Under the Dome

Freddy had been listening to Big Jim with an expression that said Now I get it. He took Big Jim's cell phone from Rusty's breast pockdt and tossed it onto one of the sofas. Then he turned back to Rusty. 'How long have you been planning it? How long you been planning to lock us up in town so you could see what we'd do?'

'Freddy, listen to yourself,' Rusty said. The words came out in a wheefce. God, but Thibodeau was heavy. 'That's crazy. It makes no sense. Can't you see th—'

'Hold his hand on the floor,' Big Jim said. 'The left one.'

Freddy did as he was ordered. Rusty tried to fight, but with Thibodeau pinning his arms, he had no leverage.

'I'm sorry to do this, pal, but the people of this town have to understand we're in control of the terrorist element.'

Rennie could say he was sorry all he wanted, but in the instant before he brought the heel of his shoe—and all of his two hundred and thirty pounds—down on Rusty s clenched left hand, Rusty saw a different motive poking out the front of the Second Selectman's gabardine trousers. He was enjoying this, and not just in a cerebral sense.

Then the heel was pressing and grinding: hard, harder, hardest. Big Jim's face was clenched with effort. Sweat stood out under his eyes. His tongue was clamped between his teeth.

Don't scream, Rusty thought. It'll bring Ginny, and then she'll be in the cooking pot, too. Also, he wants you to. Don't give him the satisfaction.

But when he heard the first snap from under Big Jim's heel, he did scream. He couldn't help it.

There was another snap. Then a third.

Big Jim stepped back, satisfied. 'Get him on his feet and take him to jail. Let him visit with his friend.'

Freddy was examining Rusty s hand, which was already swelling. Three of the four fingers were bent badly out of true. 'Busted,' he said with great satisfaction.

Ginny appeared in the lounge doorway, her eyes huge. 'What in God's name are you doing?'

'Arresting this bastard for extortion, criminal withholding, and attempted murder,' Freddy Denton said as Carter hauled Rusty Everett to his feet. 'And that's just a start. He resisted and we subdued him. Please step aside, ma'am.'

'You're nuts!' Ginny cried. 'Rusty, your handV

'I'm all right. Call Linda. Tell her these thugs—'

He got no further. Carter seized him by the neck and ran him out the door with his head bent down. In his ear Carter whispered: 'If I was sure that old guy knew as much about doctorin as you, I'd kill you myself.'

All this in four days and change, Rusty marveled as Carter forced him down the hallway, staggering and bent almost double by the grip on his neck. His left hand was no longer a hand, only a bellowing chunk of pain below his wrist. Just four days and change.

He wondered if the leatherheads—whatever or whoever they might be—were enjoying the show.

10

It was late afternoon before Linda finally came across The Mill's librarian. Lissa was biking back toward town along Route 117. She said she'd been talking to the sentries out at the Dome, trying to glean further information about Visitors Day.

'They're not supposed to schmooze with the townies, but some will,' she said. 'Especially if you leave the top three buttons on your blouse undone. That seems to be a real conversation-starter. With the Army guys, anyway. The Marines… I think I could take off all my clothes and dance the Macarana and they still wouldn't say boo.Those boys seem immune to sex appeal.' She smiled. 'Not that I'll ever be mistaken for Kate Winslet.'

'Did you pick up any interesting gossip?'

'Nope.' Lissa was straddling her bike, and looking in at Linda through the passenger window. 'They don't know squat. But they're awfully concerned about us; I was touched by that. And they're hearing as many rumors as we are. One of them asked me if it was true that over a hundred people had committed suicide already'

'Can you get in the car with me for a minute?'

Lissa's smile broadened. 'Am I being arrested?'

'There's something I want to talk to you about.'

Lissa put down the kickstand of her bike and got in, first moving Linda's citation clipboard and a nonfunctioning radar gun out of the way. Linda told her about the clandestine visit to the funeral home and what they'd found there, then about the proposed meeting at the parsonage. Lissa's response was immediate and vehement.

'I'll be there—you just try to keep me away'

The radio cleared its throat then, and Stacey came on. 'Unit Four, Unit Four. Break-break-break.'

Linda grabbed the mike. It wasn't Rusty she was thinking of; it was the girls. 'This is Four, Stacey. Go.'

What Stacey Moggin said when she came back changed Linda's unease to outright terror. 'I've got something bad to tell you, Lin. I'd tell you to brace yourself, but I don't think you can brace yourself for a thing like this. Rusty's been arrested.'

'Wfiat?' Linda nearly screamed, but only to Lissa; she didn't depress the SEND button on the side of the mike.