The Big Blast

by Lister, Michael

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Her mouth was taped shut and she was holding a grenade in each hand, carefully, the way someone would after the pins had been pulled.

  The grenades were attached to the crates by cables, short leashes tethering her to the explosives and the reason for her being hunched over the boxes.

  I stepped over, removed the tape, and kissed her.

  “Where is he?” I asked.

  “There were two. One held a knife to Mary Pat’s throat and threatened to kill her if I didn’t take what the other was handing me. He put them in my hands and pulled the pins. The other guy then killed Mary Pat anyway.”

  I followed her gaze over to the corner of the room where the lifeless body of a young woman lay crumpled.

  “As they were leaving, he said they were going to light the fuse from underneath anyway so I shouldn’t worry about being brave or heroic in trying not to let go. They’ve been gone about five minutes.”

  I took a minute to study the explosives.

  The cables were welded to the grenades in Lauren’s hands and to the pins of other grenades built into the box and surrounded by the dynamite. I could see no way of unhooking any of the grenades without causing the entire contraption to explode.

  “We’re gonna figure this out,” I said. “You okay? Just hang in there a little while longer.”

  “I love you,” she said.

  I stopped and looked at her, locking eyes. “I love you,” I said. “Now let’s get this figured out so we can get home and enjoy our favorite time of day together.”

  She teared up. “Sounds . . . good. Too good.”

  “Hey. Look at me. I’m gonna figure this out. Okay?”

  She nodded, but her eyes and expression said she wasn’t so sure. “We’ve been on borrowed time. We knew that.”

  The door opened and Otis walked in with Ernie and Orca.

  “Jesus,” Otis said. “What the––”

  “Otis,” I said. “Without causing a panic, I need you to get everyone to exit the building. Send them away. Tell them there’s a water leak and we’re closing up for tonight. Can you do that?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “But before you do that, I need you to check in with Clip. Tell him to make sure the bastards who did this aren’t under the building lighting the fuse. See if he needs help. Tell him to come in when he can.”

  “Roger that.”

  He rushed out of the room.

  Ernie was over by Lauren, studying the explosive device and introducing himself.

  “I’m Jimmy’s friend, Ernie,” he said. “I hate to say it, but . . . you’re way too pretty for him.”

  Orca hadn’t moved, just stood staring that thousand-yard stare of his.

  “You okay, big fella?” I said. “Explosives bringing back bad memories?”

  “Fuckin’ Nazis,” he said. “I’d like to choke the life out of each and every one of them with my own mitts.”

  His words and the look on his face made me wonder which was more explosive—him or the dynamite?

  “Let me confer with this lucky man that you’re too good for over here for a minute,” Ernie was saying to Lauren. “We’ll be back with you in just a moment.”

  He stepped over to me and we both took a few steps out of the room.

  He lowered his voice and said, “Jimmy, I don’t see any way to disarm it or disengage her from it.”

  I nodded. I had come to the same conclusion.

  “We could see where the nearest bomb squad unit is and get them over here ASAP, but I bet there’s not one close, and I’m not sure there’s anything they can do.”

  I nodded. I wanted to switch out with her, but lacked the necessary number of hands to be able to.

  “I’m not sure how long she can hold out,” I said. “She’s very weak.”

  Clip walked up holding a gun on two bruised and bloodied men, both of whom had their hands tied behind their backs, Miki trailing not far behind.

  “Found these two under the building trying to light the fuse,” he said. “Talked ’em out of it.”

  “Let’s check with Lauren to see if it’s—”

  “Jimmy!” Lauren yelled.

  I turned to see her standing not far from me, empty handed. Behind her, through the doorway, Orson was now holding the grenades. At least I assumed he was. Nothing was actually visible inside his huge clenched fists.

  Chapter Thirty-five

  “Orca!” Ernie yelled, stepping back into the small room.

  “What’re you doing?” I said as I embraced Lauren with my arm.

