I slid into the driver's seat and prepared to leave.

The clerk leaned into the car. "What confused us," he said, "was Doctor Gonzo's signature on this telegram from Los Angeles - when we knew he was here in the hotel." He shrugged. "And then to have the telegram addressed to some guest we couldn't account for .. . well, this delay was unavoidable. You understand, I hope . . . ."

I nodded, impatient to flee. "You did the right thing," I "Never try to understand a press message. About half time we use codes - especially with Doctor Gonzo." I smiled again, but this time it seemed a trifle odd. "Tell me," he said, "when will the doctor be awake?"

I tensed at the wheel, "Awake? What do you mean?"

He seemed uncomfortable. "Well . . . the manager, Mister Heem, would like to meet him." Now his grin was definitely malevolent. "Nothing unusual. Mr. Heem likes to meet all our large accounts . . . put them on a personal basis . . . just a chat and a handshake, you understand."

"Of course," I said. "But if I were you I'd leave the doctor alone until after he's eaten breakfast. He's a very crude man."

The clerk nodded warily. "But he will be available. Perhaps later this morning?"

I saw what he was getting at. "Look," I said. "That telegram was all scrambled. It was actually from Thompson, not to him. Western Union must have got the names reversed." I held up the telegram, knowing he'd already read it. "What this is," I said, "is a speed message to Doctor Gonzo, upstairs, saying Thompson is on his way out from L.A. with a new a.s.signment - a new work order."

I waved him off the car. "See you later," I snapped. "I have to get out to the track."

He backed away as I eased the car into low gear.

"There's no hurry," he called after me. "The race is over."

"Not for me," I said, tossing him a quick friendly wave.

"Let's have lunch!" he shouted as I turned into the street.

"Righto!" I yelled. And then I was off into traffic. After a few blocks in the wrong direction on Main Street, I doubled back and aimed south, towards L.A. But with all deliberate speed. Keep cool and slow, I thought. Just drift to the city limits . . . .

What I needed was a place to get safely off the road, out of sight, and ponder this incredible telegram from my attorney. It was true; I was certain of that. There was a definite valid urgency in the message. The tone was unmistakable. .

But I was in no mood or condition to spend another week in Las Vegas. Not now. I had pushed my luck about as far as it was going to carry me in this town . . . all the way out to the edge. And now the weasels were closing in; I could smell the ugly brutes.

Yes, it was definitely time to leave. My margin had shrunk to nothing.

Now idling along Las Vegas Boulevard at thirty miles an hour, I wanted a place to rest and formalize the decision. It was settled, of course, but I needed a beer or three to seal the bargain and stupefy that one rebellious nerve end that kept vibrating negative . . .

It would have to be dealt with. Because there was an argument, of sorts, for staying on. It was treacherous, stupid and demented in every way - but there was no avoiding the stench of twisted humor that hovered around the idea of a gonzo journalist in the grip of a potentially terminal drug episode being invited to cover the National District Attorneys' Conference on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

There was also a certain bent appeal in the notion of running a savage burn on one Las Vegas Hotel and then - instead of becoming a doomed fugitive on the highway to L.A. - just wheeling across town, trading in the red Chevy convertible for a white Cadillac and checking into another another Vegas hotel, with press credentials to mingle with a thousand ranking cops from all over America, while they harangued each other about the Drug Problem. Vegas hotel, with press credentials to mingle with a thousand ranking cops from all over America, while they harangued each other about the Drug Problem.

It was dangerous lunacy, but it was also the kind of thing a real connoisseur of edge - work could make an argument for. Where, for instance, was the last last place the Las Vegas police would look for a drug - addled fraud - fugitive who just ripped off a downtown hotel? place the Las Vegas police would look for a drug - addled fraud - fugitive who just ripped off a downtown hotel?

Right. In the middle of a National District Attorneys' Drug Conference at an elegant hotel on the strip. . .. Arriving at Caesar's Palace for the Tom Jones dinner show in a flashing white Coupe de Ville . . . At a c.o.c.ktail party for narcotics agents and their wives at the Dunes?

Indeed, what better place to hide? For some some people. But not for me. And certainly not for my attorney - a very conspicuous person. Separately, we might pull it off. But together, no - we would blow it. Too much aggressive chemistry in that mix; the temptation to run a deliberate freakout would be too heavy. people. But not for me. And certainly not for my attorney - a very conspicuous person. Separately, we might pull it off. But together, no - we would blow it. Too much aggressive chemistry in that mix; the temptation to run a deliberate freakout would be too heavy.

