Man of Steel

by Dave Conifer

  “I wish none of it was true, but it is. If you come out to the hospital with me tomorrow you can meet my partner.”

  “I want to believe it,” Rob said. “It’s a cool tale. I’m from down state. I know where Becton is but I’ve never heard of that guy.”

  “It’s more than a tale to me,” Jonas said. “But I’d appreciate a place to hide out tonight. You’d be saving my life. At least for another day.”

  -- Chapter 36 --

  “So you’ll need me to give you a ride out to the hospital sometime tomorrow?” Rob asked. The entire group from the table had left the bar en masse and was heading home for the night. Rob carefully choreographed the exit so Jonas was in the middle of the pack, shielded from view. Only Rob and Robin knew why.

  “Yeah, if you could,” Jonas answered. It felt ridiculous, even embarrassing, to be asking such an important favor of somebody he just met, but there was no point in trying to make sense of anything anymore. It was only about survival.

  “It’s cool. Just let me know. Hopefully I’ll be around when you need me.”

  “On second thought,” Jonas said, “Maybe you could take me to get my car first. The car I stole, I mean.” By then they were crossing a gorge on a steel footbridge that hung off the back of the crumbling, unused downtown football stadium.

  Rob laughed. “You stole a car? It just keeps getting better and better,” he said gleefully. “Who’d you steal it from?”

  “I stole it from the guy who put my partner in the hospital with the brass knuckles. I doubt he’ll miss it. He won’t be driving anytime soon. I’m pretty sure he bled to death after we were done with him. Death by coffee pot.”

  “Payback,” Robin murmured from behind. Rob looked over at Jonas with an amused look on his face. Jonas hoped nobody else had been listening closely.

  “It might not even be there anymore,” he remarked as they passed in front of the Mountain Lair. “Really, it’s useless to me now, anyway. They already blew up my other car. This one’s probably wired by now, too. I probably shouldn’t even go near it. Too bad, I’m going to need transportation.”

  “I can’t tell if you’re bullshitting me or not,” Rob said. “I think I believe you. I’ll check it out if you want. I’m pretty good with that kind of shit. Just tell me where it is.”

  “Rob’s in the engineering program,” Robin explained. “He was that little kid everybody knew who was always taking everything apart.”

  “Well that works out. The car’s at the Engineering Building. You could tell if it was rigged?”

  “Most likely I could. How did the other one explode?”

  “My car back in Charlotte? I’m not exactly sure,” Jonas admitted. “It seemed like the guy couldn’t have done anything but turn the key before it went off.”

  “Just like in the movies. There’s usually a metal box with all the guts of a bomb jammed under the dashboard. Whatever it is in the box would probably be pretty basic. It’s wired right into the ignition. It’ll be visible. I’ll check it out and let you know how it looks.”

  “Are you sure?” Jonas asked. He could hardly believe his luck. He’d accidentally met somebody who was solving problem after problem. “These guys don’t fuck around.”

  “Neither do I,” Rob answered. “Can it wait until tomorrow? It’d be better in daylight. I’ll be out there in the morning anyway. Make sure you give me the key before I leave. But if I can’t tell what it is I’m leaving it alone.”

  “Thanks. It would really be sweet to have that car.” He fished Bremer’s keys from his pocket and handed them over.

  “Here, wear this,” Rob said after digging a baseball cap from his backpack. “It’ll keep you hidden just in case the bad guys are looking.” Jonas looked up from the sidewalk at Rob, trying to determine if he was being facetious, but there was a serious expression on his face. He slipped the cap on and readjusted his position in the middle of the group. Every so often members of the group peeled away with hardly a word and headed to their own homes. By the time they reached the apartment in the basement of a shabby green house on Redwood Street there was nobody left except the three of them.

