“Ah. Now, that suits you. How many bad guys do you kill?”
“Oh, maybe half a dozen. I also have to gallop around, holler, fire my six-guns, ride through a curtain of fire, cause a stampede, get shot, and fall off my horse—the usual stuff.”
A man came by, uncoiling a wire, two others behind wheeling a tank of propane. Behind the church, Gideon saw what looked like a giant gasbag being gingerly maneuvered into position.
“What’s that?” he asked
“That’s all part of the pyrotechnics. That gasbag will create a fireball. It looks spectacular, but there’s no actual explosion. See, in the movie the bad guys have secretly stockpiled the town with arms and munitions, so a lot of great stuff is going to go off.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
“Not if it’s done right. They’ve got a special pyro crew setting it up. Everything’s planned and timed down to the last iota. It’s as safe as a walk in the park. You just don’t want to be in the town when it burns up—that’s all.”
She was warming to her subject and, to his relief, it seemed she was forgetting her dislike of him.
“And those things?” he asked, by way of encouragement. He pointed to some cylinders that were being buried in the ground.
“Those are flash pots. They’re filled with an explosive mixture that goes off just like a bomb, shooting upward. Those lines over there go to nozzles and racks that release jets and sheets of burning propane to simulate building fires. You’re going to love it when all this goes off—if you like explosions, that is.”
“I love explosions,” he said. “All kinds. In fact, one of the things I do at Los Alamos is design high-explosive lenses for nuclear implosion devices.”
Alida stared at him, what little friendliness there was leaving her face. “How awful. You design nuclear bombs?”
He hastily changed the subject. “I only mention it because what you’ve got here isn’t so different. I imagine all these pyrotechnics are connected to a central computer controller, which will fire them off in the right sequence.”
“That’s right. Once the sequence starts, they’d better be rolling, because there aren’t any retakes and there’s no turning back. If they miss the shot, a couple of million dollars’ worth of pyrotechnics are wasted, not to mention most of the set.” She slipped a pack of cigarettes from her breast pocket, shook one out, lit up.
“Um, should you be smoking here?”
“Absolutely not.” She exhaled a long stream of smoke in his direction.
“Let me have one.”
With a wry smile she slid one from her packet, lit it for him, flipped it, and inserted it between his lips.
A short, bowlegged, cranky-looking man with a shaved head came walking down the street on stubby legs, bawling in a megaphone. She held her cigarette behind her back and Gideon followed suit.
“Isn’t that—?”
“Claudio Lipari. The director. A real Nazi.”
Gideon noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and turned. A dozen sedans were arriving, bringing in a rolling cloud of dust, but instead of stopping in the parking lot they drove over the plastic tapes and continued on toward the town, fanning out as they came.
Lipari saw them. He stopped and stared, frowning.
“What’s going on?” Alida asked.
“Crown Vics,” said Gideon. “It’s law enforcement.”
The cars parked at the edges of town, surrounding the place. Doors opened and four men got out of each car—all wearing bulky blue suits leaving little doubt there was body armor underneath.
The director began walking toward the closest car, his face furious, waving them off with his arms and shouting, to no effect. The men in the blue suits came forward, spreading out, flashing their badges, moving in a well-coordinated action.
“Classic,” said Gideon. “They’re about to make an arrest. A big one.” Are they after Blaine?
“God, no,” said Alida. “Not right now.”
To his surprise, Gideon saw Fordyce get out of the lead car. The FBI agent seemed to be scanning the area. Gideon waved his hand; Fordyce saw him and began walking over. His face looked grim.
“Something’s wrong,” said Gideon.
“This is unbelievable. This can’t be about my father.”
Fordyce arrived, face red, brow furrowed.
“What going on?” Gideon asked.
“I need to talk to you in private. Come over here.” Fordyce pointed to Alida. “You move away, please.”