And that of course would finish us. They would show us no mercy. To infiltrate the infiltrators would be to accept the fate of all spies: "As always, if you or any member of your organization is apprehended by the enemy, the Secretary will deny any Knowledge, . . . . .

No, it was too much. The line between madness and masochism was already hazy; the time had come to pull back . . . to retire, hunker down, back off and "cop out," as it were. Why not? In every gig like this, there comes a time to either cut your losses or consolidate your winnings - whichever fits.

I drove slowly, looking for a proper place to sit down with an early morning beer and get my head together . . . to plot this unnatural retreat.

11. Aaawww, Mama, Can This Really Be the End? Down and Out in Vegas, with Amphetamine Psychosis Again?

Tuesday, 9:00 A.M . . . . Now, sitting in "Wild Bill's Cafe" on the oputskirts of Las Vegas, I saw it all very learly. There only one road to L.A. - U.S. Intertate 15, a straight-run with no backroads or alternate routes, just a flat-out high-speed burn through Baker and Barstow and Berdoo and then on the Hollywood Freeway straight into frantic oblivion: safetly, obscurity, just another freak in the Freak Kingdom.

But in the meantime, for the next five or six hours, I'd be the most conspicsous thing on this G.o.dd.a.m.n evil road - the only fireapple-red shark convertible between b.u.t.te and Tijauana . . . blazing along this desert highway with a half naked hillbilly mental case at the wheel. Is it better to wear my purple and green Acapulco shirt, or nothing at all?

No way to hide in this monster.

This will not be a happy run. Not even the Sun G.o.d wants to watch. He is gone behind a cloud for the first time in three days. No sun at all. The sky is grey and ugly.

Just as I pulled into Wild Bill's back-street, half-hidden parking lot I heard a roar overhead and looked up to see a big silver smoke-trailing DC-8 taking off - about two thousand feet above the highway. Was Lacerda aboard? The man fom Life? Did they have all the photos they needed? All the facts? Had they fulfilled their responsibilities?

I didn't even know who'd won the race. Maybe n.o.body. For all I knew, the whole spectacle had been aborted by a terrible riot - an orgy of senseless violence, kicked off by drunken hoodlums who refused to abide by the rules.

I wanted to plug this gap in my knowledge at the earliest opportunity: Pick up the L.A. Times and scour the sports section for a Mint 400 story. Get the details. Cover myself. Even on the Run, in the grip of a serious Fear . . .

I knew it was Lacerda in that plane, heading back to New York. He told me last night that he meant to catch the first flight.

So there he goes . . . and here I am, with no attorney, slumped on a red plastic stool in Wild Bill's Tavern, nervously sipping a Budweiser in a bar just coming awake to an early morning rush of pimps and pinball hustlers .. . with a huge Red Shark just outside the door so full of felonies that I'm afraid to even look at it.

But I can't abandon the f.u.c.ker. The only hope is to somehow get it across three hundred miles of open road between here and Sanctuary. But, sweet Jesus, I am tired! I'm scared. I'm crazy. This culture has beaten me down. What the f.u.c.k am I doing out here? This is not even the story I was supposed to be working on. My agent warned me against it. All signs were negative - especially that evil Dwark with the pink telephone in the Polo Lounge. I should have stayed there . . . anything but this.

Aaawww . .. Mama can this really be the end?> No!

Who played that song? Did I actually hear that f.u.c.king thing on the jukebox just now? At 9:19 on this filthy grey morning in Wild Bill's Tavern?

No. That was only in my brain, some long - lost echo of a painful dawn in Toronto . . . a long time ago, half - mad in another world . . . , but no different.

HELP!.

How many more nights and weird mornings can this terrible s.h.i.t go on? How long can the body and the brain tolerate this doom - struck craziness? This grinding of teeth, this pouring of sweat, this pounding of blood in the temples . . . small blue veins gone amok in front of the ears, sixty and seventy hours with no sleep.

And now that is the jukebox! Yes, no doubt about it and why not? A very popular song: "Like a bridge over troubled water . .. I will lay me down . . . "

BOOM. Flashing paranoia. What kind of rat - b.a.s.t.a.r.d psychotic would play that song - right now, at this moment? Has somebody followed me here? Does the bartendress know who I am? Can she see me behind these mirrors?

All bartenders are treacherous, but this one is a surly middle - aged fat woman wearing a muu - muu and Iron Boy overalls . . . probably Wild Bill's woman.

