Adios Angel Read Free

summers.”
    “Use your flashlights to check in the corners.  Deputy
Steele, you enter at the west end doorway, under the time clock.  Stay toward
the front of the bleachers.   Deputy Funke, you go under the bleachers in the
middle by the scorer’s table and go along the back wall.  I’ll enter by the
east end and go down the middle of the bleachers.  We’ll do two quick sweeps,
one up and one back.  Make certain nothing is taped up underneath the seats. 
Give the bottom bleacher a real close look-see.  Check every corner closely. 
Got that?”
    “Yes, sir,” replied the junior officers.
    “If we find nothing on two sweeps, check the time.  If
we have time, we will sweep the home side of the gym in exactly the same
fashion.  If we find nothing, exit the building at two minutes of nine.  Two
minutes before nine.  Got it?”
    Once again in unison the law officers replied in the
affirmative.
    The bright lights, turned on for the assembly, gave
clear visibility throughout the gym.  Sheriff Hanks’ heart pounded with anxiety
as he led his team under the bleachers.  Two trips under the opposing team’s
bleacher section took six minutes.  The results were negative.
    “Clean as a whistle,” said Delbert.  “Not even a dust
bunny.”
    “Nothing harmful visualized,” reported Kate.
    “Let’s check the other side and hope we have the same
luck.  Keep your fingers crossed this is just somebody’s idea of a bad joke.”
    Josh Diamond’s silhouette in the doorway cast a sinewy
shadow.  At his side a pair of highly trained bloodhounds attentively awaited
his signal.
    “Sheriff Hanks,” said Josh.  “What sort of device are
we looking for?”
    “We’re looking for a bomb with a timing device.  We
don’t know the size or type.  It might be dynamite.  It’s allegedly set to go
off at nine.” He used a single finger to outline the already searched area. 
“We’ve completed a visual inspection of the visitor’s side.” 
    Sheriff Hanks’ words echoed eerily off the tall
ceiling of the empty gymnasium as somewhere off in a distant part of the
building a phone began to ring.
    “Take your dogs and search the area where we’ve just
been.  You’ve got three minutes.  If you get nothing, you have another two
minutes on this side.  We are all out of here at eight fifty-eight.”
    Josh’s hand signals set the bloodhounds into action. 
With great precision the precisely trained animals went into search mode.  As
the clock above the scoreboard ticked away five fast minutes, nothing
resembling a bomb was evident.
    “Everyone out.   Move it.  Now!” shouted Sheriff Zeb
Hanks. 
    Safely away from the building the quartet formed a
semi-circle facing the school.  The dogs, with their noses in the air, sat by
their master’s side.  Josh pulled a pack of gum from his pocket offering a
piece to the others.   Delbert took one.  The others declined.    
    “Ten to one it was a crank call.  Some pissed off kid
getting his jollies,” said Josh.
    “I bet you’re right.  I bet it was a prank.  When I
was in high school, we’d pull the fire alarm just to get a little time off. 
Kids these days got a weird idea of humor, that’s for sure,” said Delbert.
    “What’s the plan, Sheriff?” asked Kate.
    “We wait.  If there is a timer on the bomb, most
likely its next click through will be at quarter after the hour.  Right, Josh?”
    “If there is a bomb, that would be the most likely
scenario.  If there was one, Mutt and Jeff would have found it.  There is no
bomb in the gym.”
    “They are true professionals,” he said, giving each
dog a treat.  “Nothing escapes their sense of smell.”
    “I’m inclined to agree with you.  Let’s give it
fifteen minutes.  Then we will give the building an additional once over,”
added the sheriff.  “Deputy Steele, would you go inform the principal that we
are going to do a building search?  With the dogs, it shouldn’t take more