Red Thunder Read Free

seen
the video. Now they worry about every quart of oil that might make its
way into the Atlantic. I'm not saying that's a bad idea, but if anyone
thought
Blue Thunder
would leave so much as a drop on the
clean sands of Cocoa Beach they didn't know Dak very well. You could
cook and eat your dinner right off the engine block, assuming Dak would
ever let you do such a messy thing to his baby.
    Dak would be spending hours tomorrow hosing off the worst of the
salty sand. He would remove wheels and brakes and shocks to clean them
with a toothbrush. If you think I'm kidding, you don't know Dak.
    Kelly and I hung on tight as Dak steered through the packed sand and
foam, and every time he hit a wavelet spreading across the beach We'd
get a fine salt spray in our faces. Looking down through the open moon
roof I could hear the throbbing drums of some new South African group
Alicia had discovered. I could see the dash lights, including the
fuzzbuster unit I'd helped him install. It was supposed to alert us if
there was a cop transmitting anywhere within two miles. We knew the
cops had seen us out there, we'd heard them talking about us. They were
even pretty sure of who we were, and so far hadn't been able to do a
damn thing about it. They had to catch us first, and there wasn't a
police vehicle in the whole state of Florida that could keep up with
Blue Thunder
in the sand.
    Kelly had one arm around my waist and one hand on the roll bar, and
that felt great. I had my arm around her, too. The wind and the spray
blew through her hair and she looked great in the moonlight. Dak was
staying close to the water and far from the dunes, because the soft,
rolling sands were where nighttime lovers liked to spread their
blankets.
    Life seemed just about perfect. And that's when we ran over the guy.
    He looked like a piece of driftwood when I first saw him. He was
lying on his back looking up at the stars, or what few stars you could
see with all the lights of Cocoa Beach behind us. I saw him turn his
head and squint against the bright headlights.
    Kelly saw him the same time I did, and she shouted something and started pounding on the roof. I looked down.
    Alicia straightened up—
    Dak glanced up at me—
    Kelly hit the roof even harder—
    Dak looked forward... mouthed an obscenity... slammed on the brakes.
    Blue Thunder's
wheels locked and we began to skid sideways. Dak corrected. He had us straightened out again when we ran over the man's legs.
    We came to a stop. The truck's engine died and for a moment there
was only the sound of the surf. Then everyone started shouting at once.
    I don't remember what anyone said. It wasn't anything terribly smart, I know that. We were scared.
    Kelly and I jumped out of the pickup bed and hurried around to the
side of the truck. Dak had his door open, but that seemed to be as far
as he could go. He had his arms over the steering wheel and his head
buried in his arms. He was shaking.
    Alicia hadn't been able to get out over Dak, so she came around the
front. Dak's running-board lights dazzled our eyes so we couldn't see
in the darkness beneath them. Alicia shined her flashlight down at the
sand, then made a little squeaking sound and backed up a few paces.
    "We cut off his legs," she whispered. Kelly turned around and made a
gagging sound, then turned back. I knelt close to where Alicia was
shining the flashlight beam.
    I could see that the man's legs ended a lot sooner than they should have.
Blue Thunder
had thrown up some big ridges of wet, heavy sand. I couldn't see where
his legs ended because the sand covered most of them below the knees.
    But I saw his shoes easy enough. They were a good five feet away from his kneecaps and three feet away from the truck.
    Dak stepped out of the cab, took one look at the disembodied feet, staggered into the surf and vomited.
    I felt like doing the same... and then I realized what had happened.
I went over to them and prodded one with my own shoe. It rolled over.
There was