  Jonas felt safer than he had in days. A university campus was the perfect place for him to hide. Unless somebody got close, he looked like just another student coming home after a night of drinking. Towards the end of the walk he’d gone quiet as he processed the details of his predicament. If things went just right, he thought that he and Reno could be free within twenty-four hours. Where they could go and what they would do with their freedom was an entirely different matter.

  ~~~

  “So who lives here?” Jonas asked after they were inside. Robin disappeared momentarily but returned with a tall glass of water. “I don’t want to have a hangover tomorrow,” she explained before lifting the glass to her lips.

  “This is my place,” Rob answered as he threw his backpack in a corner and plopped himself onto a wooden chair. “But Robin stays over a lot.”

  “Gamma house gets too loud, especially after being there two years,” Robin explained. She walked behind Rob after placing the glass on the table and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

  “How did you two end up together, anyway?” Jonas asked. “You don’t exactly look like a frat boy to me.”

  “No, but lucky for me the Greeks let her out once in a while.”

  “Tell the truth,” Robin teased. “We met at a Fraternity Row block party that he crashed.”

  “I was just passing through but I stopped for free beer,” Rob said with a laugh. “So anyway, are you okay sleeping on the couch?”

  “Anything’s fine. I feel safe here. But I really want to be at the door when they open up at the school paper.”

  “I’m an early riser,” Rob said. “How does five o’clock sound? That’s not very far away.”

  After the lights were out Jonas lay in the dark thinking about what was going to happen the next day. Success hinged on whether he could talk the story into print. Even a college newspaper would hold themselves to some standards, and they might not be willing to print the story without verifying some details. But there was hope. Getting the story into print, if only in a college newspaper, just might provide the leverage they needed to save themselves. Otherwise he didn’t think there was much chance they could survive even one more day.

  More and more he regretted leaving Reno at the hospital, but at the same time he knew there was nothing else he could have done. Hopefully nobody had found her. He smiled in the dark as he remembered how spicy and carefree she’d been before all their troubles. He wondered if she’d ever be that way again. There was no way to know what would happen but he hoped when it was over they’d be alive and together.

  ~~~

  He felt like he’d been asleep for only a few minutes when he startled at the touch of Rob’s hand. “Dude, time to get up. The paper could open anytime.”

  “Okay, thanks, I’m awake,” Jonas said after sitting up. “Did I sleep at all?”

  “I couldn’t tell you. Guess what?”

  “What?”

  “I checked out your car. It was right where you said it was.”

  “You’re kidding! When did you do it?”

  “It doesn’t look like anybody touched it. It’s clean. Except for the bloody rags you left. You even remembered to lock it.”

  “When did you do it? Did you start it up?”

  “Yes I did. As a matter of fact, I drove it. I couldn’t sleep after you crashed so I called my friend. We took the liberty of moving it to a safer location. I hope that’s cool. It probably would have been towed by now.”

  “That’s perfect. Thanks, Rob. You don’t know how much that helps, really.”

  “No biggie. It’s out at his house at Cheat Lake. Nobody will look there for it. It’ll be covered with bird shit, that’s all. Here, this was on the floor.” He handed the walkie-talkie over.

  “You know,” Jonas said. “At times like this I think I just might sur
vive.”

  “Beats the alternative,” Rob said.

  “So how should I go about this when I get over to the Athenaeum? Should I just spill my guts? Maybe I could tell them I’m a ‘real’ reporter. You know, pull rank.”

  “I couldn’t tell you, pal. I only read the sports page.”

  “Do I have time for a shower?” Jonas asked.

  “You have time for anything you want but I wouldn’t bother, seeing that you’re in such a hurry. With those clothes you’re wearing I don’t think it matters what you smell like. Unless you want to borrow some of mine.”

  “No thanks, but you’re right. I’ll just go like this,” Jonas told him as he stood up. “Hell, it might make my story more believable.”

  “I got the coffee going already. Help yourself,” Rob said. “I guess I’ll just see you back here sometime then?”

