"This is it," said Tony quietly, as he braked in the middle of the deserted
intersection.
The first thing Rollie saw was the burnt and destroyed frame of the truck.
"Jesus," he said. "Pull over -- there, right there ... "
Even before the police car had come to a complete stop, Rollie had jumped
out, and was running across the pavement to the remains of the pickup.
He leaned in the passenger side window, grimacing. "There's only
one body in here!" he called.
"Who is it?" yelled Tony.
Rollie squinted into the darkness, then sighed with relief. "It's
a man!"
"Loubar," Tony muttered. "Where's Angie?" he said, running to Rollie's
side.
"She must have escaped," said Rollie, frowning. "Thank God ... "
"But where is she?" said Tony, looking around. Nothing moved along
the quiet street. The place was eerily quiet.
"I don't know," said Rollie. He stepped backward, looking at the
burnt hulk of the pickup. "Well, at least we know what happened to
the tracker in the PDA. This must have been quite the explosion.
Jeez. Our second truck gone in a year." He thought back to
when the crystal meth dealer, Ricky Delacruz, had their last truck booby
trapped. Angie had narrowly escaped death that time, too.
"Wouldn't want to be your insurance company," said Tony, trying to make
a joke in the tense situation.
Rollie didn't even smile. "All right," he said, "we should split
up, see if we can find her in the area. She may be hurt."
"I don't like this," said Tony. "You could get hurt."
"I can take care of myself," said Rollie, flatly.
Tony nodded, and reluctantly he split up from Rollie. They moved
away from each other in opposite directions down the street.
The thin man pulled up a block away from Arnold's Convenience. He
suspected Tyler would in the area soon, if he wasn't already. It
would be typical of Tyler. He'd have found a way to locate Angie.
The man stepped out of the car and walked over to the curb. He crossed
in front of a parking meter, and disappeared into an alleyway between two
buildings.
Flicking on a penlight, he carefully made his way through the darkness
until he saw what he was looking for. According to the building plans,
which he'd had looked up before leaving, there was a back entrance to the
store. He could catch Angela by surprise, and hopefully, not attract
any attention out on the main part of the street.
The steel door was, predictably, locked. Removing a set of lock picks,
the man carefully slipped one of the steel keys into the lock. He
fiddled with the lock for a moment until he heard a soft click. He
turned the key and removed, then pulled open the door.
Inside, there was almost complete darkness. The man risked flicking
on his penlight for a moment to get an idea of where he was. He was
in a back room, where supplies and excess products were sold. He
noticed a door leading to the front of the store across the room from him.
He weaved his way between the shelves until he had reached the door.
Then, turning off the penlight, he opened the door, quietly.
He swallowed. "Angie?" he said, quietly, in his Tyler-voice.
"Rollie?" he heard, from behind the store counter. "Is that you?"
"Yes, it's me darling," he said, moving toward the source of the voice.
"Thank God," he heard. He saw a shadowed figure stand up from behind
the counter. She began moving toward him. "I'm so afraid."
Angie moved toward Rollie's voice. She could just see the shadowed
outline of him now. "Rollie ... Loubar ... the truck ... " she tried
to say, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. Her voice broke,
and she started to cry with relief.
The voice shushed her. "It's okay," he said. "It's all right
now."
Angie looked up as the figure moved closer to her. Suddenly a shaft
of moonlight illuminated his face, and she gasped in horror.
"Loubar?!"