Final Ride

by Nic Saint

  Chapter 38

  It was four o’clock and Charlene took a tighter grip on her microphone. Next to her, Maya did the same, the two women dressed in their customary stage outfits. They’d been doing this particular show for weeks, a push to give Maya a bigger stage presence at Charleneland. Get her out into the limelight.

  Charlene had fought the inclusion of her granddaughter in what she considered her show tooth and claw but now she was glad she’d relented.

  Maya was a great singer who showed signs of one day becoming a worthy successor to her famous grandmother. They didn’t do the whole show together, of course. Charlene still carried the bigger part of the performance, but they did two duets, and Maya sang two solos as well. The intergenerational act had been well received both by old fans and new ones, and had brought more people into the shows, halting a trend of flagging attendance numbers in the past couple of years.

  As the veteran songstress stared out into the empty arena, she wondered if this was to be her future: a singer without an audience.

  When the music came up, she and Maya launched into a haunting rendition of ‘Save Me Cowboy,’ still one of Charlene’s biggest hits.

  In the front row, applause sounded, and she gratefully waved at Marisa and Mia, Karin and Clive, who was holding her dogs. At least her family was here. Even Kevin had decided to attend, and for once he was even dressed.

  When Charlene had announced that she was going to keep her four o’clock show going, the others had looked at her a little wearily, but had quickly understood that in spite of everything that had happened, the show must go on. She was a performer, with or without an audience, and if she stopped singing now, there was no telling when she might begin again. If ever.

  “Save me cowboy don’t be coy. I’ll be your girl if you’ll be my boy. The sky is blue I’ll always be true. Love me now and I’ll love you too.”

  The lyrics weren’t much to write home about. She’d created the song at the age of eighteen, and for some reason it had resonated with people back then and still did.

  She shared a smile with Maya, their voices harmonizing beautifully, and for a moment she forgot that Charleneland was closed, and might never reopen.

  Instead, she pictured the arena filled to the rafters, people holding up lighters and waving flashlights in the air, moved to tears by the melody and the words she’d written a long time ago, connecting her heart and theirs.

  And as she gazed out into the imaginary audience, she saw that Mia’s boyfriend Blane had arrived. Hesitant at first, his eyes scanning the rows and rows of empty seats, he started making his way to the front row. To Mia.

  At least law enforcement was on her side, she thought. Well done, Mia! Now if only they could get the media and the general public to give them a break, they might still save this eponymous park of hers.

  “Save me cowboy don’t be coy. I’ll be your girl if you’ll be my boy. My heart is true so is my love for you. Tell me you want me don’t make me blue.”

  Chapter 39

  I looked up when Blane took a seat next to me. After listening to Charlene and Maya for a moment, he leaned over and whispered, “I checked into Alfie’s alibi and it’s rock solid. He was attending an illegal boxing match. Plenty of witnesses.”

  “He could still have asked one of his goons to officiate proceedings.”

  “I doubt it, Mia. Like I said, Alfie and I go way back. He wouldn’t lie to me.”

  I nodded. “So where does that leave us?”

  “Nowhere.”

  “Did you arrest Leo?”

  “I went over to his house but he wasn’t there. I left a message on his phone. I’m going to give him until tonight and then I’m putting out an APB.”

  I watched Charlene and Maya harmonize. Normally I wasn’t a big fan of either Charlene’s singing or her songs, but today, for some reason, she touched me with her voice and even the words she sang. Soon I found myself softly singing along, and so did my parents and my sisters. Even Blane was uttering mutterings that sounded more or less like the song performed on stage.

  It was an emotional moment for all of us.

  “Did you see the news?” I asked.

  “Yes, I did. Damn hatchet job. Any idea who this whistleblower could be?”

  “None. The network didn’t even bother to ask us to comment. Seems like they’ve already made up their minds that we’re the bad guys in all of this.”

