On the High Road to Oblivion

Chapter 1—A Rough Day at the Office

“What the hell is this?”

David Dalton — known to most by the nickname “Dodge”—seldom used curses in the course of everyday conversation, and ordinarily would have reckoned it absolutely unthinkable in the presence of the man who signed his paychecks, but this was one of those rare occasions when he felt perfectly justified in doing so. In recent months, he had squared off against some of the most evil men on the planet, but he could not recall being as angry at them as he was at his editor, Max Beardsley. He slammed the Sunday edition, which had gone out all across the city the previous day, down on the other man’s desk and then slammed his fist down as well.

“The Real Adventures of Dodge Dalton? And that hack, Lafayette? What the hell are you trying to pull?”

Beardsley, who looked kind of like a bulldog, with a reputation to match, seemed uncharacteristically timid in the face of the verbal onslaught. Part of that may have been due to the fact that Dodge Dalton was no cub reporter, but rather an immensely popular writer of both fact and fiction. Mostly though, it was because of who had followed Dodge into the office, a towering mountain of man known to an adoring public as “Hurricane” Hurley.

For more than three years, Dodge and Hurricane had collaborated to write a serial ostensibly based on the latter’s adventures with a team of heroes fighting various criminal threats around the globe. The six-foot, six-inch Hurley had supplied the raw, unrefined stories, and Dodge had used his skill as a wordsmith to turn them into gold, in the form of a weekly feature. The Adventures of Captain Falcon had not only raised the readership of The Clarion — a daily tabloid with a reputation of being an excellent paper in which to wrap fish, and not much else — but had ultimately been syndicated nationally. It had only been in recent months that Dodge had learned that Hurley’s stories weren’t as fictitious as he had first believed. This incredible discovery had come when a diabolical villain had abducted the President and demanded to meet Captain Falcon in a duel of honor, leading Dodge to embark on an epic adventure of his own to find the absent namesake of the stories. In so doing, Dodge had earned the undying loyalty of Brian “Hurricane” Hurley. Hurricane would follow Dodge into Hell itself — in fact, he had done exactly that on more than one occasion — so there was little question that he had Dodge’s back here in the Clarion editor’s office.

Not that Dodge needed any help with Max Beardsley. The sandy-haired athletically built Dodge could hold his own in a battle of wits as easily as in any life or death struggle. He had paid his dues as a sportswriter and illustrator long before taking on the Captain Falcon adventures, and there was little question that his skills and reputation could get him any job he wanted. The problem was, he didn’t want just any job.

The editor placed his hands, palms down, on the desk, and tried to smile around the stub of the unlit cigar clenched between his teeth. “Dodge, m’boy, you’re looking at this all wrong.”

“Show me how to look at it right, Max, because from where I’m standing, I can’t see past how much it stinks.”

Beardsley sighed. “They were great stories, Dodge, but they’re yesterday’s news, if you’ll pardon the expression. It’s time for Captain Falcon to…hand off the ball, so to speak.”

“How can you even suggest that? Falcon has never been more popular.”

“It’s not Falcon that’s popular, Dodge. It’s you. They read the stories because of you.”

“He’s got a point there,” Hurricane rumbled.

Dodge shot his friend a look that no other man would have dared, but returned his stare to the editor. “So you mean to stop running the Falcon stories in the Clarion? Fine, I’ll just take them somewhere else.”

A faint twitch at the corner of the editor’s mouth suggested that he was trying not to smile, and for the first time, Dodge got the sense that Beardsley was one step ahead of him. He took the cigar from his lips and jabbed it at Dodge. “You do realize that we hold the copyrights to the character.”

“Then I’ll start a new series. And I’ll sue to keep you from using my name in Lafayette’s abomination.”

“Your name?” This time, Beardsley didn’t try to hide his condescending grin. “Your name is David Dalton, not ‘Dodge.’ And we’ve secured the rights to that character as well.”

Dodge leaned over the desk until he was almost nose to nose with the editor. “You don’t want to play this game, Max. There are other papers in this town that will be more than happy to help me ruin you.”

Beardsley spread his hands. “Dodge, at least hear what I’ve got to offer.”

“Your offer? You’re shutting down my story at the peak of its popularity and…and libeling me with this ridiculous ‘Real Adventures’ nonsense. What could you possibly have to offer me that would make this better?”

“Well, for starters, we’ll pay you just to be yourself. Make a few public appearances now and then to promote the new series, and I’ll pay you — and you as well, Mr. Hurley — as much as you’re making right now.”

