 And now, another tale well-calculated to keep you in. I promised Kate I would fool with hauling high explosives. Let Jardine hire some younger guy with no wife, no four-year-old daughter. Let him take the risk. Let him get blown to bits if something happens to the truck. But that night I had to make one more run. I had to. She's sleeping again. Kate, she's got to have a nurse, the doctor. I'm as good as Amy Lee. And what happens if you get sick, too? Look at you up all night every night with her. But you're getting better. It'll take time, but you can be all right. Anyway, then, we can't afford a nurse. Yes, we can. Kate, now listen to me. We can afford a nurse if I go on one more run. I promise we will fool with that. There's a big oil fire up at Westfield. Two wells are already blazing, and there's a third ready to catch up the wind shifts. They need the dynamite to blow the top off that fire. I don't care. Please, Ben. I already talked to Jardine. He offered me 125 bucks for just one trip. Tell him to get somebody else. They're all out on runs already. I'll be back the day after tomorrow with 125 bucks. Now, you get on that phone and hire a nurse to take care of our kid. Ben, I won't mention it. Call a nurse. Can you get some sleep? Hear me? Please. With her taking you out on the road with a load like the ones from your brother? What do you think I am? I know who you are. That's why I've got to break my promise. Well, I've got to make one more dynamite run. After this, I won't haul anything more dangerous than tomatoes from Sioux Falls to Mason. I promise you. You promise? Ben, don't go. Call that nurse now. Ben, I have a feeling that a terrible fear... You're just tired. Forget it. My mind's made up. I'm going. So long, honey. Ben? Yeah. Be careful. Oh, Ben. You're back even sooner. The ship is ready. I know. I was just looking it over. Good. Here's the ignition key. Thanks. Now, come on over here to the map. I'll show you the route. And the 4th Federal Bank in Lawrence was held up today. The troopers have blocks out, but I'll call and warn them you're coming. All right, here we are. I don't have to tell you about Route 98. You can do that with your eyes shut. But here, here's some repair work outside of Fredericksburg. Take this detour here. Then 42 over the bridge past Iroquois, High Point Chester, and then on 73 into Westville. Think you got it? Yeah. Yeah, I can remember that. What about the insurance policy? I don't leave without... All right, all right. It's ready on my desk. Now, you understand it's just a binder on such short notice. But if anything happens, they'll honor it. That's the top company. And here, you can be signing all three copies while I call Chief Higgins. Ah, where do I put the John Hancock? Where it says insurance. Okay. Eddie, Jardine, my truck's leaving now. Any word from your roadblocks? Okay, but try not to interfere with my boy. He's carrying a couple of tons of dynamite. Good, I appreciate that, Eddie. There you are, Jardine. I'll sign $100,000 if I don't make it. You know, it might be worth it to slam that load into a ditch. There's nothing left of you. Yeah, but my wife and kid have been taken care of. They're the only reason I agreed to come back here for one more haul. Any what? Sure. All right, come on, I'll walk you out of the truck. You know, Ben, when you told me a month ago that you were through, I knew you'd be back. My driver's never quit for good. I promised my wife. No, we always promise our wives. Look at me. No right arm. I didn't quit till I got it blown off in the same crash that killed your brother. Yeah. Well, sooner I get going. Ben, I wouldn't go above 30 miles an hour. You won't be driving. No insurance company is going to pay for a suicide. Get off. Just take it easy. Thanks, Jardine. I'll make it okay. After tomorrow, you have my Joe ready. Don't worry. He'll be here. 335 miles to Westville and at only 30 of them an hour. I tried to relax, but you can't relax, not with a load like I was caught. Sure, there are safety precautions. Through that little window right behind my head, I'd seen that the cases of dynamite had been safely tied and were riding evenly on the foam rubber floor. But you can't relax, not with other drivers on the road, not with a chance that something can go wrong with a tire or a wheel or who knows what. The imperial diner looked good. At this time of night, the business was slow. With the window, I could see a young couple in one of the booths and a guy sitting there at the end of the counter. Well, well, Ben, you ain't been buying a while. I quit hauling this stuff three months ago. Yeah, but you're back. Yeah, just this once. Give me a coffee, regular, and one of those Danish. I'll be right back. I guess you heard about the holes up at the bank in Lawrence, eh? Yeah, my dispatcher mentioned something about it. Yeah, big ones. They're on the radio. One of the guards got killed, they got roadblocks set up. Haven't you been stopped yet? Yeah. Came to one of the roadblocks 20 miles back, but they waived me through. Eh? Oh, yeah, they would, with what you're hauling. Oh, excuse me. Sure. Hey, Mac, I wonder if you could help me out from the pans and what was in there? Well, do you happen to be