“It’s taking your mind off what we both don’t want to think about. I’m using your investigation in the same way. As long as we’ve got this to do, I think I can be steady.” She considered him. “The way you ask questions. The way you assess people and make them do what you need. Yeah, you’re a really smart guy.”
“I have the feeling you’re using my own tactic. You’re trying to find out something.”
“What are we going to do tonight? How are we going to get closer to the lights?” At once Tori smiled-one of the few times he’d seen her do that recently. “I get it. You said we won’t be near the crowd and we won’t be trespassing.
“We’re going to use your plane.”
52
“What I need is another riot or a shooting to get this story back on track,” Brent said as Anita drove.
“Why not an outbreak of bubonic plague?” she offered with muted sarcasm.
“Look, I know everybody thinks I’m an asshole.” Brent studied the barren landscape as they passed. Cattle were spread out, eating the meager grass. “But you have to admit I got sensational overnight ratings for us. It’s all about the tone. The weird stuff about the lights needs to sound like it’s important-like it’s actually news. If CNN is going to keep paying us to run with this, everything needs to sound believable, even if it’s the weirdest shit I ever came across.”
“Then why are we driving out to the observatory? Last night you said something about extraterrestrials. I hope to God you were joking.”
“Yeah, it was a joke. Look, I’m winging this, okay? I’ll know what I need when I see it. Besides, I don’t understand why you’re complaining. Do you have anything better to do?”
“Aside from earning as much extra money as I can, nope. And I don’t know what gave you the idea I was complaining.”
Anita stopped the van at the side of the road. Dust swirled as Brent studied the sign.
U.S. GOVERNMENT OBSERVATORY
RESTRICTED AREA
TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED
“Friendly,” he said. “Let’s get some shots of me standing next to it.”
Stepping out into the intense sunlight, he walked through the blowing dust and positioned himself beside the sign. Determined to continue his rugged look, he didn’t bother trying to swat any of the dust from his suit. With his tie open and his collar unbuttoned, he raised the handheld microphone to his mouth. The mike had a transmitter that sent audio directly to Anita’s camera, but for the first time since coming to Rostov, he realized that he couldn’t think of anything to say.
She held the heavy camera on her shoulder, focusing on him. It had a so-called shotgun microphone attached to the top. Projecting like a barrel, the microphone could register nearby sounds, but not as clearly as the one Brent held.
After a long moment of silence, she looked out from behind the camera.
“Cat got your tongue?” she asked.
“Sarcasm isn’t welcome.”
“Your fans are waiting.”
“Hell with it, then. Let’s drive up to the observatory and see if any- thing looks interesting. I can come back later and do the intro at the end.”
“Drive up? I don’t think so.” Anita pointed toward a metal gate that stretched across the lane that led to the observatory. The gate was locked.
“I guess we head back to town.” She moved to load the camera back into the truck.
“Maybe not.” Brent walked to the opposite side of the gate.
“What are you doing?”
“Ever been on a farm?”
“I went to a zoo once.”
“My grandfather owned a hundred acres in Ohio. I used to go there for two weeks every summer. I remember the day when he drove his tractor out to a field but a gate got locked by accident, and he didn’t have the key to open it. I’d never heard anybody swear for that long a time.” He smiled at the memory while he examined the gate’s hinges and nodded. “Give me a hand, would you?”
She set down the camera and walked over. “Your grandfather found a way to get through?”
“Grab the gate on this end and help me lift.”
Anita shrugged and got a solid grip on one of the metal poles. They pushed upward. The hinges had metal circles that fitted over small metal posts. It took only a little effort to raise the circles from the posts and push the gate inward. Within minutes, they managed to make just enough room for the van to slip through.
“I guess the government hired somebody local to install the gate. But they forgot to tell the guy that the gate protected an observatory, not a pasture.”
“Maybe you didn’t read that part of the sign where it says trespassers will be prosecuted,” Anita said.
“We’ll just say we found the gate off its hinges and worried that another terrible thing had happened. We decided it was our duty to investigate.” He paused and looked at her. “But don’t let me force you to do anything you’re not comfortable with. Do you want to stop?”
“No way,” Anita told him. “Ever heard of a cholla?”
“What’s that?”
“A type of cactus. That was my nickname in high school.”
“Because?”
“If people messed with me, they felt like a thorn got stuck in them and festered.”
Brent considered her. Five feet two inches tall. Maybe a hundred and five pounds. But she hardly looked petite. A long time of holding the twenty-five-pound camera on her shoulder had made her sinewy. And there was something about the strength in her dark eyes.
“Hey, believe me, I’m not trying to mess with you,” he said. “If you don’t want to go in there, you don’t need to. You can wait here for me.”
Walking toward the van, Anita replied over her shoulder, “Of course I want to go in there.” Her ponytail swinging at the back of her baseball cap, she lifted the camera as if it weighed nothing and put it into the van. Then she got in and revved the engine.
Brent waited for her to drive through the opening. Then he moved the fence back so the hinges seemed intact. He got into the passenger seat, and she drove down the lane. Dust rose behind them.
“If there’s a guard, the dust’ll warn him we’re coming a long time before we get there,” Anita observed.
“No problem-I just want to get a shot of the place. Maybe I’ll see something that’ll help me connect it to the lights, but now that we’re out here, I can’t imagine what it would be. I hate to admit it, but this story might have played itself out.” He thought for a moment. “Un- less there’s another shooting tonight. We can always hope for that.”
He glanced at her left hand on the steering wheel. “You’re not wearing a wedding ring, so I’m guessing you’re not married. Do you have a boyfriend?”
“Hey, I hope you’re not hitting on me.”
Anita reached toward one of the many pockets on her khaki pants. A metal clip was attached to the outside of one of them. She pulled on it and revealed that the clip was attached to a black folding knife. She thumbed it open, revealing the blade.
“Remember what I said about my nickname.” She gestured with the knife.
“Honest to God, I’m just making conversation. I was trying to figure out how… what’s the word you used?… a cholla… sounds like you used to be a biker chick…”
“You got it.”
“… how a cholla became a cameraman.”
“Camerawoman. I had a boyfriend. He flipped his motorcycle, showing off. Got himself killed. Of course it didn’t help that he wasn’t wearing a helmet. A couple of days earlier, he’d dumped me for somebody else. That’s when I realized biker chicks don’t have a future. When I saw an ad for the community college, I went out there, asked what courses they had, and decided that learning how to handle a television camera might be cool.”
“And critics complain that television isn’t a positive influence. Is it as cool as you hoped?’
“Look at the wonderful people I get to work with.”
Brent laughed.