“You think this is about money, Max?” Dodge rolled his eyes as he said it, but deep down he knew he was going to have to swallow his pride. There were other considerations — expensive considerations — that might very well force him to accept Beardsley’s terms.

After the episode with the President’s kidnappers, Dodge and Hurley, along with another of Captain Falcon’s old teammates, Father Nathan Hobbs, and a young lady named Molly Rose Shannon, had become the trustees of a fantastic secret: a repository of ancient, but somehow otherworldly, technology. Their possession of that secret had led to a unique partnership with the government, which included among other things, the gift of a Catalina flying boat. But more recent developments had thrown that partnership into limbo. The technology they protected had been stolen by an agent provocateur working with the Nazi government of Germany, and in order to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, Father Hobbs had sacrificed himself in a climactic showdown in India. When the smoke had finally settled, the unusual devices were no longer functional. That loss meant that the government no longer had any reason to offer financial support. Between the rent on his apartment, and the fees for the slip where the Catalina was moored, there was no way he could afford to give up a regular paycheck, no matter how it was earned.

The editor wasn’t finished. “Then there is the matter of your new column to consider. I’ve got to be honest with you, Dodge. I’m only running it as a favor to you. Let’s face it, without your name attached to it, no one would even give it a second glance. So if you’re dead set on fighting this, then consider the Road to Tomorrow a dead end.”

Dodge sagged in defeat. Beardsley had found the chink in his armor and gone right for the heart.

He made one last half-hearted attempt. “Does it have to be Lafayette? He’s kind of screwy.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Hurricane remarked.

Unlike Dodge, who had begun his career as a sports writer, Rodney Lafayette had only ever written fiction — salacious, sensational, scandalous fiction for the pulp magazines — in such copious quantities that he had begun promoting himself as “Lightning Fast Lafayette.” His reputation for erratic behavior, however, had modified his moniker, at least among those whom he imagined to be his peers; in the brotherhood of pulp magazine writers, he was called “Lightning Rod.”

“He’s a damn fine writer,” Beardsley said. “Fastest in the city, and he’s never missed a deadline.”

The last was a none-too-subtle dig against Dodge, who had himself been a paragon of punctuality right up until his own first brush with adventure. When the fate of the world was at stake, priorities had a way of being reorganized.

“Look on the bright side, Dodge. You’ll have more time to go gallivanting off to Timbuktu, or wherever it is you go.”

Dodge glanced at Hurley. “It’s not just my decision.”

Beardsley pushed away from his desk and stood. The change in his demeanor was unmistakable. He knew he had won, and even Hurley’s imposing presence no longer served to intimidate him. “Tell you what. Rod’s waiting downstairs; why don’t we go down and have a cup of coffee together. We’ll see if we can’t ease some of your lingering concerns.”

As they moved out of the editor’s office, Hurricane clasped Dodge’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Dodge. It was fun while it lasted.”

“We’re not down for the count yet.”

“No, but maybe it is time to retire the Cap, what with all that’s happened.” Though he was capable of emitting a roar to rival a stalking lion, Hurricane’s Tennessee drawl had the effect of soothing Dodge’s wounded ego like the purr of a kitten. And the big man was right; things were different now.

When Captain Falcon had been nothing more than a fictional creation, Dodge’s muse sang loud and strong. But the stories hadn’t come quite so easy of late. And losing Molly, who had decided to remain in India, hadn’t helped either. Maybe it was time for a change.

As he followed Beardsley out of the office and down a flight of stairs to the newsroom on the second floor of the Clarion building, where reporters and copywriters were busy pecking away on typewriters, Dodge’s ire began to subside. He knew he was probably going to have to swallow his pride, and he was looking forward to washing to bitter taste from his mouth with a pint of lager at McSorley’s. There was a pretty barmaid there who made no secret of her crush on Dodge, and while he wasn’t over Molly — not by a long shot — this was proving to be one of those rare days when the distraction afforded by a little empty adulation would actually be welcome.

Then, just as quickly as it had formed, that notion frayed and evaporated when his gaze was drawn to the woman lingering at the top of the ornate staircase leading down to the lobby.