carrying extra battery cables? Yeah. And a 12-kicker? Yeah. Good, mine's dead. We hook the cables from your kicker, I can get started. Once my motor's turning over, I'm OK. Why don't you ask that couple in the booth? I did, no cables. If I get started, I can make physics break. There's an all-night station there. Yeah, I know, but you don't want me. I'm not driving a car. It's a truck. And I'm hauling explosives. Oh, yeah? Two tons of it. Sorry. I don't want to spend the rest of the night here. Oh, don't worry. Somebody will come by. Well, so long, Jake. See ya. Hey, uh, just a minute, buddy. I thought I had ready. Yeah, I know. I know. Look, right over there, that's my crate. That's Jalopy. I'll settle for a push if you think I bump us in me, but the battery hook-up would be better. Can't help you. Look, just what you're gonna do. Let go of my arm. Buddy, you've got a rider. Please. I said you've got a rider. Son, huh? Okay. Okay, if you want a ride that bad, you've got it. But maybe you ought to change your mind. I'm hauling enough TNT to blow up half a mountain. One bad bumble. One sudden flat. Well, you never know what could set it off. Just a mistake is enough. Nobody's gonna crouch you on the road, huh? Everybody keeps clear of you, right? They got good reasons. Oh, sure they have. That's what I figured when I heard you talking to the counter guy. Come on, let's go. I get 125 bucks for driving this load, so you can see how safe it is. You should have waited for someone to start your car. But for a state patrol to come by, you can get blown up riding with me. Listen, I shot a guy at the bank in Lawrence today. I could get the chair for that. This would be easier. You? Yeah, me. 100,000 bucks right here in this little satchel. Easy, too. My buddies just walked right out of there and got lost in the crowd. Me. Me, I had the old Jalopy. Who thinks a guy on a land would use a Jalopy, huh? I got out of town before they even had a chance to set up any block. They're in the clear now. We get to Fredericksburg in about 15 minutes. I'll leave you off near the busty... Oh, no, you won't. What? You keep right on going. Come on, listen. You listen. We're going through Fredericksburg. The ants will form them and hide points of summits. Summits? You get that? There's a flight leave. I would have been almost there if the Jalopy hadn't broke down, but we'll make good time now, because nobody's been about the whole way. He sat there with his gun on him while I drove steadily. It was close to midnight now and there was no traffic, because we hit the outskirts of Fredericksburg around a sharp turn on the road. We came to another police roadblock. Watch it, buddy. I can start shooting just like that. Never mind. Keep going away from your droop. I'm running. Hey, officer! I'm running low on gas. There's a station open here all night, isn't there? You know, there is. What are you trying to pull? There is. We block straight on, Captain. This is thanks. I was wondering, say, you fellas don't have any protection if that load goes off, do you? Well, neither would you stand in there. Huh? Just not. What are you carrying? TNT, a couple of tons of it. That much? Oh, the fire up of the oil range, huh? Well, you're a good one to keep clear of. Well, you just go right ahead. Well, good night. Come on, get going. Good luck. That train leaves summer support this team over a hundred miles. Step on it. What? I said, fast. I've got a 30 mile an hour top. I'll double it. Listen, we hit a bump at that speed. Just don't hit no bump. I, I can't. I'll blow your brains off. Up ahead, they're fixing the road. So what? So what? It's a right turn into the deep floor. This speed will clip off. Let's keep going. They're going to miss that train. What's the deep floor? What about it? I've got to cut speed. I'm telling you what to do. We're too fast to make that turn. We ain't making it. We'll hit that barrier. We've got to stop. No. You want to crash the barrier? Great truth. But those kerosene parts, if there's a fire. I said, keep going. Now go on. Okay, we're in the clear now. That's what you think. These bumps, we ain't going to make it. We better make it. I'm warning you. I can't hold this wheel. We've got to pick up time. We're a long way from Summers. Iroquois is the next town. You can hop a freight there. Uh-uh. I get that plane and I'm over the border and in the clear. I'm sticking with you all the way. Take the freight train. It'll be better than this. It'll be safe. You drop me anywhere. The cops will know. You'll go straight to us. I'll give you time. I swear. Don't tell me no thanks. What? What then? I don't know. I can't take no chance on you. What? What do you mean? What are you saying? Hey, what are you stopping for? What? Get me that gun! Get me! Get me! Get me that gun! Get me that gun! Get me that gun! Get me that gun! Get me that gun! Stop! Stop! Shut my head. That's what I was. Oh, the kind of my heart. It's gone. It's ain't right. The plane. I shoot a bullet and all that TN food and there'll be nothing left, right? I'll get off of you, won't you? Look, buddy, it don't matter to me. I get blown up here. I get the share for murder. I get nothing to lose by blowing both of us up. I don't have