City of Dark Corners

feet in reverse when the explosion came. It ripped upward, slightly ahead of the driver’s seat, blowing out the glass of the driver’s side window.
The sharp sound could be heard a mile away. The explosion shattered all the windows on the Clarendon that faced the parking lot. Hubcaps and other auto parts were strewn across the asphalt, while a blue haze hung over the area. Witnesses recalled the blood, so much blood, a man calling, “Help me, help me!” and a hunk of bloodied flesh the size of a baseball lying twenty feet from the car.
Within ten minutes, fire trucks arrived, then an ambulance. Page was still conscious as they pulled him out and carefully placed him on a stretcher. His body below the waist was a mangle of burns and smashed bones in a soup of blood. His left arm was barely attached to his shoulder. His face was gray with ash and shock. His eyes were wide and unfocused. The EMTs and firefighters applied large trauma dressings and tried to stanch the bleeding.
St. Joseph’s Hospital was less than a half-mile away. As they laid him flat, trying to keep his limbs together, he screamed in pain. But words came, too, through clenched teeth. He fought to get every syllable out.
“They finally got me,” he gasped. Then louder: “Reid, Mafia, RaceCo! Find Mark Reid…”
Then he passed out. But even unconscious, he twitched and moaned.
Later, a veteran Phoenix detective would say he had never seen a human being who suffered so much.
They finally got me. Reid, Mafia, RaceCo! Find Mark Reid.
Those were the last words he spoke.
The Bomb Shelter
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About the Author
Fourth-generation Arizonan Jon Talton is the author of thirteen novels and one work of history. These include the David Mapstone Mysteries, the Cincinnati Casebooks, and the thriller Deadline Man. Talton is a veteran journalist, having worked in San Diego, Denver, Cincinnati, Charlotte, and now as a columnist for the Seattle Times. He also writes the Phoenix-centric blog Rogue Columnist.
www.jontalton.com


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