Firestarter Page 9

  "Yeah, we grew up together. He was the best man at my wedding. Known him for over thirty years."

  "Wow, harsh, man. What'dya think he'll do?"

  Roy sighed and shook his head. "Something epically stupid, I'm sure."

  Geoffrey swore to himself as he stomped off down the street. That bastard! Saying those things to him! Saying those things about Pastor Cross!

  But, but…Geoffrey shook his head. Roy had never lied to him, he'd been there for him every time he'd needed help. He'd even quit drinking when Geoffrey had found out he was an alcoholic.

  Now this.

  Now this.

  Roy had warned him about his drinking. He'd warned him about Peg, his wife, back before he'd married her. But Cross? Cross had done so much for him! He'd made him feel whole again, made him feel like he mattered. He shook his head. Someone was lying to him, but Roy had never lied to him. What if he was right?

  What if Cross had been sleeping with his daughter? What if he had shot her in the back, and what she'd said to him was true?

  Stopping, he looked around and spied a bench. He sat down and tried to think about it. Who was telling the truth? Who was lying? And how could he figure it out? Because he had about two hours to discover the truth. After that, none of it would matter anymore.

  #

  "Sean, we've got a problem."

  Sean looked up from his son Sean Jr. at Bill Channing, Roxy's father and Sean Junior's grandfather.

  "What is it now?" Sean asked with a shake of his head.

  "I got a call from my contact in the governor's office. The Feds are worried because someone bought up a couple of tons of fertilizer."

  "So?"

  "You mix it with diesel fuel, and it becomes a rather impressive bomb."

  Sean closed his eyes and took a breath. "Let me guess, they bought it all here in Reno?"

  "Actually, no. They bought it pretty much everywhere but here in Reno. That's why they think it's coming here."

  "Huh? I don't follow."

  "You can't buy large amounts of fertilizer anymore, not unless you have a farm or a license or something. The government tracks that stuff about the same way they track nukes. Well, they noticed the demand had suddenly skyrocketed, and when they finally tracked it down, they fingered Reno, because no one was buying large amounts of it here."

  "So why didn't they call us?"

  Bill shrugged. "Best I can figure is, the Feds tracking this didn't put two and two together. But they had to inform the governor and his task force."

  "And they informed you."

  Sean remembered all the stories about truck bombs he'd read about back in school.

  "So how many truck bombs are we talking here?"

  "Three? Four?" Bill shook his head. "I'm not really sure."

  "You talked to Oak, Rox, and the dwarves yet about this?"

  Bill shook his head. "No. I came to you first."

  "Rox?" Sean asked raising his voice slightly. Roxy was in the dining room, talking with the rest of their wives.

  "Not me, Sean, Dad! I'll call Oak right now."

  He heard a muttered comment, then Daelyn's voice called out. "I'll call me Uncle right away and see if he knows!"

  "I think we better put some guards down in the neighborhood and tell them to watch out for any trucks heading this way," Sean said.

  "But how do you stop it? You can't shoot it, it might explode!" Roxy said, coming out of the dining room with a phone to her ear.

  "I guess I'll go down there now and lay a sleep trap," Sean said, handing Sean Junior over to Bill. "Probably should get a bunch of sleep wands and parcel them out to the guards, as well. Even if it does go off at the bottom of the driveway, hopefully that's far enough away it won't hurt us up here."

  "What's the rush? Why would anyone try to come up here at night?" Peg asked, sticking her head out of the dining room as well. "They'd stand out like a sore thumb! We don't get deliveries here at night!"

  "Well, with that much explosives, do you really want to take a chance they'll wait until morning? They must think we'll let them in, or they wouldn't be trying it," Bill said as he played with his grandson.

  "In that case, I think I'm going to make them start searching everyone at the bottom of the hill from now on," Roxy said, then repeated that over the phone to Oak.

  "Well, I got work to do…" Sean said, heading for the door, then he suddenly stopped.

  "What?" Roxy and Peg both asked together.

  "Our building downtown! They could hit that easy!"

