Ash Return of the Beast

CHAPTER 63



Albuquerque International Airport…

5:07 p.m.

After arriving in Albuquerque, they learned the next flight to Seattle wouldn’t be departing for another hour. Ravenwood’s nerves were on edge. She thought about calling Kane but what good would it do? She’d already told him she was on her way home and the thought of trying to tell him over the phone what she’d experienced in some shaman’s hut in the jungles of San Cristobal just seemed crazy. In fact she was sure that’s what he’d think. Explaining it to him face-to-face, oddly enough, might be somehow easier, somehow make her sound less insane. As if that was even possible.

As they stood there in the middle of the airport with nothing else to do, she threw an arm over Tocho’s shoulder. “I could use a stiff one,” she said. Tocho’s facial response made her roll her eyes. “Get your head out of the gutter, my friend. I meant I could use a drink.”

They walked to the Route 66 Lounge right there in the airport and ordered a couple of drinks. Tocho ordered a double. The minutes passed with excruciating reluctance as they sipped their drinks with hardly a word spoken between them.

It was during those vast moments of silence that the real gravity of the situation truly sank into Tocho’s head. Not that he hadn’t understood what was going on. It was all clear enough. Still, it was only now that a feeling of impending doom flowed through him like dark, icy water filling the lungs of a drowning man. He believed every word of what Ravenwood had described about her trip into the Underworld, what she’d experienced, what she’d seen and what was about to be unleashed unless, somehow, by some miracle, she was able to stop it from happening. Maybe he’d been unconsciously pushing it to the back of his mind, keeping it at bay behind a temporary wall of denial. Maybe now the alcohol was loosening the mortar that had held that wall in place. He could feel that wall crumbling and fear was seeping in through the cracks.

Ravenwood had been staring down into her drink, stirring the ice cubes round and round with a little pink straw. Tocho ordered another double and slugged it down.

She looked up as he set his empty glass on the table. She smiled.

He couldn’t quite read the smile. It seemed somehow like an empty gesture, something to do when there was nothing to say. His last drink was taking effect and the table that separated them grew longer by the second until the distance between them reminded him of a cartoon of a ridiculously long dining table with a husband sitting at one end and the wife sitting at the other as they ate their meal in complete silence, together yet apart. He and Ravenwood had always been together yet apart for as long as he could remember. Not that he’d wanted it that way. Quite the opposite. But it just wasn’t in the cards. They were destined to be just friends. Not even friends with benefits. Just friends. But there was no point in thinking about any of that now. Now he only wondered if he’d ever see her again.

“Gotta go,” Ravenwood said, pointing to the clock on the wall.

The sudden comment jarred Tocho out of his alcohol induced fog. “What? Oh. Yeah.”

His legs wobbled as he tried to stand. He leaned against the table to steady himself.

Ravenwood offered her arm. “C’mon, sailor. Let’s get you home.”

Home, for Tocho, was Sun City, just an hour’s drive from their present location.

Tocho took her arm and then, in one swift move, he slid his hands around her waist, pulled her to him and kissed her passionately on the mouth. She was taken aback but, for whatever reason, she didn’t immediately resist the embrace. But Tocho’s moment ended all too soon as she gently nudged herself away. Her face was flushed as she brushed back a strand of hair and pretended to smooth out her shirt.

“Shit. I’m sorry,” Tocho said. He grimaced at the sound of his own voice. “I don’t… that was pathetic.”

Ravenwood smiled. This time the smile had some life behind it. “No, it wasn’t,” she said.

Tocho looked surprised. A glimmer of hope lit up his eyes. “It wasn’t?”

“No, but don’t try it again.”

The glimmer in his eyes fizzled like a wet match. But the smile was still on her lips as she spoke so he knew she wasn’t angry.

“Well, that’s kinda why I did it,” he said with a shrug of embarrassment.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I was afraid maybe I’d never see you again. I couldn’t help myself. I’m sorry.”

“You’re drunk, is what you mean.”

He nodded. “Yeah, that too. A little. Forgive me?”

She picked up her purse and offered her arm once again. “Nothing to forgive.”

As they walked out, arm-in-arm, Ravenwood hailed a taxi to take Tocho home. The driver got out and opened the back door of the car. Ravenwood and Tocho stood for a moment, hand in hand, facing each other.

“Well,” Tocho said, “if I never see you again, I guess––”

“Shut up and go home.” She squeezed his hand and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “And thank you. I couldn’t have done any of this without you. I owe you. With any luck, the whole damn world will owe you.”

He shrugged. “We’ll see. Good luck.”

“Yeah. Now get out of here. I’ve got a plane to catch and a world to save.”

***

9:05 p.m.

Kane was in the kitchen when the phone rang. He sprinted to the living room to check the caller I.D. It’s about time. He grabbed the phone. “Where the hell are you?”

“Nice to hear your voice, too. I just got into Seattle. I’m at the Sea-Tac Airport. Gotta make a quick stop and then I’m heading for your place.”

“All right, hurry up. Shit’s happening.” He almost hung up and then remembered. “Wait. You still there?

“Yeah.” She thought maybe she was about to get an apology for his rudeness.

“Don’t take the freeway,” he said. “Some jerk-off tried to cut in front of a semi. Thing jack-knifed. Traffic’s all f*cked up.”

“Thanks. Be there as soon as I can.” The Teddy Bear must be in deep hibernation.