“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 whooshand 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!”