  "They wouldn't have needed so much just to destroy that," Bill pointed out.

  "Well, there's the casino, Claudia's place, Chad's place! Roxy, tell Oak to spin up a helicopter, then call everyone you can think of and warn them."

  "What are you going to do?"

  "I don't know, but there's gotta be something we can do."

  "You know what?" Peg said, looking thoughtful. "If they can't see it, they can't attack it."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I mean I'm coming with you. You too, Jo!"

  "Why me?" Jolene protested.

  "Because you're our own little magical generator!" Peg said with a snicker.

  "I better come, too," Roxy said.

  "Why?"

  "Because none of you have a lick of common sense?" she said, looking around the room.

  #

  Geoffrey looked at his watch; it was almost eleven. He'd have to head back soon. Looking around, he noticed he was just across the street from the hospital. The one his daughter had been at. He seemed to recall something about an unpaid bill or two, but he'd been ignoring it.

  "Well, not like I'm gonna need the money anymore." He sighed to himself. Getting up, he walked across the street and in through the front doors.

  "Can I help you, sir?" the security guard behind the receptionist's desk said.

  "Yeah, I'm leaving town in a few hours, and I wanted to settle up my daughter's medical bill before I left."

  "You'll have to come back during regular hours, sir. The billing department is closed."

  "Oh, come on, there has to be somebody in the hospital that can run a credit card. I mean, you guys are open all the time, right?"

  The guard looked at him, then sighed. "Try the emergency room. If they're not too busy, they might be able to help you out."

  "Thanks," Geoffrey said and followed the signs into the emergency receiving area.

  "Can I help you, sir?" a woman behind a counter asked.

  "Yeah, I have to leave town for work, and I won't be back for a long time. So I wanted to settle up my daughter's medical bill before I left."

  "Do you have some ID, sir?"

  Geoffrey nodded, got out his driver's license, and passed it over to the woman. "My daughter's name is Betty."

  The woman nodded and started typing, then stopped and looked at him, and then at the record again.

  "It says here it's paid in full."

  Geoffrey blinked. "What? How can that be? She called me and told me she was broke and couldn't pay for it!"

  "How long ago was that?"

  "Little over a week ago. I was out of town working."

  "Well, it says here it was paid five days ago by a Stewart Reese?"

  Geoffrey shook his head. "I don't know him. Well, thanks for looking it up for me."

  "Not a problem, Sir. And my condolences on the baby."

  Geoffrey stopped and slowly turned to the woman as he suddenly felt something like ice crawling through his veins. "It was the gunshot wound that cost her the child, right?"

  "Yes, sir. There aren't any more details than that. I have a contact for the police if you wish to talk to them?"

  Geoffrey shook his head. "Maybe later. Though I am curious about one thing?"

  "Yes?"

  "Did they list who the baby's father was?"

  "Well, I probably shouldn't tell you, but you are her father. It's listed as one Cross Macrey."

  Turning around, Geoffrey stormed
out the door of the emergency room, his face turning a deep red as things suddenly added up. She had been pregnant, and she'd lost the baby. She hadn't been with anyone other than Pastor Cross, or he would have noticed it.

  She hadn't lied to him.

  Roy hadn't lied to him either.

  Only one person had.

  Geoffrey didn't like being lied to. He liked being played for a fool even less. He'd lost his wife, but that hadn't been his fault. Losing his daughter? Oh, that was his fault alright, but at least he wasn't the only one to blame. Someone else had led him into that, and for that, they were going to pay.

  The problem was, how could he get him alone? And what would he do once he had?

  Pastor Cross looked at his watch again, it was a quarter to twelve, and Geoffrey still hadn't shown up. It wasn't like the man to be late, and where would he find another to take his place with so little time left? They'd gone over the plan again and again. For this to happen now, this endangered everything.

  Just then his phone rang. Pulling it out, he saw it was Geoffrey calling.

  "Geoffrey! Where are you?" Pastor Cross demanded.

  "I'm with my daughter! I found her! They…they did some bad things to her, Pastor. She's hurt!"

