Home Invasion - J. A. Johnstone [95]
Which exploded in a huge ball of fire as the surface-to-air missile struck it.
Cochrum stared openmouthed and uncomprehending at the destruction as bits of flaming wreckage began to rain down. He could have been on there, he thought. Mere moments earlier he had been cursing the pilot for leaving him behind.
The realization that he had narrowly escaped death sunk in on him, and so did the need to do something. He grabbed the arms of his two companions and shoved them toward the school.
“Run!” he urged them. “We gotta get out of here!”
“What is it?” the blonde cried. “What’s going on? Who are those people?”
“I don’t know,” Cochrum said, “but I got a bad feeling that they’re gonna be coming after us next.”
CHAPTER 39
Jack Bonner’s mother liked to say that he could sleep through an earthquake, but that wasn’t strictly true. Yeah, he was a sound sleeper, but some things would wake him up, especially if they went on long enough.
He didn’t know how long somebody had been pounding on the front door of his house, but the racket finally dragged him out of bed.
A glance at the clock told him it was a little after eight o’clock. On a Sunday morning, yet. His mom should be here. Why wasn’t she answering the door?
With a vague stirring of unease inside him, Jack stumbled through the house wearing only his boxers. “Mom?” he called. “Mom, are you here?”
No answer. Well, she was a cop, after all, Jack told himself. She probably had to leave to take care of some sort of trouble.
He jerked the front door open and said, “Yeah, what—”
The words choked in his throat as he saw Jimmy Clifton standing there, with his bike lying on its side in the front yard. Jack had known Jimmy for what seemed like his whole life, and he liked the dispatcher.
Now Jimmy looked scared, really scared, and suddenly Jack was scared, too.
“What is it, Jimmy? Did something happen to my mom?”
“The chief’s not… here?” Jimmy asked.
“No, I don’t think so. I just got up, and I called to her, but she didn’t answer.”
Jimmy put his hands to his head. “I gotta find … the chief. Somethin’ bad is … happening.”
Jack wasn’t the least bit sleepy anymore. “What is it, Jimmy? What did you see?”
“Men with guns … goin’ into the police station.”
Jack’s first thought was that the Federal Protective Service had come back to town for some reason. “Like the ones who were here before?”
Jimmy shook his head. “No, they weren’t … soldiers. They looked more like bad guys. And then … and then …”
“And then what? You can tell me, Jimmy.”
“There was a bunch of … shooting.”
Alarm surged through Jack. “From the police station?”
“Nuh-uh. From downtown somewhere. And then I saw … a whirlybird … blow up.”
“A whirlybird? You mean a helicopter?”
“Yeah.”
“It blew up while it was in the air?” Jack had a hard time believing that, but Jimmy looked and sounded absolutely sincere.
“Yeah. I think somebody musta … shot it down.”
Now that was just crazy, Jack thought. All this crap couldn’t really be happening. Not in Home. Not on a Sunday morning.
Tears rolled down Jimmy’s cheeks. “I’m really scared, Jack,” he said. “I don’t know what to do. I’m s’posed to be … at work, but I’m scared to … go in the police station. I want the chief … to tell me what to do.”
“She’s not here, but I’ll tell you what.” Jack made up his mind. “Let me put some clothes on, and you and me’ll go down to the station together. How about that?”
“O-Okay. I guess. I hope Eloise is all right.”
So did Jack, but he was more worried about his mom. If some sort of gun battle had broken out downtown, the chances were that she would be right in the middle of it.
He pulled on blue jeans and a T-shirt, shoved his feet in some running shoes. “We’ll take my car,” he told Jimmy.
They were just about to pull out of the driveway when Rowdy’s pickup screeched to a halt in front of the house. Rowdy beckoned to them from behind the wheel.
“Come on!” he called through