Zach connected with the blond giant with a tremendous smack of flesh on flesh. The two went to the floor with loud grunts. Zach rolled to his feet, ready to kick the other man’s ribs in. Unfortunately his opponent came up just as quickly. They squared off, Zach coming into a boxing stance. “I’m gonna take you out.” His words were followed by a tremendous right cross. The jolt that rode up his arm hurt, but it was satisfying. He saw the square jawed head snap back.
It had been a number of years since Sanders had been hit that hard. He relished the pain. At least one of his teeth was loose. He looked square into Zach’s eyes. “Hit me again boy.”
Zach did, coming in for two sold body blows and winding up with a flurry of jabs to his opponents face. His own knuckles split open, but he didn’t care. Until he noticed that Sanders wasn’t fighting back.
“My turn.” His white eyes flashed red. Big hands pushed aside Zach’s attempt to block and he grabbed the young man’s head and began to squeeze, thumbs digging for his eyes. Zach began to scream and tried to beat Sanders away, but his attempts were week.
Lee came into the doorway saw what was going on. Without a thought he brought up the shotgun and fired. The twelve gauge slug caught Sanders’ shoulder and spun him around. What it didn’t do was remove his arm as it should have. A chunk of it was gone to be sure and he had let Zach go. Lee jacked the next shell into the gun’s breech. “Let’s try that again.” He pulled the trigger and hit the man square in the gut. It knocked Sanders back into a pillar.
The pain was immense. Sanders knew that this shell couldn’t take much more abuse. He needed to get out.
Lee kept his gun on Sanders and closed the distance.
The shotgun’s roar brought Matt out of his stupor. He managed to stand, though he had to do so very carefully. They were still hemmed in by Donna and the customers. Sanders must have them under some sort of spell. That must have been the source of his earlier pain. He flagged that thought for later research, if there was to be a later. The second shotgun blast brought his attention to Lee. He saw Zach in a heap and then saw Sanders hit the pillar. When that happened his four guards all hit the floor like a switch had been flipped. “Lee.” Matt shouted. “We need to get out of here.” He pointed at the explosives. The readouts showed that they still had quite a bit of time lest. Then he remembered the control that Sanders had.
Jose worked his way back to his feet. “I’ll take a look at the bombs and see if I can stop the countdown. You guys get the innocents out.” He went to the nearest bomb and began looking it over.
Lee went over to Zach and helped him to his feet. The young man’s nose was bleeding but he was conscious. “You okay?”
“Head’s killing me, but I think I’ll live.” He went to get Susanna.
Donna and the others began to get up. They seemed to have their wits about them, so Matt focused on Sanders. It was too strange. There were large chunks missing from where Lee had hit the man with a shotgun. Instead of the expected gore, exposed bone, and muscle there was just a grayish brown mass like some sort of mud or clay. Something pinged deep in his brain, but he couldn’t put a finger on it. Too little sleep and too much adrenaline were playing havoc with his brain. He saw movement there, a twitch of Sanders hand and then a shout from Jose.
“We need to get the fuck out of here guys.” Jose looked at the timer which had gone from four digits to three. It now read five-zero-zero and began counting down from there. “This place is toast in five minutes.”
Sanders cut through the suddenly thick atmosphere. “Or less if anyone so much as moves a hair outside.” He struggled to sit. Fine motor control had almost left him, so manipulating his remote control had been hard.
Matt looked down at his adversary. “You just need one of us. Let them go and I will stay. You have my word.”
“Good enough for me.” Sanders waved one of his big mitts. “The rest of you can leave but you’d better hurry.”
Jose balked. “No way man.”
“It’s over bro. You go out there and get Robin. Make sure she’s safe. I have to do this.” Matt glanced at Lee. “Get these people out.”
Lee gathered up the confused civilians. He had no idea what was going on here, but he recognized the authority in Matthew York’s voice and he obeyed it. “Come on folks. Let’s get to safety. Jose, listen to your brother.”
“Damn it. Okay, alright let’s go.” Jose helped Susanna.
Matt watched everyone leave him. “So. How do we do this?”
Lee motioned to his stolen cruiser. “That’s not going to be any good to get around in.”
