“Goddammit Shepherd, I know who you are! You were an agency man once just like me. You know how this shit works… cases like this one don’t end until there’s an arrest or a fucking body!”
“Then give them a body,” the voice replied flatly.
“Shepherd, wait! Let’s–”
“Go!” the radio crackled.
Alex watched with horror as the stopwatch on the laptop began counting down. He glanced at the lifeless figure of Jeri Halston with a sickening sense of helplessness. There was no way he could disable the charges and grab her before time ran out. He spun and sprinted towards the door, clicking on his radio and screaming into his headset as he ran.
“All teams evacuate the area immediately! I repeat… evac immediately!”
Alex threw open the entry door as a wave of pressure suddenly lifted him from the ground and launched him like a projectile onto the street. He landed hard on his side as a massive ball of flames passed just inches over him, the intense heat scalding his shoulder. A pelting rain of debris fell upon him as he then rolled onto his stomach and slowly inched his way across the cold black pavement of old Route 66. When he finally reached the opposite side of the street, Alex dragged himself up onto the sidewalk and collapsed. He laid there exhaustedly for several minutes before rolling onto his back. He then sat up slowly and assessed the damage.
“Oh fuck,” he muttered, awe-struck by the scene in front of him.
It was clear the explosives had been expertly placed. Upon detonation, every load-bearing column and beam inside the old building had been instantly obliterated, forcing the ceiling and brick exterior to buckle and collapse under its own weight. Every element of the old building was destroyed. And yet, despite the power of the blast, none of the surrounding buildings appeared to have been touched. As he sat on the sidewalk staring at the burned and shattered remains, Alex shook his head at the simple, horrible truth.
Jeri Halston and Joe’s Last Stand Saloon no longer existed.
60.
Jeri opened her eyes to darkness.
The rattling noise of an engine had pulled her from a deep sleep. She slowly realized she was in a moving vehicle. Disoriented, she sat up unsteadily – and immediately smashed her forehead against an unseen object. “What the hell?” she mumbled, reaching out cautiously at her pitch black surroundings. To her surprise a ceiling of cold steel hovered just inches in front of her. She ran her fingers along its smooth surface and quickly found corners and walls on both sides. She kicked her feet and found the same unyielding walls and ceiling. As she quickly felt around, Jeri realized with a growing sense of panic that she wasn’t just tucked into a tight corner of a moving vehicle –
she was locked inside a narrow metal cell.
She pushed the panic from her mind and focused on how she’d ended up here. The last thing she could recall was being in the saloon with Chip and… Chilly… her mysterious letter writer. Everything had happened so quickly. The injection Chilly had given her was obviously some form of sedative, but just how long had she been asleep? And where in the hell were they now taking her? As if in response to her question, the vehicle suddenly accelerated as it began ascending a hill.
Jeri felt around in the darkness for anything else that might be inside the container. The floor of her cell was covered by something soft and yielding like a thin mattress. She felt around on it and suddenly bumped against a small, heavy object. She cautiously wrapped her fingers around it before recognizing its familiar shape. A flashlight! Jeri clicked on the flashlight and winced as the blackness was abruptly replaced by a bright beam of light. She waved the light around and examined her surroundings. The container was nothing more than a rectangular steel box, just slightly longer than her body, with dents and scratches that suggested it was normally used to contain tools or heavy equipment. The padding beneath her was a thin sleeping pad, folded to fit within the small space. She aimed the flashlight at the opposite end of the container. Three small holes were cut in the metal near her feet, and Jeri could feel a cool rush of fresh air circulating in from each. She swept the flashlight slowly along the length of each wall before dropping it hopelessly next to her. The light had revealed nothing more than what Jeri already suspected – there was no chance for escape.
So why had they left it for her?
Jeri was considering this question when she realized her head was raised higher than the rest of her body. She reached beneath the sleeping pad and felt a thick object under her head. She pulled it out and held it in the light. The plain cover of the thick book was all too familiar.