Norm gathered the files on Steve and Mike's desks and carried them to the same conference room where Steve had tried to organize the information from the Steiner case. Bill and Dan were already present. They had been checking out the charts that their fellow inspector had left on the walls.

"Do you really think you should be looking into this, Norm?" Bill asked. "You were still a suspect in this case a week ago."

"Yeah I know, but I think time is of the essence and I think it's going to take all three of us to quickly get a handle on the investigation."

"As long as you're sure. Mike will have our necks if we mess up the prosecution side once they make an arrest."

"I realize that. But I'd rather be chastised for our actions than live with the regret of our inactions, if you get my meaning."

"OK, we just wanted to make sure."

Armed with coffee and resolve, they each took a stack of documents to review.

"So, what do you think?" Norm asked as he laid down the sheet.

Dan looked up from Mike's notes. "I think this is crazy. Ex-Nazis and stolen art are way out of our league."

"I know, but I think it's the reason Miriam was killed. It goes to motive."

"Ok, setting that aside, it looks like they narrowed down the truck Steve saw to 4 farms... from cattle brands? That's new."

"Good, only 4. Less places we have to check. Did they narrow it down any further?"

"Yeah looks like they got it down to two out near San Jose."

"That's where Sekulovich said they went."

Bill entered the conversation. "Steve and Mike must of split background checks those two. I have notes on Grant Creek Farm."

"And I have Garrod-Cooper." Dan added.

"Garrod-Cooper?" Bill asked.

"Yeah why?"

"Steve tracked down Miriam's ex. Got the number from the father. One of the people the ex mentioned was Peter Garrod. The other was Brian Jones."

"Jones from Interpol?" Norm asked.

"That's what it says."

"He was one of the three character's in this mess that were in the wind. Jones, Talbot from DoJ, and Dan Morgan from IA."

"Until Morgan turned up dead."

"Right."

"How did Morgan for in?"

Norm pulled out a document from the lab, "Because he's the one that facilitated the fed, helped him snatch all the evidence."

"Right."

They went silent until Dan asked, "You think Jones is involved, Norm?"

"I'd bet on it. Him knowing Garrod and Steiner is too big of a coincidence. That only leaves Talbot. So he's either involved or..."

"He's gonna turn up dead."

"Yep."

"Wait a minute, I saw something in Steve's stuff about Jones," Bill flipped the pages till he found something scribbled on the bottom of a page. "It says that Jones followed them and they wound up pulling him over."

"He would recognize them."

"Yep. And if he was at the farm with his friend..."

"It's bad news because whoever is at the bottom of this doesn't seem to have any qualms about killing cops."

It was sobering thought for all three men.

"So Cooper-Garrod Farms. That's gotta be it." Norm said.

"How long will it take to get out there?" Dan asked.

"About an hour. But first, let's call the Sheriff down there. I think we are gonna need more than just the three of us to get this done."

00000

Steve was sweating in the close space and felt a panic rise in his chest. He could think of no worse way to die. He began to take deep breaths to calm his growing terror, but thought better of it. "Um Mike, you're closer to the light, can you get in a position to look at your watch?"

"8:00. Why?"

"That means we have been out for around three and a half hours. How long do you think it will take for the three of us to use up to suffocate in here?"

Talbot responded, "Probably about 5 hours total. So, 90 minutes left, give or take. But the last half hour we'll be unconscious and we'll probably start to get drowsy or loopy well before that."

"How do you figure?"

"Well if you're buried alive in a casket, there's about 5 hours of air for a single person. Between the passenger section and the trunk, we probably have 3 times that area."

"And you know this because?"

"Case I had a long time ago. But how much air we have isn't the problem."

"It's not?"

"Nope, It's the amount of dirt that's on top of the car and how densely it's packed. Even if we can get loose and start digging out, anything over 4 feet and we would be crushed by the weight as we dug out."

"Swell. So it's hopeless. Been nice knowing ya." Steve closed his eye and shook his head. He felt the panic creep back from the recesses of his mind.

Mike had been listening to the back and forth between Steve and the Marshal. He could hear the rising fear in Steve's voice and knew he needed to calm his younger partner, despite his own terror at their prospects.

When the car went silent, Mike spoke up, "No, it's not hopeless, it's difficult and unlikely. I don't know about you two, but I refuse to die hog-tied in a hole."

"Agreed lieutenant, so what's the plan?" Talbot asked.

"Ah, I think under the circumstances, you can call me Mike."

"OK Mike. What's the plan?"

"First thing, one of us needs to get loose. The did a pretty professional job on me, how about you Marshal?"

"It's Larry and I don't see how I'm gonna get loose. How about you, Steve?"

"Legs are tied, hands are cuffed. Not the first time I've been restrained with my own cuffs. It's embarrassing." He said with a mirthless laugh.

Mike grinned, recalling a similarly dangerous occasion * "You're right, it's not the first time. The third time I believe."

"What are you smiling about, last time I check we were in a pretty dire straits."

