'Looks that way. From what I can see, he took three in the upper body.'
'I was shooting blind in the dark,' I said. 'I didn't know if I hit him.'
'Anyone else in the building?'
'He has Albert Kloughn tied up with a bomb strapped to his chest in one of the offices. He said he had another hostage. I don't know who that is. I didn't find the other hostage.' My knees gave out and I sort of sunk into Ranger and dissolved into tears. He had his arms tight around me, holding me to him. He sent Junior in search of the mechanical room to get the lights back on. He sent Cal to search for the second hostage. Then he called Morelli.
'I've got Stephanie,' Ranger said. 'She's safe, but there's a hostage unfound and a hostage potentially carrying a bomb. I haven't seen the bomb. I'm going to check it out now.'
'Where's Joe?' I asked, wiping my nose with the back of my hand, trying to regain some control.
'We split up. I got the factory and he went to Clyde's house.'
'How did you know it was Clyde?'
'Cal saw the truck tear past him. He didn't know what the truck driver was up to, but he thought it was suspicious enough to check with Morelli. Cal got part of the plate and Morelli ran it through the system, checking it against the principles.'
The lights flickered and we took our goggles off. Every light flashed on at full power and we got a better look at Clyde. He was lying faceup. The monster was gone and Clyde looked very ordinary in death. In fact, he looked oddly peaceful. Maybe it had been a relief to give up the game.
'Help,' Albert Kloughn said. His voice was barely a whisper.
We all turned and stared at him, strapped to his chair on the other side of the warehouse. His face was red and mottled and he looked like he wasn't going to live long enough for the bomb to explode.
Ranger jogged across the room. 'Try not to move,' Ranger said to Kloughn. 'I'm coming around to take a closer look.'
We all followed after Ranger, watching from the hall while Ranger went into the office.
'I think it's a dummy,' Ranger said, 'but I'm not an expert.' He took out a pocketknife and cut the duct tape away from Kloughn's ankles. He sliced into the tape binding Kloughn to the chair. 'I'm not going to touch the device you've got strapped to your chest,' Ranger said. 'Stay here in the chair until the police get here with a demolition team.'
Rangers walkie-talkie chirped.
It was Cal. 'You have to see this,' he said. 'I think I found the second hostage. I'm in the lunchroom.'
We left Junior with Kloughn and we followed the hall to the lunchroom. Cal was standing hands on hips, smiling up at Lula. She was swinging like a giant pinata from a rope attached to a ceiling fan. She was still wearing the poison green top and the yellow stretch pants and her feet were treading air about fifteen feet off the ground. Her arms were duct-taped to her sides and she had duct tape across her mouth. A thick rope was wrapped around and threaded through the duct tape on her body and then looped around the fan. She had the beady little charging bull eyes, she was making angry mmmmrf mmrff sounds under the duct tape, and she was kicking her feet. Plaster dust was sifting down on her head from the ceiling fixture.
Rangers face creased into a smile. 'I love my job,' he said.
'He must have gotten her up there with a forklift,' Cal said. 'There's one parked down the hall. Do you want me to drive it down here?'
'Don't need it,' Ranger said, shoving a table under Lula, climbing onto the table.
Her feet were still swinging in the air and she was still kicking.
'You kick me and I'm leaving you here,' Ranger said.
'Hmmph,' Lula said under the duct tape.
Ranger worked at the rope with his knife, the rope gave, and Lula dropped onto the table. Cal reached out to support her and the two of them went to the floor.
I ripped the tape off Lula's mouth and Ranger cut the tape that was binding her arms.
'I was drugged!' Lula said. 'Do you believe it? I was taking the garbage out and he shot me in the ass with a dart. That little shit, Clyde. Next thing I know I'm swinging around from the ceiling. I'm beside myself. I'm in a state. I didn't know what to think. I saw some kinky shit when I was a ho, but I never did anything like this.' She looked around, wild-eyed. 'I need something to eat. This here's an eating situation.' She spied the vending machine and stormed across the room. 'I need money. I need quarters or dollars, or something. Omigod, they got Twinkies in here. I need a Twinkie real bad.'
'What about the supermodel diet?' I asked Lula.
'Fuck that. I hate those boney-ass supermodels anyway. I don't know what I was thinking.' Lula was shaking the vending machine. 'Who's got a hammer?' she asked. 'Somebody help me out here.'
Ranger slid a dollar into the machine and Lula punched the button.
'Hello, Twinkie,' she said. 'I'm coming home. Lula's back in town.'
***
IT WAS WAY after midnight when Morelli and I got back to his house. Morelli dragged me up the stairs, stripped my clothes off, and shoved me into the shower. I had paint everywhere. Yellow, red, blue.
'You're a disaster,' Morelli said, standing to one side, watching me.
'Is it coming out of my hair?'
