And now, another tale well calculated to keep you in.
I promised Kate I was through with hauling high explosives.
Let Jardine hire some younger guy with no wife, no four-year-old daughter.
Let him take the risks. Let him get blown to bits if something happens to the truck.
But that night I had to make one more run. I had to.
She's sleeping again?
Kate, she's got to have a nurse, the doctor.
I'm as good as Emily.
And what happens if you get sick too? Look at you, up all night every night with her.
But she's getting better. It'll take time, but she's going to be all right.
Anyway, then, we can't afford a nurse.
Yes, we can. Kate, now listen to me. We can afford a nurse if I go on one more run.
You promised you were through with that.
There's a big oil fire up at Westfield. Two wells are already blazing, and there's a third ready to catch at the wind shifts.
They need the dynamite to blow the top off that fire.
I don't care. Please, Ben.
I already talked to Jardine. He offered me 125 bucks for just one trip.
Tell him to get somebody else.
They're all out on runs already. I'll be back the day after tomorrow with 125 bucks.
Now, you get on that phone and hire a nurse to take care of our kid.
Ben, I won't let you.
Call a nurse. And you get some sleep, hear me?
Me? With her sick and you out on the road with a load like the one killed her brother?
What do you think I am?
I know what you are. That's why I've got to break my promise. Why, I've got to make one more dynamite run.
After this, I won't haul anything more dangerous than tomatoes from Sioux Falls to Mason. I promise you.
You promise? Ben, don't go.
Call a nurse now.
Ben, I have a feeling, a terrible feeling.
You're just tired. Forget it. My mind's made up. I'm going. So long, honey.
Ben?
Yeah.
Be careful.
Oh, Ben, you're back even sooner. The shipment's ready.
I know. I was just looking it over.
Good. Here's the ignition key.
Thanks.
Now, come on over here to the map. I'll show you the route.
The poor federal bank in Lawrence was held up today. The troopers have blocks out, but I'll call and warn them you're coming.
All right. Here we are. I don't have to tell you about Route 98. You can do that with your eyes shut.
But here, here's some repair work outside of Fredericksburg. Take this detour here.
Then 42 over the bridge, past Iroquois, High Point, Chester, and then on 73 into Westville.
Think you got it?
Yeah, yeah, I can remember that. What about the insurance policy? I don't leave without...
All right, all right. It's ready on my desk. You understand it's just a binder on such short notice.
But if anything happens, they'll honor it as a top company.
And here, you can be signing all three copies while I call Chief Higgins.
Where do I put the John Han card?
Where it says insured.
Okay.
Eddie, Jardine, my truck's leaving now. Any word from your roadblocks?
Okay, but try not to interfere with my boy. He's carrying a couple of tons of dynamite.
Good. I appreciate that, Eddie.
There you are, Jardine, also. I need a hundred thousand dollars if I don't make it.
You know, it might be worth it to slam that load into a ditch.
There's nothing left of you.
Yeah, but my wife and kid would be taken care of.
They're the only reason I agreed to come back here for one more haul anyway.
Sure. All right, come on. I'll walk you out of the truck.
You know, Ben, when you told me a month ago that you were through, I knew you'd be back.
My drivers never quit for good.
I promised my wife.
Oh, we always promise our wives. Look at me. No right arm.
I didn't quit till I got it blown off in the same crash that killed your brother.
Yeah. Well, sooner I get going.
Uh, Ben, I wouldn't go above 30 miles an hour. You won't be driving.
No insurance company is going to pay for a suicide.
Cut off?
Just take it easy.
Thanks, Jardine. I'll make it okay.
After tomorrow, you have my show ready. Don't worry. It'll be here.
335 miles to Westville, and at only 30 of them an hour.
I tried to relax, but you can't relax, not with a load like I was hauled through.
Sure, there are safety precautions.
Through that little window right behind my head, I'd seen that the cases of dynamite had been safely tied and were riding evenly on the foam rubber floor.
But you can't relax, not with other drivers on the road.
Not with a chance that something can go wrong with a tire or a wheel or who knows what.
But the Imperial Diner looked good.
At this time of night, the business was slow. Through the window, I could see a young couple in one of the booths and a guy sitting at the end of the counter.
Well, well, Ben, you ain't been buying a while.
I quit hauling this stuff three months ago.
Yeah, but you're back.
Yeah, just this once.
Give me a coffee, regular, and one of those, Dana.
Oh, yeah?
I guess you heard about the holes up at the bank in Lawrence, huh?
Yeah, my dispatcher mentioned something about it.
Yeah, big ones.
Heard on the radio.
One of the guards got killed. They got roadblocks set up.
Haven't you been stopped yet?
Yeah.
Came to one of the roadblocks 20 miles back, but they waved me through.
Oh, yeah, they would with what you're hauling.
Oh, excuse me.
Sure.
Sir, Mac, I wonder if you could help me out.
