One
late night, Harris was sitting at the diner counter, discussing
things with the bartender when a message popped up on the TV
news-band.
"Donna
Paul, the mayor's daughter has been found dead. More news to follow."
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What the hell was that? said Harris.
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Blasted children smoking and abusing themselves until they die of
everything and anything, said the bartender, who sounded grumpy,
despite being in his 40's.
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I kinda agree with that. You make 'em, you grow 'em, then you pay for
'em. Such a S.O.B. thing to do. Can you imagine the mayor, or his
wife, now, all in tears and such?
-
Well, I can and can't, because I don't have children, but I lost a
pet once and it tore me to shreds.
-
There ya go. And I bet it took you a while before you recovered. I
say we let them mourn their loss and move on with our lives.
He
drank his remaining beer and left the place, saluting the bartender
with his hand.
Harris
knew there was something afoot with this whole shindig, so he jumped
on his motorcycle that was parked in the alley next to the diner, and
left to the mayor's place.
However,
on the way there, he knew that the mayor was at Marin County, and the
only possible route to that was through the Golden Gate Bridge; well,
the fastest, at least.
Once
he stepped on it, he crossed the bridge with a new personal record,
especially because there were fewer cars on the track than usual,
most people coming from the county toward San Francisco, and he
wondered why.
He
called his source on the cell phone to find out the reason.
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They're saying the mayor has a bomb, but nothing is certain and I
can't see squat from my position. Where are you?
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I've crossed the bridge and people are coming at me like I'm giving
them free money.
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Funny. If you've passed the bridge, that mean you can see a hospital.
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Yeah.
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Turn right after it, then a left and then another right.
The
man on the phone hung up and Harris followed the instructions,
arriving to the place where he was. He parked his bike and entered
the building. Although with no time to spare, he wanted to preserve
his energy and pressed the elevator button; it didn't work, which
meant he had to go up the stairs, all the way to the top; the 8th
floor.
A
little out of breath when he arrived, and cussed the man for taking
position in such a high place, he went in.
-
That took a while, said the one in the room, who was looking out the
window through his binoculars.
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The elevator's broken, man.
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Crap, I think you might go back down again.
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No.
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Yes. The car the mayor was in is moving this way. Go and get it.
That
frustrated him, but he had to do what was needed.
After
running the stairs, the gasps for air were bigger and it made him
feel older, but that was because he hadn't trained in a month.
He
heard the engine of an approaching vehicle and figured it was the
one. In five seconds, the bike was started and moving in pursuit.
Harris
couldn't do anything because he was too far, but was gaining speed by
the mile.
The
car was nearing the bridge, and the bike the automobile.
Approaching...
approaching... motorcycle right in it's tail, hitting it, and he
jumped on the car.
The
mayor heard and panicked, while the scattered people were running
away, all over, in fear of getting run over by the now reckless
driven vehicle.
Harris,
although almost balanced off of the trunk, he leveraged himself and
punched a hole in the windshield, shattering it to pieces.
Almost
cutting his hand there, he was lucky the leather gloves helped with
the bits and pieces of shard. Barely climbing in, due to the
off-balance driving, he began telling the mayor to stop the car.
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I can't, or my daughter's going to die.
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Isn't she dead? They announce on the news a while ago.
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That was just a hoax.
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What do you have to do?
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Blow up the bridge.
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Does the bomb have a timer?
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I don't know.
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Where is it?
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Under my chair. I found out when I sat down and I heard the first
beep, that's when they called me. That was four hours ago.
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Do you know their location?
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They're in my office and have something to track me.
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Okay, listen to me. Slow down. The bomb doesn't have a timer, but it
will explode if you get up from the seat, so stay there. I'll make a
short phone call.
In
it he explained to another partner about the circumstances and the
terrorists. The other line hung up.
Five
minutes later he called to say the job was finished.
Harris
told the mayor to slow down even more because his daughter was safe,
and that to follow his instructions in order to be free.
They
went back to Marin County and the man from the building fixed it.
The
mayor was going through the motions, not knowing what to do first.
Harris knew what. He drew a smoke grenade and dropped it on the
ground. They were gone from sight, while the mayor was in tears, in
both ways.