The Cove

backwater hole-in-the wall is James Quinlan, that FBI agent you were with in The Cove? He's not bad-looking, Sally. Now I know he's your lover. A man like that wouldn't stay with a woman unless she delivered.

    "How desolate poor Scott will be when he finds out. Let's go now, my dear girl. It's time you came back to your little nest. A different nest. This time that bastard won't come to get you." It couldn't be him, but it was. Her father was dead. Why did he still want her so badly?

    "I'll hold her. Bring the needle. Let's get out of this godforsaken place."

    "I wouldn't go to heaven with you."

    "Of course you will, my dear girl."

    He was gripping her arm hard now, pulling her back against him, one hand over her mouth. She shoved her right elbow hard into his stomach.

    He sucked in his breath, and she jerked free. "James! Marvin!" Then she screamed, just once before a hand smashed down over her mouth.

    "Damn it, grab her! Gag her. Give her the shot!"

    She grabbed the edge of a small table below the public telephone and gave it a shove, sending it crashing over, knocking against one of the men with Beadermeyer. She screamed once more, just a whisper of sound this time because the man's hand was hard over her mouth, covering her nose as well and she couldn't breathe. She was jerking, kicking back with her heels, feeling flesh, but still the man held her.

    She felt fingers fumbling around her arm.

    A needle.

    He was going to shove a needle into her arm. He was going to make her into a zombie again. She kicked back as hard as she could. For an instant the man's hand loosened over her nose and mouth.

    She leaned down and bit the man's hand, the hand that held that needle, and yelled again. "James!"

    The hand went back over her mouth. A man was cursing, another man was jerking at her other arm, but she managed to send her left arm back hard, hitting him in the belly. The touch of the needle fell away. She heard a thunk on the wooden floor. He'd dropped the needle.

    "I should have known you two goons would fuck it up. Pick up the damned needle, you idiot. Jesus, it's dark in here, but not dark enough. I knew I should have just knocked her out. Or shot the little bitch. Damn, let's just get out of here. Forget the needle, forget her."

    It was Dr. Beadermeyer and he was furious.

    Then she heard Fuzz the Bartender yelling the ripest obscenities she'd ever heard. The man released her. She staggered, then screamed, "You've lost, you damned bastard. Fuck off and take your two dogs with you or James will kill you."

    He was panting hard, enraged. "I thought it would be easy, just slip a needle into your arm. You've changed, Sally, but this isn't the end of it."

    "Oh, yes, it is. I'm going to put you out of business, you Nazi worm. I'm going to put you in jail, and I hope every one of those big inmates takes a fancy to you."

    He raised his arm to hit her, but his two men crashed into him as they tried to get down the narrow hallway to the exit.

    "Stop it, you fools," he screamed at them. Then they were all racing toward the back emergency exit. The door pounded open, then slammed shut.

    She looked up to see Marvin the Bouncer bolting toward her like a runaway train. She heard Fuzz the Bartender crashing through the tables, yelling even riper obscenities.

    She realized the whole incident had taken only seconds. It had seemed longer than a winter blizzard.

    She took two steps forward. She saw James leaping off the stage. She saw him pull out his gun.

    She saw Ms. Lilly pick up a baseball bat and stride toward her like an Amazon angel.

    It had all happened so quickly. Yet she'd felt the fear of a lifetime. To have a needle shoved into her arm again. No, she couldn't have borne that, not again.

    Then she realized that the fear was dimming, releasing her, and she shook her head.

    She'd won. She'd beaten him. She wished she could have shot him. Or stuck a knife in his guts.

    Marvin the Bouncer took one quick look at her, then slammed open the emergency exit door and ran outside.

    Fuzz the Bartender streaked past her and out the door behind Marvin. She heard pounding footsteps. Lots of them. She prayed they'd catch Beadermeyer.

    She suddenly felt so weak she couldn't hold herself up. She sank to her knees and leaned against the wall. She wrapped her arms around her bent knees and leaned her face against her legs.

    "Sally, hang on, I'll be right back." It was James running after Marvin and Fuzz.

    "Well, my