Gideon followed Fordyce away from Alida and the bustling main street. They walked over to a quiet area behind one of the false façades. Gideon could see wires everywhere and a scattering of flash pots. Fordyce had his weapon out.
“You’re making an arrest?” said Gideon.
Fordyce nodded.
“Who?”
The gun came up. “You.”
32
GIDEON STARED FIRST at the pistol, and then at Fordyce. He glanced around and saw that, indeed, the blue suits were all in position, weapons drawn, blocking his avenues of escape.
“Me?” Gideon asked, incredulously. “What have I done?”
“Just turn around and put your hands on your head.”
Gideon did as he was told, the butt of the cigarette still burning in his mouth. Fordyce began patting him down, removing his wallet, penknife, and cell phone. “You’re quite the artist, aren’t you?” Fordyce said. “A master manipulator. You and your friend Chalker.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You did a fine job of pretending to dislike the guy—and here it turns out you’re best buddies, in with him from the beginning.”
“I told you, I couldn’t stand the bastard—”
“Right. All that stuff on your computer—frigging jihadist love letters almost.”
Gideon’s mind was moving a mile a minute. The cluster-fuck had turned into a veritable orgy of incompetence. This was truly incredible.
“You really had me going,” Fordyce said. His voice had the bitter tone of a man betrayed. “That trip up to your cabin. Dinner and male bonding. And that sob story about your terminal illness. What a crock. This whole trip west was nothing but an intentional wild goose chase—I should have seen that on day one.”
Gideon felt a surge of furious anger. He hadn’t asked for this assignment. It had been forced on him. Already, he’d wasted a precious week of his life. And now this: he was probably going to spend the rest of his all-too-short life dealing with this bullshit—maybe even from the inside of a cell.
Screw ’em. What do I have to lose?
Fordyce finished patting him down. He grabbed one of Gideon’s upraised arms by the wrist, jerked it behind him, slapped on the handcuffs. He reached up to grab the other wrist.
“Wait. The cigarette.” Gideon plucked the smoldering butt from his lips—and tossed it into the flash pot adjacent to Fordyce.
It went off like a cannon, with a concussive boom that slammed both of them to the ground, followed by a huge outpouring of theatrical smoke.
Staggering to his feet, ears ringing, Gideon saw that his shirttail was on fire. The smoke engulfed them, swirling about in crazy billows. There was a sudden volley of shouts and cries.
He ran. Bursting out of the smoke bank, he saw Alida, back on her paint horse, staring at him. The blue suits were all beginning to converge—and their weapons were trained on him.
Another loud explosion took place, followed by a carronade of booms.
There was only one chance—one slim chance. He sprinted forward and leapt onto the back of Alida’s horse.
“Ride!” he yelled, jamming his heels into the horse’s flanks.
“What the hell—?” She reined in the horse.
But Gideon was on fire, and the horse, already spooked by the noise, wasn’t going to wait. With a snort of terror he bolted, galloping down the street toward the church.
For just a second, Gideon got a glimpse of Simon Blaine,
framed in the doorway of the sheriff’s office, still as stone, looking at them with an indescribable expression on his face. Then Gideon began ripping off his burning shirt, popping all the buttons, searing his skin in the process while Alida screamed “Get off my fucking horse!” as she tried to get the panicked animal under control. Behind, he could hear another thunderous roar, followed by flash-booms, interspersed with shouting, the blue suits running this way and that, some racing for their cars, others pursuing him on foot. Now the entire town was starting to go up. People were fleeing in all directions, willy-nilly.
Alida swung back her fist and tried to bat him away, striking him in the chest, nearly dislodging him.
“Alida, wait—” he began.
“Get off my horse!”
A pair of Crown Vics were now coming after them, tearing down the disintegrating main street of the set, scattering cowboys and cameramen and spooking more horses. No way were they going to outrun those cars.
They galloped around the corner of the church, almost colliding with the huge pyro gasbag. Gideon saw the opportunity and took it—and jettisoned his burning shirt on top of the bag.
