Run into Trouble

counteract the sand by wearing caps with the bills pulled low to protect their eyes, but sudden gusts of wind blew them off with regularity.
    Drake, who was wearing dark glasses, turned to Melody who didn’t seem to be affected by the elements. It was almost as if the wind and sand sailed right through her body without touching it. He felt a tinge of envy. “If we get any closer together we’ll all have to get married.”
    “We’re huddled like a herd of zebra on the Serengeti fending off a pride of lions.”
    Nobody wanted to take the lead and face the brunt of the wind and sand. As a consequence, they ran slowly with the lead changing often, the runners who were farther back being sheltered to some extend by those in front. Drake and Melody were content to stay with the group as long as they didn’t get stepped on, because breaking away in the headwind would sap their strength at a disproportionate rate.
    Because they were so close to the others, they couldn’t talk about Casey. They had discussed him on the plane ride back to San Jose without reaching any conclusion as to what to do. Being quite certain that he had killed Grace and being able to prove it were two different matters. They felt frustrated and had an urge to become vigilantes, taking matters into their own hands, but as Blade had pointed out, they couldn’t do that.
    ***
    Drake had barely entered his motel room when the phone rang. He was tired from running into the wind most of the day and didn’t feel like speaking to anyone. After the third ring he figured he’d better answer it.
    “Drake.”
    “Turn on the telly, channel seven.” Melody’s voice sounded urgent.
    “Are we about to be hit by a meteor?”
    “Worse. Just turn it on.”
    Drake hung up and clicked on the television set. When the picture appeared on channel seven, Casey’s face filled the screen in glorious black and white. It took Drake a few seconds to understand what he was talking about. He heard the words “impeach the president” and “martial law,” before he realized that although he didn’t say it in so many words, Casey was advocating the overthrow of the government.
    His pitch was that the U.S. was under attack by an unnamed “foreign power,” and that this fact had not been acknowledged by the president who had attempted to hide the truth, leading one to infer that the president was in cahoots with the enemy. If the president refused to take action, it was up to the American people to defend themselves by enabling the military to take proper defensive measures. The country needed a strong leader in a time of peril.
    Casey didn’t say who this leader might be, but anyone watching the broadcast who bought what he was saying would come to the obvious conclusion. Casey mentioned his complete dedication to the well-being of his country, as exemplified by his design and production of weapons essential for the country’s defense for the past twenty years. Almost tearfully, he said that he didn’t want the efforts of all those who labored for peace at Giganticorp and in the armed forces to go to waste. In closing, he called for the country to unite, and without mentioning Winston Churchill by name, he paraphrased a few sentences from his “This was their finest hour” speech.
    Drake angrily turned off the television set. What rubbish. Everybody would see Casey for the fraud he was. Twenty seconds later Melody burst into the room without knocking.
    “Did you hear all that?”
    Drake made a mental note to lock the door when staying at a Mom-and-Pop motel without automatic locks. “He’s lost his north. He’s gone off the deep end. Fortunately, nobody’s going to go with him.”
    “Tom is.”
    Tom? Tom who? It took Drake a few seconds to realize that Melody was referring to Tom the runner.
    “How do you know that?”
    “He was in my room.” Melody decided she’d better explain. “He was apologizing to me.”
    “For what?”
    “For acting boorishly. What does it matter? The point is, he agrees with Casey. He was nodding his head and making comments while Casey was speaking. Tom is a smart, well educated man. If he agrees with Casey, how many other people are going to?”
    Was it true that there were a lot of people who wouldn’t see through Casey’s naked grab for power? Who would be so concerned for their own safety that they would allow it to happen? Before Drake could reply to Melody, the phone rang.
    “Drake.”
    “I’ll be outside your