Inside Out

105

The sound of boots thundering up the stairs brought Winter a surge of relief. “Police!” Chet Long yelled out from the stairwell. “Police officers-Massey?”

“It's all clear, Chet!” Winter called out.

“We need a doctor,” Sean said as the men in black stormed into the room, weapons raised. U.S. MARSHALS was stenciled on their chests and across their backs, and they carried riot guns and AR-15s.

Chet knelt beside Winter and asked, “How bad?”

“Through and through,” Winter replied, wincing as a sharp pain from the leg wound hit him. “One of them got away before the helicopter arrived. Five-foot-ten, fully armored like his partner there.”

“As soon as we can get a dog in here we'll search the woods and try and round him up. The Highway Patrol has River Road closed tight, so he ain't driving out.”

“Please,” Sean pleaded, indicating Sam Manelli, whom she was kneeling beside. “He's badly hurt.”

“Radio EMS we have four for immediate transport,” Chet ordered. “Tell the coroner he might want to bring a big truck because there's bodies scattered all over the place.”

Sean slipped a bullet-ruptured throw pillow under Sam's head.

Winter told Chet, “You get Hank from the boat shed?”

“He's probably on his way to the hospital by now,” Chet said as he pressed a towel against Winter's thigh to stop the bleeding. “Clue me in, Winter. At first blush it looks like the guy out on the deck and gal in the hall killed Sam's men with those H and Ks, then came up after… who-Sam and Russo?”

“Far as I know.”

“Who the hell do you think sent them?”

Sirens announced the arrival of patrol cars. Blue strobe lights reflected in the outside windows.

“I'm not sure,” Winter lied easily. There was no way he was going to repay Chet for saving his and Sean's lives by involving him in the other side of this mess. Winter figured that the woman cutout he'd killed might be the hitter from Richmond that missed Sean there. “Do me a favor and bag her SOCOM for ballistics.”

Chet glanced at Sean, who was holding Sam's hand. “Weren't we supposed to be rescuing her from him?”

An EMS crew arrived, and as Sam was being lifted onto the cot, he looked down at Winter and winked.

A pair of EMT techs rolled a gurney containing Russo from the room.

Winter nodded.

“Who shot the man out on the porch?” Chet asked.

“I did,” Sam said. “I went down kicking ass. If you don't remember anything else, you remember that.” He grimaced in pain. “Somebody, get this gal away from me.” He released Sean's hand and closed his eyes.

“Let's move him to the wagon,” the EMS tech said.

Sean's eyes filled with tears as she stood and watched her father being rushed down the hall. She knelt beside Winter and took his hand.

“Are you all right?” Winter asked her.

She shook her head slowly. “I'm not sure what all right is.”

“Let's get you out of here,” an EMS who had been wrapping Winter's leg said. Two men lifted him onto a stretcher and carried him out. Sean followed. As the crew took Winter from the house toward an ambulance, they passed by another. Inside, one technician was writing something down while another gave Sam Manelli CPR. Despite the chest-pumping charade, it was obvious there was no longer any reason to rush the gangster anywhere.

Chet stuck his head into the ambulance Winter and Sean had just entered. “Hey, Winter, the other guy's making a run for it. He fired on the helicopter. I doubt his armor is going to be very effective against the M-60.”

“He in a black Suburban?”

“How'd you know that?”

“Lucky guess.”

“Hold up,” Chet told the ambulance crew. He had his phone to his ear, listening. “He's on River Road heading west,” Chet told Winter. “The units east of here are joining the pursuit. Okay, he's heading for the roadblock. Wait… he left River Road and he's heading up the levee.”

“He gets in the river, you'll lose him, Chet,” Winter said. “Tell them to stop him.”

“Okay, Bird One,” Chet said into the microphone. “You are authorized to use lethal force to stop that Suburban.”

Seconds later, the cloudbase in the western sky suddenly took on a muted orange tint. “That's all, folks,” Chet said.