Black Brick – Chapter Twenty Five

This week’s episode features Chapter Twenty Five of Black Brick. Here is an excerpt from the show:

Shannon was in the driver seat of our Dodge Charger, and I sat on the passenger side. I wasn’t certain, but I suspected that Beltran had a thing for this type of car because Black Brick had a fleet of the Chargers. After our botched rescue attempt the other day when we abandoned the Charger, he’d almost been more concerned about the loss of the Charger than the fact we’d spent all day evading the police.

I had my rifle, the F2000 on my lap and it was covered with my jacket. It wasn't my favorite weapon, but the bullpup design was easier to work with in many of the situations we encountered. We’d already been waiting for close to an hour, during which time, Shannon and I had barely spoken.

After trying several times to start a conversation with her, I’d given up and resigned myself to the awkward silence. I missed the way that Shannon had been before the kidnapping.

I should have been able to talk to her about the fact that the wrong man was in jail for killing my parents, but I didn’t know that I could trust her anymore because she’d changed.

Shaking my head, I surveyed the area. We were parked on a road that ran parallel to Diggon’s new headquarters. Cherry and Tom were several cars ahead of us. The space between us and the new building was nothing short of ostentatious. There were flower gardens, art exhibits, and a large amphitheater. My eyes stopped on the zoo.

While the zoo had its own place beside the tower, there were several impressive wildlife exhibits that led up to the massive complex. The closest to us featured grizzly bears in a sprawling habitat. I doubted most captive grizzly bears had it so lucky.

From here, although our heavily tinted windows made it hard to get a good view of them, I could make out several of the bears moving around. It had warmed up in the last few days, and I wondered how recently the bears had come out of hibernation.

I looked past the habitat, and beyond the wide expanse of gardens to the tower rising into the sky. It was my first time getting this close to the new Diggon building. I’d seen it go up from a distance while the construction had been underway because it was impossible to miss the building as it towered over most of the others in the city, but I’d never bothered to get closer.

Martinez was inside the Diggon headquarters and apparently already causing a scene because people in yellow jackets—Diggon Security—were milling around the entrance and had the place on lockdown. Originally, our orders had been to go in after Martinez, but we'd arrived too late and were now watching from a distance.

There was a flurry of activity near the entrance, and several Humvees arrived with more armed guards. Even though there weren’t any roads close to the front of the building, the sidewalks were wide enough to function as such. Diggon was quickly amassing a small army outside.

Had Martinez gone suicidal?