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''So what happens now?" I asked sarcastically. "What about us? Or should I assume that we're just two more minor inconveniences in your sordid little scenario?" |
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"Quite the contrary, Mr. Wages. Your stumbling in here like this is most fortuitous for you. Because you are an academic, you will have an opportunity to be a part of something that no other nonbeliever has ever been allowed to witness. You, perhaps more than all the others, will have some appreciation for what you are about to see. Your propensity for logic and your delight in the search for truth bids you well. As for my old colleague, Mr. Madden, he is not so fortunate. Our esteemed lawman, we fear, is not to be trusted. If we allow him to live much longer he could be disruptive to the proceedings." |
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"Yeah," Madden snarled. "Well, I think it's about time somebody put an end to this bullshit." |
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In the few short hours that I had known Jake Madden, he had proven to be a man of impulses. He acted on one now, but this one came at the wrong time and the wrong place. His hand darted for his .38, but it never cleared the holster. The unlikely-looking man with the unlikely-looking gun fired first, three times in succession. |
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The first shot caught Jake in the throat, the second in the chest, and the third blew |
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