Violets in Vegas: Long Black Veil8
I admit it. I totally fucked up that afternoon. Mea culpa. I certainly had time to realize it as I sat and stewed in that damn jail cell. They had taken my gun, my badge, my phone and I had nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs and wait to be processed or questioned or whatever they were planning. They had even taken my watch so I could only guess at the time. At how much time was passing, passing.
3:45pm
John jumped to his feet, grabbing his discarded jacket from the bunk. "Finally!" he grumbled, but the expression on his boss's face was anything but encouraging. "I can explain."
"Can you?" Hendricks walked over to the cell. His voice was quiet, calm even, but anger radiated off him in waves. "What the hell is going on, Sheppard? The city's main power stations are seemingly under attack by a mob that would be more at home in a circus! I've got a dead nail technician but her neck was snapped so our killer had changed his MO or we have another maniac on the loose! I've got a roadie killed at a Celine Dion rehearsal and she's having hysterics going on about some guy in a Halloween mask who wanted her autograph! And I've got a dead cop in the house apparently gunned down by you! So which do you want to explain first, because I'm all ears, Sheppard!"
John licked his lips, digesting all this new information. "Did he get the autograph?"
"How the hell should I know?" Hendricks flared.
"Todd's out on the town," John muttered.
"What? You know this guy's name and you are only telling me now?" If looks could kill John would have been a dead man as Hendricks glared.
"It's a nickname, not his real name. The truth is…complicated."
"Don't care! Tell me!" John inclined his head. Hendricks scowled but turned. "Leave us. Now!"
John waited until the two men were alone. "We don't have time for this," John began. "In probably less than 3 hours or so the world is going to hell in a hand basket. You wanna know the truth? Our killer is a space alien on the loose who feeds on humans and his objective is to open a rift in space and time to bring over his species to conquer the planet."
Silence. The seconds ticked, ticked. The men stood, staring at each other. To John's astonishment Hendricks produced a keycard and unlocked the cell. He slid the door open.
John stepped out of confinement. "You believe me?"
"No. But I hear the truth in your voice. Let's go. If even half of what you are saying is even remotely true I need you out there, not down here."
Rodney pointed. Maps were lit on every screen surrounding him in the conference room. "All these grids, every trajectory that leads into the city, to the power stations, all the roads to and from the facility, the desert, it all links but it doesn't. Can you see it? Of course you can't but I can, or rather I do now," he answered his own question.
Evan sighed as he sat at the table. "Care to explain it then? Look, so far Todd hasn't shown at any of these power stations, so where the hell is he? The device hasn't been activated yet, and so far no one has gotten into these stations. So?"
"So. I forgot to factor in the quantum mechanics of the…" A rumbling made Rodney pause.
Suddenly the room began to shake. The building was shaking. The screens flashed, trembling. Empty coffee mugs slid across the table. The windows rattled in their frames.
"Earthquake!"
"Ya think?" Evan replied, clutching the table as his chair threatened to slide out from under him.
Rodney moved to the doorway, holding on as consoles trembled and files fell to the floor. The papers spreading like leaves, covering the floor. "This one feels stronger!"
"Yeah, I noticed! Are we on a fault line?"
"No, not that I know of. However they did just discover a new fault line in California called the Polaris fault, and it's active! It's two hundred meters from Martis Creek Dam and thirty-five miles upstream from Reno. If this fault line becomes too violent the dam will burst and flood Reno!"
"Great, just what we need!" Evan sourly said. The two men were shouting over the increasingly loud noises as the building bucked and groaned. "Is this facility earthquake proof?"
"Yes." A pause. "I think."
"Bloody hell! Here we go again!" Carson warned as the building shook violently. "Hang onto something, Moira!" The doctor grabbed the wall. Medical equipment was shaking. Instruments were clattering noisily to the floor, adding to the creaks of the joints in the structure. The ceiling was shifting slightly, the tiles jumping out of their slots.
Moira rushed to the doorway and stood, pressing herself against the solidity of the frame. "We don't have earthquakes this big!"
"We do now!" Carson refuted. "We can ride it out, love, don't worry." A scanner fell, spinning like a top on the floor. "Is this a natural event of more of Todd's meddling? What is causing this seismic activity? What's the magnitude and where is the epicenter?"
"I don't know! I'm not a geologist!" Moira retorted, their voices rising as an alarm added to the noise and confusion. "Carson, look out!" she cried.
An EKG machine was toppling over straight towards the doctor. Carson leapt out of the way as the equipment lunged like a robot at him. The machine smashed to the floor, beeping in protest. "Bloody hell!" he swore, joining Moira in the doorway. A wall was shaking, shaking, almost bowing in the middle another jolt hit.
"Carson, I don't think that beam will hold!"
"I don't think so either, love. Get ready to duck and dive!"
John smiled at the uniform who reluctantly returned his things. He took his gun, his badge, his phone. Restored his watch after checking the time. Scowled. He hadn't realized he had been locked up for over an hour. He wondered if it was already too late. He wondered if there was still a world left to save. He checked his phone, saw several missed calls from Moira. He slipped on his jacket and turned as Hendricks approached. "Thanks."
"You better make it worth my while, Sheppard. All of that you told me…it's really true?"
"All of it. I didn't believe it either, at first. But it's all true," John assured.
"Stop ! You can't release him! He killed a cop!"
Hendricks shook his head, stopping the man who had arrested John. "I know, and we will deal with that after we deal with this. Besides, from what I heard Bates had it coming." He glanced at John. "What are you still doing here, Sheppard? Go! Go do what you need to do and we'll hold the line here."
"Yes, sir! Thank you!" John didn't wait around for the boss to change his mind. He quickly exited the building. Paused, slowing on the steps to dial his phone when the earth began to shake under his feet.
He staggered, nearly falling but grabbed the banister for support. Palm trees were swaying wildly. Lights were flickering and people were rushing into the street. John lost hold of his phone. It skittered down the steps and across the sidewalk. "Shit!" John swore, trying to follow after it but the shaking was only becoming more violent.
He half fell, half leapt down the stairs after the phone.
Only to see it being snatched by the hands of Chuck Campbell.