Jesus, bad waves of paranoia, madness, fear and loathing - intolerable vibrations in this place. Get out. Flee . . . and suddenly it occurs to me, some final flash of lunatic shrewdness before the darkness closes in, that my legal/hotel checkout time is not until noon . . . which gives me at least two hours of legitimate high - speed driving to get out of this G.o.dd.a.m.n state before I become a fugitive in the eyes of the law.

Wonderful luck. By the time the alarm goes off, I can be running full bore somewhere between Needles and Death Valley - jamming the accelerator through the floorboard and shaking my fist up at Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., swooping down on me in his FBI/Screaming Eagle helicopter.

YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE ( . . . warning to smack dealers seen on a bulletin board in Boulder, CO.)

f.u.c.k you, Efrem, that wisdom cuts both ways.

As far as you and the Mint people know, I am still up there l850 - legally and spiritually if not in the actual flesh - a "Do Not Disturb" sign hung out to ward off disturb - The maids won't come near that room as long as that sign is on the doork.n.o.b. My attorney saw to that - along with 600 bars of Neutrogena soap that I still have to deliver to Malibu. What will the FBI make of that? This Great Red Shark full of Neutrogena soap bars? All completely legal. The maids gave gave us that soap. They'll swear to it . . . Or will they? us that soap. They'll swear to it . . . Or will they?

Of course not. Those G.o.dd.a.m.n treacherous maids will swear they were menaced by two heavily - armed crazies who threatened them with a Vincent Black Shadow unless they gave up all their soap.

Jesus Creeping G.o.d! Is there a priest in this tavern? I want to confess! I'm a f.u.c.king sinner! Venal, mortal, carnal, major, minor - however you want to call it, Lord . . . I'm guilty.

But do me this one last favor: just give me five more high - speed hours before you bring the hammer down; just let me get rid of this G.o.dd.a.m.n car and off of this horrible desert.

Which is not really a h.e.l.l of a lot to ask, Lord, because the

incredible truth is that I am not guilty. All I did was take your gibberish seriously . . . and you see where it got me? My primitive Christian instincts have made me a criminal.

Creeping through the casino at six in the morning with a suitcase full of grapefruit and "Mint 400" T - shirts, I remember telling myself, over and over again, "You are not guilty." This is merely a necessary expedient, to avoid a nasty scene. After all, I made no binding agreements; this is an inst.i.tutional debt - nothing personal. This whole G.o.dd.a.m.n nightmare is the fault of that stinking, irresponsible magazine. Some fool in New York did this to me. It was his idea, Lord, not mine.

And now look at me: half - crazy with fear, driving 120 miles an hour across Death Valley in some car I never even wanted. You evil b.a.s.t.a.r.d! This is your work! You'd better take care of me, Lord . . . because if you don't you're going to have me on your hands.

12. h.e.l.lish Speed . . . Grappling with the California Highway Patrol . . . Mano a Mano on Highway 61

Tuesday, 12:30 P.M. . . . Baker, California . . . Into the Ballantine Ale now, zombie drunk and nervous. I recognize this feeling: three or four days of booze, drugs, sun, no sleep and burned out adrenalin reserves - a giddy, quavering sort of high that means the crash is coming. But when? How much longer? This tension is part of the high. The possibility of physical and mental collapse is very real now . . . but collapse is out of the question; as a solution or even a cheap alternative, it is unacceptable.

Indeed. This is the moment of truth, that fine and fateful line between control and disaster - which is also the difference between staying loose and weird on the streets, or spending the next five years of summer mornings playing basketball in the yard at Carson City.

No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride . . . and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well . . . maybe chalk it off to forced consciousness expansion consciousness expansion: Tune in, freak out, get eaten. It's all in Kesey's Bible. . . . The Far Side of Reality.

And so much for bad gibberish; not even Kesey can help me I have just had two very bad emotional experiences - with the California Highway Patrol and another with a phantom hitchhiker who may or may not have been who I thought it was - and now, feeling right on the verge of a bad psychotic episode, I am hunkered down with my tape machine in a "beer bar" that is actually the back room of a huge Hardware Barn - all kinds of plows and harnesses and piled - up fertilizer bags, and wondering how it all happened.

About five miles back I had a brush with the CHP. Not stopped or pulled over: nothing routine. I always drive properly. A bit fast, perhaps, but always with consummate skill and a natural feel for the road that even cops recognize. No cop was ever born who isn't a sucker for a finely - executed hi - speed Controlled Drift all the way around one of those cloverleaf freeway interchanges.

