Combustible (A Boone Childress Novel) (29 page)

They moved further down the hallway. The sound of the voices diminished to a hum. Boone had no choice but to follow them up the stairs. He motioned to the group that he would follow and they should stay, but Luigi shook his head, no.

He pointed at the wi-fi apparatus that Boone was still wearing. He pressed a button on the chest plate, then removed the listening fork from its slot and pointed it upstairs.

Boone took the fork. The second man's voice came through loud and clear.
"When a monkey wrench is in the way, the only recourse is to remove the wrench. Starting with the leader."

Mom! Boone thought. They were talking about removing Mom
.

"What's the plan this time?"
Mercer said.

"The office
of the Registrar of Deeds has some surveys, plait maps, etc. of the Tin City property. It would be good for us if they were conveniently lost. Here's a list."

Boone heard paper shuffling
.

"Is that all?"
Mercer said.

"No, there's a second thing. The Bragg County Historical Soc
iety has a little building chock full of important historical documents about the location of that bone yard. I recall that the building still uses its original LP heating system. "

No, it wasn't just Mom. They were going
to burn the whole historical society.

"I've only got one
fuse left."

"If all goes well, Peter, it'll be all you need."

"You said the last job would be it, and I could get out of this rat hole town."

"I miscalculated."

"I'm sick of playing Barney Fife for you."

"Alas, until your gambling debts are paid off, it's a role you'll be stuck with."

"Some uncle you are."

"
Grand uncle, Peter. Now go about your business. I'm due on stage in a few minutes. There's a Miss Bragg to crown." He sighed. "It's a hard job, but someone has to do it."

His footsteps grew louder.
Boone waved for everyone to hide, and they slid into the shadows on the either side of the risers as the first footfalls sounded on the risers. Boone noticed the shoes first. Highly polished black leather Oxfords, merino wool slacks and matching jacket. Light bounced off the fabric, which was clearly tailored. Only one man in town can afford that suit, Boone thought. His suspicion was confirmed with the back of man's head appeared, a coffered mop of silver hair trimmed right at the top of the collar.

But something was wrong. The hair was too silver, and his body was thinner and shorter
.

It wasn't Trey Landis
.

It was his father
.

The man who slept his life away wasn't asleep at all.

"Goddamn." The words escaped Boone's lips before he could stop them.

Ahead, Landis stopped in his tracks. His head turned side to side as he listened. "Idiot sheriff," he murmured as he checked his watch.
"My introduction wasn't supposed to be for another two minutes. You've ruined by entrance."

He sta
lked down the hallway and to the front door. He pulled a wheelchair out of a darkened alcove, sat down, the drove it to the door. Light flooded the building, and G.D. Landis rolled his electric wheelchair toward the handicapped ramp. If his head turned at that moment, he would have seen the peculiar sight of three college students and an elderly man in with long hair and a straggly beard trying to hide behind a potted plant.

"
Mercer's the arsonist!" Boone whispered after the door had closed and they were in shadow again. "He's been working for Landis all along. But not Trey Landis, his father. The old man has been faking it all along."

"I knew it!" Cedar said softly.

Luigi shrugged. "I did not."

"Me, neither,"
Abner added. "What're they up to?"

"
They're going to destroy evidence of the cemetery," Boone whispered "and burn the Historical Society, too."

"How are we going to stop them?" Cedar asked.

"Y'all three, take Landis. He's announcing Miss Bragg in a couple minutes. Keep an eye on him. I'll try to catch Mercer in the act." Boone patted his pockets. "Where's my cellphone?"

"I got a camera,” Cedar said.

"Let me borrow it?"

"I'm coming with you,” she said.

"It's dangerous."

"It's my camera
."

Upstairs, there was a crash and the sound of cursing. Clearly, Mercer was a better arsonist than burglar
.

Abner
snagged Luigi by the sleeve. "We'll follow Landis. You two take Mercer. Be careful."

A few seconds later, the door opened, and they were outside. When the light faded again, Boone and
Cedar dashed up the stairs.

They followed the sounds to the office of the Registrar. Boone had passed by it several times in the past.
It was an old fashioned kind of door: Patterned glass that you could only see shapes through, with the names of the occupants hand-lettered in gold and black on the glass. Before, the door had always been closed. Now, it stood ajar.

Boone bent down to one
knee. He pressed against the wall. With Cedar literally breathing down his neck, he peeked inside.

The front office was dim. A receptionist counter separated it from three offices behind it. The middle door stood open, and light shone from the high open window.
Mercer stood in front of the window, his body a hunched silhouette, as he flipped through the open drawer of a filing cabinet.

Boone crept in. He stayed low, at eye level with the reception counter.
Cedar followed him on hands and knees.

"Camera,"
Boone whispered.

Cedar
pulled it from a pocket then set the flash function to off. She set it in Boone's palm and gave the thumbs up.

Slowly, Boone worked his way down the counter. The light behind Mercer made it hard to get a good shot.
The deputy's face was hidden in shadow. He needed a better angle.

Hurry up!
Cedar pantomimed to him.

I am! Boone mimed back.

He kept moving, the muscles in his thighs on fire. He wanted desperately to stand up, but doing so would alert Mercer. Near the copier at the end of the corner, he finally got the shot.