  “Do you think the whistleblower could be the same person who’s been sabotaging the park?”

  “At the very least there’s a connection.”

  I couldn’t believe WHS3 would willfully ignore the fact that the destruction at Charleneland had been caused by sabotage and not negligence or greed or whatever. Like Blane said, it was a hatchet job, and Mom had already gotten in touch with our lawyers to file a complaint against the network.

  But the damage was done. This would besmirch our reputation in the eyes of the world, and stop people from visiting the park if or when we reopened.

  Furthermore, this might cause people to file suits against us, if they believed we were responsible for the danger we’d put them in at the park.

  The dulcet tones of my grandmother and Maya drifted through the empty arena and acted like balm to my anxious mind and wounded heart.

  I took hold of Blane’s arm and leaned into him, placing my head on his shoulder. Next to me, Marisa did the same with Kevin, while Dad put his arm around Mom’s shoulder. And as we sat there, I experienced a brief moment of relief, realizing that at least I had a family I could count on in these dark times.

  “Do you want to stay the night?” I whispered into Blane’s ear.

  He smiled. “As long as you tell Kevin not to jump out of the closet in the middle of the night or to flash me when I go to the bathroom.”

  “I think I can convince him to keep his clothes on for a couple of hours.”

  He placed a gentle kiss on my lips. “I would love to stay the night.”

  Oh boy. We hadn’t even had a first date and already he was sleeping over. We were going about this ass backwards, weren’t we? Then again, that simply showed I was Charlene’s granddaughter. And what was wrong with that?

  And as the private concert drew to a close, with Charlene and Maya giving a rousing rendition of Hallelujah, suddenly the doors at the back of the arena slammed open and feet slapped the aisle as a figure came running down.

  When I looked up, I saw that it was Dylan, looking extremely agitated.

  He nervously glanced up at the stage, not wanting to interrupt Charlene, who was already darting angry glances in his direction at the disturbance.

  He fell into the seat next to me, and loud-whispered, “It’s Leo! He’s here!”

  “What?! What do you mean he’s here?”

  “He’s at the gate. Insists we let him in.”

  On stage, Charlene and Maya had stopped singing, and the music—produced by a backup tape—faded away.

  “What the hell’s going on?” Charlene’s sharp voice demanded.

  “Leo is here,” I said, getting up.

  “Oh, finally,” she said. “I thought he’d never arrive.”

  We all stared at her. “You… invited him?”

  “Of course I did. Wouldn’t be much of a concert without Leo, would it? The man is, after all, my biggest fan.”

  “He’s also a mad bomber!” I said.

  “Oh, rubbish. I looked into his eyes when he told us he had nothing to do with this bombing business and I believe him.”

  She gave us a defiant look that told me she had made up her mind about Leo and there was nothing we could do to change it.

  “Let him in,” she instructed Dylan.

  “But…”

  “Let him in! I’ve asked him to take up his old position again so I guess him showing up here means he’s decided to take me up on my offer.”

  “But I’m the head of security now,” said Dylan weakly.

  “Not anymore you’re not.”


  “You can’t do this, Charlene,” I said, and braced myself.

  But before she could launch into a verbal castigation, we were all startled by the reverberating BOOM! of an explosion. The floor beneath us shook, and a piece of rigged-up lighting crashed down onto the stage right next to Maya.

  “What the hell!” Charlene screamed.

  “Out!” my dad hollered. “All of you! Out! Right now!”

  We ran out of the arena while a second explosion roared in the distance.

  The moment we slammed through the exit doors and emerged into the sunlit square that fronted the arena, my eyes were drawn to a thick plume of black smoke going up on the other side of the park.

  I instantly knew what it was.

  “It’s the command center,” I said. “They’ve blown up my office!”

  Chapter 40

  When we arrived at the old settler house that accommodated our security headquarters—and my office—it was obvious that whoever had planted this bomb had done a bang-up job. The entire structure had come crashing down, and nothing but a pile of smoking rubble remained.

