Dark Sundays by Donn Cortez

Author:Donn Cortez
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2010-12-16T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

A search of the abandoned construction site produced something else of interest: several empty gas cylinders on the roof.

“I think we’ve found the launch site for the dirigible,” said Nick. He glanced around. “Makes sense—plenty of space up here to inflate the envelope and less of a chance anyone will notice when you take off.”

“Then all you have to do,” said Greg, “is make it a hundred and fifty feet straight across to the party. The dirigible itself is black, which lessens the chance anyone will see it from the street. And once everyone’s watching one act—”

“—act number two steps onto the stage.”

“Except nobody’s supposed to notice his entrance. While the entire party is watching an inflatable clown go down in flames, this guy is making a water landing in the pool.”

Nick shook his head. “After which he climbs out, grabs a robe and a towel from poolside, and saunters up to the guard watching the elevator—just in time to vouch for his two friends downstairs.”

“One hell of a way to crash a party, you gotta admit.”

“Sure—but why? So far, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to go to all this trouble. Nothing was stolen, nobody was hurt.”

“The casino’s rep took a hit,” Greg pointed out. “Maybe that’s what this is all about.”

“I don’t know. The bear attack, maybe. But this was all done just to get three people—four if you count the missing security guard—on the roof of the Panhandle.”

“Where they apparently did nothing but a little freelance acrobatic work.”

Nick nodded, a frown on his face. “I think I know what the remote we found in the pool was for. It was the trigger for the cannon.”

“So he had it in his hand the whole way, then dropped it on impact?” Greg thought about it. “Having the cannonball launch himself probably means our little troupe was running low on manpower. We’ve got four people so far, plus whoever was controlling the dirigible.”

“Who’d need line of sight for the aircraft. The controller would have to be in a place to see both the launch site and the far side of the hotel.”

“There’s another hotel right across the street. The controller could have been in any of the rooms facing this way, with a joystick in one hand and a pair of binoculars in the other.”

Nick nodded. “Obviously this is getting more insane by the moment. Let’s process this site—maybe we can get a print from one of the cylinders or the chain they cut. I’ll check out the crane, too. They had to have used it to hoist the cannon into position.”

“I’ll take a closer look at the impact site, if you don’t mind.” said Greg. “Frankly, I’m getting kinda tired of rooftops.”

There were certain things you just shouldn’t do when you were drunk, Sara thought as she pulled into the parking lot of the strip mall. Driving was at the top of the list—as she’d learned, to her own regret—cleaning your gun was a close second, and calling an ex was probably number three.

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