Near Miss

Chapter 53

Ed Rawls put on an apron and started grilling three three-inch porterhouse steaks, and the evening became convivial. Dino manned the bar.

In the middle of somebody’s long story, Carly raised a hand. Nobody paid attention to her.

“Hello?” she said plaintively. “Does anybody here smoke?”

Ed stopped talking and sniffed the air. “Everybody duck!” he yelled and led the way.

Glass began to break, and everybody ducked.

“There’s more of them out there,” Ed said. “My fault. I intended to leave everybody dead.”

“Uzis,” Dino said.

“Thank God for that,” Ed replied, his cheek pressed to the floor. “Nobody move a hair! Complete silence!”

Carly crept across the floor on her belly toward the rear door.

“Goddammit!” Ed whispered. “I told you to be still!”

“I’ll be still when there’s a rifle in my hands,” Carly whispered back and kept her course. She snagged a rifle and a magazine and rammed it home. “All set.”

There was a small sound from the front deck, and a row of Uzi holes appeared in the door. Carly put four rounds through that door, then there was the sound of a falling body. “One down,” she said. “Anybody joining me?”

“Hold it!” Ed said, then crawled to a front window and looked through a lower corner pane. “Carly, pass out weapons.”

“Pass ’em out yourself,” she replied. “I’m still working on your first order.”

Ed crawled over to the front door, cursing under his breath. He started throwing rifles around the room, followed by magazines.

“Front door,” Stone said, then put a burst in that direction.

“Two down,” Carly said.

“It’s four down, if you count the first two.”

There was a shout from the direction of the dock, and feet could be heard pounding it. A moment later an outboard motor revved, and its sound began to fade.

Ed stopped and listened. “Gone,” he said, finally.

“If you’re that sure,” Dino said, “stand up and look around.”

Ed did so. “Everybody check the nearest window, but carefully,” he ordered.

Somewhat reluctantly, the others stood.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, then walked out the rear door.

“I’m not moving until he doesn’t get shot,” Carly said.

“I’m right behind you,” Dino said.

Ed Rawls burst through the back door, causing everybody to duck again.

“All clear,” he said, “and good news, they took the bodies with them, so there’s no cleaning up, except the glass. Plus, I remembered to pull the hood down on the steaks, so they should be glass-free.”