👉 Previous Decision: You chose to immediately hand the reel over to FBI Agent Gable at the regional field office.
Fearing for Lily’s safety and his own, Arthur immediately drove to the regional FBI field office, the precious reel-to-reel tape clutched in his hand. Agent Marcus Gable, initially surprised, took the tape without much fanfare.
“Good choice, kid,” Gable said, his voice flat. He took the tape into a back office, the door clicking shut behind him.
Arthur waited, Lily asleep in his lap, the fluorescent lights buzzing overhead. Twenty minutes later, Gable emerged, a neutral expression on his face.
“The tape was completely blank, Pendelton,” Gable stated, holding the empty reel. “Accidental magnetic exposure, probably. Happens with old equipment.”
Arthur stared at him, bewildered. “Blank? But… I just listened to it.”
Gable shrugged. “Technology can be fickle. Thanks for coming in. We’ll be in touch.” He gave Arthur a dismissive nod.
Arthur walked out of the office, his head spinning. He couldn’t believe it. Blank?
As he reached his battered car, Uncle Silas’s beat-up pickup truck pulled into the parking lot. Silas stepped out, a grim look on his face. “Come on, Arthur. We’re going home.”
Arthur and Lily were driven back to the farm. A few days later, Arthur watched from the porch as Silas quietly sold all of Arthur’s studio equipment – the TEAC deck, the oscilloscopes, the mixing board – to Harlan O’Rourke. For scrap metal, Silas claimed. The pirate station, “The Shadow Tape,” was silent forever.
Arthur never discovered who truly recorded the tape or what happened to Julian Finch. The official newspaper reports later stated that the missing military wives had died in an accidental wartime chemical leak, a tragedy quickly forgotten amidst the headlines of Vietnam.
➡️ Read CHAPTER 19 to continue the story
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