* * * SENSH * * *
She looked back. Behind her was no trace of the door she had just walked through. She was in untamed scrubland, the gravelly ground littered with rocks of all sizes. A giant saguaro cactus stood a few feet away, looming over her; Teresa had never been so close to one before, and stared up at it in awe. The dry heat made her throat hurt, and the sun made the top of her head burn.
There was a paved road a short distance away, and parked on the side was a white opentop Lincoln Continental. The driver was leaning across the front seat, waving and beckoning to her. Teresa walked quickly towards the car, wary of turning her ankle on the loose rocks.
'Hello!' said the driver, in a British accent. 'You want to go and look at Monument Valley with me?'
lt was the young woman she had seen on the set, still dressed in her cowgirl costume.
'You're Shandy, aren't you,' Teresa said, realizing that they had never been face to face before.
'Yes. How do you know that?'
'I'm Teresa Simons, and I'm glad to meet you.'
* * * SENSH * * *
'Get in the car, Teresa. Let's get to know each other.
Hey, isn't it hot? You want to loosen some of those clothes?
Me, I'm just crazy about the heat. Phew!' She pulled at the top of her shirt, and with the sound of ripping velcro she opened it all the way down. Her barely restrained breasts popped into sight. 'Let's go somewhere, and'
'Listen, this isn't going to work, Shandy,' Teresa said.
She looked ahead, and saw the road leading in a more or less straight line across the desert floor, the stunning, magnificent rocky buttes rising on each side.
'Is this your first time?'
'I got to go. I'm sorry.'
'I've got a friend called Luke. He'd love to meet you.'
'No, Shan. Maybe we can do this some other time.'
'Whatever you want,' Shandy said, pouting and looking straight ahead down the desert road.
'Yeah, 1 got to go,' said Teresa. She recalled the LIVER mnemonic.
You have been flying SENSH Y'ALL
Fantasys from the Old West
Copyroody everywhere doan even THINK about it!!
She kept forgetting about that, but didn't have the energy to kill the music. She heard it through, until at last it faded.
A young woman was sitting at one of the tables in the picnic area, with plastic cups and plates, scraps of food, and several toys spread all about. She was laughing, and her child was running around on the grass, wrapped up in his game.
Teresa was standing at the edge of the clearing, but she stepped back quickly behind a tree.
Gerry Grove lurched into view, the gun in his hand. He raised it with a deliberate, wide swinging motion of his hand, then cocked it, working the mechanism three or four more times, relishing the sound.
The noise made the woman turn towards him. She saw
the gun levelled at her, and panicked. She shouted in terror to her child, trying to twist round on the heavy log, to get across to the little boy, but she seemed paralysed by her fear. The boy, thinking it was still a game, dashed away from her. The woman's voice became a hoarse roar, then, after she had sucked in her breath, she was incapable of further sound.
Teresa saw that Grove still didn't know how to hold or alm a gun. He held it at arm's length, pointing at the terrified woman, the weapon wavering slightly in his grasp.
This time, Teresa thought, I'm not going to show him how to do it properly.
Grove fired! The gun recoiled back in his hand, and Rosalind Williams screamed in terror.
She ducked down, rushing across the clearing floor towards her child. Grove fired at her again. The gun bucked in his hand, this time apparently twisting his wrist. While Rosalind Williams scooped up her little boy in her arms, Grove held his gunarm against his stomach and leaned over it in pain. Crouching low, holding her screaming boy at an awkward angle, Mrs Williams scrambled past him, heading for the road.
Grove tried firing again, but his gun arm was obviously hurting and the weapon did not discharge. He transferred it to his left hand, took hurried alm at Mrs Williams, fired again.
Once more, the recoil made the gun jerk in his hand. The woman escaped through the trees, clutching her child.
Giddy with relief, Teresa breathed in deeply, letting it out with a sob. Grove heard the noise and turned towards her. She was not making any more effort to hide.
'Who the fuck are you?' he said.
She began to laugh; she felt the madness of relief rising in her, and she spluttered and coughed, doubling up.
'I'll fucking kin you, you stupid bitch!' Grove shouted.
'You couldn't plug the side of a barn!' she yelled at him, thinking of a moment, centuries before, on a shooting trip
with her dad, him yelling at her when for once she missed the target. Hi, she had said to her dad as he passed her on his way out of the living quarters. The last word she ever spoke to him? Hi Dad, you got me into all this, you gunhappy old bastard. She wished she'd said more while she'd had the chance. She was getting hysterical.
'Shut the fuck up!' Grove screamed at her, and let off a wild shot with his left hand.
'Don't ever say that to me, you creep,' she said, then recalled the LIVER mnemonic.
She was in a utility yard, in stifling heat, surrounded by cops. The tall side of the mall building loomed over them, casting little shade. One of the cops noticed her.
'Stand back, ma'am!' he said at once, raising his arms. 'You're in danger there! Please leave this area at once!'
'FBI,' Teresa said simply, and flicked her ID at him.
'Sorry, ma'am,' said the cop, evidently startled. 'But we have an armed suspect in there, and'
'That's OK. Get back under cover. Is Agent Simons here with you?'
' You best speak with the Captain, ma'am.'
Teresa backed off quickly. She was trying to remember which way Andy had gone, after leaving the mall administrator. She hurried away, following the side of the building. Ahead of her, Andy let himself out of a small service door. He was carrying his gun. Before continuing he quickly cased all directions. He saw her at once, and raised his gun.
'Andy!' she shouted.
'Tess! What in hell are you doing here?'
'For God's sake, Andy!' She rushed towards him, wanting to hold him more than she had ever wanted anything in her life.
' I'm on a case, Tess,' he said, touching her arm with
quick affection, but brushing her aside. 'You want to hang around here for a while, and we'll talk later?'
'Andy, you're in danger! Don't go on with this!'
He looked sharply at her. He said, 'Shit, how the devil you get down here to Texas?'
He strode on in sudden rage at her, heading back towards the utility yard.
Teresa said, 'Andy, this isn't your case. You're just liaising with the police. Let them finish it.
That's their job.'
'I'm on assignment. Wait here!'
He thrust her back and away from him, and stepped round the corner into the yard. At that moment, someone shouted through a bullhorn:
'Freeze, Aronwitz! Throw down your weapon!'
Teresa darted round behind Andy, and collided with his back. He lurched slightly, and Aronwitz/Grove noticed the movement. He was standing on a slightly raised shelf of concrete, one of the outlet ducts where service trucks collected their loads. His gun hung loosely in his right hand. He saw the huge encirclement of armed police, crouching down, ready with their guns. Looking at Andy, he made a circling motion with his gun, a deliberate, wide swinging of the arm. He cocked the weapon, the click audible in every part of the yard.