by Jonas Saul
“I knew you weren’t listening to me, you stupid bitch. Sarah Roberts. The hero. Fuck you, Sarah. Fuck you and die.”
The back of the hearse slammed shut.
Jane got in the front, turned the vehicle on and backed out of the garage. As she did, Sarah caught a glimpse of the sign on the wall. Darnell’s Car Repair.
In minutes, they were back on the Vegas strip and heading to the Venetian hotel where Sarah hoped Detective Collins was with an army of cops. It could go either way. Jane saw the cops and panicked, detonated the bombs in the hearse in the middle of a crowd. Or Collins was smart, stayed out of sight, and arrested Jane without incident.
If she could be so lucky.
Her hand twitched and moved enough to raise it off the satin of the coffin. Her mouth opened a little at the prompting of her jaw. The muscle relaxant was wearing off quickly now. She had to do something as soon as she was able to.
It wasn’t her life she was worried about anymore but the innocent people who would die when Jane detonated the vests in a crowd.
“It’s been awhile since I jabbed you with that paralysis drug,” Jane said from the front seat. “Don’t worry. I’m watching the clock. When I pull in to unload the coffins, you will both get one more jab. That’ll keep you paralyzed until the fireworks. How’s that sound?”
Jane shrieked with laughter.
Sarah struggled to get her other hand to respond, but nothing happened. It was no use. She wasn’t able to move enough to fight Jane off yet.
Her only hope was Collins.
Who would’ve thought Sarah was hoping for police intervention after all the years of not working with the police and at times even shunning them?
Humbled in that knowledge, the hearse drove on through Vegas, taking Sarah in the coffin to her final task as a living, breathing woman.
Sarah fought on the inside and cried on the outside.
Chapter 58
“We’re here,” Jane trilled. “In a few moments, we’ll be inside and my booth will begin to come to life, so to speak.”
Sarah’s right arm was back, but her left was just starting to move below the wrist. The toes on both feet were definitely working now. She needed ten minutes, maybe twenty, and she’d be mostly herself again.
The hearse stopped. Jane hesitated in the front seat. Sarah listened. What was wrong? Why wasn’t she doing something?
“Is that Aaron?” Jane asked. “It’s impossible. He’s back in Mexico, looking for you. There’s no way.”
She opened her door and got out, the hearse adjusting slightly with her movement. Sarah fought to move more of her body parts before Jane jabbed her with the drug again.
The back door opened a crack. This was it. The final moment.
“I don’t like this,” Jane said to herself. “He’s staring at me. He’s looking at a paper of some kind. Who is that man with him?” Sarah struggled to move her limbs in the event Jane tried to jab her. “Not good,” Jane shouted between clenched teeth and then slammed the door shut.
Sarah let out a breath of relief. She still had time to break the drug’s hold on her limbs.
The hearse shook when Jane jumped back in the front. The second the car was on, it jerked forward, squealing its tires.
Could it really be Aaron? Here in Vegas? How did they follow her? Was all this Collins’ doing?
The coffin smacked the side, then wobbled the other way as Jane took a corner too sharp.
She cursed in the front seat and shouted something about detonating the bombs early. Sarah didn’t listen. She struggled to bend her arm high enough to undo the strap that tied her to the coffin.
The hearse swerved to miss something, jostling the coffins back and forth.
Her hand touched the strap. She began working it through the loop as the hearse jerked again and violently shot sideways as it rammed into something.
Chapter 59
Aaron watched as the hearse peeled out of the loading and unloading area. The closest vehicle was a police car. He ran for it, hoping they left the keys inside. Who would steal a cop car?
The second cruiser had the keys in the ignition. Aaron slid behind the wheel, cranked the engine, and took off with Whitman yelling something at him. None of that mattered. That hearse was driven by Jane Turner and Jane had Sarah. Whitman could stay behind and let everyone else know where he had gone.
Jane was heading for Las Vegas Boulevard. Up ahead, he watched as she swerved to miss a yellow cab turning right, kept the hearse moving left and crossed the center of the intersection on a red light.
By the time he had switched three buttons on the dash, Aaron had the police lights going, the siren blaring. At the same intersection, cars slowed, allowing him to drive straight through.
He dropped the pedal to the floor and raced after the hearse, hoping this wasn’t some kind of symbolism. Chasing a hearse, chasing Sarah, as if she was dead already. It couldn’t be. He wouldn’t allow it.
As Jane tried to make it through the next intersection, a dump truck clipped the back end of the hearse, sending it sideways. It hit another car, righted, and continued forward.