Depends on what weight.
Well, do you happen to be carrying extra battery cables?
Yeah.
And a 12-kicker?
Yeah.
Good, mine's dead.
We hooked the cables from your kicker.
I can get started.
Once my motor's turning over, I'm OK.
Why didn't you ask that couple in the booth?
I did, no cables.
If I get started, I can make Fredericksburg.
There's an all-night station there.
Yeah, I know, but you don't want me.
I'm not driving a car. It's a truck.
And I'm hauling explosives.
Oh, yeah.
Two tons of it. Sorry.
Yeah, well, I don't want to spend the rest of the night here.
Oh, don't worry.
Somebody will come by.
Well, so long, Jake. See you.
Hey, just a minute, buddy.
Thought I already told you.
I know. Look, right over there, that's my crate.
That's Jaloppy.
I'll settle for a push if you think our bumper's with me,
but the battery hookup would be better.
Can't help you.
That's just what you're going to do.
Let go of my arm.
Buddy, you've got a rider.
Please, it's not so fast.
I said you've got a rider.
Gone, huh?
Okay.
Okay, if you want to ride that bad, you've got it.
But maybe you ought to change your mind.
I'm hauling enough TNT to blow up half a mountain.
One bad bum.
One sudden flat.
Well, you never know what could set it off.
Just a mistake is enough.
Nobody's going to crouch you on the road, huh?
Everybody keeps clear of you, right?
They've got good reasons.
Sure, sure they have.
That's what I figured when I heard you talking to the counter guy.
Come on, let's go.
I get 125 bucks for driving this load,
so you can see how safe it is.
You should have waited for someone to start your car.
Or for a state patrol to come by.
You can get blown up riding with me.
Listen, I shot a guy at the bank in Lawrence today.
I can get the chair for that.
This will be easier.
You?
Yeah, me.
100,000 bucks right here in this little satchel.
Easy, too.
My buddies just walked right out of there and got lost in the crowd.
Me?
Me, I had the old jalopy.
Who thinks a guy on a land would use a jalopy, huh?
I got out of town before they even had a chance to set up any block.
They're in the clear now.
We get to Fredericksburg in about 15 minutes.
I'll leave you off near the bus depot.
Oh, no, you won't.
What?
You keep right on going.
I want to listen here.
You listen.
We're going through Fredericksburg.
You have to go through Farnham and high point to Summers.
Summers.
You get that?
There's a flight leak.
I would have been almost there if the jalopy hadn't broke down,
but we'll make good time now.
Because nobody's been a part of this the whole way.
He sat there with his gun on while I drove steadily.
It was close to midnight now and there was no traffic
because we hit the outskirts of Fredericksburg
around a sharp turn in the road.
We came to another police roadblock.
Watch it, buddy.
I can start shooting just like that.
Never mind.
Keep going the way we're going through.
I'm running low on gas.
There's a station open here all night, isn't there?
You know there is.
What are you trying to pull?
There is.
We block straight on.
Can't miss a tank.
I was wondering.
Say, you fellas don't have any protection if that load goes off, do you?
Neither would you standing there.
Huh?
Guess not.
What are you carrying?
TNT, a couple of tons of it.
That much?
Oh, the fire up at the oil range, huh?
Well, you're a good one to keep clear of.
You just go right ahead.
Well, good night.
Come on, get going.
Go.
That train leaves summer support at 15 over 100 miles.
Step on it.
What?
I said faster.
I got a 30 mile an hour top.
Double it.
Listen, we hit a bump at that speed.
Just don't hit no bump.
I can't.
Don't blow your brains off.
Hey, what are you doing?
Up ahead there fixing the road.
So what?
It's a right turn into the detour.
This speed will flip over.
Just keep going.
We ain't going to miss that plane.
What's a detour?
What about it?
I got to cut speed.
I'm telling you what to do.
We're too fast to make a turn.
I'm going to get a
break.
We got to stop.
No.
You want to crash the barrier?
Right through.
What those kerosene pots if there's a fire?
I said keep going.
I'll go on.
Okay, we're in the clear now.
That's what you think.
These bumps, we ain't going to make it.
We better make it.
I'm warning you.
I can't.
My boy.
Oh, maybe I got it on associates.
periodic.
Then it ain't your wife.
You fu*****,ordinary.
Faced ass ofust responder.
You're screwed.
That's what we want to see traveling around.
Don't you
Hey, what are you stopping for?
Give me that gun!
Get off me!
Stop backdroping!
Let go of me!
Stop! Stop!
Shut my hand, that's what I was...
Oh, the dynamite, huh?
Gun, it's a great...
A shooter bullet, all that TNT, there won't be nothing left, right?
Now get off, or you wouldn't!
Look, buddy, it don't matter to me, I get blown up here, I get the share for murder, I got nothing to lose by blowing both of us up.
I don't have no wife or kid I want to save.
