by Shadoe Masters
A few hours later, Burt's perimeter alarm sounded and he went up top to meet Kylie.
"How'd it go?" she asked, getting a bag from Chang's out of her Rover.
"Not bad," Burt admitted, surprised. "I'm teaching him some English. He's a fast learner."
Kylie's eyebrows rose. "Not bad for a lizard, huh?"
Burt grinned, following her down the stairs. "You find out anything?"
She tossed him a glance. "Oh yeah," she said, with layers of significant meaning.
Gustave smiled when he saw her, and launched into an excited narrative, pulling Kylie around the room to show her the wonders he'd found. While Kylie got the tour, Burt set out the meal she'd brought from town.
Gustave told her all the new words he'd learned, too.
"'Desert Eagle, Mossberg, Heckler and Koch' - this is teaching him English?" Kylie confronted Burt as Gustave tucked into the food with enthusiasm. Kylie was glad she'd brought extra. She brought their plates over to Burt's computer table and cleared some room while Burt got two beers out of the refrigerator and pulled over a stool from the other table. "I see you got him dressed right away. Why the, um, fur thing?"
Gustave was wearing one of the pelts Burt had stored. It wasn't a lot more civilized than his previous apparel, but it covered more. "I gave him some clothes, but he wouldn't wear them," Burt replied. "I think the cloth irritates his scales. Or skin, actually. I noticed he's got quite a few places that are rubbed raw."
Kylie noticed the ointment smeared liberally over a lot of him. She smiled. "And you doctored him up. You seem to do that to all your visitors."
Burt's face flamed at the reminder of her first night in Perfection Valley. In his bunker. In his bed.
Ruthlessly, he pushed the memory aside. "What did you find out?" he asked, and began eating.
"I found his parents," Kylie said, almost simpering at her cleverness. "Well, Sam did. You were right - he remembered the bus." She took a bite of chicken, considering. "I'm not sure what to tell Gustave just yet. The police took them because there was a warrant for their arrest. When they ran away, they apparently took a large sum of money with them that belonged to the organizer of some kind of offbeat circus show."
Burt frowned. "Anything we can do?"
Kylie shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. I contacted a few people..."
"Your friend in LA?"
"Among others," she replied. "We should hear something by morning." She stole a glance at Gustave, who was eyeing the mashed potatoes. She pushed the bowl over to him and he piled more on his plate. "I don't know if I should tell him anything yet. I wouldn't want to get his hopes up."
Burt glanced over at the boy too. "He can handle it," he said decisively. "He's strong. Do you know he made that knife himself? He showed me what he did. He--"
Kylie gurgled with laughter. "You've met a fellow survivalist! Now we'll never get you two apart!"
Four frustrating days later, Kylie hung up the phone at Chang's, an angry frown on her face.
"Have you found out anything yet?" Nancy asked as Kylie joined her and Jodi at the lunch counter. "You've been on that phone for hours."
Kylie heaved a sigh. "Oh, I found out something. Nothing I like..." She snapped the radio from her belt and keyed the mic. "Burt? This is Kylie. You available?"
"Burt here," came the quick reply. "What've you got?"
"We need to take a trip to Vegas," she told him, expecting the worst. The radio was silent for a few moments, while Kylie could picture Burt having one of his quiet tantrums. She shot Nancy a glance and caught the smiling exchange between her and Jodi.
"Why?" the annoyed response came at last.
Kylie thought of a thousand responses to that, trying to come up with the one that would keep Burt's complaints to a minimum. "To get Gustave's parents," she replied. "It's not going to be easy, and I'll need your help." He couldn't argue about that one. While Burt seemed to enjoy comparing notes with Gustave and teaching him Gummer-English, four days in his constant company was starting to wear thin. He was getting ready to turn Gustave over to Twitchell just to get him out of his hair.
"And what are we supposed to do with Gustave while we're gone?" Burt's sarcasm was alive and well, at least.
Still, if that was his only complaint, she had it pretty easy.
He did have a point. While the rest of the female population of Perfection was aware of Gustave's existence, they hadn't actually met the boy, and who knew how they'd react. She wouldn't want Gustave to regress if they treated him like a freak. Tyler would handle it all right. Unfortunately, the holiday weekend had kept him so busy with back-to-back tours they hadn't had a chance to tell him about Gustave over the weekend. Then, as soon as the tours ended, he scuttled off to Bixby for what was left of the weekend and now they had no idea where he was or when he'd return.
Maybe they could take Gustave with them...
Kylie had just keyed the mic to suggest this when the door opened and Larry walked in. "Hey guys! What'd I miss?"
A smile curved Kylie's lips as Larry launched into his description of the convention he'd been to, seemingly without taking a breath. "Bring him into town, Burt," Kylie said. "I think it's time he met everyone anyway."
If anyone could treat a seven-foot lizard-man as a normal person, it was Larry Norvel.
Burt looked up at the flash of light outside of Chang's window. Kylie's rover pulled up front. "About time," he muttered. He turned to Larry and skewered him with a look. "I expect you to take care of whatever he needs while we're gone."
Larry blinked up at him. "But... He doesn't even speak English."
"Neither do you!" Burt turned and walked out to meet Kylie. He thought she was crazy to suggest putting Larry in charge of Gustave, but the two had hit it off right away. Probably because they were the same mental age. Now he could find out what "Great Plan" Kylie had come up with that required him to wait at Chang's listening to Larry chatter for the past hour while she got ready to go at Nancy's. He stepped outside in time to see Tyler's Jeep pull up next to the Rover.
"Hey girl!" Tyler called, as Kylie's door opened and she slid out. "Why are you driving your-- Whoa!"
Kylie shot him a glance and slammed the door, and Burt could understand Tyler's surprise.
