Home Invasion - J. A. Johnstone [56]
She held up a hand to stop the advancing trio. “That’s far enough,” she said.
“You can’t stop us, Chief,” the blonde said. “This is public property and a public gathering.”
“Actually, it’s not,” Alex shot back. “This stadium belongs to the school district.”
“Which is financed by taxes, which makes it public property.”
“You don’t pay school taxes here,” Alex pointed out. “Anyway, people are praying up there, and it’s just common courtesy not to bother them.”
The blonde shook her head stubbornly. “We have a right to cover this event … especially since it sounds like whoever is speaking is inciting these people to riot.”
Alex turned her head to listen to the words coming from the portable PA system. The minister was saying, “—smite down the evildoers, Lord, and show them the error of their unholy ways.”
“He’s not inciting anything,” she told the reporter. “He’s praying, that’s all.”
“It’s a call for violence against immigrants,” the blonde insisted. “Anyone can see that. That so-called man of God is telling his redneck followers to ignore the verdict fairly delivered by our legal system and seek vengeance on Emilio Navarre.”
Alex could only stare at her in disbelief. “You’re crazy,” she finally said. “How do you get that out of a prayer?”
The reporter’s chin jutted out contemptuously. “I know what I hear with my own ears, Chief. Are you sure you want to go on record as supporting a plea for vigilante injustice?”
Alex felt like tearing her hair out in frustration. How could you talk sense to these people? To them, day was night, up was down, and the sky was the color they said it was. They screamed about other people’s intolerance and bigotry and had no clue about their own.
Several other news crews had come up behind the blonde. They wanted to crowd up the ramp, and Alex’s presence was the only thing keeping them from doing so. She felt a little overwhelmed, but she stood strong. If they were going to disrupt this prayer rally, they would have to trample over her to do so.
And she wasn’t going to let that happen. She put her hand on the butt of her pistol and said, “All of you clear out now, or I’m going to arrest every one of you for trespassing and disturbing the peace.”
The blonde smirked. “The courts will never let you get away with an unconstitutional action like that.”
“Maybe not, but you’ll spend some time in our holding cells anyway. And with this big a crowd, it won’t be a very pleasant experience for you.” Alex couldn’t resist adding, “You might even get your hair mussed.”
The standoff stretched out for a moment. Alex had no idea how it was going to end, but she had a hunch that it wouldn’t be good.
It was even worse than she expected, as the sudden roar of a shotgun filled the night.
CHAPTER 25
At the sound of the shot, the blonde screamed and jumped. Clearly she had never done any reporting from a war zone.
Alex reacted instantly, too, but not in panic. She drew her weapon, shouted, “Everybody on the ground!” and started looking for the shooter.
The coiffed and manicured on-air talent all scurried for cover. The cameramen and technicians conducted themselves in a more professional manner, crouching in hopes of avoiding any flying bullets, but continuing to tape what was going on around them.
Alex rushed past them. The shotgun boomed again, and she could tell that the sound came from the small parking lot in front of the stadium, next to the ticket booth, the athletic director’s office, and the field house. That was where the line of satellite trucks had come to a halt.
Alex saw that the dishes on top of the first two trucks had been blasted by buckshot and heavily damaged. The man holding the shotgun pumped another shell into the chamber and took aim at the dish on top of the third truck. Alex didn’t recognize him from the back. All she could tell was that he wore blue jeans, a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and a gimme cap.
Before he could pull the shotgun’s trigger for the third time, she shouted, “Hold it! Drop that gun! Get on