no wife or kid I want to see. You're lousy. Which is it, buddy? You're going to roll this truck or do I fire a bullet into the dynamite? Please! I'm counting to three. One. Give me a break. Two. Oh, no, no, wait. Shut up. You going to drive? Yeah, yeah, okay. All right then, come on. Get going. Let's see if we check them out. I'll just step on it, buddy. Just step on it. I'll just step on it. I'll just step on it. I'll just step on it. I'll just step on it. I'll just step on it. Okay. One more of these. Next one That one's almost in the end of the refreshing. I've got it down to three. All right, period. So many things going on in there. I'm telling you, you'll adjust them. I'm telling you, I'm cutting to the other one. Just, get the weakest. To make up that large time now. Hunchword you think. There's a patrol car black on the road. I can't believe it. Where'd they come from? your stuff up. I'm warning you, go on. Come out of there, we'll have to blow up that truck. You see, if I don't figure this guy, I might say we'll, so get rolling hut. I got no choice. Go on. That cop got to stay on the cover. Keep going. You're sure? Come on, you're gonna make it. That's it, that's it. Now, dry. That ain't coming yet. One of them's left with the radio. Come on, Pat. That's it, buddy. Yeah. You watch speed, now you're gonna get it. They're coming. How many two miles to now? I can't put a weight on them. Why, they just lose them. Finally getting the idea. Where are I at? There's a town up ahead, just over the bridge, winding streets, a couple of hills, not easy like Fredericksburg. We'll never make it. And I ain't gonna see a lot of innocent people killed. If I can get clear of those cops, we're crashing. I'll lift them here. Oh, you'll listen. You've been playing with my life ever since you got on. Well, if it's just you and me, it won't matter now, when this blow's blown up. You got a wife, a kid, don't you want to say them? You know I do. But 100,000 bucks if I don't have this crap crashing. No, but slow down. You got to slow down. Okay, I told you. Hand me your gun. Give yourself up. I, I can't. I got the chair. I got a chance this way. Maybe we both got a chance. Why should I give you a break? You won't give me one. I will. I will. I swear. I'll let you go. You can't afford to. And the insurance company covers me if there's a crash of the explosion. Hey, you're nuts. Or it's smart. I'll put you half a mile and then the town. It's got to be schooled. Right behind us. You'll kill them both. I don't have time to pull ahead. I don't have time to pull ahead. This truck won't go any faster. 4,000 bucks at the time of my riding my tail. I didn't have a chance. None of us did. Not me or the killer of the cops. Up ahead around a couple more curbs would be the bridge. And then across the river, the town. If it had to be this way, then better all of us and a couple of hundred sleeping towns people. But how do you bring yourself to crash on purpose? When every instant you've always lived with has been to protect your own life on others. Now bring your load of dynamite in safely. I braced myself to swerve the wheel and send us into a rollover. I came around the final curb with the bridge a quarter of a mile ahead. And there blocking the whole road were three of the town's police cars. Stop. They'll pull those cars out of the way and I'll blow them up. They won't move. They can't. They've got to protect the town. You'll kill them too. Now I had to flip the truck over to set off the dynamite. It would be me and the killer and the cops behind us if I was lucky. The police waiting up ahead to be safe. The bridge over the river would be safe. The town beyond would be safe. I took a high grip on the steering wheel. And then I saw a dirt road forking off the highway and leading down to the bank of the river. I eased the wheel to the right and we started pumping over the dirt road. Our only team could stop. Stop. Let me out of the way. Up ahead was the bank of the river with some empty road roads pulled up. My foot had the gas pedal down on the floor as we rode out. The killer started clawing to get the door open. He reached the end of the road. Ten feet from the bank. I let go of the wheel. The last thing I remember was the water coming up fast and then we hit it. Several hours later when the doctor said I was okay to sit up. I got a crawl through to Kate. The troopers were still grappling the river for the killer's body. They got me out okay. Even found his satchel with all that money. I told Kate only that the trip was over for me and I didn't earn the 125 bucks after all. But the bank loop was safe so there was going to be a reward. I told Kate only to go back to sleep so nothing had happened. Nothing had happened. Well, she just started worrying. You've been listening to Dynamite Run by Peter Fernandez. Third in tonight's story where Mason Adams has been Larry Heath is super. Others included Elaine Ross, Bob Dryden, Phil Lipton, Herb Duncan, and James Bowles. Listen again next week when we return with a story by one of the most remarkable writers of this century. A story with a shattering moral. The classic The Country of the Blind by H. G. Wells. Another tale well calculated to keep you in.