It was impossible not to notice her. A statuesque blonde with piercing blue eyes, she would have been absolutely beautiful if her demeanor had been less severe. It was easy to imagine other women, and even men, calling her disparaging names behind her back, accusation to which she would have been completely indifferent. Her bearing alone would have sufficed to draw attention, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. In a city where most women assiduously followed the dictates of fashion, and would not have dreamed of venturing out into public unless dressed to the nines, this woman was scandalously out of uniform. She wore what appeared to be a man’s work shirt and trousers, and her long blonde hair was pulled back in a single ponytail. And despite the fact that at least half of the eyes in the newsroom were either openly or discreetly fixed on her, she seemed not to care. Her own gaze continually swept the room, back and forth like the beam of a spotlight.

Then she saw Dodge. There was a flicker of recognition as, for just an instant, the woman’s eyes met his own, and then her visual sweep resumed.

Dodge kept watching, wondering if he had imagined that momentary pause, but she did not look directly at him again. Nevertheless, she lingered in his consciousness as he followed Beardsley into the adjoining conference room where the department editors met every morning to brainstorm the day’s headlines.

“Dodge! Did you see it yet?”

The source of the eager shout was a tall, wiry man with dark frizzy hair and wire-rimmed spectacles, waving an exact duplicate of the tabloid Dodge had left on Beardsley’s desk. It was Dr. Findlay Newcombe, Dodge’s friend and presently his collaborator on the Road to Tomorrow segment. “Yeah, I saw it.”

“Now you’ll be a hero to rival Captain Falcon,” Newcombe continued, overflowing with enthusiasm and evidently oblivious to Dodge’s lack thereof. The scientist gestured to the other two people with whom he shared the room: a stocky man with a shock of red hair, wearing what appeared to be a silk smoking jacket, replete with a bright red ascot; and an attractive brunette woman wearing a staid gray suit with a matching pillbox hat. “Rodney and Miss Holloway have been telling me all about the plans for the series.”

“Asking for advice is more like it,” intoned the woman, flashing a smile that was more adoring than coquettish. When she spoke, her manner was confident and effusive. “Nora Holloway, Mr. Dalton. It’s an honor to finally meet you. I’ve read every word of your Captain Falcon stories. They’re inspirational.”

“Indeed.” The man, who could only be “Lightning Rod” Lafayette, harrumphed, and strode forward to grasp Dodge’s hand. “Fanciful tales. Almost as good as my own. But just wait and see; soon the world will be buzzing about the Adventures of Dodge Dalton, and saying ‘Falcon? Who’s that?’”

Dodge smiled politely, but shot a look at Beardsley that could have set the editor on fire. “Do tell, Mr. Lafayette.”

The red-haired man didn’t miss a beat. “Fantastic adventures with dastardly villains and diabolical schemes. Narrow escapes, romance, intrigue; exactly what your public clamors for.”

“That’s your idea of ‘Real Adventures’?”

“Artistic license,” Lafayette answered smoothly. “The audience isn’t sophisticated enough to know the difference, much less care.”

“Really? I guess that’s the difference between us, Mr. Lafayette. I don’t harbor contempt for my readers.”

If he took offense, Lafayette gave no indication. He seemed impervious to any kind of character assault. Beardsley quickly stepped forward, as if he feared the men might come to blows, but it was Nora Holloway who broke the uncomfortable silence. “Actually, Dr. Newcombe tells us that your real-life adventures are quite exciting.”

Dodge shot a look at the scientist, who quickly shook his head and raised his hands in a gesture of innocence. “I only mentioned that we’ve had some narrow scrapes.”

She flashed her smile again — a sincere, almost pleading smile. “I’d love to hear all about them.”

“That’s an excellent idea,” boomed Lafayette. “Miss Holloway is my secretary and researcher. She should spend some time getting to know all about you. It will lend a modicum of verisimilitude to our endeavor.”

“That’s a mighty big word,” remarked Hurricane, surreptitiously winking at Dodge. “I don’t reckon I even know what it means. Is that how sophisticated folks talk?”

For the first time, Lafayette’s facade seemed to crack a bit. “I meant to say it will…ah, be more authentic…believable…”

Dodge enjoyed watching the bombastic writer squirm under Hurley’s scrutiny. The big man was a lot smarter than most people gave him credit for, but it wasn’t his intellect that made ordinary men tremble. However, Lafayette’s momentary discomfort did little to put Dodge at ease. He glanced at Newcombe, who seemed perplexed by the level of tension in the room, and knew that no matter what was said, he would have to accept the new arrangement. He owed the scientist that much.

