Pillar of Fire
Page 20
Two of the cult leaders, tentatively identified as Horace Snelgrove and a man calling himself Orrin Porter, were among those killed resisting arrest during the massive helicopter assault.
Charges are pending against several others, whose names have not been released.
“There’s no mention of the clinic, or its radiation experiments,” Traveler said.
“What do you expect,” Martin said. “The buck never stops anywhere. All bureaucrats have to do is wait. Sooner or later the downwind effect will kill off all the witnesses.”
Traveler crushed the newspaper into a wad and hurled it halfway across the lobby. “My God, how I’d like to go after those responsible.”
“Who? Harry Truman? He was president when they started testing those bombs. Or maybe Eisenhower? He was in office when they fired off Dirty Harry.”
Bill dropped to his knees beside the wading pool. “I say we baptize that poor Biscari boy right now.” He took a deep breath and blew into the inflation valve.
“Give it up,” Chester said when Bill ran out of breath. “I bought you a pump.”
When the pool was inflated and the water knee deep, Bill stripped to his underwear, then plunged his toes into the water. “This isn’t going to work. I need Charlie. He was my proxy. He stood in for the dead while I prayed. And vice versa. A one-man church can’t baptize the dead.”
Chester rolled his eyes. “I’m your man.”
“I must baptize you first, as I did Charlie.”
With a sigh, Chester peeled off every thing but his boxer shorts, then allowed himself to be dunked. When he came up for air, Bill said, “I pronounce you saved. Now”—Bill pushed him under again—“Petain Biscari is also raised.”
Chester bobbed up, sputtering, “Who’s next?”
“Like I’ve been saying,” Bill said, “the Mormons have already grabbed Abe Lincoln and George Washington for themselves, so if we’re going to attract new members to our church, we need some big names.”
He looked at Martin. “What about the two you mentioned, Truman and Eisenhower?”
“No politicians,” Traveler said. “Let them stay in hell where they belong.”
THE END