Jose watched the group cross the street led by Zach. Then he looked around and noticed that the street was deserted. It was just like one of those spaghetti Westerns right before the gunfight. He expected to see a tumbleweed any minute. “Well we definitely need to get the hell out of Dodge. I’m pretty sure that we’ve called in all of our favors for a few lifetimes. Let’s just get under some cover and see what happens.” They jogged across the street and waited behind some parked cars with the others. The silence seemed to stretch like taffy. It ended with a flash of light and a muffled wumph sound. All of the glass in the shop exploded outwards and the building collapsed onto itself, just like one of those professional demolition jobs.
Jose screamed. It was almost audible above all of the other noise. Lee had to grab and hold him to keep him from running across into the collapsed building. “He’s gone Jose. It’s over.”
“The Hell it is.” He jabbed at his cell and called Robin.
Her shaky voice answered almost immediately. “What happened?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing. When did your transmission cut out?”
“I saw you guys leave and I saw Matt stay behind. They talked for a minute and then static. Is everything alright?”
Jose felt like throwing up. “No. No everything is not alright. Matt stayed in the building and it just blew up… in. He’s gone Robin.”
Surprisingly she didn’t cry. She just didn’t have it in her to cry. “You guys need to get out. I checked some feeds and the cops are coming your way. Stick to the plan. I’ll meet you at the first checkpoint.” She hung up.
Jose looked back at Lee. “Looks like it’s time for us to go after all.”
“You.” Lee spoke to Zach. “Get these folks out. When you see the cops make something up about a gas leak. You didn’t see us.”
Zach looked briefly confused. His head hurt and the last ten minutes had been a nightmare. “No idea what’s going on.” He looked at Jose. “Gas leak. Right. You go on and you make damn sure to explain all of this to me when you can.”
Jose and Lee jogged off. They didn’t get too far before they heard the brief blip of a police siren. Both men stopped and put their hands up. Neither had the strength to run. When Lee saw the chief’s official car he almost lay down and close his eyes. It was over indeed.
Paul rolled down his window. “For God’s sake get in back before someone sees you.”
Lee looked at Jose and saw his own confusion mirrored there. Nothing left to lose they climbed into the car.
Paul floored it, lights and sirens off. He saw Lee’s eyes in his rearview and felt pangs of guilt threaten to tear him apart. “Everything you think about me is right. I’m a bastard, a dirty cop and far worse than any of that. I’ve given up everything that the sisters taught me and if I ever had a soul then I gave that up years ago. I thought I was gonna go all the way down without swinging and I am gonna go down, but the least I can do is get you out of town safe. After that you’re on your own. Was York in the shop with Sanders?”
Lee nodded. His head was spinning, but he fought hard to keep his wits.
“Damn. Sorry about that. Another black mark against me. I’d say that you have to understand I had no choice, but that would be bullshit. I made my choice a long time ago.”
Jose wanted to reach through the mesh that separated them from the old man and make his head detach from his shoulders. Instead he began to recite the rosary under his breath. Enough people had died for now.
Paul continued. “Here’s how it’s gonna play out. The official story for as long as I can spin it out is that you and York were both in that shop. I’d clear you but there are other, bigger, uglier fish out there that would override me. You need to fall off the face of the earth. I think you know how to do that.” He looked at the Hispanic man in the back seat. “I can guess who you are and as far as I know you’re clean in this. If you stir the pot at all you’ll find yourself in York’s shoes.”
Jose didn’t bother looking up. “But Sanders is dead. Everthing’s over, right? I mean I don’t fully understand everything, but the big guy was behind it all.”
“You’re right. You don’t understand. The person you call Sanders was maybe a colonel at best. Hell, he may not even be that far up the food chain. Bigger things than you and I are on the move. Don’t know if it’ll give you any satisfaction, but York screwed up some pretty major plans for Sanders to take a personal interest.”
Lee spoke next. “Do you know what those plans were?”
Paul shook his head. “No. And I don’t want to.”
Lee’s hackles rose a little. He was pretty sure Paul wasn’t telling the whole truth, but he said nothing.
“Where can I take you?”
“The Cliffs.” Jose answered. “We have a car parked nearby.”
None of the men felt the need to speak for the rest of the ride. Paul stopped near the apartment complex. “You have time. I don’t know how much. I won’t report you, but if you’re caught I won’t help you. I’ll bury you both.”
Lee caught Paul’s eyes. “I see you again and one of definitely won’t survive the meeting.”
“You’re welcome.”
Lee and Jose climbed out and headed for the Cuda. It rumbled to life on the first crank. Quickly and efficiently they headed for the state line and the meeting with Robin. Each felt Matt’s absence acutely, though in different ways.