  After the initial scare that people might be trapped in the wreckage, it soon became clear that only property damage was done. Miraculously, none of my staff had been inside the building when it was blown to smithereens.

  The fire marshal had arrived and was sifting through the remnants, searching for the cause of the destruction, and so was the team of inspectors.

  “It’s clear to me now that you and your park are the victims of a very vicious campaign of sabotage,” Fabrice stated. He said this with a note of astonishment in his voice, as if he couldn’t believe this wasn’t our doing.

  “Do you have any idea who might be behind it?” I asked.

  “That’s not really up to us to determine,” he said. “I’m afraid placing blame is up to the police and the fire marshal.”

  Next to me, Blane growled, “Oh, trust me. We’ll get whoever’s responsible.”

  Charlene’s Corgis were happily prancing all over the rubble, sniffing here and there, something their owner wasn’t very happy about. “Get back here, darlings,” she insisted, and when they tripped up to her, she scooped them up. “Who knows how many more bombs are hidden in there,” she explained.

  “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that, Mrs. Simple,” said the fire marshal as he joined us.

  “Charlene,” Charlene snapped. “Nobody calls me Mrs. Simple.”

  “Charlene it is,” he said amiably. He was a lanky man with tan face and a gray buzz cut. His no-nonsense attitude was refreshing. “We found the bomb. It was placed in the server room. So far it’s the only one we found.”

  “Server room?” I asked.

  “Yes, looks like whoever was responsible wanted to take out your computer.” He shook his head. “I’m afraid there’s nothing left, Miss Rugg.”

  I shared a look with my father. “So they were after our server this time.”

  “Security footage,” Dad said curtly. “You kept that stuff on there, didn’t you?”

  I nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, but we went through the footage. It revealed nothing.”

  “There must have been something,” said my father. “Why else blow it up?”

  I turned to Dylan, who stood poking at a piece of desk with his toe tip, looking shell-shocked. “You never found anything on those tapes, did you?”

  “Nope,” he confirmed. ”Just a whole bunch of static.”

  “When is this finally going to end?” asked Mom, hugging herself.

  We were all shaken to the core. This bombing campaign was starting to get to us—causing us all to become increasingly desperate and anxious.

  “Good thing we duplicate the database to our second server,” said Marisa, watching the sad scene with her arms folded across her chest.

  I stared at her, and so did the others. “Can you repeat that?” I asked.

  She gave me a blank look. “The second server. At the Pagoda. I had it installed a couple of months ago. It was you who told me to set it up.”

  I smiled at her, then hugged her. “You’re a lifesaver, sis.”

  She stood a little stiffly. “Don’t tell me you forgot.”

  “Um…” Actually I had. Completely. I’d only mentioned the second server idea to Marisa in passing, figuring we’d get around to it when we got around to it. Good thing Marisa was the most conscientious person I knew.

  “You have a second server”? asked Dylan, interested.

  I nodded. “A backup. In case something happens to the primary server. We had an audit last year, and one of the tech guys strongly suggested it.”

  There was a commotion behind us, and Leo came marching towards us. He was followed by two guards who had a hard time keeping up. Leo was red-faced, a look of determination on his face. “Can you tell these clowns that I’m not a terrorist?!” he shouted.

  “Leo!” Charlene cried. “I’m so glad you’re here. You missed my concert.”

  “I got held up,” he grunted, directing a scathing look at the two guards.

  “It’s all right, fellas,” said Charlene. “Leo is here to stay. Isn’t that right, Leo?”

  Leo grunted something, then took in the devastation that had been wrought to his building. His hands flew to his head, knocking off his cap, and he tugged at his few remaining strands of hair. “I step down from my post for one day and you blow up my office? What’s wrong with you people?!”

  “I didn’t blow up the building if that’s what you’re implying,” said Dylan.