“Hang on!” he cried, gripping the edges of the saddle.
Almost instantly there was a tremendous whoosh and a wave of heat swept over them, a gigantic fireball engulfing the church. The edges of fire licked about them briefly as they raced on, singeing his hair with a crackle. The horse accelerated in a blind panic. The explosion triggered the rest of the F/X explosives, and World War III erupted behind them: terrific roars, bangs, blasts, flash-booms, soaring rockets. A glance backward from the galloping horse produced the tremendous sight of the entire town erupting in flames, balls of fire rising into the morning sky, buildings blasted into toothpicks, fireworks and rockets streaming up, people and horses knocked to the ground, the earth shaking.
Alida pulled one of her six-guns and began swinging it at him like a club, whacking him in the side of the head and bringing stars to his eyes. She prepared to swing again but Gideon grabbed her wrist and gave it a hard twist, sending the gun flying. And then, before she could stop him, he slapped the dangling, open end of the handcuff onto her wrist, shackling them together.
“You bastard!” she screamed, tugging at him.
“I fall, you fall. And we’re both dead.” He yanked the other six-gun out of her holster, disarming her, and shoved it into his belt.
“Bastard!” But the message had sunk in. She stopped trying to throw him off.
“Take us down the wash,” he said.
“No way. I’m turning the horse around! I’m delivering you to the cops!”
“Please,” he pleaded. “I’ve got to get away. I didn’t do anything.”
“Does it look like I give a shit? I’m taking you back, and I hope they lock up your ass and throw away the key!”
And then the FBI came to his rescue. He heard a volley of gunshots and a bullet whined past, others kicking up dust on either side. The damn idiots were shooting at them. They were going to kill them both rather than let him get away.
“What the hell?” Alida screamed.
“Keep going!” he cried. “They’re shooting at us! Can’t you see—?”
More shots.
“Holy shit, they really are,” she said.
As if by magic, she had the horse under control. The animal was now running smoothly, purposefully. She pointed his head toward the edge of the rimrock above the creek. More bullets whizzed past. The horse ran for the edge, gathering speed to leap into the arroyo.
She glanced back. “Hang on, motherfucker.”
33
GIDEON DESPERATELY GRIPPED the cantle of the saddle as the horse leapt off the rimrock and plunged down a steep, soft embankment, bounding down the slope in little more than a controlled fall. When the horse hit the bottom he staggered and skidded in the sand, throwing both riders forward, the three of them almost going down. But under Alida’s expert handling, the animal recovered and she brought him to a halt, covered with sweat and trembling.
“We’ve got to keep going,” Gideon said.
Ignoring him, Alida patted Sierra’s neck, leaning over murmuring soothing words into his ear. In the background, Gideon could hear approaching cars, roaring and bouncing along the prairie above and beyond the edge of the canyon, out of sight.
She straightened up. “I’m surrendering you.”
“They’re going to shoot both of us.”
“Not when they see me with a white flag.” She grabbed her shirt and with one violent motion ripped it off, the snaps popping.
“Oh my,” said Gideon.
“Fuck you.” She held up the shirt, waving it as a white flag. Gideon made a grab for it but she stood up in the stirrups, holding it beyond his reach.
Gideon looked over his shoulder. He could hear the cars approaching the edge of the canyon, the big V8s roaring. There were shouts, slamming doors, and a head appeared above the rimrock about three hundred yards from them.
“We surrender!” Alida cried, waving the shirt. “Don’t shoot!”
A shot rang out, kicking up sand in front of them.
“What the hell?” She waved the shirt frantically. “Are you blind? We give up!”
“They don’t get it,” Gideon said. “We’d better get out of here.”
The horse began prancing as bullets kicked up sand around them. Thank God, Gideon thought, they were shooting with handguns. “Go, damn it!”