"You're not thinking. Remember the last time we were in a situation like this? You told me something about your checkered past."

It finally dawned on Steve what Mike was talking about. "Larry, someday I'll have to tell you the story about how I earned beer money while I was in the Academy. In the meantime, I need something made of metal. It's gotta be thin and flat. Anything you can find, a pen with a metal pocket clip, I don't know, I'll try whatever we can come up with, just feel around."

"That's what I'm talking about. We will get out of here." Mike said with a small measure of confidence in his voice. If he had done nothing else, he had focused Steve attention and fanned a small glimmer of hope.

Mike and Talbot searched around as best they could, but were unable to turn up anything of use.

"Come on, there's got to be something in here." Steve encouraged.

After several more frantic minutes, Mike finally yelled, "Bingo!"

"You find something?"

"Um, well you're not going to like it, but under the circumstances..."

Steve heard a sharp snap. Mike leaned over and slid the thin, flat metal piece into Steve's right hand. It was about 6 inches long and had a plastic tip at one end.

"Oh man, you did not just do that."

"I had to, no other choice."

"But they were brand new."

"We get out of this and I'll buy you a new pair!" Mike said with a tone of exasperation in his voice.

"Promise?"

Mike rolled his eyes at his partner, "Just get busy."

"OK, OK. Give me a minute." Steve took the temple from his now useless sunglasses and jammed it into the ratchet mechanism of the left handcuff. Using his body weight, he leaned onto the cuff, pressing it against the steering wheel. The horn blared, startling and momentarily deafening all three men. Steve jumped back in his seat and nearly lost the shim.

"Damn it!" Steve swore.

"Easy, pal." Mike crooned, "Try again, without the horn this time, OK?"

Steve repeated his actions. He replaced the shim, compressed the cuff until it was tight on his wrist, and shoved the temple further into the rachet, rendering it useless. The cuff released and slipped from his hand. Carefully, he pulled out the temple and duplicated the process on the right cuff, rubbing his wrists to restore circulation when he was done.

He reached up and clicked on the dome light and looked at his partner's hands. "Man, they weren't taking any chances, were they?" He saw that Mike's wrists were bound with duct tape and rope.

"Less talk, more action, Houdini. I'm just glad you are putting the skills from your misspent youth to good use. By the way, it took you 3 minutes to get out of those cuffs. I don't think you would have won any bets with that performance."

"You timed me?"

"We are working against the clock here."

"Gentlemen." Talbot spoke from the backseat. "As entertaining as you two are, we need to get a move on. Tempus fugit"

Steve looked at Mike and shrugged sheepishly, realizing his fear had ebbed. He leaned in and whispered, "Thanks for that. Whether we get out of here or not, thanks for everything."

Mike responded with a wry smile. "Any time."

Steve finished untying Mike's hands and then took care of his own feet. Mike untied his feet then leaned over the back seat and released Marshal Talbot.

"Now what?" Steve asked.

"Now, we dig." Mike said.

Steve slowly rolled down the window. He was instantly covered in a torrent of loose dirt.

"Are you alright?" Mike yelled as he leaned over and swept the dirt away from Steve's face.

Steve sputtered and coughed. "Yeah, I'm good. Lesson learned, but at least we know the dirt is pretty loosely packed." He pushed the remains of the small-scale avalanche onto the floor boards.

Talbot went to open his window, but Mike stopped him. "Hang on. We don't know how much dirt is above us. If it's a lot, we are going to run out of room to put it in a hurry. I think it's best if we concentrate on one tunnel. Let Steve dig till he's tired, and for now, we'll move the dirt out of the way."

"We might be sacrificing speed with one digger, but I see your point." Talbot replied. "Whatever we do, we need to hurry. I don't know about you, but I think the airs getting a little thin in here."

"Can we tap into the air in the trunk somehow?" Mike asked.

"I think so."

Talbot went to work on the back seat while Steve knelt on the seat, faced the window and began clawing away at the wall of dirt outside the LTD's window.

00000

Dan got more coffee for the three of them as Norm dialed the Santa Clara County Sheriff's western district office in Cupertino. After he returned to his seat, he and Bill listened to the one-sided conversation. They noted Norm's pained expression with growing alarm.

Norm slammed down the phone. "I think we got the right place but we got more trouble!" He shouted, standing and breaking for the door.

"What?" Bill asked as he and Dan jumped from their seats.

Norm stopped and turned, "They just got word from County Fire watch. The place is on fire!"

"Well hang on," Dan said, turning back to the files. He grabbed two sheets and followed the other detectives out the door.

"What's that?"

"Info for the Garrod brothers. Somebody's gotta get photos from DMV and get them to the airport and the Passenger Ship Terminal. We don't want any of them getting out of the country. I have Jones' photo from the Information Interpol sent us."

"You take care of it and call DoJ. Use anybody that's around. Bill and I will head for the farm. The Sherriff's men are already on their way."

*Greatly Exaggerated, FF, 2015.