Her hair was twisted up neatly at the back of her head, she wore a no-nonsense black suit with a high collar but just enough cleavage to the white shirt underneath to entice. While the skirt only revealed her legs from the knees down, it clung in enough of the right places to suggest more than it hid. Black three-inch heels completed the look.
"Are we ready?"
Burt blinked as her voice dragged his eyes back to her face. She was wearing make up again.
He frowned.
"What are you all gussied up for?" Tyler said, voicing Burt's thoughts while taking his time walking into Chang's to get a good look.
Burt shifted to stand between the two.
"All part of my plan," Kylie said with a mysterious smile. "And now that you're here, you can come with us." She stepped around Burt to take Tyler's arm.
"Whatever you want... sure," Tyler agreed without hesitation.
"Then let's go. We're taking my truck."
"Let me just get some coffee for-- Whoa!" Tyler got his second shock of the day as he caught sight of Gustave. "What the hell is that?"
"We'll explain on the road," Burt said, taking his other arm and pulling him toward Kylie's Rover.
"A man goes away for less than a day and everything changes around here..." Tyler complained.
"You got the e-mail I sent?" Kylie said into her cell phone. "Good. Be sure to e-mail me a copy of that agreement too." She'd been on that phone since they'd been 20 miles outside of Las Vegas, calling or answering, while Burt drove and Tyler navigated through the busy streets from a map Kylie had printed at home.
Burt was reminded how much he hated cell phones.
Finally, she snapped the cell phone shut and slipped it into the briefcase that rested at her feet.
Burt snapped his eyes back to the road.
"Mr. Warrick is going to meet us there," she informed them. "You two are perfectly clear on what you're to do?"
"Stand back, keep quiet, look threatening," Tyler recited. He sat in the back, leaning forward between the two front seats. "What do we do if he tries anything?"
"Don't leave any marks he can use to prove an assault charge."
Burt was still shaking his head at the revelations Kylie had made on the way to Las Vegas. "So this Jim Stinton character brought the Rousseaus here from their circus tour in Slovenia, telling them he was going to put them in a Las Vegas show, then expected them to perform in some kind of sideshow-like brothel?"
"Exactly," she confirmed. "It took Mr. Warrick forever to get the story out of them, even after he found an interpreter."
"Which explains why they ran away," Burt said.
"Apparently Mrs. Rousseau isn't 'that kind of girl'," Kylie said.
"I should hope not!" Burt replied, indignant.
"And, the Rousseaus aren't the only ones Stinton's got in his brothel," Kylie added. "Mrs. Rousseau thinks he imported them just to put Gustave to work."
"He needs to be stopped," Burt said, determined.
"Oh, I think we'll manage to convince him," Kylie said in a saccharine-sweet voice.
"So are Mr. and Mrs. Rousseau like Gustave?" Tyler asked. "All big and scaly?"
"I don't think so," Kylie answered, shaking her head. "From what Mr. Warrick said, I think Mrs. Rousseau is fairly attractive, aside from her height, if a bit, um, exotic-looking. And Mr. Rousseau looks quite normal if you ignore the hands. And his voice, of course."
"Then how did Gustave end up looking like... that?" Tyler asked.
"I gather they both come from a long line of sideshow people," Kylie explained. "They probably have quite a few recessive genes."
"More than a few," Tyler guessed.
Kylie nodded.
"And you think this Stinton character will just drop the charges against them?" Burt challenged.
"If we threaten to expose his racket, he will," Kylie said. "It's been my experience," Burt said, "that men like that don't respond well to threats."
Kyle smiled. "Well, I've got a few more tricks in my bag," she said, patting the briefcase at her feet.
"Here's the turn, Burt," Tyler said, pointing to the street ahead. They followed the street halfway to the end, counting building numbers, until they reached a nondescript three-story brick building.
Mr. Warrick was already there, waiting, and stepped out of the car as Burt parked the Rover in front of his Lincoln. He was about Tyler's height, about thirty-five, wearing a conservative blue suit. Everything about him screamed, "Lawyer."
Kylie thought he didn't look nearly cutthroat enough for her needs, but he came highly recommended, and her discussions with him proved he knew his stuff. "Mr. Warrick, I presume," she said, stepping around the front of the Rover to meet him.
"Ms. Callahan," he replied, taking her outstretched hand.
His handshake was firm without being overpowering, Kylie noted with approval. She grinned as his eyes roamed over her in an assessing manner and he allowed just a hint of surprise to show. It seemed he'd expected someone more impressive, too. Just as well that they could both be underestimated, considering their task. Stinton would find out soon enough that appearances could be deceiving.
"This is Tyler Reed and Burt Gummer," Kylie said, indicating each man in turn. "They'll be our 'muscle' this afternoon."
Mr. Warrick cocked an eyebrow as he shook Burt's hand. "The Burt Gummer?" he asked, taking a closer look at him.
Burt reluctantly nodded and Kylie smiled. "He's a neighbor," she explained. "I thought we should be... prepared." She slanted a smile toward Burt with the last, earning her a halfhearted grin.
"That... kind of explains a lot," Mr. Warrick said, giving Kylie a more thoroughly assessing look. He gave Burt and Tyler one last, approving, glance, and turned to set his briefcase on the hood of his car. "I've drawn up the papers you requested," he said, pulling a thick sheaf of paper from his briefcase.
Kylie settled her briefcase next to his and the two exchanged pages, both perusing quickly.
"We definitely shouldn't have any trouble with these," Mr. Warrick assured her, giving her back the papers with a smile. "There is enough there for some serious charges, providing they can be substantiated."
"If they can't now, they will be," Kylie assured him, closing her briefcase with a snap. They turned and headed for the door at the front of the building, Kylie pausing as Burt reached it first and held it open for her. "Remember," she said quietly, "let me do all the talking."