  “I’m implying that someone did,” said Leo, balling his ham-sized hands into fists. “And if I catch whoever’s responsible, I’m going to strangle him!”

  “It’s okay, old buddy,” said Dad, placing an arm around the burly security man’s shoulders. “We’ll rebuild—get you a bigger and better building.”

  To my surprise, Leo had tears in his eyes. “My babies. They killed my babies!”

  “Babies? You had babies in there?” asked Mom anxiously.

  “My plants!” Leo snapped. “I loved those plants. Took me forever to grow them. I fed them—I nurtured them. Got them special plant food…”

  Charlene pressed her lips together, a disapproving look on her face. “Snap out of it, Leo. They’re just a bunch of dumb plants.”

  Only Charlene could be jealous of plants, I thought.

  “We’ll get you new plants, Leo,” Mom said. “And that’s a promise.”

  Blane leaned in. “So we’re not suspecting Leo anymore?”

  I narrowed my eyes at Leo. “He’s still on my list of suspects.”

  There was a commotion where the firemen were investigating the rubble. The fire marshal came lumbering up to us, stepping over big chunks of brick wall and what was left of a ceiling fan. “We found something.”

  He held up a scarred and twisted piece of metal, a couple of charred wires dangling from it. “Looks homemade. Same as the others we found. Highly effective, though.” He scratched his scalp. “Time to call in the Feds, people. This is way beyond the scope of our authority here.”

  “And beyond mine,” Fabrice admitted.

  I crooked my finger at Blane. He followed me out of the others’ earshot.

  “What are the chances the saboteur was caught on camera on some of the duplicated footage?”

  Blane pondered this question for a moment. “I’m not a security footage specialist, but I’d say it’s worth a shot.”

  “Let’s go,” I said, and set foot for the Pagoda.

  “Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” It was Charlene, and when I turned back, she was cuddling her Corgis, and giving me a penetrating look.

  “Just something we need to check,” I said curtly.

  “I’m going with you,” she announced. “I have a right to know what’s going on. This is my park. I built this place.”

  “I’m coming, too,” said Maya.

  “And me,” Marisa added.

  Soon, the en
tire group was falling into step behind Blane and me.

  “So where are we going?” asked Dylan, hurrying to keep up.

  “Checking the duplicated security footage from the night the cameras went dark.” I glanced at Leo, who still wasn’t off the hook as far as I was concerned. “I have a hunch the saboteur deleted the original footage but not the copy.”

  Chapter 41

  We arrived at the Pagoda and made our way up the stairs. Me and Blane led the procession, with the rest of my family closely behind and Kevin, Leo and Dylan bringing up the rear.

  Marisa showed us into the air-conditioned room where the second server had been installed. A row of ceiling-high machines greeted us, lights flickering, the hum of the fans and whir of the computers music to my ears. The saboteur might have taken down the security compound, but he hadn’t known about this backup system. Heck, I hadn’t even known about it myself.

  “How do we access the data?” I asked Marisa.

  “Oh, you can use the computer in my office,” she said, as if it was obvious.

  We all crowded into Marisa’s office, and Marisa booted up her computer.

  “Are you sure it’s safe in here?” asked Kevin, darting nervous glances around him, as if fully expecting a bomb to go off at any moment.

  “I’m sure we’re fine,” I told him.

  “And why is that?”

  “Because I’m pretty sure the saboteur is in this room with us.”

  Kevin directed an anxious glance at Leo, who gave him a nasty glare in return. Meanwhile, Dylan said, “Maybe we should leave this to the cops.”

  “I am a cop,” Blane reminded him.

  Dylan stared at him, his eyes a little fearful. “Oh. I forgot. So you are.”

  Marisa launched the security footage software and I watched as she scrolled through the imagery from the night before this nightmare started.

  “Why didn’t you tell me that you had a backup?” I asked.

  She frowned. “You never asked.” She tapped a few keys.