Chapter 10

They managed to get to the high school without being seen. The map they had printed from the computer had led them without getting them lost. They were getting more experienced with reading and using a map. They used the cop's master electronic key to get in without setting off alarms. Fortunately, there was a directory and floor plan displayed just inside the front door, so they easily found the gym. They went in and were startled to see that it was hardly more than a tremendous open room. They did notice that there was stuff stacked in one corner and a lot of lines painted on the floor.

The gym was also used for basketball, and the hoops and backstops were in position. The main thing they saw, though, was a net near the middle of the floor and rows of seats along the two long sides of the room. The obvious place to put the bomb was under the seats along the wall, but there was the problem of the grandstand absorbing a lot of the force of the explosion. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of choice, though, so that was what they decided to do.

Somewhat disappointed, they returned home to tell Otto to make the bomb as powerful as he could. They debated the value of the nails, but decided to keep them just in case even one nail hit one person. Before they left the next day to install the bomb, George anointed the nails with the pepper extract just on principle.

The bomb now consisted of 13 sticks of dynamite and a copious number of nails, so it was a bit awkward to carry into the building when they got there. This time, they entered directly into the gym, so that helped quite a bit. To their surprise, the appearance of the gym had changed since their visit the night before. George knew that this game was to settle some kind of championship, but he had no idea what that really meant. However, the entire gym was gaily decorated with banners and bunting.

The wall where stuff had been stored was now completely covered with a paper curtain of many colors. Some extra furniture had been stowed behind the curtain, and there was a folding table set up there that had some stuff piled on it. The men removed the stuff piled on the table and replaced it with the bomb. There was some extra decorative paper lying around, so they draped that over the bomb to hide it from the casual observer.

The game was scheduled to start at 7:30 PM, so they set the timer to explode the bomb at 8:15. Everything was so easy to get ready that it was almost as if somebody had staged the whole thing for their benefit. They set everything the way they wanted it and left. That had taken so little time that they decided to go cop hunting before they went home.

They headed toward downtown and looked diligently for cops. Shit, none could be found! They had to get all the way to the entertainment district before they found cops, but the place was crowded with them. According to the paper, their bomb had outdone their expectations. They had killed 43 people and wounded another 61. Everybody who had been scratched by a flying nail had been in considerable pain for several hours, and the authorities had no idea of the reason for that.

The fire had completely gutted the inside of the nightclub and damaged the adjacent buildings. The owners had been fortunate that the sprinklers did such a good job, or the whole block might have burned. Six firefighters had been killed by bullets, and the authorities now knew that there was more than one Jackie the Ripper loose in Phoenix. Someone who had been in the NG had counted muzzle flashes and determined that three guns had been fired.

Between the tourists and local residents, the Phoenix entertainment district was responsible for a large share of the city budget. The scare from the bomb had sharply reduced the number of visitors to the night clubs and hurt everybody's income. As a result, every available cop had been sent to the entertainment district to reassure people and, hopefully, prevent another bombing from happening. That wouldn't work, but the city government had to look like it was doing something.

The trio looked around and decided that the only way they could accomplish much was by sniping from rooftops. They parked their Segways and used a fire escape ladder to get to the roof. They were not used to shooting from this angle. Their only previous experience had been against the firefighters a few days previously, so they decided to make up in volume what they lacked in accuracy. In other words, all three of them were going to shoot at the same cop. As soon as the cop fell, they were going to run like hell to another roof and try again.

They decided not to use the current roof they were on because it was too close to where they had parked their Segways. All of the buildings were close enough together so that one could easily get from one roof to the next, even if the buildings did not actually touch. That was another part of the building code. It was even possible to cross streets from roof to roof.

They found a cop that was rather isolated so that they had clear shots at her without civilians being in the way. They had no compunction about shooting civilians, but the cops were much higher priority targets. All three men readied themselves and began firing on Joseph's call. The woman fell and lay still after only a few shots, so the men congratulated themselves and moved on.

As it happened, several of the women saw the assassination of the cop and began screaming. This started a stampede away from the dead cop, and several women were injured in the rush and crush. The trio was gone by the time the backup arrived and figured out where the shots had come from. A few brave, or was it dumb, souls climbed to the roof. They found empty cartridge cases, but nothing else. A couple of the know-it-alls in the NG wondered why the killers were only using .22s, but the cops didn't care, since they were the ones who were dying.

The men began looking for a new target and soon found it. Two cops were riding their Segways down the street and blithely ignoring the civilians who had to scamper out of their way. They were heading toward the trio, but were far enough away that the men had time to get ready. They had fresh clips in their rifles and were ready when the cops got close enough to be comfortable targets. They decided that all three would shoot at the cop on the left and shift to the one on the right when the first one fell. This was a new tactic, and they weren't sure how it would work out.

As soon as the cops were close enough, the men started shooting. The first cop was down before the second one realized that they were being shot at. She saw her partner fall and reversed her direction of travel faster than anyone would have believed possible. Her back was now facing the shooters, but that made no difference, and she was soon dead, too.

They moved on before backup arrived. They got two more cops before they quit for the night. George fixed them steaks for dinner, and they talked for a while before going to bed. The next day was kind of weird. They got up early so that they could watch the televised volleyball match on their computers. George fixed breakfast and they ate while they discussed how they were going to watch the game, all at one computer or each one at his own. They finally decided to watch the game together.

They met in Joseph's room to watch. They used a 610 mm monitor, so they all had a good view of the game. None of them had any idea of the rules of the game and would not have cared if they had. All they were interested in was seeing what happened when the bomb went off. They began to get kind of antsy as they waited for the game to start. They were nearly driven crazy by what seemed like an endless supply of commercials. Finally, at 7:34, the game started.

The men spent more time looking at the clock than they did looking at the game. They couldn't help looking at the end of the floor where the bomb was stored every time the camera fleetingly passed over it. It was kind of funny that somebody had moved the paper curtain aside and the paper covering the bomb was plainly visible. The men were on pins and needles for the whole time, afraid that someone would shout, "LOOK OUT! THERE'S A BOMB UNDER THAT PAPER!"

Of course, nothing like that ever happened, but the men still sweated out the 45 minutes until the match was scheduled to end with a bang. The first game ended before the bomb went off, and the men thought that they had made a serious mistake. However, no one left the gym, so they relaxed a little bit. They didn't care if the bomb went off while a game was being played or not, all they wanted was for that damned bomb to go off while the gym was still full of women. There was not a male to be seen, and that just made it better, as far as the men were concerned. Finally, it was 8:14 and a game was being hotly contested.