Armstrong and Moore were led alongside the parking lot in front of this wing of the inn. “Everybody here?” he yelled to his two men. One brandished a rifle and laughing, and the other a handgun. They counted heads and carried pictures.
Christ, thought Armstrong, they seem to know everything about us. It must be that weasel lawyer. Damn, how did I underestimate him?
Mac then addressed the group. “Listen up! Each one of you is going to be taken back to Squad territory. You’re wanted for multiple felony counts including murder. We’re going to process you out of here, two at a time.”
As Mac was making his speech, Armstrong assessed the situation. Only three of them? They do know who we are. That’s obvious. If it were me, I’d have at least three men on the roof with rifles trained on us. But there’s no one but them. Foote saw me and shook his head as if to confirm there were no snipers. Mac seems to be a legitimate leader but the young lad with the rifle is scared. Oh, sure, I saw him laughing at the sight of us—scared, angry, and confused—but he’s scared too. Look at that right leg shake. He keeps moving around so no one will notice, but that’s nothing that’d be lost on my sharpies, as well as Ray and Cass. He’s the weakling of the squadron.
Mac called for Eugene and Pamela. The guy with the handgun got careless as he put the gun in his belt and whipped out plastic cuffs.
Christ, I wished I still had my Berretta on me, thought Armstrong.
Eugene started walking toward Mac. Christ, he has steely confidence.
Just then, with unexpected suddenness, Eugene Sulke whipped a Berretta from behind and fired at Mac’s midsection, and before the other guy could get his gun out of his belt, Eugene shot him as well. Junior froze, not knowing what to do. It gave Eugene a chance to run. He ran around the corner of the motel. Junior got off a shot, but missed. Jesus Christ, thought Chad. Has Eugene been hanging around us too much? He figured out everything. It was beautiful. He must have heard the commotion, and put the gun behind him. He assessed the situation better than me. He knew he was only about twenty feet from the corner of the motel. Enough time to get away. But there’s work to do. The second guy was only winged.
Mac was on his knees with gun in hand. He tried to turn around and return fire, but twisting around was impossible. Pain shot through his whole body. His heart began racing, his skin turned pale, and his face became contorted with the pain. He began sweating profusely. “Get that fucker.” Mac’s voice was stressed and gravelly. The wounded man chased after Eugene. That left junior and a badly wounded Mac to cover the group—five of them Blues.
Come on, Mac. Hurry up and die, will ya? With Mac gone, Junior will panic. One of the Blues will get him. Look at Junior. He doesn’t know what to do. He’s about to shit his pants, but that makes him dangerous too. Inexperienced people will start shooting at anybody when they get scared enough.
Mac just glared at everyone. He tried to look commanding, if for no other reason than to reassure the kid. He knew he needed him to calm down. He called out to him. “Keep that rifle trained on ‘em, Bernie. If anyone so much as moves, shoot ‘em.” But Mac couldn’t fool any Blue. The kid’s eyes were shooting out of his head.
Then Armstrong felt someone poke his back. He noticed Ray and Cassandra were out of his sight. They probably have a plan. Look at Wrenn over there, with the smirk on his face. He knows what’s going on. Ray and Cass will need cover. Will he provide it?
Junior kept waving the rifle around. Mac just stared forward, breathing ever more rapidly. Ray kicked him in the back. Mac moaned something.
“All right, I’m coming,” yelled Wrenn.
Junior fell for the ruse.
Wrenn came up to Mac, who looked surprised at seeing him. Wrenn just stood there, looking scared. Junior’s vision of his boss was blocked. Cass reached over his left shoulder with two hands locked together by thumbs. With palms down, she came down hard on the gun, pushing it down to the ground. She made sure the barrel didn’t point up. At the same time, Ray put a shoelace around Mac’s neck, jerking it up and back with quick ferocity. Mac let out a slight groan and a whimper. Junior never picked up on it.
Cassandra wrenched the gun out of the dying Mac’s hand. Mac fought well, but quickly gave up the struggle and slumped back. Cassandra quickly aimed the gun at Junior and fired. Whether Junior woke up to the danger just in time or fired in reaction to being hit is uncertain, but he fired the rifle, and Pamela collapsed to the ground. Cassandra fired a second time and Junior was down.
Armstrong jumped into action. “Ray, Cass—get your weapons and go after the wounded guy. Go in the same direction Gene went. Wrenn, Foote—do the same, but go toward the office.” They moved quickly. “The rest of you—wait. Who’s missing?”
“Hayfield,” Moore said. “He followed Gene and the wounded man.”
“Christ, what the hell is he thinking? Never mind. The rest of you go with Moore. I want all of you together in his room.” Then he gave Moore the piece that Cassandra got from Mac. “Know how to use this?” Moore just stared at it. “The safety is off. All you have to do is aim and pull the trigger. Do not touch the trigger when you aren’t prepared to shoot. Keep your finger on the trigger guard, like this.” Armstrong showed him how to handle the gun. Moore indicated he understood and went with the rest to the room.
Sandy stood over Pamela’s body, crying hysterically. “Sandy,” Chad said. “She’s dead.”
Sandy just stared up at Chad. “We can’t just leave her here like this. Please, Chad, help me get her in my car. I don’t want her to die right here in this place; like this. She’ll be pronounced dead in New America. She can be with her brothers as she always wanted.”
Chad obliged, and then got Sandy in Moore’s room. Then he headed toward his own room to get his piece.
Eugene Sulke ran around the corner looking for a place to hide. The wounded man got the drop on him. Eugene froze. “That’s it, punk. Set your handgun down on the ground and come over here.”
Just then Horace Hayfield leaped on the wounded man’s back and grabbed his gun hand. Eugene picked his weapon back up, but couldn’t fire for fear of hitting Hayfield. He ran over and tried to wrestle the gun away from the man when the gun went off. Hayfield slumped to the floor and the wounded man now pushed Eugene back and took dead aim. Then another shot rang out. The stunned man whirled around only to be shot again. It was Ray.
Chapter 27:
Attacked
Armstrong got the group assembled again. The next stop would be New America. Armstrong would lead the way. He would be followed by his two sharpshooters, Wrenn and Foote; and then came Sandy, with Pamela’s body in the back seat. Eugene would follow her, driving Pamela’s car. Moore was followed by Ray and Cassandra.
It was two hours earlier than planned, but still well after dark. They drove for the Highland barricade. There, they would shoot the guards, break the fence they assumed was padlocked, and drive to freedom. When they got there, however, they found the fence heavily fortified. Armstrong just made a right-hand turn at the fence, so as not to raise suspicions, and headed back toward the Lazy Tourist. The group pulled over to assess their situation.
“Christ, it’s like they know everything about our plan,” Ray said.
“Could, dare I say, one of us be a spy?” Cassandra asked.