She.was staring at him, white-faced and shocked. “Just muscle won’t handle it, Eden,” he said. “These boys are playing in a rough league when they come here. Take my advice and cut loose from them. If you can’t help me get Erik back, think of yourself. Cut your ties. Move away. Go east or something.”
He walked outside to where their car was standing. Passing it, he used the knife to rip open a couple of tires, driving it deep and pulling back on it. The blade was razor-sharp and the damage considerable. He tossed the knife into the brush across the road and got into his own car.
He drove swiftly but carefully back to the motel, parked the car, and went to the cafe.
Gallagher was seated at a back table. He looked up with a wry smile. “Had an idea you’d be in. Have you seen Eden?”
“We visited some. Then there was an interruption.”
Gallagher looked at him over his coffee. “Tell me about it.”
“Two husky boys who thought they were tough,” he said. “Not from around here. I read them from The Book.”
He reached for the pot the waitress had left and filled his cup. “Whatever is done I must do myself. Eden can’t help me.”
“Can’t, or won’t?”
“Can’t, I think. Apparently nobody will listen. She’s ready to defect, I think. Likes it here.”
“So, now what?”
“I’m going over. I’ve no choice now.”
“You really believe that stuff, don’t you?”
“I have to.” He paused. “Seen Volkmeer around?”
“No, I haven’t. I drove over to see him and he wasn’t home. At least if he was, he wasn’t receiving visitors.”
Mike Raglan was tired. The brief difficulty at Eden’s had been exhilarating if nothing else. For one brief moment he had confronted something tangible, something he could handle. The rest of it was all too elusive, too vague, nothing he knew how to cope with. Frauds and deception were something he understood, but this was a reality beyond anything he knew.
He thought about Volkmeer. Always a cold and quiet man, not given to talking, he now presented even more of an enigma. True, Raglan had once saved his life, but how far did that go? There was always that “yes, but what have you done for me lately?” idea.
Volkmeer had become suddenly wealthy, and on at least one occasion that wealth had come from golden discs of the same kind that old cowboy had found on the Other Side. So what did that mean? That Volkmeer had found his way to the same cache? Unlikely, but possible. Or that he had found some other cache? Or that he was being paid that way by somebody he served?
Volkmeer was a dangerous man. A solid, dependable man in his own way, and that was just the reason Raglan had wanted him for a backup man. But where did he stand?
Gallagher spoke: “Told you I went to see Volkmeer? He wasn’t to home, but I looked around there, just as a man might comin’ an’ goin’. No reason to do more. Got him a mighty fine place there, mighty fine. Makes a man wonder.”
Raglan looked around at him. “Big house for a single man,” Gallagher continued. “Three-car garage, an’ Volkmeer drives a pickup, mostly. At least, whenever I’ve seen him.
“Makes a man curious, so I did a little nosing around. Seems like he’s contributed to several political campaigns. Never goes to the big fundraisers, but his name shows up on the lists big enough so’s most office holders listen to him.
“Ranch house is tucked back in the hills, sort of out-of-the-way. Nobody can see who comes and goes. There’s two or three back roads into his place, and one of them has seen a good deal of travel here lately. More than you would expect on an out-of-the-way road like that.” Gallagher paused, taking his time. They were both watching the street. “One set of tire tracks matches tires on that van.”
Gallagher put down his cup. “Figured you should have it to think about.”
“You spoke about money contributed to campaigns. Where do you stand?”
“I’m appointed, not elected, but he spoke for me when my name came up.” Gallagher wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I call ’em as I see ’em, Mike, an’ don’t you ever forget it. I was huntin’ a job when I found this one.”
He paused again. “This isn’t the first time I’ve had ideas about Volkmeer. Whenever a man gets rich all of a sudden, I get curious, and the cattle business hasn’t been all that good lately. I’d like to make some legitimate money myself, so I’m right curious as to how it’s done. Volkmeer claimed income from mining operations where nobody was working.”
They talked at random for a half hour, talking of football, old-time fighters, and bronc riders. Gallagher seemed to be watching for something and Raglan was in no hurry to get on with what he must do.
“Like that big dog you’ve got,” Gallagher said suddenly.
“If he shows up without me, you can have him.”
Gallagher glanced around. “You think that’s likely?”
Raglan shrugged. “I’m going into enemy country, into a place I know nothing about, where every hand will be against me, to find a man who’s carefully hidden away. I’d say I had one chance in a million.”
“Why d’you do it?”
“He’s depending on me. Just like folks depend on you. And he’s got nobody else.”
“How long d’you figure to be gone?”
“As long as it takes. I don’t know what time is like over there. I don’t know what anything is like. We’re used to this world, but over there it can be completely different. I may be gone a matter of minutes, but more likely it will be a week or even a month. I hope to wind it up in what is a few hours of our time.”
Slowly, he explained the little he knew. “This Forbidden area covers a lot of ground: big buildings, thick stone walls, built ages ago. Much of it no longer used. I get a picture of an autocratic power that has gone to seed, that’s dying on the vine, so to speak. Of a people who have not only lost the will to resist but to whom the idea of resistance no longer even occurs. The dissident elements pulled out long ago and went to the mountains where some of the descendants of the old Anasazi still live.
“They want some of what we have but are afraid of contaminating ideas coming through. I don’t think there’s any superpower over there or any great guiding intelligence. It is a cramped little world filled with fear, hatred, and held together by fear of anything from the outside. I could be wrong as hell. I just don’t know, Gallagher, except that when Erik opened up that kiva, it was like opening Pandora’s box, if you recall the old myth.”
“I should be going with you.”
“I don’t want you, or anybody. If I can’t take care of myself I’ll be of no use, and I know more of what to expect than anybody I’d take. I don’t want to have to think of anybody but myself, nor worry about what’s happening with anybody. If I can’t do it alone, nobody can. You’ve been conditioned for your work. A good cop can sense trouble before it begins, and in that kind of world, I know what to look for, up to a point.”
He turned suddenly as a shadow loomed over the table. It was Volkmeer. “Been huntin’ you,” he said, and pulling back a chair, he straddled it, leaning his arms on the back. “Thought I’d look in here one more time before I started out to that mesa you talked about.”
“Good to see you,” Raglan said. He got up. “Gallagher? As soon as I get back I’ll be in touch.”
Gallagher turned to Volkmeer. “Raglan is a friend of mine, too. Take good care of him.”
“I’ll do that,” Volkmeer said. “I’ll do just that.”
“If anything goes wrong,” Raglan said, “you’ll be hearing from back east. Help them all you can. And if you see my friend with the busted ear and cut scalp, throw him in jail on some pretext or other and hold him until I get back. He might even come up with answers if you ask the right questions.”
Outside, Volkmeer said, “What was that about the man with a busted ear?”
Raglan shrugged. “Couple of muggers tried to use some muscle when I was visiting Eden Foster. They didn’t understand their business well enough.”
Volkmeer glanced at him. “I don’t see any scars.”
“I said they didn’t know their business.”
Volkmeer glanced at him again, but offered no comment. Only later, he said, “Two of them, was there?”
“They have the same trouble here I’ll have over there. They don’t understand how different things are. Whoever is their contact here is either lying to them or is ignorant. They can’t seem to grasp the fact that a man or woman may be nobody, but if they disappear or are murdered they become important. Even if Erik wasn’t who he is, questions would be asked.”