Mercer turned into the light as he pulled a packet of materials out of the drawer.
Boone hit record on the video function and watched as the deputy ripped the material in half and then stuffed it into a stray manila folder.

He slammed the drawer shut then pulled the office door closed behind him. Boone ducked and waved for
Cedar to do the same. Mercer crossed into the dim light and reached for the outer door as the camera reached its capacity and sounded a warning chime.

Mercer stopped, turned, and saw
Cedar hunched up against the reception counter, her arms wrapped around her knees.

"
Hi," Cedar said.

Mercer pulled his gun.
"Now what am I going to do with you?"

"Give me some sugar?"
Cedar said.

The tips of Mercer's lips curled up. "I got a better idea."

Mercer shoved a plastic vial into
Cedar's hand. He tore strips of duct tape from the roll and wrapped them around her hand so that she couldn't let go of the vial. Mercer then taped the hand to Cedar's thigh.

Boone stayed behind the copier. It had been his hiding spot from the instant that Mercer had seen
Cedar. He hid there the whole time that the deputy had Cedar up. It killed him to hide, but he had to wait for an opening.

Through the walls, he could hear Landis' muffled voice on the PA system
, announcing the runners up for Miss Bragg. He couldn’t make out the words, but from the sound of the crowd applauding, they liked the choices.

Nervously,
Boone stroked his chin and tapped his chest. The tips of his fingers touched the chest plate of Luigi's listening device.

That's it, he thought
.

He
detached the listening fork from the slot on the plate, pushed one of the buttons, and pointed the receptor at Mercer. The sound of his breathing, which was erratic, filled the buds in his ears. He jerked back, almost hitting the wall behind him.

Whew. The sound was coming in loud and clear.
He hit another button on the device and waited.

"You know what that is, girl
?"

Cedar
shook her head, no, and Boone clicked a third button, directing his signal to override the wireless microphone that Landis was using. He mentally crossed his fingers that it would work.

"Of course you don't
," Mercer said. "Because you've never seen anything like it before. I invented myself. It's a sodium fuse, like the ones I used to burn down those houses for Landis. Want to know how it works?"

Boone eased an
ear bud off. He listened to the sound of the muffled voice on the PA. It was higher, excited, and the crowd had stopped applauding.

Mercer's voice was being piped to the whole town
.

"The sodium sits at the bottom of the plastic tube. The mineral oil's in the middle. The water's on top.
All I do is pull this cork out of a little hole in the middle here, like this, and the oil drips out. When it’s gone, the water comes down, and boom! No more nosey little bitch."

"
Halt!" Boone stood up. He pointed the fork at himself. "Deputy Mercer, I'm placing you under citizen's arrest for arson, murder, and trying to blow up my girlfriend."

"What the hell?"
Mercer pulled his gun. "Citizen's arrest? You're out of your mind, boy. Tell you what, you sit right down next to your girl. She's got something to show you."

Mercer stepped out into the hallway. He slammed the door, and Boone heard the key turn in the lock.
He expected to hear footsteps, but instead, he saw Mercer's shadow cross the space under the door.

Bo
one yanked the duct tape off Cedar's mouth.

"Stop up the hole! In the tube! Stopper it!"

The oil had almost dripped out of the plastic tube. Only an eight of an inch remained. Boone slapped a finger over the hole Mercer had uncovered. The water sloshed above the thin line of oil, coming perilously close to the sodium below.

"Hold it steady,"
Cedar warned him. "Tilt that thing, and I lose my hand."

"You'll use a lot more than that,"
Boone said.

"Sodium's not that reactive, Boone."

"And that's not sodium. It cesium. Mercer doesn't know his chemicals."

"Cesium can
—"

"Blow us all up.
Unless we find a way to get rid of all of the water first.” He looked around the room, then noticed, “Your lips are chapped."

"Who cares about that now.”

"Got any lip balm in your purse?”

"
Front pocket."

The lip balm was pure petroleum.
With his free hand, Boone fished the tube out of the pocket. He stuck the lid in his teeth and twisted the cap off, then spat it out. It bounced off Cedar's nose.

"First you rip half my face off with the duct tape
, then you spit lids at me."

"Shh,"
Boone said. "This isn't easy, you know."

"Why's that?"

"First, I have to move my finger, and before the oil drips out, I have to squeeze this petroleum jelly inside the tube."

"Could be worse."

"How?"

She nodded toward the hallway.
"There could be smoke coming under the door."

"
Damn." Cedar was right: White smoke was roiling across the floor.

"Did he just set the building on fire?"
Cedar asked.

"Unless my nose is deceiving
me, that stink is the smell of a road flare."

"
He's lighting a load of thermite," Boone said. His brow filled with sweat. He wiped it away on his shirtsleeve. "The building has sprinklers, so we'll be okay."

"You're forgetting your chemistry. Water
—"

"
—won't stop thermite. You're right." He set the opening of the tube next to the spot where his skin was stoppering the hole in the plastic tube. "On the count of three, we go. And Cedar?"

"Yeah?"

"If I blow off your hand, I'm sorry."

"
Worry about your head, too, Boone."

One, Boone counted
.

He
kissed her full on the lips.