Read Online An Obvious Fact by Craig Johnson - Free Book Online

decidedly less advanced, but I’ll go hog wild and venture an opinion: Does it have a key?”
    â€œNo, just had a padlock and a chain holding the doors closed, which are hydraulic like in
Star Trek
. Took us forever to figure out how to open and close ’em.”
    â€œThen there’s a switch.”
    â€œNo, there’s not.”
    â€œIt probably doesn’t look like any switch you’ve ever seen, and there’s probably a coil preheating mechanism.” I started climbing up. “Get over in the passenger seat and let me take a gander.”
    He did as I said and turned to look at me as I scanned the dash. “What do you need Deputy Dog for?”
    Spotting the less-than-obvious switch, I glanced at it to see if, as in most diesels, you just turned it in the opposite direction to preheat, but there was nothing. Finally spotting a safety toggle to the left, I hit it and watched as a red light came on beside the ignition along with a spiral coil that lit, then flickered and went out. “He supposedly has the Torres kid’s cell phone, and I’d like the name of the woman who found Bodaway after the accident.”
    â€œBodaway?”
    â€œThe kid that was in the wreck. That’s his name—Apache.”
    â€œOh.”
    I hit the starter, and the gigantic engine in the MRAP rattled to a lopsided cant, sounding a lot like
Steamboat
, an old B-25 I’d flown in years ago. Reaching over and tapping the fuel gauge—a habit I’d picked up from my old Doolittle Raiderboss who had piloted the vintage bomber—I glanced at Chief Nutter. “How far is it to the gas station?”
    â€œAbout a mile.”
    â€œYou might make it.”
    â€œWell, let’s go then.”
    I laughed. “I’m not driving this thing.”
    â€œThen who is? You’re the one who was a jarhead and all.” He nodded toward the crowded street. “I’m likely to run over a building or something.”
    I sighed and hit the push button to engage the drive, assuming
R
was reverse. “All right then, let’s bring the mountain to Mohammed.”
    He shook his head. “You sure do know a lot of biblical quotes for a fellow that doesn’t go much for churchin’.”
    I started easing the fifteen-ton behemoth backward, attempting to see if there was anything behind me on the street. “That’s not the Bible—it’s Francis Bacon, from an old Turkish proverb.”
    He shook his head some more and looked at me. “Hey, you’re good with names; what should we call it?”
    â€œHow about the Pequod?”
    He thought about it but changed the subject. “I’m going to turn the red and blues on. You know, to let ’em know we’re cops.” He reached overhead and flipped another toggle. “I know where that is, because I was the one who had ’em installed.” He held out a piece of paper with a diagram. “Shows the lights right here. There’s also a PA system if you want to announce our presence with a sense of authority.”
    Having successfully backed the MRAP, I was looking point-blank at the quarter mile of Hulett’s main and onlythoroughfare, the direction we would be heading before taking a left and pulling into the Dakota Gas Company like happy motorists. “I don’t suppose there’s a siren, just to let people know that this thing actually moves, is there?”
    â€œThere could’a been, but I didn’t order that.”
    I nodded, straightened my hat, and pressed the
D
button. Hitting the gas, I was appalled at how fast the gigantic vehicle moved and immediately adjusted the weight of my foot on the accelerator. “Wow.”
    â€œDual turbos and an overdrive.” He giggled. “I opted for those, too.”
    We went down the hill at a reasonable speed, and it was interesting to see the crowd’s reaction to the bright white colossus, most just standing