“Screw you!” the trussed-up man bellowed.

“Can’t say I didn’t try.” Jack laughed.

“Well, well, well!” Snowden said boisterously. “What do we have here?”

“This is Mr. Zack Meadows. He owns half of Happy Village along with Cosmo Cricket. You and Abner have all his creds, so you know who he is and what he’s done. This is him in the flesh. I’m not sure what we should do with him right now. Stash him somewhere at least until it gets dark out. Maybe the parking garage at Babylon. Unless you can come up with something better. When you leave, Harry and I are going to meet up with Ted, Maggie, and Espinosa out on the boulevard in the Chinese restaurant’s parking lot. We nixed their going to Lizzie’s house when we heard about a bunch of motorcycles stashed nearby, then found this piece of garbage here. Dennis is on his way back to Babylon as we speak. Anything you want to say, Snowden?”

“Not at the moment. But I do have a question. Mr. Hershel, do you have any duct tape? We don’t want this piece of human trash caterwauling at the top of his lungs when I take him out of here and wherever it is we end up.”

Pete Hershel returned to paw through the contents of the bottom of his sink. He triumphantly held up a roll of bright purple duct tape. “My wife loved the color purple,” he said, explaining the flamboyant color.

“Works for me,” Snowden grunted as he ripped off a long strip of tape and slapped it against Meadows’s mouth.

Snowden bent down and hefted Meadows to his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. The three men watched as he unceremoniously dumped Meadows on the floor of the ambulance, then gave him a shove so he would slide deeper into the lifesaving vehicle. He slammed the door shut and snapped the lock.

“Guess I’ll be seeing you when I see you. Call or text if you get a brainstorm. I can’t be riding around too long with that guy in the back. Nice to meet you, Mr. Hershel,” Avery added as an afterthought.

“Uh-huh,” was Hershel’s response.

Jack looked around at the pizza mess on the floor. “I’m sorry to be leaving you with this mess, but we have to get going. Take my card, and if you need me, no matter the time of day or night, you call, and we’ll be here. I’m going to text Lionel and have him put extra eyes on your place for a while. Are you okay with that?”