A brilliant explosion of lightning flashed against the windows. The effect was stroboscopic: everyone and every object in the room seemed to jump rapidly back and forth for an instant, although in reality nothing moved.
Overhead the fluorescent lights flickered.
Thorp went to the metal firearms cabinet behind his desk, unlocked it, and fetched two shotguns.
“Do you know how to use these?” Salsbury asked the men in the yellow raincoats.
One of them nodded.
The other said, “Not much to it. These babies pack a hell of a lot of punch. You pretty much just have to point in the general direction of the target and pull the trigger.” He gripped the gun with both hands, admired it, smiled at it.
“Good enough,” Salsbury said. “The two of von will go out to the parking lot behind this building, get in the spare patrol car, and drive to the east end of town. Understand me so far?”
“To the east end,” one of them said.
“A hundred yards short of the turn at the mouth of the valley, you’ll park the cruiser across the highway and block both lanes as best you can.”
“A roadblock,” one of them said, obviously pleased with the way the game was developing.
“Exactly,” Salsbury said. “If anyone wants to enter Black River-logging trucks, local citizens, maybe visitors from out of town, anyone at all-you’ll let them in. However, you’ll send them here, straight to this office. You’ll tell them that a state of emergency has been declared in Black River and that they absolutely must, without exception, check in with the chief of police before they go on about their business.”
“What kind of emergency?” “You don’t need to know.” One of them frowned.
The other said, “Everyone we stop will want to know.”
“If they ask, tell them that the chief will explain it.” Both men nodded.
Thorp distributed a dozen shotgun shells to each of them.
“If anyone tries to leave Black River,” Salsbury said, “you’ll also direct them to the chief, and you’ll give them the same story about a state of emergency. Understood?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
“Every time you send someone to see Bob, whether they were coming into town or trying to get out of it, you’ll radio this office. That way, if they don’t show up within a few minutes, we’ll know that we’ve got some renegades on our hands. Understood?”
They both said, “Yes.”
Salsbury took his handkerchief from his hip pocket and blotted the perspiration from his face. “If anyone leaving town tries to run your roadblock, stop them. If you can’t stop them any other way, use the guns.”
“Shoot to kill?”
“Shoot to kill,” Salsbury said. “But only if there’s no other way to stop them.”
One of the men tried to look like John Wayne receiving orders at the Alamo, shook his head solemnly, and said, “Don’t worry. You can count on us.”
“Any questions?”
“How long will we be in charge of this roadblock?”
“Another team of men will relieve you in six hours,” Salsbury said. “At eight o’clock this evening.” He jammed his handkerchief back into his pocket. “One other thing. When you leave this room, you will forget that you ever met me. You’ll forget that I was here. You’ll remember everything I’ve said to you prior to what I’m saying to you now, every previous exchange of this conversation we’ve just had-but you’ll think that Bob Thorp gave you your instructions. Is that perfectly clear?”
“Yes.”
“Perfectly.”
“Then get moving.”
The two men went out of the room, forgetting him the moment they set foot in the corridor.
A fiercely white pulse of lightning washed over the town, and a crack of thunder followed, rattling the windows.
“Close those blinds,” Salsbury said irritably.
Thorp did as he was told.
Salsbury sat down behind the desk.
When he had drawn the Venetian blinds, Bob Thorp returned to the desk and stood in front of it.
Salsbury looked up at him and said, “Bob, I want to seal this burg up tight. Real tight.” He made a fist with his right hand by way of example. “I want to make damned sure that no one can get out of town. Is there anything else that I should block in addition to the highway?”