“Shit,” Alida muttered, giving the horse her heels. Sierra took off. More heads began appearing along the south rim. They galloped along the dry bed of the wash, running the gauntlet as shots continued to ring out from above.
“Hang on.” She dodged and weaved the horse as they thundered along, making a more difficult target. Shots whined by and Gideon hunched his back, expecting at any moment to feel a bullet hit home.
And yet—almost miraculously—within minutes they had outrun the shooters and were still in one piece. Alida slowed the horse to a canter, put her shirt back on, and they continued up the dry bed of the wash as it narrowed into a ravine between two steep hills, which—Gideon noted—would block any advance by FBI agents in cars.
She dropped down into a trot.
“We need to keep up the pace,” Gideon said.
“I’m not killing my horse for you.”
“They’re shooting to kill, you realize.”
“Of course I realize it! What in hell did you do?”
“They seem to think I’m one of the terrorists, the ones with the nuke.”
“And are you?”
“Are you nuts? This investigation has been a balls-up from the beginning.”
“They seem pretty damn convinced.”
“You yourself said they were stupid.”
“I said you were stupid.”
“You never said I was stupid.”
“Yeah, but I was thinking it. And you keep proving it.”
The wash got steeper as it mounted the foothills of the Jemez Mountains, its bed strewn with black boulders. The horse picked his way among the rough terrain with care.
“Look, I’m no terrorist,” Gideon said.
“I’m so reassured.”
They rode in silence for half an hour as the wash climbed into the mountains, the terrain getting ever rougher, the piñon and juniper trees giving way to towering ponderosa pines. As the wash divided into tributaries, they took one after another, until they were in a maze of small ravines surrounded by slopes of heavy timber.
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” Alida said. “You’re going to release me. I’ll head back and you go on.”
“I can’t. We’re cuffed together—remember?”
“You can break the chain. Pound it off with a rock.”
After a moment, Gideon said, “Right now I can’t let you go. I need your help.”
“You mean, you need a hostage.”
“I have to prove my innocence.”
“I can’t wai
t for that moment to turn you in.”
They rode on in angry silence. The sun was now almost straight overhead.
“We need to find water,” Alida said in a surly tone. “For my horse.”
Past noon, they topped out on a high forested ridge that overlooked the valley behind them.
“Hold on,” Gideon said. “I want to see what’s happening below.”
She halted the horse and Gideon turned around. Through the thick screen of trees he could see down into the grassy plains below. A huge cloud of smoke still billowed from the ruins of the movie set, with fire trucks parked all around, white jets of water arcing into the remains. His eye followed the course of Jasper Wash and there, at the beginning of the steep hills, he could make out rows of parked cars, people gathering, and what looked like a mass of searchers moving up the wash and fanning out. He could hear the faint baying of hounds. Horses were being unloaded from a large stock trailer and riders were mounting up, forming a posse of sorts.
“That’s some manhunt gearing up,” said Alida. “And listen to that—choppers.”
Sure enough, Gideon could hear a throbbing sound as three black specks resolved themselves in the distant blue sky.
“Wow, you are in some deep shit,” she said.
“Alida, I don’t know how to make you believe me, but I’m completely and totally innocent. This is a grotesque mistake.”
She stared at him, then shook her head. “Those people down there don’t think so.”
They headed down from the ridge, made their way across another ravine, and then climbed steeply through stands of Douglas fir, enormous boulders and fallen timber impeding their progress. They found themselves traversing the hillsides, back and forth, trying to get around rocks and downed timber.
“We’ve got to lose the horse,” said Gideon.
“No way.”
“He’s leaving too clear a track, and those dogs will be following the horse’s scent trail. If we turn him loose, he’ll divert them from us. And besides, the country’s getting too rough for a horse.”
“Forget it.”
“If we let Sierra go, he’ll get water sooner. There’s no water in this part of the Jemez. Especially in June.”
Gideon's Corpse Page 15
