Part 19 (1/2)
”Veil, the racetrack! Aqueduct's only a few blocks away. If we could get in, there'd be water to cool Toby, and telephones! Do you thinka””
”I certainly do,” Veil said. ”Let's go.”
”Toby must be getting awfully heavy.”
”No. Keep a steady pace. We're exposed now, and looking like we're in a big hurry will only draw more attention. Stay close and try to keep the Nal-toon between us.
They walked on, Reyna keeping close to Veil and using the Nal-toon and her shoulder to help support Toby's weight as best she could. People stopped and stared at them, but they continued walking at an even pace, their eyes straight ahead.
”I can see the parking lot!” Reyna cried as they turned a corner. ”Veil, we're going to make it!”
Suddenly Toby stirred, opened his eye, spoke.
”Veil? Toby says that he can walk.”
Veil set Toby on his feet. The K'ung swayed unsteadily, but remained on his feet. Reyna pressed the Nal-toon against his chest. Toby's arms came up, wrapped themselves tightly around his G.o.d. Veil and Reyna gripped Toby's arms, and they hurried forward until finally they stepped over a chain into the darkness of one of the racetrack's vast, empty parking lots.
”I'll run around,” Reyna said. ”There has to be some way for us to get in.”
”No time,” Veil said, taking the gun from the waistband of his jeans. ”Too many people saw us, and I don't want to be wandering around if a police car comes cruising into this lot.”
Using rags from a trash can to m.u.f.fle the pistol's report, Veil fired two shots at the lock on one of the gates; the bullets served only to jam the locking mechanism. He was successful at a second gate; the first bullet pierced the lock pins cleanly and forced them apart. Reyna opened the gate, closed it behind them, and they moved into the racetrack.
Chapter Eighteen.
The enormous clock on the wall over the bank of pay phones read eleven o'clock. A few of the trainers and jockeys who had arrived before dawn were still working their horses on the track, but the stands were emptya”at least for the time being. There had been a few policemen wandering through the complex, but fewer than Veil had expected.
The phones were in the open, at the junction of a long concourse and an exit ramp. Hunched down behind a row of seats just behind the ramp, Veil scanned the area around him. Satisfied that there was no one around, he vaulted over a steel railing to the ramp, then hurried to the nearest phone. He dropped a quarter in the slot and dialed the number Walrus had given Reyna. The phone was answered in the middle of the first ring.
”Yeah.”
”Walrus, we have a problem.”
”Where are you?”
”Aqueduct. It looks pretty quiet around here at the moment, but the police must be watching the neighborhood.”
”Oh, you bet your a.s.s they are. Besides the police, you've got what must be half the population of New York City wandering around Queens looking for the three of you. You'll have to wait until after dark.”
”That's a long time to wait, Walrus. Toby's living on borrowed time. Is John there?”
”He's on another line talking to my doc.u.ments people in Canada. You want me to get him?”
”No. There's nothing he could really tell me from there, anyway. I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure that every hour counts with Toby.”
”I hear what you're saying, Veil.” There was a long pause, and then the mercenary on the other end of the line continued, ”If you want, I'll bring a car over right now and take you out. What worries me is the possibility that a car going into an empty parking lot will attract attention; then we have to get the three of you and the idol out and into the car. If there are eyes on the place, we'll be f.u.c.ked. If you can hold things together until tonight, at least it will be dark.”
”We'll still have a problem, Walrus. They've got night racing here again.”
”s.h.i.+t. I thought they'd given up trying to compete with the Meadowlands.”
”The city needs the tax revenues, so they decided to give it another shot. They refurbished the place and opened up for night racing about a month ago. They're getting good crowds.”
There was a prolonged silence on the other end of the line, then, ”Maybe the fact that the place will be open for business could work to our advantage. Horse players don't give a s.h.i.+t about anything but the tickets in their hands and what's happening on the track. The parking lot will be jammed with cars, and you should be able to move with the crowds. But you're there and I'm here; you have to make the decision.”
There was no real decision to make, Veil thought. If they were captured, Toby would die, anyway. ”Tonight,” he said.
”Okay. I'll leave John near a gate with the engine running, and I'll come in for you. Where will you be?”
”It'll be better if we stay with the crowds until it's time to split. Make it near the rail at the west end of the track.”
”Nine-thirty?”
”Nine-thirty.”
”How's the girl holding up?”
”She's all right.”
”Tough cookie.”
”Yeah. I hope to h.e.l.l John thought to put a bottle of Scotch in that black bag of his.”
”Would you believe he didn't?”
”But there's always the Walrus to think of these things, right?”
”Do sharks s.h.i.+t in the ocean? A quart of Chivas, gently filed between a.n.a.lgesics and antibiotics.”
”See you later.”
”Yup.”
Veil and Reyna, with Toby propped up between them, stood near the outer restraining wall as the fourth race began. The K'ung, his bandaged head covered by one of the three hats Veil had taken from a maintenance equipment room, was conscious but leaning heavily on Reyna. Reyna stood with both arms wrapped around him, fingers tightly gripping his blue coveralls, trying to make it appear that they were lovers. Veil carried the Nal-toon, wrapped in a plastic trash bag.
As Walrus had suggested, no one in the crowd pressing around them paid the slightest bit of attention to anything but the details of their own special world, dominated by running horses and parimutuel tickets.
”Veil,” Reyna whispered, ”I'm afraid.”
”We're almost home free.”
”I'm still afraid. What you say is going to happen just seems too easy.”
Veil glanced at Toby. The bushman's open eye was gla.s.sy, and he was bent forward with both hands pressed to his stomach. Sweat ran off his face in steady, glistening rivulets. Still, despite his obvious pain, Toby seemed to Veil strangely serenea”as if the K'ung had given himself up totally to their care and was no longer concerned with what happened.
”You're just hooked on excitement and having to do things the hard way,” Veil replied softly, reaching around Toby and gently squeezing Reyna's shoulder. ”Don't worry. Walrus will walk us out of here to the car, and everything's going to be fine.”