Aaron had caught up and swerved around the stopped dump truck as the hearse sped away, screaming pedestrians who were trying to walk with the light diving away from the hearse. Aaron came around from the left, aimed at ramming the corner taillight of the hearse, and jammed his foot down again.
Just as the hearse was about to take off on him, the grill of the cruiser smashed into the back corner. The hearse fishtailed back and forth, until the wheels caught, and it shot forward again.
But it wasn’t lined up with the road. When it shot forward, the hearse jumped up onto the sidewalk, smashed through and over the railing, and took to the air as it tumbled upside down.
It came to rest on its roof in the Fountains of Bellagio’s large pool of water. The tires continued to spin.
Another cruiser sped by and slammed to a stop into the wall beside where the hearse had broken through.
Before Aaron had a chance to get out and run to the hearse, Whitman was out of the other cruiser and jumping over the edge and into the water.
Chapter 60
After righting itself, Sarah had successfully taken the strap off her chest. The hearse jerked again, smashed into something and landed on all four tires once more.
Over fifty percent of her body was back, listening to the will of her mind. She hoped it wasn’t too late.
The hearse shot forward. Sarah placed an arm on either side the coffin’s rim, and lifted. She forced her neck around at the sound of police sirens and saw something incredible. Aaron was driving the Las Vegas Police Department cruiser.
“What the?” she whispered with half her tongue still dead.
Aaron raced at the corner of the hearse, rammed it, and forced it sideways. Jane couldn’t handle the hit, swerving back and forth. Sarah dropped back in the coffin just as the hearse smashed into something and took air, tilting sideways.
A second later, the hearse stopped, coming to rest upside down. Sarah’s forehead, chest and knees smacked into the upended roof of the hearse, the coffin falling on top of her. She tried to get herself up, but didn’t have enough strength yet. Water seeped in from somewhere.
Water? A river?
The water rushed in now, soaking her legs, the Kevlar vest, and her face. It was cool and had a calming effect, but she knew how deadly it could be. If she didn’t get herself up and out of the water, she would drown and so would Blair, who was probably buried under his coffin as well.
Jane shouted a primal scream from the front seat, then said, “I’ll just detonate now, then.”
Sarah was sure she heard those words. An icy chill that had nothing to do with the water coursed through her. Aaron would die, too.
She pushed up with her hands, calling for all the strength she had, tilted her back sideways and pushed the coffin—light for its size—off her back. She slipped her fingers under the rising water and then under
the lip of Blair’s coffin and lifted. In seconds, he crawled out from under his and came up gasping for air. Blair moved until he was propped up against the inside wall of the hearse.
At the front, Jane struggled against the door, kicking at it. Metal screeched as the door opened and water rushed in.
Sarah watched as Jane crawled out. Through that door was freedom. Sarah mumbled her intentions to Blair and started that way, trying to keep her head above water. It got easier as she went because she didn’t have to support all her body weight in the water. She dog-paddled as she passed the top of the front seat and turned for the open door.
Blair was close behind her. They were going to make it. A tiny sliver of hope made her think they’d clear the hearse and with a stroke of luck be able to take the vests off before four in the afternoon. But reality set in and if everything Jane said was true, that would never happen.
Escape the car if they wanted, but she was still acting like a zombie—a dead woman crawling out of her coffin.
She held her breath, ducked her head under the water and came up on the other side next to the spinning front tire. A second after, Blair surfaced behind her.
Jane had something small and black in her hand. Aaron and Drake stood five feet from her, their hands up, pleading.
“Don’t do it,” Aaron said. “It’s over.”
More sirens wailed in the distance. Others were coming. Aaron was here. Drake was here. Maybe the police would bring a bomb technician with them.
Jane spun around and glared at Sarah. Before Aaron or Drake could reach Jane, she dove backwards to land between Sarah and Blair.
“Stand back,” Jane shouted. “Or I’ll blow them up. Both vests are wired to blow.” She looked at Blair. “What do you say? You want to die together, son?”
He tried to push her away, but didn’t have the strength to be effective.
“Look at that,” Jane shouted. “Even in his final moments, he’s trying to save his mother.”
She cast a pained glance at Sarah. “You caused all this. Somehow, and I don’t know how, you made this happen.”
From the corner of her eye, Sarah detected Aaron and Drake moving closer. Cars screeched to a halt twenty feet away on the road.
“For that, we die together.” Jane held the detonator high and looked at Aaron. “Say goodbye.”
Sarah met Aaron’s gaze. She blew him a kiss and mouthed I will always love you.
Jane pushed the button on the detonator.
Chapter 61
Nothing happened.
Sarah raised her hands and looked at each one. Aaron and Drake had turned to protect their faces. Blair had dove into the water and came up, unharmed.
