69 (13)

SKREEEEE

Will Hetfield didn’t even know if his car was in park, but he was out of it and running for the door with his badge in hand.  He glanced back for a fleeting second, and he was quite relieved to see his car not moving.  The doors opened up and he ran through the lobby of the airport.  Before he could talk, he saw a medic heading towards the departure gates.  He slowed to a stop and looked all around.  He didn’t see anyone that matched the description of Franklin Richmond, nor of Geoff Pryblinski.  Will ran towards a security officer, who put one arm towards him and one hand to his hip. 

“Relax, I’m with Sioux Falls PD.  I need to stop a flight to Vegas.  There’s a person of interest on that flight.”

“Sir, I can’t let you in right now.  We’ve had an incident and I don’t have any authorization to let S.F.P.D. in right now.”  The security guard didn’t move, and Will took a few breaths before he squinted his eyes.  He looked the guard over, and prepared to give him a dressing down.

“You there.  Agent Iron-Horse, F.B.I.”  Clayton was suddenly standing by will, holding his credentials in the guard’s face.  The guard lowered his hands.

“Go ahead Mr. Iron-Horse.  Your clearance came through a minute ago.”  The guard glared at Will, but moved aside for Clayton. 

“Hetfield is working with me.  I’ll clear him.”

“Very good sir.”

Will stood for a minute looking dumbfounded.  Clayton turned around and gestured towards him.  “What, you didn’t call ahead?  You just ran into an airport waving your badge around?”

“Hey, I don’t get to the airport very often.”  Will’s face was turning a bright red.

“C’mon.  I’ll tell you some more F.B.I. tricks on our way up.”

***

“Sorry…zoned out for a second…what were you saying?”

Phil stood up and slid the door until it was almost closed.  “I said, why don’t you close the door before we get to Aberdeen?  I have a hunch they’ll be looking for freight hoppers at some point.  The Sioux Falls P.D. isn’t some Roscoe P. Coltrane outfit.”

“Right right.  Sorry.”  Bob walked over to the door, and sat at the left of the foot long opening.  “I was just thinking about how hungry I was.”

“Oh, don’t even go there!”  Phil plopped down to the right of the opening.  “I skipped a run through Taco John’s because usually Friday means pizza.”

“I can top that, I didn’t eat lunch on Friday.”  Bob was rocking back and forth, clutching his stomach.

“How much cash to you have?  We should get a motel room, at least to shower and maybe call a lawyer.”

“If we’re going to call a lawyer, we could just as well use a credit card.”

“True.  We should have planned ahead to be outlaws.  We can probably get a motel for one night with our cash, then we’re in trouble.”

“We could hit an ATM before we skipped town.”

Phil started laughing.  “Just how long do you think we’ll be on the lam?”

Bob laughed but didn’t answer.

“Yeah” Phil said, “I don’t know either.”

***

“You’re sure?” Will asked.  The security guard’s face didn’t move.

“I’m positive.  As he collapsed, he seemed to gesture towards those seats, but when I looked, there was no one there.”  Will shook his head and looked around.  The medics were lifting Richmond onto a gurney, and he knew the ambulance was waiting.

“Dammit, we need him alive.  Otherwise it’s a dead end.”

“Maybe not” Clayton remarked as he watched Richmond’s gurney being wheeled away.  “I found something rather peculiar.”