You lousy, you lousy...
Which is it, buddy, you're going to roll this truck or do I fire a bullet into the dynamite?
Please!
I'm counting to three.
One...
Give me a break.
Two...
Oh no, no, wait!
Shut up, you going to drive?
Yeah, yeah, okay.
All right, then come on.
Get going.
That's it, we've checked him out.
Now step on it, buddy, just step on it.
Coming to the end of the repair.
And the barrier.
It's crashing like you did the other one.
Yeah, this is more like it.
We make up that lost time now.
That's what you think.
There's a patrol car blocking the road.
What? More cops?
I can't breath, just go on.
Where'd they come from?
I just spotted you at the last block radioed ahead.
Come on in there, you fucker!
Get that patrol car right out of the way.
Oh, you're too far on the shoulder.
Go on, Al.
Come on, let's go.
Get out, give yourself up.
I'm warning you, go on.
Come on out of there, we'll have to blow up that truck.
You see, if I don't trigger this dynamite, they will, so get rolling, Hutch.
I got no choice.
Go on.
That cop better stay undercover.
Keep going.
Shoot him.
Come on, you're gonna make it.
That's it, that's it.
Now drive.
That ain't coming yet.
One of them grabbed for the radio.
Come on, fast.
That's it, buddy.
You want speed, now you're gonna get it.
They're coming.
72 miles an hour.
I can't go away from them.
I can just lose them.
I finally got the idea.
Where I am?
There's a town up ahead, just over the bridge.
Winding street, a couple of hills.
Not easy, like Fredericksburg.
We'll never make it.
And I ain't gonna see a lot of innocent people killed.
If I can get clear, those cops were crashing.
Listen here.
Oh, you'll listen.
You've been playing with my life ever since you got on.
Well, if it's just you and me, it won't matter now.
When this load blows up.
You got a wife, a kid, don't you want to see them?
You know I do.
But a hundred thousand bucks if I don't or this truck crashes.
No.
Slow down, you gotta slow down.
Okay, I told you.
Hand me your gun, give yourself up.
I can't.
I got the chair.
I got a chance this way.
Maybe we both got a chance.
Why should I give you up, Frank?
You won't give me one.
I will, I will, I swear.
I'll let you go.
You can't afford to.
And the insurance company covered me if there's a crash and explosion.
Hey, you're nuts.
Or it's smart.
A bridge, a half a mile, and then the town.
It's gotta be soon.
Right behind us, you'll kill them, so.
How about I pull ahead?
If I only pull ahead, this truck won't go any faster.
Four thousand parts of dynamite riding my tail.
I didn't have a chance, none of us did.
Not me or the killer or the cops.
Up ahead or on a couple more curves would be the bridge.
And then across the river, the town.
If it had to be this way, then better all of us than a couple of hundred sleepy townspeople.
But how do you bring yourself to crash into a town?
You can't.
So you bring yourself to crash on purpose.
When every instance you've always lived with has been to protect your own life and others,
to bring your load of dynamite in safely.
I braced myself to swerve the wheel and send us into a rollover.
And then around the final curve with the bridge, a quarter of a mile ahead.
And there, blocking the whole road, were three of the town's police cars.
Stop.
They'll pull those towns out of the way and I'll blow them up.
They won't move.
They can't.
Oh!
Now I had to flip the truck over to set off the dynamite.
It would be me and the killer and the cops behind us
if I was lucky.
The police waiting up ahead would be safe.
The bridge over the river would be safe.
The town beyond would be safe.
I took a high grip on the steering wheel,
and then I saw it.
A dirt road forking off the highway
and leading down to the bank of the river.
I eased the wheel to the right
and we started pumping over the dirt road.
Our only chance was to stop.
To stop!
We'll be out!
All the way!
Up ahead was the bank of the river
with some empty robos pulled up.
My foot had the gas pedal down on the floor
as we roared out.
The killer started clawing to get the door open.
We reached the end of the road.
Ten feet from the bank, I let go of the wheel.
The last thing I remember was the water coming up fast
and then we hit it.
Several hours later, when the doctor said I was okay to sit up,
I got a crawl through to Kate.
The troopers were still grappling the river
for the killer's body.
They'd gotten me out okay,
even found his satchel with all that money.
I told Kate only that their trail was blocked
and that they were going to get me out.
I was going to get out.
I told Kate only that their trip was over for me
and I didn't earn the 125 bucks after all.
But the bank loot was safe, so there was going to be a reward.
I told Kate only to go back to sleep,
but nothing had happened.
Nothing had happened, huh?
Well, she just started worrying.
Suspense.
You've been listening to Dynamite Run by Peter Fernandez.
Heard in tonight's story where Mason Adams has been,
Larry Haynes has been.
Others included Elaine Ross, Bob Bryden, Bill Lipton,
Herb Duncan, and James Volk.
The
Bye.