  "What? What do you mean, you found her?"

  "I found her downtown, they were, they were making her do things, for money. It wasn't pretty! But I got her out of there! She's with me! I got her a room in a hotel. Those bastards! Those fucking bastards! What they did to her, Pastor! The things they were going to do! I'm going to kill every one of those mother fucking animals!"

  Pastor Cross had to hold the phone away from his ear. Geoffrey was livid! He'd seen the man angry before, but never like this!

  "Well, come on down here then and let's do this! We've got the truck waiting for you, just like we planned. You can kill them all, Geoffrey! You can send them to hell like the Lord demands!"

  "I…I…I want to Pastor, but I can't leave her alone here! Not all by herself!"

  "I could send a couple of brothers to keep an eye on her; she'd be safe then, Geoffrey."

  "No! I've seen how they look at her, you know how they are! And with the way she is right now? She's too vulnerable! I don't want any of them by her! Especially not alone with her!"

  "Geoffrey, we've been planning this for weeks now! We have everything ready to go, and to go now! Can't you just lock the door?"

  "And then what? I'm not coming back, Pastor!"

  "Would it be okay if I looked in on her?" Pastor Cross asked cautiously.

  There was a moment's pause.

  "She says she's okay with you, that she misses you, Pastor. But I don't want to leave her alone, not for a moment. I'm, I'm too worried about her."

  Pastor Cross's eyes widened just a hair. She missed him? Then again, why wouldn't she? He had always treated her well, unlike those damn animals, apparently. He smiled a little to himself then. If she was as vulnerable as Geoffrey was claiming, maybe he wouldn't have to celebrate his greatest success alone tonight after all!

  "I don't know, Geoffrey," he said, sounding a little uncertain. It wouldn't do to make Geoffrey think getting his hot little girl in a room alone was exactly what Cross wanted right now. "I mean, I could come right after you left, but everyone is ready to go here."

  "Don't worry, Pastor, I know the plan as well as you do. I can leave to take care of everything as soon as you get here. Just tell them all to wait for me. We can leave an hour later; it won't cause any problems."

  Pastor Cross gave a faked sigh. "Okay, Geoffrey. But only because it's you asking. I know I can trust you. Tell me where you are, and I'll be there as soon as I can. I wouldn't do this for anyone else."

  Pastor Cross fidgeted a little in the elevator as went up in the tower. He was looking forward to getting his hands on little Betty once again. She'd been quite the little firecracker. Oh, not as experienced as some of the older women had been; Cindy had been quite the animal in bed. But Betty had shown a lot of promise, and with her father out of the way here shortly, there wouldn't be anyone to stop him from training her just they way he liked them.

  He wondered if he'd be able to hear the explosions from inside the hotel? Geoffrey had gotten her a room fairly high up; no doubt he'd he able to see the one in town from this very tower.

  The elevator dinged, and Pastor Cross got out and headed down the hallway to the room. He knocked on the door once, and it was immediately flung open by Geoffrey, who looked up and down the hallway.

  "You didn't bring anyone else, did you?"

  "Of course not, Geoffrey! I'm a man of my word. Clark is waiting in the car down by the lobby to drive you back, but that's it."

  "Good!" Geoffrey said, grabbed Pastor Cross's arm, and pulled him inside the room, slamming the door behind him.

  Pastor Cross stumbled, then looked around.

  "Where is…" was all he got out of his mouth before he felt something hit him on the back of the head and everything went very dark.

  "Sean, I'm picking something up on the police band," Trey called over the intercom as they slowly circled their downtown building. Everyone inside had been evacuated, and there were security teams all over the area looking for anything suspicious.

  "They find the truck?"

  "No, there's a jumper on the roof of the Grand Sierra."

  "People jump from there all the time, why is this one special?"

  "Because he's all tied up and there's another man with him."

  "What?!"

  "Security picked it up. They saw a guy being dragged up the stairwell to the roof level on their cameras. They called it in."

  "Okay, so still not our problem."

  "They traced the guy back to the room he rented. I recognized the last time. It's Betty's father."