  “That’s them,” she said, as she saw the two men Clip had.

  “Don’t let go, big fella,” Ernie said.

  “I ain’t gonna let go.”

  Clip pulled back the hammer on his large revolver and pressed it to the back of the head of the guy nearest his gun hand. “How do we disarm it?”

  The guy shook his head. “There is no disarming it. That’s the beauty of—”

  Clip pulled the trigger and the guy folded onto the floor.

  Screams came from the exiting servicemen and hostesses.

  Orson flinched and for a moment I thought he was going to lose it and destroy us all.

  “Stay with me, big fella,” Ernie said. “Right here, soldier. That’s it. On me. My eyes. Right now.”

  Clip thumbed back the hammer again and jammed it into the back of the other guy’s head. “How do we disarm it?”

  “It really is impossible. But don’t shoot.”

  “Okay,” Clip said, then shot him too.

  “Everybody clear out,” Orson yelled. “Get everybody back to a safe distance.”

  “Orca, no,” Ernie said. “You can’t—”

  “Now,” he yelled. “I’ve got a plan.”

  “Share it with us,” I said.

  “I’m gonna carry these boxes down to the bay, drop them in, and duck behind the seawall. Worse that happens is I sleep the big sleep with some fishes, but who knows, maybe all I do is get us a mess of fish for a welcome home fish fry. Now get everybody as far away as possible.”

  “You can’t carry all three boxes with your hands wrapped around the grenades,” I said.

  “Jimmy and I will help you carry them down to the bay.”

  “Shee-it,” Clip said. “Jimmy got one arm and it about useless. I’ll help carry the boxes.”

  “Long as you don’t decide to shoot us on the way,” Ernie said.

  “Is it okay for me to say in this moment I’m glad you only have one arm?” Lauren whispered to me.

  “You can,” I said, “but I feel guilty enough as it is, and there’s no way I’m not helping them.”

  “Whatta you mean?”

  “They’ll need an extra hand and I happen to have one. Clip and Ernie have two eyes between them. Orca could explode at any minute. They’ll need help seeing, moving, watching. They’ll need someone to help guide them, make sure no one stumbles or falls—or to catch them if they do.”

  “Why does it have to be you?”

  “You know why.”

  “Yeah, I guess I do.”

  The crowds had been cleared back. The end of Harrison was empty.

  Lauren, Miki, Otis, and others had backed those who hung around to a safe distance away behind other buildings down the street.

  Ernie, Orca, Clip, and I were slowly making our way toward the bay.

  It was dark and cold and quiet. The whistling wind, the undulating water, the clanging of rigging, a foghorn in the deep distance.

  Lightning continued to flicker along the horizon intermittently, but it lacked intensity and provided very little illumination.

  I was leading, my arm steadying Orson, who was carefully backing up in baby steps. Clip was on his left side carrying two of the boxes, Ernie on his right with one.

  We all moved in unison, as if part of a carefully choreographed routine.

  To ensure the cables didn’t get too far apart and pull the pins, Clip and Erni
e actually held the boxes up next to Orson, the wood pressed against the sides of his arms, maintaining constant contact to keep our world from ending.

  It was slow going. We were about halfway between the building and the bay—which had taken quite a while.

  “Least we saved the USO,” Orson said.

  “Actually, if it went off now,” Ernie said, “it’d still do a lot of damage.”

  “Oh.”

  The ground was rough and uneven, our steps awkward and halting.

  Orca stumbled several times. Each time, we stopped and I tried to steady him again. Each time, I realized if he started to fall there was no way I could keep him up.

  We had only walked a few yards past the halfway mark when an enormous explosion on the other side of the bay lit up the dark night sky, its fiery red and orange and blue flames shimmering on the water’s surface multiplying the already massive explosion.

  Expansive, breathtaking, and beautiful, it didn’t look like what it was, didn’t appear to be something related to sabotage, destruction, and devastation.

  Ernie said, “Was that the shipyard or the naval section base?”

