Nightwatch

Chapter 22

After the longest ten seconds of his life passed and a rifle was yet to be fired, Vince knew that now was the time for him to intercede.

“In the name of God, please don’t do anything that you’ll be sorry for later on!” he pleaded.

“Mister, I’d rather you kept the Lord outta this,” replied the man who had answered to the name of Amos.

“Amos, you’re nothin’ but a pussy,” remarked the deep, resonant voice of his associate.

“Give me my thirty-thirty back, and I’ll do it for ya.”

The dog began barking once more, prompting Amos to yell, “Damn it, Satan, shut up!”

“At the very least, will you tell us what it is that you’re so angry about?” asked the Vice President.

“What possibly motivated you to attack my party like you did? You slaughtered many a brave individual this afternoon.”

“What the hell are you talkin’ about?” Amos retorted.

“It would take me the rest of the day to list all the reasons why I always dreamed of killing you. But who said anything about me goin’ and attackin’ your party this afternoon?”

Again Satan let loose a series of excited yelps, this time inspired by the approach of yet another person.

“Pa!” greeted a female with great enthusiasm.

“You’ll never believe what all that shootin’ was about. It was the black helicopter again, and it tore into a bunch of float trippers down near Mary Deckard with a vengeance.”

Vince spoke up, frustrated that he still couldn’t see the faces of the people who held them captive.

“That was our float trip that was attacked! And you mean to say you didn’t have anything to do with it?”

“Why in the hell would we be in cahoots with the United Nations scum inside that infernal black chopper?” Amos replied sincerely.

“That’s the trouble with you Feds. Always jumpin’ to conclusions, without takin’ the time to get your facts straight.”

United Nations troops inside America and mysterious black helicopters — Vince was no stranger to the conspiracy freaks who actually believed there was a clandestine plot to take control of the U.S. government by imagined One World interests, and he probed most carefully.

“Look, I happened to see that chopper right before it went down. If you’re really telling the truth, what do you say if I was to lead you to the crash site? Then all of us could find out the true identities of the ones responsible for this act of cold-blooded murder. And if it turns out to be a United Nations operation, you’ve got my word I’ll be right there to serve the warrant that will close their doors forever.”