  "What?!" Sean said, turning to look at Trey. "Get us over there! Now!"

  "I'll see what I can do, but the SWAT team is on their way, and the police have a helicopter already circling the building."

  "Maybe we can take the guy out before he pushes Betty's dad over the side."

  Peg laughed. "I'm not so sure you'd be doing her any favors, Sean!"

  "I guess I didn't make myself clear," Trey said as they made the short dash over to the Grand Sierra. "Her dad isn't the guy tied up. They don't know who that is. Her father is the man that looks like he's about to throw him off the roof."

  "Hand me that camera please?" Roxy said from the front right seat, pointing back to where her pack was.

  Sean nodded and passed her the one they'd been planning to use to take pictures of any vehicles that looked suspicious so they could text them to the teams on the ground.

  "I'm getting some grief from the P.D.," Trey said.

  "Yeah, well, tell them to talk to our lawyer," Roxy growled. "As long as we're not in their way, they can't say anything. Tell 'em we're press."

  "I think they recognize the big ass lion's head on the nose, Rox!" Trey laughed.

  "Okay, I got them in my sights, hold steady a moment." Sean heard the camera take a series of shots. "Okay, give it a little more space and let's see what we got."

  "Send it to Betty, she'll know who it is," Sean said.

  "What? Are you insane? The poor girl has been through enough! I'll send it to my dad."

  Pastor Cross groaned as he opened his eyes. The back of his head hurt something fierce! He tried to touch it, but found he couldn't move his hands, as his eyes suddenly focused and he noticed they were outside. On a roof. It was still nighttime, but it was bright enough that he could see…all the way down to the ground. All the way down to the ground.

  "What's going on here!" He tried to say it with conviction, but it came out as more of a desperate plea.

  "I had a few questions for you, Cross," Geoffrey growled in his ear.

  "That's Pastor Cross! Have you lost your mind, Geoffrey?"

  "Probably," Geoffrey said with a laugh. "Do you know what my daughter told me? Back when I disowned her?"

&n
bsp; Pastor Cross shook his head, then winced. It hurt a lot. Geoffrey had been very quiet on that whole affair, other than saying his daughter had gone crazy.

  "She said you got her pregnant."

  "I did no such thing!"

  "She said she lost the baby."

  "That has nothing to do with me!"

  "Because you shot her."

  "Lies! It's all lies! Satan, the Deceiver, the Father of Lies, is behind all of this! I am a servant of our Lord! Nothing more! I'm a humble, righteous man!"

  "I ran into Roy. Did you hear his wife is pregnant?"

  Pastor Cross shook his head, what the hell was he ranting about now?

  "Roy's sterile, Cross. I've known that all my life. We grew up together. Some disease he got as a teenager. But you didn't know that, did you?"

  Pastor Cross felt the blood drain from his face.

  "Yup, he didn't mind you gettin' one on his wife, 'cause they wanted a child and they thought you'd make a good 'biological' father. Just how many of the members' wives were you banging?"

  "I did no such thing! I was simply teaching those women the error of their ways and the righteous path to our Lord!"

  "More like the righteous path to your bed!" Geoffrey snarled. "You took advantage of them, used your power over all of us, to have your way with them."

  "Do you know how much I've given up for all of you?" Pastor Cross yelled, trying to turn around and face Geoffrey. "I've spent hours upon hours tending to your souls! All of you! None of you were anything when I found you! You were just a broken down drunk! Your daughter was hanging around with the kind of men who would have used her and then just tossed her aside! Those other men, if they'd been paying their wives the attention they deserved, would never have ended up in my bed!

  "It was my right as your shepherd! It was my right to take in those ewes who needed a strong man in their life! To take them and bed them and spread my seed amongst the faithful! I was doing them a favor! A service! For I am of the Lord, a holy and anointed one!"

  "You know, I could have forgiven you all of this if you hadn't tried to kill them."

  "They were in danger of falling into the hands of the devil! I had no choice! We all must make sacrifices, and that was mine!"