  “Can’t tell,” I said.

  “That a big fuckin’ blast,” Clip said. “Not sure the current plan be adequate enough.”

  “No way to know if the explosives over there are the same in kind or amount as these,” Ernie said. “But, yeah, you’re right. If they are, the seawall will be no match for the force and we’ll be pulverized.”

  “Not we,” Orson said. “Me.”

  “No, it’s we,” Ernie said.

  “It’s we,” I said.

  “Sound like they not gonna let you die alone,” Clip said with a big smile. “I’ll make sure everybody know what heroes y’all all was.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “Would y’all feel the same way if you knew I killed them girls?”

  “You didn’t,” Ernie said. “No way. I know it.”

  “I’m serious,” Orson said. “No need for us all to die. Jimmy’s got Lauren. He’s happy. Doin’ well. Clip has Judy. You’ve got to find Joan. Be a waste for us all to buy it.”

  “How about a boat?” I said. “We speed out into the bay. Jam the throttle. We jump overboard. Let the boat carry the explosives away from us for another five seconds or so.”

  “It’d still get us,” Ernie said. “Bits of the hull would be like bullets piercing us. But . . . you know what might work . . . if we drop the explosives and we keep racing away. The water will help lessen the force of the blow. More so if we weigh the boxes down even more so they sink faster.”

  “Too bad we ain’t got no boat,” Clip said.

  “Lauren!” I yelled into the darkness.

  She was so far away I wasn’t sure she would be able to hear me.

  “LAUREN.”

  “YEAH?”

  “WE NEED YOU TO BUY US A BOAT. FAST AS YOU CAN.”

  Chapter Thirty-six

  We had a boat.

  Actually, we had two.

  Wide, wooden bay bateaus used mainly for scalloping and oystering.

  Ernie and Orca were in one.

  Clip and I were in the other.

  Miki and Lauren were with the others on land

  The plan was the same—with Ernie driving fast, Orca would drop the boxes over the side along with the grenades he was holding and they would get as far away as they could before the explosion.

  If the explosion capsized their boat or they had any other issues or injuries, Clip and I would be nearby in the other boat to pick them up.

  “Thanks for the boats, baby,” I called.

  “My pleasure.”

  “I’d feel a lot better if y’all’d back up to where you were,” I said.

  “I’d feel better if you’d let me go with you,” Lauren said.

  “Mean that much to you,” Clip said, “you can have my spot.”

  “I’ll see you soon,” I said.

  “You better. Why not wait here until after the explosion?” she said. “Wait and see if they even need help.”

  “We’ve got to be close enough to be able to help,” I said. “And we’ve got to stay close enough to be able to find them fast. It’s gonna be hard enough to see as it is.”

  “Jimmy, you ready?” Ernie yelled.

  “Anchors away, Ahab. You and Orca just—”

  Just then another explosion lit up the night sky across from us, fire raining down like phosphorescent kite tails cut loose to ripple down into the roiling waters of the bay below.

  As with the previous one, it was difficult to pinpoint where it had come from exactly, but it too was in the vicinity of the naval section base and Wainwright shipyard.

  “We need to do this now,” Ernie said.

  “Right behind you,” I said. “Let’s go.”

  We both gunned the throttles of the old outboard motors and took off, the bows of our boats rising as we did.

  The bay was choppy and the boats bounced about even at full speed.

  We weren’t supposed to have lights on because of the blackout, but both boats had running lights and handheld lamps with stronger beams.

  With only one arm, I found it extremely difficult to throttle and steer the motor and use the handheld lamp. Seeing me struggle to do both, Clip crawled back and took the lamp. While he was moving back to the front, I used their running lights to follow them.

  As we had planned, I slowed and let the distance between us increase.

  Approaching the spot where we had discussed letting the balloon go up, I turned the throttle all the way down. Clip, back in the front now, lifted the lamp and we watched as they proceeded to execute the plan.

