Didn’t you hear me? He’ll kill you
and your mother.” His words, almost a hiss, cut through the images terrorizing
my paralyzed brain.
Facing him, my hands knuckled into a
knot over my pounding heart; I can’t move a muscle. “I know that. I’ve got a
gun.”
“Can you use it?” He darts into the
kitchen, glancing around the room as if expecting to find a rocket launcher on
the counters. “Any other weapons?”
Wow. He sure changed tactics
quickly.
“Who’re you?” Why would he think I
have a stash of guns, for heaven’s sake?
“It doesn’t matter who I am. Where’s
your mother? I’ll get her out of here too. Keep the gun handy.”
The pounding on the front door added
to the knees quivering despite my best efforts to still them. “Gone. I sent her
away when I saw the Mercedes.”
“Will he find her?” His hands
envelop my shoulders, and I feel safer the instant he touches me.
Now is not the time to fall in love,
but I think I am doomed to do so if this man can get us out of this horror show
in one piece. I shake my head. It’ll take mama and
Leslie at least twenty-five minutes to reach the stables by following the horse
trail, as slow as mama walks. “I’ll call the stables and ask the groom to hide
them somewhere.”
“Do it.” Pulling a weapon from his
shoulder harness, my mystery man flattens himself against the kitchen wall,
facing the front door sideways. “From a bedroom phone, Stay out of sight.”
There’s no time to dart into my room
before the front door splinters and Sunglass Man barrels inside, both hands
fisted on the biggest gun I’ve ever seen. Frozen in the kitchen, I know now’s
my chance to kill the bastard, whoever he is.
But I can’t get the Sig Sauer out of
my pocket.