  “Yeah, if you don’t mind,” Jonas said, rubbing his eyes. “But one way or another I’m hoping to get out of this town before the sun sets.”

  ~~~

  He kept his head down and walked at a brisk pace after leaving Rob’s place. Just as Robin had said, The Daily Athenaeum offices were in a bland gray clapboard house near the corner of Prospect and Spruce Streets. Aside from a handwritten label on the mailbox there was no indication that the newspaper was based there at all. He walked up the wooden steps and onto the porch. It didn’t look like anybody was inside yet. After pushing a white doorbell button several times with no result he sat down against the porch wall and pulled his knees to his chin. He was glad for the safety of the enclosed porch. Now that daylight was coming he intended to stay out of view as much as possible. He fingered the worn copy of the story in his pocket while he waited for someone to arrive. The paper the story was written on wasn’t going to last much longer. He wondered if the same was true for the authors.

  Despite his efforts to stay awake he dozed off quickly. The young woman who appeared on the porch gasped when she nearly stumbled over the hunched figure at her feet. “Oh!” she said. “I didn’t see you there!”

  “Hi,” Jonas said. The pain in his hip reawakened as he grabbed at the wall and pulled himself to his feet. He knew he’d have to talk fast before she disappeared inside the house. “I’m Joe Jonas from The Charlotte Sentinel. I was hoping to get a chance to talk with the editor. Do you know what time he gets in?”

  “The editor?” the woman asked.

  “Whoever’s in charge,” he said patiently, understanding that maybe the D.A .wasn’t run the same way The Pride had been back at N.C. State. “I have a controversial story I want to pass on.”

  The woman reached into a jacket pocket and pulled out a jumble of keys. “That would be Valerie Milstead. Sometimes she stops in early, but she’s always here by the afternoon.”

  “That’s too late,” Jonas said. “Is there somebody else I should talk to?”

  “What’s the story about?” she asked. Her key crunched into the weather-beaten lock. After turning it she forced the door open with her shoulder. “You can come in.”

  “Thanks,” Jonas said as he followed her. They walked through a narrow foyer past a staircase on which books and papers were stacked. The hardwood floor creaked and groaned as they passed through. She entered a room and dropped her purse onto a metal table. “Have a seat. I’m Jan,” she said, extending her hand. “You’re Joe?”

  “Yeah,” Jonas answered.

  “Where are you from again?” Jan asked.

  “The Charlotte Sentinel, in North Carolina.”

  “So you’re a real-live reporter? That’ll carry a lot of weight around here. Most of us can’t really believe we’ll ever get jobs out there.”

  “You will,” Jonas assured her. “They’ll always be a need for us. Don’t expect to make a lot of money, that’s all. Unless you’re Woodward or Bernstein.”

  “I’ll settle for any job, I don’t care what they pay me,” she said. “So what’s your story about?”

  “It’s about the Kennedy Assassination,” Jonas said. “It’s a little wacky.”

  “Who did it?”

  “ERC. Do you want to hear it?”

  “ERC? The steel company? You’re serious about this?”

  “Deadly serious. No pun intended.”

  “Hmm?”

  “Never mind. It’s a long story.”

  “Something like this, you want to talk to Darius Ledger,” Jan said. “He’s a senior and he’s been here for three years. Some of the stuff he’s gotten printed is really out there, if you know what I mean.”

  “Got it. Every college paper has at least one of those. Is he here?” he asked, already knowing the answer. There was obviously nobody else in the building.

  “No, but I can call him and see what his schedule looks like. I’ll let him sleep a few more minutes first but I’ll bet he’ll want to talk with you.”

  “Thanks. This is probably the last chance I’ll have to get this into a newspaper. Don’t ask.”

  “Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll try to get a hold of Darius.”

  “Hey, would you mind if I used the phone while I waited? I want to talk to my partner.”

  “Sure, feel free. If it’s local you can just dial nine and then the number.”

  After she walked out he punched in the number for directory information and scratched the number down on the surface of the desk with a blunt pencil he found. Just as a feminine voice answered “University Hospital,” he had a change of heart. As badly as he wanted to make sure Reno was safe, it wasn’t worth the risk. Somebody could be listening. He dropped the receiver back into its cradle and sat back in the chair to wait.

