Dead Aim

CHAPTER 33

Spangler lay on the hardwood floor of the lodge, his eyes and mouth open in a pantomime of amazement. The blood now pooled from above his shoulders to his ankles, still spreading like a cape. After the third or fourth shot had screamed through the wall, somebody had turned the light off, but Emily could still see him. She sat on the floor, her back to the front wall and her shoulder edged against the couch so the bullets weren’t likely to plow the length of it and reach her. She was shaking, and when she turned her head she could feel bits of broken glass falling from her hair.

Emily could not stop looking over at Spangler. From here she could stare past him out the window, but then her eyes would flick downward, because something about the darkness or her terror had made her think she had seen him move. He had not moved. She had been on a lot of hunts now, and she should have known right away that Paul was dead, without anyone telling her. The first bullet had taken him.

At the sound of the first couple of shots, people had jumped. A few had even drawn guns. After a few moments, Paul Spangler had crawled to the window and looked out. Parish had handed Spangler a rifle and said, “Paul, see if you can spot him. Everyone else, get ready to go outside.”

At first, she had thought she’d heard the snap of the shade rolling up and hitting the window. It had been the sound of the single bullet popping the glass. Then there had been the distant pow of the shot. In the sudden silence, Emily had turned and looked at Spangler. The bullet had hit him in the chest. The blood that leaked out on the floor was bright red, like paint. It was coming out so fast. Couldn’t somebody stop it? How could they leave him lying alone on his back like that? She pointed, and called to Debbie, to Parish, to Mary, “Help him! He’s been shot!”

Mary was crawling along the wall toward the other end of the building, but she stopped and frowned in Emily’s direction. “He’s dead, honey. Don’t you see that?” Then she moved on.

A moment later, the shots had begun again, and she’d realized that Mary had taken cover because she must have known they were coming. When the next one simply popped through the wall, Emily at first thought she must be misinterpreting the sight and sound-that something else was happening. But somebody was out there with a rifle, and these flimsy wooden walls stopped nothing.

Tonight was partly her fault. She knew this debacle had been caused by her self-indulgence and lack of discipline on the day she had gone out with David Altberg to kill Mallon. She should have fought him for Altberg’s gun, and killed him on the spot. Even if she had not done that, she should have insisted on killing Mallon that night. She stared at Spangler’s ruined body and began to be angry at Parish. How could he have been so wrong? There was absolutely no excuse for picking a target and arranging a hunt and then having the target start shooting the staff. It was ridiculous. She had begun to compose what she was going to say to Parish.

Two more rounds had pounded through the wooden wall. She knew that one hit the couch she was hiding behind, because she felt the vibration where her right arm touched it. This building was no protection: it was a sham, a picture of what safety was supposed to look like. Parish was responsible for that, too.

She looked around for him. Then the shots started again. Each time she heard the bullet punch through the wooden wall and slam into the floor, or hit a metal fixture and ricochet crazily into another wall, she jumped, and remained stiff and trembling. She knew reacting was ridiculous: before her nerves could make her muscles contract, before her brain even received the message that there was a shot, the bullet had already burrowed into something, and the danger was over.

She saw Parish walk past poor Paul Spangler without even looking at him. Next he crouched facing the wall, craning his neck, moving his head one way or another. He was trying to see through a bullet hole in the wall. After a moment he gave up and slowly moved to place his right eye in the lower left corner of the window where Paul had been shot. Two more rounds punctured the wall to Parish’s right. He turned and stayed low as he moved away, but there was the beginning of a smile on his lips. He stopped at the far end of the room and sat down on one of the hard chairs.

“I’ve picked out the location,” Parish announced. Emily looked around to see the reaction of the others, but the only one she could see was Mary. “He’s up on the hill about halfway, at the edge of the trees. I finally saw the flashes when he fired the last two rounds.”

“ ‘He’? You mean this is only one person?” Mary asked. “I thought it was the police or something.”

Parish shook his head. “No, this is just Mr. Mallon.” He looked at Mary and Emily, his expression now confident. “This should hardly be shocking to you. That is not a deer out there. It’s a man. He thinks, he learns, and he fights. Now we’re past deciding whether or not to hunt him. He knows where we are, and who we are, and how to get to us. We have to kill him, or we’ll be destroyed too. Do you both understand what I’ve said?”

Emily could see Mary’s eye turn to watch her in the dim light, but neither woman spoke.

“Good,” said Parish. “Now we’ve got to go after him. As I said, the muzzle flashes came from halfway up the first hill, at the edge of the woods. The way to get him is to use our superior numbers and firepower. Arm yourselves immediately with every weapon you have, and all the ammunition you can carry. If you have dark clothing you’re not wearing, put it on. You have two minutes.”

Emily hesitated for a moment, then judged that obeying Michael was better than crouching behind the couch. It was the way out, into the darkness and the woods. She had carried a large purse that was like a backpack, and she had a Glock nine-millimeter pistol inside. She crawled to the table where she had left it, took out her pistol, and put it on the floor beside her while she slipped on the black sweater she had brought from her cabin, then picked it up again. She felt so much better with the gun in her hand that she stood up.

Parish said, “I have here some containers of camouflage makeup. Don’t try to make a pattern. That’s for daytime. Smear some on your face, neck, the backs of your hands-anything that’s exposed. Any amount is better than none, and the more the better.”

When Mary handed the flat can to her, Emily took a gob of it on her fingertips. As she rubbed it on her forehead, cheeks, and neck, she whispered, “Paul is dead. Where did Debbie and Ron go?”

Mary shrugged, but said nothing.

“Time’s up,” said Parish. “I’m going outside. The first thing I will do is cut the power to the whole ranch. That will be your signal to leave here. You know where he is, so try to stay out of his line of fire, and move quickly. He will fire his weapon. When he does, we’ll use the flash to locate him and return his fire: all three of us at once. When you have fired, advance to the next protected spot and wait for your next chance. When he fires again, do the same, and move closer. Keep it up until he’s dead. Do I need to repeat anything?”

There was no answer, so he said, “It will work if you keep your heads. See you later.” Then he slipped out the front door.

Emily looked down at her watch and began to time Michael’s progress. It had been thirty seconds, then a minute, two minutes. She looked away and tried to see the expression on Mary’s face, and once again had the same feeling she’d had many times in her life. She was alone and apart, the only one who didn’t really believe, the only one who had doubts and subversive thoughts. She could not see Mary’s face, but she could read her posture. She was waiting eagerly for his signal, tense with the worry not that he might be wrong but that she might disappoint him. She might not move fast enough, or be smart enough, or something.

The lights went out, Mary swung the door open and disappeared, but Emily hung back. Maybe if they were out there stalking Mallon, then the safest place to be was right here. There was the sudden crack of a rifle, some wood chips in the air, and Emily hurried out into the night.