She started to get up.
The man kicked her. “Stay down.”
She sank back to the dirt, sniffling.
The man stared over at Robie from a distance of ten feet.
“Drop the gun.”
Robie did so.
“I think you got other weapons.”
“Maybe I do.”
The man pointed his weapon at Robie. “You don’t look so tough now.”
“Neither do the two guys I already dealt with. You’ll need to hire more.”
“Not a problem. The position pays well. So should I kill her first or you?”
“What?” wailed Sara. “You said you’d let me go if he gave himself up.”
“I was lying, you stupid piece of shit. You think I’m gonna kill him and leave you to tell everyone? Jesus, get a freakin’ brain, willya? I’ll be doing the gene pool a favor getting rid of you.”
“Omigod, omigod,” whimpered Sara.
Robie could see she was just about to go into hysterics, which meant he would kill her first. He slid the knife into place. Ten feet, not a problem. Aim for the neck, move to his left, pull his backup.
“Bye-bye, Sara, baby,” said the man. He aimed his pistol at her head.
She shrieked and covered her head with her hands, as if that would matter.
Robie pulled his knife, took aim…
The sound of the shot shattered the night.
The man holding the gun on Sara stood there for a moment, not quite realizing what had just happened.
Which was that he had just died.
He dropped first to his knees, then to his hands, and finally onto his face, what was left of it.
Sara screamed and rolled away.
Robie slid to the side and pulled his backup Glock.
Shots erupted from all over.
Bullets whizzed and zinged overhead and more than occasionally smacked into trees. Bark flew off in jagged chunks, birds scattered from trees, small animals scurried away in the darkness as man, the world’s most dangerous predator, got down to battle.
They were pistol shots, Robie could tell.
Mostly pistol shots.
But some weren’t.
Some were high-powered rifle shots. The one that had killed the guy certainly was. And every time he heard it fire a moment later he heard a man grunt. And then he heard a body hit the dirt.
Robie raced over to Sara, grabbed her by the arm, and flung her behind a stand of trees.
He took up position behind an oak and peered around the trunk, trying to take in the details of the battlefield.
A shot hit close to his head. He slid to the other side of the trunk and fired back at the spot from where the shot had come.
The firefight went on for another five minutes. Robie had used up both pistols’ original ammo and eaten into one of his backups. He had killed one more guy for a total of three, and the rifle, he thought, had equaled that.
Then there were no more shots.
Only running feet. Bad guys were in retreat, leaving the dead behind.
Once they had disappeared, Robie surveyed what had become a battlefield complete with the requisite corpses.
“Omigod, omigod,” whimpered Sara. She was still on the ground, curled into a little ball. “I could have died.”
Robie looked at her in disgust. “You had no problem helping those guys come here to kill me!”
She didn’t answer. She just kept on whimpering.
He whirled when he heard the sound. Two feet smacking dirt, as though someone had leapt from a tree.
“Don’t shoot, I give up,” said the voice.
A voice Robie instantly recognized.
He holstered his gun and peered around the tree.
Jessica Reel was standing there, her rifle over her shoulder.
She said, “I leave the country for five minutes, and you get yourself in so much trouble I have to come here and save your ass?”
Chapter
37
Reel strode forward.
“Jessica, what the hell are you doing here?” Robie exclaimed.
“Blue Man called me back from assignment. Sent a jet to bring me directly here. Said you needed some backup over a family matter. Since I could easily relate to that, here I am.”
“When did you get here?’
“Early this morning. I picked up your trail at the house where you’re staying. Been following you ever since.”
“I didn’t see you.”
She cracked a smile. “Would you expect to?”
“But why didn’t you tell me you were here?”
“Blue Man told me to cover your six. Showing myself might have made that difficult. But with what happened tonight, I had no choice.”
“Well, it would’ve gotten a little hairy without you here.”
“Hey! Could you guys catch up later?”
They looked down at Sara, who was still crouched on the ground. There was a small pool of sick next to her where she’d thrown up.
“I’m bleedin’, okay?” she snapped. “I need medical attention. Now!”
Reel said, “I don’t know, Robie. She was going to let these guys kill you for some quick cash. What say we just pop her right now and leave her for the gators? I saw one on the riverbank over there. Big sucker. Probably swallow her whole.”
Sara stood and backed up against the tree. “You…you can’t do that.”
“Why not?” said Reel. “You were going to help murder my friend here. Why should you get to live?” She looked over at the body of the man who had held the gun on Sara. “He didn’t.”
“But I’m just a kid,” whined Sara.
“No, you’re an adult. You made choices. Really shitty ones.” She looked at Robie. “What do you say? One right between the eyes, like her buddy over there.”
Sara dropped to her knees again. “Omigod, omigod.”
“As much as I like the idea, I think we just need to call it in,” said Robie, hiding his smile.
Sara looked up. “So you’re not going to kill me?”
Reel said, “He’s not. I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
Sara collapsed flat to the ground. “Omigod, omigod!”
In a low voice Reel said, “Shit, I’d like to shoot her just to shut her up.”
Taggert showed up a half hour later. She was not in uniform and her hair was full of cowlicks, but she had her gun out. When she reached the clearing and saw them, she said, “What in the hell is goin’ on, Robie?”
Before he could answer she saw the dead body. “Holy shit! Who’s he?”
“He’s the dead guy,” replied Reel. “At least one of them.”
Taggert scowled and said, “And who are you?”
Robie answered. “She’s a friend of mine who came to my aid. Without her Sara and I would be dead.”
Sara pointed at Reel and cried out, “That bitch said she was goin’ to kill me.”
Taggert looked from Reel to Sara and then back at Reel.
Reel said, “She lured Robie here so these guys could kill him.”
“Did not!” screamed Sara. “He…he arranged to meet me here for sex. He was payin’ me for it! The sick bastard.”
“Then exactly how do you explain the dead guy?” said Reel.
“He…he was here to rob us,” said Sara lamely. “While we were doin’ it. Scared me to death. I was all naked and all.”
“So if we examine you, we’ll find traces of…Robie here on your body?” asked Taggert.
Sara looked doubtful. “Um, well we hadn’t gotten to that part yet. We were just kissin’.”
“But you just said you were doin’ it and you were all naked when this guy came to rob you in his suit and tie in the middle of the woods,” Taggert pointed out.
“Oh, right, well, I mean—”
Taggert had obviously had enough. “Just sit your butt on the dirt and shut the hell up,” she barked. “Before I arrest you for obstruction of justice and wastin’ police time. But mostly for bein’ a dumb shit.”