Interrupted-Inevitably led to suspicion and fear and ultimately confusion.
It was the confusion Matlock counted on.
Lucas Herron had accused him of being influenced by plots and counterplots.
Well, he waset inAwnced
2M Robert Ludluin
by them-he merely understood them. That was different. It was this
understanding which had led him one step away from Nimrod.
The rain came harder now, whipped by the wind which was stronger off the
ground than on it Matlock’s crossbar swayed land dipped, more so each time
he reached a rung up the slope. The tiny light in the machine shack was now
barely visible in the darkness and the rain. He judged that he was nearly
halfway to the top.
There was a jolt; the machinery stopped. Matlock gripped the waist guard
and peered above him through the rain hying to see what obstmetion had hit
the wheel or the rung. There was none.
He turned awkwardly in the narrow perch and squinted his eyes down the
slope toward the shack. There was no light now, not even the slightest
illumination. He held his hand up in front of his forehead, keeping the
rain away as best he could. He had to be mistaken, the downpour was
blurring his vision, perhaps the pole was in his line of sight. He leaned
first to the right, then to the left. But stLU there was no light from the
bottom of the hill.
Perhaps the fuses had blown. If so, they would have taken the bulb in the
shack with them. Or a shorL It was raining, and ski lifts did not
ordinarily operate in the min.
He looked beneath him. The ground was perhaps fifteen feet away. If he
suspended himself from the foobrail, the drop would only be eight or nine
feet. He could handle that. He would walk the rest of the way up the slope.
He had to do it quickly, however. It might take as long as twenty minutes
to climb to the top, there was no way of telling. He couldiA take
TBE WATLCXX PAPER 289
the chance of his contaces panicking, deciding W leave before he got to him.
“Stay right where you arel Doet unlatch that harnessi”
The voice shot out of the darkness, cutting through the rain and wind. Its
harsh command paralyzed Matlock as much from the shock of surprise as from
fear. The man stood beneath him, to the right of the lines. He was dressed
in a raincoat and some kind of cap. It was impossible to see his face or
even determine his size.
“Who are you?f What do you want?1”
‘Tm the man you came to meet. I want to see that paper in your pocket Throw
it down.-
“I’ll show you the paper when I see your copy. That!s the deall Thaes the
deal I made.”
“You doet understand, Matlock just throw the pa~ per down. That’s all.”
“What the hell are you talking about?1*
The glare of a powerful flashlight blinded him. He reached for the guard
rail latch.
“Doet touch thatl Keep your hands straight out or yoere deadl*
The core of the high-intensity light shifted from his face to his chest,
and for several seconds all Matlock saw were a thousand Elashing spots
inside his eyes. As his sight returned, he could see that the man below him
was moving closer to the lines, swinging the flashlight toward the ground
for a path. In the glow of the beam, he also saw that the man held a large,
ugly automatic in his right hand. The blinding light returned to his face,
now shining directly be. neath him.
“Dodt threaten me, punkl” yelled Matlock, remem.
29o Robert LucUum
bering the effect his anger had on Stockton at four that morning. “Put that
goddarnn gun away and help me downI We haven’t much tune and I doet like
gamesl”
The effect now was not the same. Instead, the man beneath him began to
laugh, and the laugh was sickening. It was, more than anything else,
utterly genuine. The man on the ground was enjoying himself.
“You’re very funny. You look funny sitting there on your ass in midair. You
know what you look like? You look like one of those bobbing monkey targets
in a shooting galleryl You know what I nwan? Now, cut the bullshit and
throw down the paperl”
He laughed again, and at the sound evexything was suddenly clear to
Matlock.
He hadift made a contact. He hadn’t cornered anyone. All his careful
planning, all his thought-out ao. tions. All for nothing. He was no nearer
Nimrod now than he was before he knew Nimrod eidsted.
Sed been trapped.
Still, he had to try. It was all that was left him now.
‘Yoere making the mistake of your lifel”
“Oh, for Chrises sake, knock it off! Give me the paper! Weve been looking
for that fucking thing for a weeld My orders are to get it nowr
I can’t give it to you.-
“I’ll blow your head off!”
“I said I caWtl I didn’t say I wouldWd”
“Doet shit me. You’ve got it on youl You wouldn!t have come here without
itl”
“Ies in a packet strapped to the small of my bacV
“Get it outf”
“I told you, I cantt I’m sitting on a four-inch slat of wood with a
footrail and rm damn near twenty feet in the airl”
THE MATLOCK PAPER 291
His words were half lost in the whipping rain. The man below was
frustrated, impatient
“I said get it oud”
“M have to drop down. I caet reach the strapsl” Matlock yelled to be heard.
‘I canI do anythingl I haveet got a gunl”
The man with the large, ugly automatic moved back several feet from the
lines. He pointed both the powerful beam and his weapon at Matlock.
“O.IC, come on downt You cough wrong and your hea&s blown offl”
Matlock undid the latch, feeling like a small boy on top of a ferris wheel
wondering what could happen if the wheel stopped permanently and the safety
bar fell off.
He held onto the footrail and let the rest of him swing beneath it. He
dangled in the air, the rain soaking him, the beam of light blinding him.
He had to think now, he had to create an instant strategy. His life was
worth far less than the lives at Windsor Shoals to such men as the man on
the ground.
“Shine the light downI I can’t seel”
“Fuck thatl just dropl-
He dropped.
And the second he hit the earth, he let out a loud, painful scream and
reached for his leg.
“Aaaabbhl My ankle, my footl I broke my goddamn anklel” He twisted and
turned on the wet overgrowth, writhing in pain.
“Shut upl Get me that paperl Nowr
‘Ienss Chrkd What do you want from me? My ankl&s turned aroundf lt!s
brokeld”
“Toughl Give me the paperl”
Matlock lay prostrate on the ground, his head moving back and forth, his
neck stranung to stand
2Aj2 Robert Ludium
the pain. He spoke between short gasps.
“StrWs here. Undo the strap.” He tore at his shirt displaying part of the
canvas belt
‘Undo it yourself. Hurry upl”
But the man came closer. He wasn’t sure. And closer. The beam of light was
just above MatIodc now. Then it moved to his midsection and Matlock could
see the large barrel of the ugly black automatic.
It was the second, the instant Vd waited for.
He whipped his right hand up toward the weapon, simultaneously springing
his whole body against the legs of the man in the raincoat He held the
automat:Ws barrel, forcing it with all his strength toward the ground. The
gun fired twice, the impact of the explosions nearly shattering Matlocles
hand, the sounds partially muted by wet earth and the slashing rain.
The man was beneath him now, twisting on his side, thrashing with his legs
and free arm against the heavier MatlocIL Matlock flung himself on the
pinned arm and sank his teeth into the wrist above the hand holding the
weapon. He bit into the flesh until he could feel the blood spurting out,
mingled with the cold rain.
The man released the automatic, screarrdng in anguish. Matlock grabbed for
the gun, wrested it free, and smashed it repeatedly into the man7s face.
The powerful flashlight was in the tall grass, its beam directed at nothing
but drenched foliage.
Matlock crouched over the half-conscious, bloody face of his former captor.
He was out of breath, and the sickening taste of the man’s blood was still
in his mouth. He spat a half dozen times trying to cleanse his teeth, his
throat
THE MATLOCK PAPER 2W
‘O.Y-I” He grabbed the man~s collar and yanked his head up. “Now you tell
me what happenedl This was a trap, wasn’t itr
‘M paperl I gotta get the paper.* The irnan was hardly audible.
“I was trappeck wasret 11 The whole last week was a tra00