Midnight Sun by Basil Sands Read Free Book Online Page A

one another with embraces. Wails of mourning cast a nightmare soundtrack against the morbid backdrop, cries mingling with the odor of burnt metal, fuel, and death. Steven Farrah rose from the driver's seat. From the opposite side of the vehicle came Kharzai, his big hair bouncing as he twisted to get out of the car . Out of the back seat climbed the cousins, Leka and Kreshnik, eyes focused directly on the demolished truck with robotic indifference to the carnage around them. The latter pair jogged toward the wreckage of the burglar ’ s truck. Nearby, a man in a tuxedo abruptly hunched over in the midst of the carnage. His back arch ed and a mass of vomit splattered the ground, making a mess of his shoes. A small object in his hand glinted in the evening light. Between spasmodic wretches, he handed it to a pregnant Asian woman speaking on a cell phone. She took it in her left hand and closed her fist around it.
    “ Hey! ” the Asian woman called to the cousins with the directness of a police officer. “ Step away from there. ”
    “ Dear God, ” Farrah said in an upper-class British accent. He stopped searching the mangled truck and turned toward her. “ Has anyone called the paramedics? ”
    “ Paramedics? ” Kharzai muttered, scanning the scene, “ There's not enough left for CPR here. ”
    The Asian woman ended her cell phone call and moved her closed left hand behind her back. She put her phone into a pocket of the large maternity dress she wore and from the same pocket pulled out a badge on a lanyard which she looped over her head, the silver metal shield resting heavily between her breasts.
    “ I am a State Trooper. More help is on the way. ”
    Kharzai glanced at Farrah, his eyebrows rising as he looked back at her badge.
    “ The driver of that truck was crazy, ” he said. His accent was pure American mid-western. “ If you need an eyewitness report, Stevie here can give it to you. He flew past us on the road back there—must’ve been going over a hundred miles per hour. ”
    “ Much more, I am sure, ” Farrah said.
    The cousins were still near the wreckage of the truck. One reached to pick something up. Lonnie stopped him short.
    “ Don't touch anything, ” s he commanded. Then to the crowd in general, “ Everyone, please go back up onto the lawn, and don't pick up anything else. There’s nothing you can do. The police are on the way—they’ll sort it all out. ” She turned to Farrah. “ You said this truck passed you back there? ”
    Sirens wailed in the distance. The cousins moved away from the pieces of the truck. The cab was half imploded, the engine block sitting on the front seat. The remnants of the driver were just a smear of red jelly across the seat and window
    “ Yes, of course. He was the only one on the road. ” Farrah looked at the carnage, shaking his head. “ Simply awful. May I ask who was in the other vehicle? ”
    “ A newly married couple. They were just leaving for their honeymoon. ”
    “ Oh! That is horrible. ” Farrah closed his eyes and pressed a thumb and forefinger into the bridge of his nose.
    Kharzai shook his head. An unexpected memory of Leila flashed through his mind, involuntarily raising moisture in his eyes. “ At least they died together, ” he said.
    A column of police cruisers turned from Rabbit Creek Road onto Goldenview Drive, followed by a stream of fire trucks, ambulances, and a news van. The cousins looked at Farrah. He nodded toward their vehicle, and the pair walked back to it.
    “ Again, I am so sorry for the tragedy, ” Farrah said. “ I will say prayers for the dead and for the surviving family members. ”
    The parade of emergency vehicles stopped and medical crew poured into the wreckage. A woman in a smart-looking skirt suit jumped from the news van and briskly walked to the edge of the site, turned her back to the scene, and waited as her cameraman hoisted the device to his shoulder. Kharzai maneuvered himself out of view of the