Only a few weeks earlier, Findlay Newcombe, sometime science advisor to the President, had been happily conducting research in a top secret laboratory on the grounds of Fort George Meade in Maryland, seeking to unravel the secrets of a technology recovered from the ruins of a lost civilization. And then Dodge had shown up and ruined his life. The Nazi agent, bent on locating the outpost where those secrets had been unearthed, had launched a series of attacks against Dodge and his friends. Separated from the others, Dodge had turned to Newcombe. The scientist had grudgingly agreed to follow Dodge literally to the ends of the earth, and had proven instrumental in keeping the technology out of the enemy’s hands. Unfortunately, for the military and governmental officials who had overseen Newcombe’s work, that happy outcome wasn’t good enough. Newcombe had broken their rules, and could no longer be trusted. To avoid embarrassment, the military had decided not to pursue criminal charges against Dodge and Newcombe, but any goodwill that Dodge had earned rescuing the President from his kidnappers had been completely used up. That was of little consequence to Dodge and Hurley, but Newcombe had no safety net. His exile extended beyond the secret research conducted by the War Department, to prevent him from getting work in academia. The Road to Tomorrow column had been just the thing to lift him out of his despondency, and eased Dodge’s guilt for having upset the balance of Newcombe’s life. There was no way he was going to let Beardsley take that away too.

Dodge finally broke the uncomfortable silence. “There’s not much to say, Miss Holloway. My ‘real adventures’ aren’t that interesting, but I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

“Perhaps we could—”

Dodge turned away from her and addressed the editor. “If there’s nothing more Max, I think I’ll call it a night.”

Beardsley looked less than happy, but gave a satisfied nod. Before he could say anything however, the door to the conference room opened. The editor opened his mouth, presumably to bark at the intruders, but no sound came out. His unlit stogie fell to the floor as he gaped in disbelief.

Hurricane reacted quicker than anyone, whirling around and crouching into a defensive posture, as if preternaturally sensing that they were all in great danger.

His premonition was right on the mark. Standing in the entrance were two figures — probably men judging by their builds — wearing dark clothes with faces concealed behind balaclava masks. That should have been cause enough for concern, but Dodge’s attention was instantly drawn to the object one of the men held in his right hand — a large firecracker with a long fuse that was throwing off dazzling sparks. Somehow Dodge knew it wasn’t a firecracker.

“Bomb!” Hurricane’s voice was like a thunderclap, and broke through the fog of incredulity that had left everyone in the room paralyzed, but before anyone could make a move, the man lobbed the lit dynamite stick into the center of the room and pulled back out of view.

Dodge reacted without thinking, whirling around and tackling Bearsdley and Nora — the only people other than Hurley who were within his reach — to the floor. He knew instinctively that Hurricane could take care of himself, and sure enough, his friend’s response was far more effective. Instead of seeking cover, the big man deftly reached under the massive conference table and with a decisive heave, flipped it onto its side and spun it around so that it stretched across the width of the room like a half wall. He then dropped to his knees behind the makeshift barrier and placed one massive shoulder against it, bracing it in place with his own body.

Dodge knew what was coming next, but there was no way to adequately prepare for it. With his head down, he couldn’t see anything, but in an instant everything changed. He didn’t hear an explosion, but instead felt the slap of the shockwave across every inch of his body and even inside his head.

How long he lay there, he could not say, but as he fought his way back to the surface of consciousness, he became aware of two indistinct figures — doubtless the two masked men — moving through the haze of dust and fumes. His eyes were burning from the acrid residue of the explosives and his ears were ringing. He knew he needed to get up and start moving to deal with the aftermath of the blast, and perhaps confront the architects of this unprovoked attack, but his body seemed to be disconnected. Even his best effort to call out to Hurricane resulted in nothing but a croak.

The masked bombers pushed through the debris and bent down to examine something. Dodge knew that they were talking, and while he couldn’t make out what they were saying, realized that they had found what they were looking for. Each man hefted a burden onto his shoulder, a burden that could only be a human body. Marshaling all his willpower into a single effort, Dodge propped himself up onto his elbows to get a better look.

The conference room was completely unrecognizable. The row of windows facing out over the street were gone and only a few tattered shreds of fabric remained of the roller blinds. The interior wall had buckled with the force and the plaster ceiling now hung down in jagged chunks that resembled broken teeth. Hurricane’s quick thinking had spared them the full fury of the blast, but they had nevertheless all taken quite a pounding. For his part, Hurley lay beneath the pieces of the conference table, which had broken around him like a stick snapped across a knee. Dodge noted that the big man was stirring, and then turned his attention to the other people in the room.

