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A.R.Yngve
PARRY'S PROTOCOL
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Chapter 52
WRBC RADIO BROADCAST STATION
WESTMOREHAM COUNTY
"...is blocked by a truck with no license plates. The fire brigade's attempts to move the vehicle are impeded, by the fact that the truck's tires have been shot -- yes, you heard it -- have been shot to pieces. The truck's driver was spotted disappearing into a blue van going east. We will continue to monitor the development of the strange events this morning..."
The radio DJ, a young man with a long beard and hair reaching down over his forehead and shoulders, took a gulp from a soda can. He picked up a compact disc from a rack of numbered slots, fed it into a CD player -- all in one second -- while continuing his rapid, rhythmic monologue.
"You're listening to WRBC, reaching five thousand listeners twenty-four hours a day! The time is seven-fifty, and the talk of the town is the mysterious series of explosions from the Westmoreham Institute. A white helicopter has been spotted as it flew from the place.
"While we're waiting for you, good listeners, to call in your own eyewitness reports, we're playing Jerry Lee Lewis' classic 'Great Balls of Fire!'"
As the music played, the phone calls stacked up on the computer monitor next to the DJ. He stretched out and sighed -- grinning. The studio technician made the thumbs-up sign on the other side of the windowpane -- and started in surprise. Suddenly, someone kicked in the door to the DJ's studio. Two dirty men barged in, armed with Uzis. Behind them came, at a much slower pace, a black woman.
The DJ stared in amazement at the dirty, blue-clad intruders, and exclaimed: "What the hell is going on?"
"We're straight from the Institute," Parry replied, aiming at the DJ's pot belly. "And we've got the best scoop of your life! Keep transmitting, whatever happens! Doc! Check out the technician, so he won't try to switch us off the air!"
The technician reeled back when Abram came in to him -- but the DJ waved at him to stay put: "Do as he says, Brian! I want this on the air, too!"
The studio technician let "Great Balls of Fire" fade out, and gestured to the DJ to start his pitch. The DJ adjusted microphone headsets onto the heads of Abram, Parry, and Joyce, and plugged them in.