  Our boat was rocking and it was hard to keep the light on them as it moved up and down and drifted around, but I could see Orca begin to stand and prepare.

  Lifting the boxes.

  Stumbling to the side.

  Lightning flickering, the boat bouncing, salty water spraying up and into the boat.

  Tossing the boxes overboard, the tethered grenades sailing through the air behind them.

  One-one-thousand.

  Orson falling back, as Ernie cranked down on the throttle.

  Two-one-thousand.

  Ernie reaching a hand up, grabbing Orca, pulling him down.

  Three-one-thousand.

  The boat bouncing as it sped away, looking like it might flip at any minute.

  Four-one-thousand.

  And then the blast.

  A muffled boom, a huge waterspout shooting up, appearing to touch the tips of the fingers of light flickering above it, water like rain from a flash flood falling all around.

  Ernie and Orcas’s boat being lifted, back end aloft, end over end, the two men thrown from the small capsized craft.

  Clip shining the lamp where they went into the water. Me gunning the throttle. Racing toward them.

  Wave from the blast heading toward us, picking up steam.

  Come on. Don’t flip.

  We hit the wave hard, its spray soaking us, the boat, and its contents.

  The small vessel seemed to buckle, but it didn’t break, didn’t turn over, and we continued.

  Judging we were close to where they went in and not wanting to hit them, I let off the throttle.

  With the lamp, Clip located the capsized boat in a small debris field.

  Standing, he scanned the area with the beam, searching both near the boat and farther away across the dark waters of the bay, but there was no sign of them.

  I yelled for them as Clip continued to sweep the area with the lamp light.

  Had we come to the wrong spot? Had they been knocked unconscious? Had I hit them with our boat? Were they drowning right now?

  Had they survived the war only to come back and die a heroic death at home?

  I kept yelling. Clip kept moving the beam about on the dark surface of the water.

  Lauren yelled something from the shore, but she was too far away for me to be able to make
it out.

  Did she see them? Was she trying to tell us?

  There was no way she could. It was too dark. More likely she was asking after us.

  “I got the light, but can’t see shit,” Clip said. “You lookin’ where I’m pointing it, case I miss ’em?”

  I hadn’t been, but I began to.

  “Am now,” I said.

  I followed the beam closely as it played about the surface of the bay, but it wasn’t until the lightning flickered again that we saw them.

  There in the distance, blood on his huge head, Orca was treading water, holding an unconscious Ernie up to keep him from drowning.

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  “How you fellas doin’?” I asked. “You okay?”

  I had stuck my head in the lost-and-found closet where Ernie and Orca were drying off and looking for some dry clothes to put on.

  The chances of Orson finding anything that would fit were minuscule, but he searched through the boxes like that wasn’t the case.

  “Head aches,” Ernie said. “Feels like Glenn Miller’s got his entire orchestra set up in there playing their biggest, most dramatic tunes. And my ears are ringing.”

  “How about you, big fella?”

  “Swell,” he said. “Just peachy, pal. And what he said.”

  “Orca’s a hero again,” Ernie said.

  “You both are.”

  “Saved my life,” he added. “Again.”

  “If Jimmy hadn’t been there we’d both be at the bottom of the bay,” Orson said.

  “Thank you both for what you did,” I said. “Saved Lauren’s life.”

  They nodded and gave me looks that let me know they understood and really received my gratitude.

  “I realize you saved everybody,” I said, “but I’m most grateful for you saving Lauren.”

  This time when Ernie nodded there was an even deeper sadness in his eyes.

  “I’m gonna do the same for you, pal,” I said. “Gonna find Joan and get her back.”

  He nodded again. “Never doubted it. We’re getting close. I can feel it.”

  “Howell wants to talk to us about what happened,” I said. “And they’ve got to get the coroner over here to get Mary Pat’s body. But they’re gonna be a while. You guys wanna walk over to Bird of Paradise with us for a drink and a little dinner while we wait?”