The Gorgon Field by Kate Wilhelm Read Free Book Online

watching so closely behind him with his head out the open door. Suddenly, he lifted his head, listening. Nothing, hardly even any wind to stir the trees. All at once, he admitted to himself that he would not be able to back out in the dark. The backup lights were too dim, the road too curvy, with switchbacks that were invisible, and a drop-off too steep, the rocky mountain too close. He had scraped the car several times already, and he had stopped too many times with one or two wheels too close to the edge or even over it. He had thought this before, but each time he had started again; now he reached out and turned off the headlights. The blackness seemed complete at first; gradually, moonlight filtered through the trees. It was all right, he thought tiredly. He could rest for a while and at dawn start moving again. He pulled the door shut, cracked the window a little, and leaned back, with his eyes closed, and slept.
    When Charlie drove in the next morning, Constance met him and exclaimed at his condition. “My God, you’ve been wrestling with bears! Are you all right?”
    “Hungry, tired, dirty. All right. You?”
    “Fine. Manuel, a pot of coffee right now and then a big breakfast, steak, eggs, fruit, everything. Half an hour.”
    Charlie waited until they were in their room to kiss her. She broke away, shaking her head. “You might have fought off bears, but you won. I’m going to run a bath while you strip. Come on, hop!”
    He chuckled and started to peel off his clothes. She really was fine. She looked as if she had slept better than he had, anyway. Now the ordeal of trying to get back seemed distant and even ludicrous.
    Manuel brought coffee while he was bathing; she took it the rest of the way and sat by the tub while he told her his adventures.
    “You really think someone moved the sign?” she asked incredulously. “Why?”
    “Why do I think it, or why did they do it?”
    “Either. Both.”
    “It was there this morning, back where it belonged. I think Ramón didn’t want me here last night. What happened?”
    “Nothing. That must be breakfast.” She nearly ran out.
    Nothing? He left the tub and toweled briskly, got on his robe, and went to the sitting room, where Manuel was finishing arranging the dishes.
    When they were alone again and his mouth was full of steak, he said, “Tell me about it.”
    Constance took her coffee to the window and faced out. “I don’t know what there is to tell. I had a nightcap with Don Carlos and Ramón and went to bed pretty early and slept until after eight.” She came back and sat down opposite him. “I really don’t know what happened,” she said softly. “Something important, but I can’t say what it was. There’s power in the gorgons, Charlie, real power. Anyone who knows the way can tap into it. That sounds so… stupid, doesn’t it? But it’s true. Let me sort it out in my own mind first, okay? I can’t talk about it right now. What did you find?”
    “Enough to blow Ramón’s boat out of the water,” he said. At her expression of dismay, he added, “I thought that’s what we came here for.”
    There was a knock on the door and she went to answer it. Deborah was there, looking pale and strained.
    “All hell’s about to break loose today,” she said when Constance waved her in. “Charlie, I’m glad you’re back. Father’s in conference, and then he’s sending his associates to Denver to get together with company attorneys or something. And Tony’s due in by two. Father wants to clear the decks before then for the showdown. You’re invited. Three, in his apartment.”
    An exodus began and continued all day. The helicopter came and went several times; a stream of limousines crept up the mountain road, vanished. The loud laughter was first subdued, then gone. Yesterday, the managers had all been supremely confident, clad in their invisible gray suits; today, the few that Constance had seen had been like schoolboys caught doing unspeakable