  -- Chapter 37 --

  For the next few hours nothing happened, and Jonas wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Boredom equaled safety and it felt good, so much so that he had to fight the urge to sleep. But the relief provided by the sanctuaries that he and Reno currently occupied didn’t diminish the urgency of the danger they faced. The anxiety was back after nine o’clock and ten o’clock came and went. He listened carefully to each set of footsteps that rustled past, and his nerves were jarred each time a staffer peered in at him. The growing number of unfamiliar people in the building made him nervous. Some relief came when Jan popped her head back into the office, even though the news wasn’t particularly good. “Darius won’t be around until lunchtime. Sorry.”

  “That’s just another hour,” Jonas replied hopefully.

  “Who knows with Darius? Could be sooner, could be later. You could always come back,” she suggested. “Once he’s here he usually stays a while.”

  “I don’t have a place to go. Can I wait?”

  “Sure. Suit yourself. You might get booted out of this room, that’s all. It depends on who shows up.”

  He had an idea. “Is there any way I could type my story up while I’m waiting?” he asked. He pulled the handwritten pages from his pocket and held them out without unfolding them. “These are getting hard to read.”

  “I don’t see why not. But you can’t use a terminal since it isn’t our story. That would put it into our system. They’re strict about that. We can’t use it for homework, either.”

  “Whatever. Just thought I’d ask.”

  “I could grab a typewriter for you,” she offered. “They’re all over the place.”

  “If you can get one. I’d rather not hand this mess over to anybody. Not like this.”

  A few minutes later she rolled a cart into the office. On top was a standard beige-colored IBM Selectric typewriter. A black electrical cord rattled on the floor behind the cart, catching momentarily on the doorjamb before knocking free. “There’s a pack of paper on the bottom,” she said. “Have at it.”

  Grateful for something to do, Jonas moved the cart into position and plugged the typewriter in. He opened the pack of paper and rolled a sheet into the machine the way he’d done so many times before. After this I can throw these rags away, he thought as he unfolded the handwritten pages and smoothed them out o
n the desk. Occasionally he glanced at the clock on the wall over the desk as he worked, wondering when the unpredictable Darius Ledger might appear. By eleven-thirty he was well over halfway through with the task. Since Ledger hadn’t arrived he continued to type.

  He was nearing the final paragraphs of the story when he heard the front door slam shut. Somehow he knew. The floor in the hall squeaked as whomever it was that had entered made his way deeper into the building, but this was the loudest it had been. Jonas turned back toward the typewriter just in time to avoid being caught staring. Sensing that it was Ledger that had arrived, Jonas typed faster. There was a single sentence left to type when he looked up to see a man standing in the doorway.

  “I’m Darius,” the man said in a deep baritone. “I heard you’re looking for me.” Jonas immediately understood why the floor had protested so noticeably wherever Ledger walked on it. He was huge. The black frames of his glasses and a thick soul patch dangling from his chin bracketed his brown face. He wore his hair in beaded dreadlocks that swung from side to side as he made his way over to the desk. “You’ve got some crazy story you wanted to show me?”

  “Hi Darius,” Jonas said, sticking his hand out awkwardly. “Glad to meet you. I’m Joe Jonas from The Charlotte Sentinel. Yeah, I’ve got a story. Do you have a few hours?” he said, forcing a smile.

  Ledger shook his head. “Not really. Does anybody?” Instead of grabbing Jonas’s hand he slapped it softly, palm to palm. “But Jan said it was pretty wild. I’m listening.”

  “How about if I cover the main points, and then I’ll give you a copy of this?” Jonas said as he gestured toward the typewriter. Before Ledger could object he began to explain what he and Reno had been up to and how it had led to trouble. He had intended to get to the end in five minutes but it ended up being more like twenty. By the time he was done Ledger had pulled up a chair.

  “Well, Jan was right. That’s one crazy fucking story,” Ledger said when Jonas finally stopped talking. “I don’t suppose you have any way to back any of that up, do you?”