“I do,” Stephanie said. “But they won’t. Where’s Zira?”
“In the bushes there. She’s in labor, or very nearly so. Stevie, what are we going to do?"
“Oh, God, I don’t know—can you get Zira into the car? We’ll have to find Lewis.”
“I’ll get her.”
“And hurry, Cornelius. The Marines will be all over this road.”
He rushed down the slope, and lifted Zira tenderly. “Can you walk?”
“Yes. It will be all right—where are we going?”
“Stevie has a car. She’s going to help us.” They struggled up the hill. Stephanie had the back door of the car open.
“Get in,” Stevie said. “And get down. Cover yourselves with this blanket. I’ll have to think of a story to get us past that roadblock down below. Don’t move, whatever you do.” She jockeyed the car around in a U-turn, backing up twice to get the long station wagon turned around on the narrow road. Then she drove back down the hill.
“Back so soon, Dr. Branton?” the Captain asked.
“Yes. I’ve been thinking about what you said. If they’ve killed one of your men, I want no part of them, Captain. I’m going home.”
“Don’t blame you, Miss.” He shined his light into her car and glanced in, but made no thorough search. “I’m supposed to open the trunk—you got no trunk in a station wagon, though. Have a good trip, Doctor.”
“Thank you, Captain.” She drove away.
“Killed?” Zira said. “Cornelius, what have you done?”
“I killed that boy. The orderly,” Cornelius said miserably.
Zira groaned. “Would it have helped if we’d called for help after he fell?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Cornelius said, “Be still. Rest. Think of the new life on the way, not about—one dead human. Stevie, where are we going?”
“You’ll see. It’s the only place I can think of. We’ll call Lewis when we get there.”
She drove on into the night, through the brown hills of Orange County. Behind them they could hear the sirens of the Marine trucks, and the sounds of helicopters searching the camp.
They drove through the darkened streets of San Juan Capistrano, past the old mission to a vacant field beyond. There were tents pitched on the field, and a number of truck-mounted circus wagons parked next to them. Stevie drove to a camper-trailer marked “ARMANDO’S SENSATIONAL CIRCUS.” “Wait here,” she said, and went to the door.
After a long time it opened and Stevie vanished inside.
“Can we trust her?” Cornelius asked. There was agony in his voice.
“What else can we do?” Zira said. “Cornelius, if she intended to betray us she need merely have spoken to the Marine captain at the roadblock.”
“Yes, but suppose she has changed her mind? Or—why would this man help us? This Armando?”
“What else can we do?”
Stevie and Armando came out of the caravan. The short, dark man peered into the station wagon, then opened the door. “Come out, come out,” he said. His voice was almost musical. “We have better places than the back seat of a Plymouth for a chimpanzee to be born. Come along, come along.”
His enthusiasm was infectious. Cornelius and Zira were led through the tent and caravan city to a small tent at the end. Inside they found a small infirmary, as well as cages. Armando pointed to the cages and laughed. “You will not be the first chimpanzee to give birth in Armando’s infirmary. Nine, nine healthy young apes have been born here, the last one less than a week ago. Now, Madame Zira, if you will consent to sleep in a cage—”
“Anywhere,” Zira said. “I’m exhausted.”
“Can you send for Lewis?” Cornelius asked.
“Certainly,” Armando said. “Certainly. Although you will find that Armando is not inexperienced in these matters.”
“I already called him,” Stevie said. “You’ll be all right here, Cornelius. You’ll see.”
Zira lay on the pallet in the cage. “If Lewis is going to deliver this baby, he’d better hurry,” she said. “I don’t think he’s going to make it”
“Oho,” Armando said. He looked at Cornelius, then shrugged. “Out. Out! Go to my caravan and wait. You will find cigars and scotch there, if you wish them, but leave.”
“But shouldn’t I stay?” Cornelius said.
The other three laughed in unison. Cornelius let himself be pushed out of the tent, their laughter ringing behind him. “Fathers!” Armando snorted. “I have delivered five human children here, when this circus was on the road, and I tell you, I prefer the animals, because the fathers of apes do not care. Go, Cornelius, you are worse than a human midget.”
He went to Armando’s wagon and found a seat at the dinette. The caravan was small but neat, and there was plenty of room to sit, but none to pace. Cornelius sat in the dark, his face in his hands, and he listened, and waited, while his thoughts haunted him with memories of the dead boy lying motionless on the hospital floor.
They will demand my child’s life as the price of that boy’s blood, he thought. I do not know how I know this, but I do know it. My child’s life for that boy.
TWENTY
“You’re taking a big chance, Armando,” Lewis Dixon said. “Why?”
The circus owner shrugged. “What have they done to deserve death? Imprisonment? Their baby killed? Come, it is nearly time. Stephanie is waiting for you.”
They walked quickly through the circus yards. “In that cage we have Heloise, and her daughter Salome. Our last maternity in this circus. We have had more chimpanzees born here than you have in your Los Angeles Zoo!”
They reached the infirmary tent. “Cornelius!” Armando said. “I told you to wait in my caravan.”
“I had to see Lewis. I didn’t mean to kill that boy, Lewis. I didn’t—”
“I believe you,” Lewis said.
“But will the others? While I waited, I had the most horrible thoughts. Nightmares, but I was fully awake. I thought—that humans would demand the life of my child in exchange for the orderly. I want them to take mine instead.”
“Nonsense,” Armando said. “No one will die for that boy. There was an accident. A very bad thing, but no one should die for it. Now go and wait for us. It is nearly time.”
Stevie looked out through the tent flap. “Yes, hurry, Lewis. Armando. Please.”
“We’re coming,” Lewis said. “Wait here, if you can’t go to Armando’s caravan. But stay out of sight.”
“My people may be trusted,” Armando said.
“Perhaps. But they can’t go to jail for what they don’t know. Or they’ll be less likely to, anyway,” Lewis said. “Now let’s deliver that baby.”
Again Cornelius was alone. He went to the other cage and looked inside. The chimpanzee whimpered at him, and clutched its baby protectively.
“Confused, aren’t you?” Cornelius said. He used soothing tones, knowing the chimpanzee couldn’t speak. “An ape, like you, but wearing clothes, and speaking. Well, you needn’t worry about it. Your child won’t speak. But she’s a fine one, anyway . . .” He paced again, waiting, and it seemed to be hours before he heard a cry from the infirmary.
He rushed to the entrance, but no one came out. He heard more cries from inside, and voices, low, urgent. What was happening? He was reaching for the tent flap when it opened and Stephanie came out.
She smiled. “It’s a boy. A fine healthy one, so far as I can tell. And Zira’s all right. Everything is fine, Cornelius.”
He looked around at the shabby circus wagons, and remembered the soldiers searching for him in the dark. “Sure,” he said. “Everything’s fine.”