He remembered having tackled Beardsley and the woman — he couldn’t remember her name — and they were both right where he had left them, likewise shaking off the effects of the explosion. That meant…

Dodge swiveled his head toward the two masked men and the burdens they carried. The dust-streaked shapes were barely recognizable as human bodies, but he saw a flash of coppery hair that could only belong to Lightning Rod Lafayette. Muddled though his thoughts were, Dodge deduced that the entire purpose of the bombing was to provide cover for an abduction, but he could not fathom why anyone would go to such great lengths to kidnap a pulp writer. Then he realized that the other figure, longer and leaner, had to be Doc Newcombe, and everything fell into place.

He hauled himself to his feet and moved, reeling more than walking, toward the men. They ignored him moving purposefully toward the gaping wound in the side of the building, and then, as if possessed of some kind of divine power, took turns stepping out into empty space.

Dodge approached the same point with a good deal more caution, but as he eased out into space, he saw the ladder they had used, still propped against the side of the building, and caught just a glimpse of the two masked men closing themselves inside the back of a waiting Ford panel delivery truck. Without really knowing what he was going to do next, he eased his right foot out onto the top rung and then swung himself onto the ladder.

The truck’s engine roared as it pulled away, and by the time he reached the debris-littered sidewalk, it was racing down the street, heading south. Dodge could just make out a round red shape painted on its back door, the only distinguishable feature on its otherwise uniform black exterior. It’s a tomato, he thought.

“Where’s Rodney?” The voice, a mixture of confusion and near-hysteria came from just behind him, and he half-turned to see the Lafayette’s assistant stepping off the ladder. Her face and hair were liberally coated in plaster dust, making her look like a refugee from the court of Louis XIV, and her hat sat askew on her head, but she seemed otherwise unhurt.

Dodge gaped at her for a moment and then pointed at the receding truck. “They took him.”

Above them, Hurricane ventured out of the enormous wound in the building and began descending as well, but when he was halfway down, he began listing to one side. Before Dodge could move to steady the ladder, it leaned sideways and crashed to ground. So did Hurricane. The big man let loose an oath that would have made even Dodge blush under any other circumstances, and struggled to his hands and knees.

“Dodge! Damn it, everything’s spinning. What happened? Where’s the Doc?” It was perhaps a measure of his concern that Hurley did not employ his favorite nickname—‘Newton’—for the quirky scientist.

“Tomato truck.” Dodge’s head felt thick, and he wondered if he was making any sense.

“Tomato truck?” The woman — Nora, Dodge remembered, that was her name — seemed likewise unable to make sense of his statement. “Why would they leave in a—”

Hurricane hauled himself erect, but was still clearly having trouble staying that way. “Well, go after them!”

“How?”

The big man pointed to the row of automobiles parked across the street. One of them stood out from the rest; a sleek fire-engine-red 1936 Auburn 851 Boattail Speedster that was Hurley’s pride and joy. “You’ll have to drive. I’m still seeing double.”

“Drive?”

“You do know how to drive, don’t you?” Nora asked.

Dodge nodded slowly.

She tugged at his arm. “Well then, let’s go.”

The sports car was designed to seat two people comfortably — two average sized people. Hurricane Hurley usually rode alone with the top down, his massive frame leaving only a little bit of room for a passenger. This time, he simply slumped into the seat on the passenger’s side, leaving Dodge to squeeze in behind the steering wheel.

“Where am I supposed to sit?” Nora inquired, daring either man to tell her to stay behind.

Under normal circumstances, both men probably would have done exactly that, but Dodge’s bell was still ringing and it was all he could do to focus on the task at hand. “Well, you can’t sit in my lap,” he told her.

Her lips turned down in a pout, then with one hand pressing her skirt down, she scooted her rear end onto the door panel and with considerably less gracefulness than she probably intended, dropped into Hurricane’s lap. The move caught the big man by surprise and he gave a little “oomph” as she landed on something tender. The sound was repeated as she awkwardly folded her legs to get them into the car and down into the crowded floor well.

Dodge watched her contortions in disbelief for a moment, then decided he could wait no longer. He activated the starter and coaxed the Speedster’s 150 horsepower engine to life. Revving the engine, he let out the clutch, and the sports car exploded out of its parking spot.