Few people understand the psychology of dealing with a highway traffic cop. Your normal speeder will panic and immediately pull over to the side when he sees the big red light behind him . . . and then we will start apologizing, begging for mercy.

This is wrong. It arouses contempt in the cop - heart. The thing to do - when you're running along about a hundred or so and you suddenly find a red - flashing CHP - tracker on your trail - what you want to do then is accelerate. Never pull over with the first siren - howl. Mash it down and make the b.a.s.t.a.r.d chase you at speeds up to 120 all the way to the next exit. He will follow. But he won't know what to make of your blinker - signal that says you're about to turn right.

This is to let him know you're looking for a proper place to pull off and talk . .. keep signaling and hope for an off - ramp, one of those uphill side - loops with a sign saying "Max Speed 25" . . . and the trick, at this point, is to suddenly leave the freeway and take him into the chute at no less than a hundred miles an hour.

He will lock his brakes about the same time you lock yours, but it will take him a moment to realize that he's about to make a 180 - degree turn at this speed . .. but you will be ready for it, braced for the Gs and the fast heel - toe work, and with any luck at all you will have come to a complete stop off the road at the top of the turn and be standing beside your automobile by the time he catches up.

He will not be reasonable at first . . . but no matter. Let him calm down. He will want the first word. Let him have it. His brain will be in a turmoil: he may begin jabbering, or even pull his gun. Let him unwind; keep smiling. The idea is to show him that you were always in total control of yourself and your vehicle - while he lost control of everything.

It helps to have a police/press badge in your wallet when he calms down enough to ask for your license. I had one of these - but I also had a can of Budweiser in my hand. Until that moment, I was unaware that I was holding it. I had felt totally on top of the situation . . . but when I looked down and saw that little red/silver evidence - bomb in my hand, I knew I was f.u.c.ked. .

Speeding is one thing, but Drunk Driving is quite another. The cop seemed to grasp this - that I'd blown my whole performance by forgetting the beer can. His face relaxed, he actually smiled. And so did I. Because we both understood, in that moment, that my Thunder Road, moonshine - bomber act had been totally wasted: We had both scared the p.i.s.s out of ourselves for nothing at all - because the fact of this beer can in my hand made any argument about "speeding" beside the point.

He accepted my open wallet with his left hand, then extended his right toward the beer can. "Could I have that?" he asked.

"Why not?" I said.

He took it, then held it up between us and poured the beer out on the road.

I smiled, no longer caring. "It was getting warm, anyway," said. Just behind me, on the back seat of the Shark, I couldabout ten cans of hot Budweiser and a dozen or so grapefruits. I'd forgotten all about them, but now they were too obvious for either one of us to ignore. My guilt was so gross and overwhelming that explanations were useless.

The cop understood this. "You realize," he said, "that it's a crime to . .

"Yeah," I said. "I know. I'm guilty. I understand that. I knew it was a crime, but I did it anyway." I shrugged.

"s.h.i.t, why argue? I'm a f.u.c.king criminal."

"That's a strange att.i.tude," he said.

I stared at him, seeing for the first time that I was dealing with a bright - eyed young sport, around thirty, who was apparently enjoying his work.

"You know," he said, "I get the feeling you could use a nap." He nodded. "There's a rest area up ahead. Why don't you pull over and sleep a few hours?"

I instantly understood what he was telling me, but for some insane reason I shook my head. "A nap won't help,"I said. "I've been awake for too long - three or four nights; I can't even remember. If I go to sleep now, I'm dead for twenty hours."

Good G.o.d, I thought. What have I said? This b.a.s.t.a.r.d is trying to be human; he could take me straight to jail, but he's telling me to take a f.u.c.king nap. For Christ sake, agree with him: Yes, officer, of course I'll take advantage of that rest area. And I can't tell you how grateful I am for this break you want to give me.

But no . . . here I was insisting that if he turned me loose I would boom straight ahead for L.A. which was true, but why say it? Why push him? This is not the right time for a show - down. This is Death Valley . . . get a grip on yourself.

Of course. Get a grip. "Look," I said. "I've been out in Las Vegas covering the Mint 400." I pointed to the "VIP Parking" sticker on the windshield. "Incredible," I said.

"All those bikes and dune buggies crashing around the desert for two days. Have you seen it?"

He smiled, shaking his head' with a sort of melancholy un - derstanding. I could see him thinking. Was I dangerous?