Jane looked at the detonator and frowned. She pushed the button again and again, her thumb pounding it. A loud moan escaped her lips with each push, her eyes taking on a frantic look as madness overran what sanity she had left.
Aaron moved toward Sarah.
Drake sloshed through the water toward Jane, hands extended in front of him.
Jane tossed the detonator aside and came up with a gun.
Sarah wondered where that came from while Jane screamed something unintelligible and aimed at Sarah. Without hesitation, Jane squeezed her finger on the trigger.
In a flash, Drake dove and smashed into her.
So close, the weapon’s report was deafening. In that briefest of moments, Sarah tried to jerk away, but the water limited movement to slow motion.
Drake and Jane went under the water.
A moment later, Aaron flew by her, landing in the same spot as Drake did a moment before him. Then all three were submerged. Sarah edged away as water swirled above the submerged fight.
Panic swelled in her at the thought that either Drake or Aaron would get shot but she didn’t want to help or get close to them because of the radiation emitted from the vest.
The muscle relaxant was almost all gone. Movement wasn’t as limited anymore. Blair was swimming away from them toward the emergency vehicles near the fence the hearse had broken through.
Half a dozen men in uniforms jumped in the Bellagio Fountains and waded toward them.
Sarah dipped under the water and opened her eyes but it was too murky to see what was going on. Her facial wounds from Jane’s shoe stung in the water. When she brought her face above the surface, two cops lifted her up and away from the scene.
“Guys,” she said. “Careful. Vest is an explosive.”
They instantly dropped her and stepped away. The cop on her left reached for his weapon.
“Take it easy,” Sarah said. “Not my explosive.” She pointed toward the hearse. “That woman’s.”
Aaron surfaced. A moment later, Drake surfaced, dragging Jane with him. She was unconscious, her head hanging to the right by her shoulder.
If she’s dead, the world will be better off.
Medical personnel took over and ushered everyone to the sidewalk where they took Jane away in an ambulance, sirens wailing with an FBI escort.
Aaron hugged Sarah close as Parkman moved in behind them.
“Aaron, you have to let go and stay clear of me. Jane said these vests are radioactive. Blair was showing signs of radiation poisoning.”
Aaron waited a heartbeat, then released his arms and moved away. She could see it pained him to do so.
She watched as her friends formed a semi-circle around her in support. Casper was there. Detective Collins nodded at her. His partner Mara was behind him. Drake and Spencer stood by Parkman, a bandage on his arm.
A woman moved through the group.
“I’m Special Agent King.” She pointed at a man with several pieces of gear and electrical devices strapped to his person. “This man will examine the vest for radiation and remove it if he can.”
“You can’t remove it,” Sarah said. “Jane had it rigged to blow if it’s taken off.”
“Joel here is an expert. Let’s at least hear what he has to say.”
“Go ahead. Do your worst. Offer me hope. I’m not above that.”
Joel started with a small handheld device, running it over the vest, front and back, like a wand at airport security.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Radiation detector.”
“Anything?”
“Minor amounts. Nothing unsafe.”
Euphoria swept over her. “What? Really? How’s that possible?”
Joel moved around her waving his wand. “Not sure I understand the question.”
“Jane bought these things specially built for her. She would’ve checked the radiation levels.”
“There might have been more at one point, I can’t be sure. Even my device is registering a reading. But it’s way below safety levels.”
“Then why was Blair throwing up?”
Parkman and Drake moved apart and Blair stepped inside the grouping. He wasn’t wearing the vest anymore.
“I was vomiting because of what my mother did to her men back at the church. Made me sick. Literally. When she said the vests were radioactive, how was I to know any different? Joel just did the test on my vest. It’s clean. They took it off.”
“Then take mine off.”
“Working on it,” Joel said.
He replaced his radiation device and took out something that appeared to examine the vest’s wires.
“Dead,” he mumbled.
“Dead?”
“The vest is dead. Whoever made it, did a fine job, but they didn’t make it waterproof. The electrical leads are soaked. It shorted the vest out. When you and Blair went swimming, the vest died. The ability to send the detonation signal was effectively cut off by the water.”
Sarah went to grab the clip to undo it, but Joel beat her to it.
“Easy.” He looked at her. “Let me.”
“It’s your gig. Just do it already. I need out of this thing.”
Joel unclipped the vest, eased it off and started back to the emergency vehicles with it held high. Spectators par
ted to let him through like a parting of the sea.
Sarah shuddered with relief. “I thought I was done for in that thing.” Aaron moved close and wrapped an arm around her. “So good to be back. What happened to Parkman’s arm?”
“I shot him,” Aaron said. “Long story.”
