A Gambling Man (Archer #2)(30)

He continued, “The trip didn’t turn out too well. Some died on the way. And when they got to where they were going the good-paying jobs turned out not to exist, at least for them. The Joads fell on hard times. It got pretty bad.”

“Well, then, I’m surprised you want to go anywhere near California.”

“There’s a line in the book I’m partial to.”

“What is it?”

“ ‘How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children? You can’t scare him—he has known a fear beyond every other.’ ”

“So what ‘fear beyond every other’ have you known, Archer?”

Archer handed her the Coke and spun a beauty of a six-skipper over the face of the Salinas as the sun blazed down on them.

He tipped his hat back. “Life, really, Liberty. Just life. How about you?”

She gave him a look that was between a sob and a smirk. “Hell, Archer, I’m a woman. So yeah, I can say the same, only double.”

Archer was about to skip another rock, but then let it drop. He put his hands in his pockets and stared out over the water.

“Don’t leave me in suspense, Archer. How’d it really end for the Joads? Were they all dead? Or did it turn into a fairy tale and they woke up rich?”

“Some of them fought back. Tried to do the right thing. Organized labor, that sort of thing. Fight the rich men. Sort of like trying to beat a Sherman tank with a pistol for all the good it’ll do you. But if a man doesn’t even try . . . ?”

“Or a woman, Archer,” she said firmly.

“Or a woman,” he conceded.

“So was the trip worth it for them?”

“I guess any trip is worth taking if standing still isn’t an option.”

“So why aren’t we moving then?”

They were walking back to the car when Callahan noticed it. “The blood on the door is gone.”

“Why do you think I stopped by the river? A rag and water equals no blood.”

“Smart thinking, Archer.”

They got back on the road, and very soon they entered the Santa Lucia Mountains. As the land rose around them, Archer looked over at Callahan as she closed her eyes and gripped the seat again.

“You know, for a tough lady like you who knows her way around a gun, I’m surprised anything scares you. We could have used you in the Eighth Army. You’re a better shot than a bunch of the guys I served with.”

“Flattery will only get you so far with me.” But she opened her eyes and smiled at him. “And where I grew up the land was pretty flat. I don’t really care for this.”

“How’d you get to Reno?”

“Trains, and buses, and hitching rides when my money ran out, which it did pretty regularly.”

“That can be dangerous for a gal on her own.”

“Yes it can, Archer,” she said but did not elaborate.

“Well, glad you made it.”

She gazed out the windscreen. “I didn’t really run into any mountains on the way.” She looked at him. “But I guess there’s always something in the way of where you want to go.”

“Well, once we clear these mountains, we’ll be able to see the Pacific Coast and the ocean.”

This perked Callahan up. “Really?”

“The mountains affect the weather coming west from the Pacific. Lot wetter on the coast side. Learned that while I was out here training. You’ll see the plants and trees and things are a lot different on the western-facing slopes. The mountains bump the weather systems. They drop their rain and then head over the peaks. They call it the rain shadow effect. It’s drier in the Salinas Valley because of that. They have to irrigate a lot from local water sources, although they do get some rain.”

They cleared the top of a peak on the winding road and started down. They passed coastal redwoods, ponderosa pine, fir trees, Pacific madrones, and cypress.

Later, at a lower level, they rounded a curve and Archer said, “And there’s the Pacific.”

Callahan actually sat on her haunches on the seat, one hand clutched on her turban, as she surveyed the breath of the largest body of water in the world.

“That whole thing is the Pacific?” she exclaimed.

“Well, you can only see a little bit of it from here. Keep going straight west and you’ll hit Japan. Same ocean, though.”

Her expression was one of unbridled wonder. “Jesus, that’s something, Archer. I thought that Lake Tahoe was big.”

“A drop in the bucket.”

“Gosh, it’s just . . . swell. I mean, really swell.”

He eyed her sitting on her haunches looking like a little girl who’d just been shown the most beautiful doll in the world and then been told it was all hers. He next eyed the glove box, where the .38 Special that had killed a man sat. He wondered about the complexities of human beings in general, and this woman in particular.

“How much farther to Bay Town?” she asked, finally resettling in her seat.

“We head out of the mountains, and I think the rest of the drive is out along the coast.” He slowed the car and then stopped on the shoulder. He popped open the glove box and took out a map and unfolded it. He studied the route while she watched him.