Out of the Black - Lee Doty [83]
Hawthorne went for her pistol. She was quick, but not as quick as Mendez- not as quick as the cast-man, either. As her gun cleared her shoulder holster, his hand twitched toward her, fingers flicking. Another torrent of power leapt through him and Hawthorne's pistol jerked back and cracked painfully against her temple, dragging her arm with it. Anne could see her strain to pull the pistol away, strain to move her head out of the way, but, like Anne, she was caught.
Though Anne wouldn't have guessed it were possible, the cast-man's grin became more disturbing. He began to speak hewthorne.
"Ssssssssssaaaaaaayyy ggggggooooodd..."
No! She was quick enough. She had time. She struggled against the river of fury that was pushing her through the wall. No use, she couldn't get any leverage against it, couldn't...
Through the wall! She began to use the force of the river to help her attack the wall behind her. Her foot drove through to the next room, her elbow shattered one of the synthetic wood studs. Ouch. Her other foot drove through and her body began to slip through the hole in the wall, feet first.
This was too slow. She would never get through the wall and around to the door before the cast-man had pulled the trigger on Hawthorne's gun. She hoped he was going for a complex sentence, but he didn't look like the wordy type. Then she could no longer see either of them as she turned her full attention to the wall that was now passing her waist.
"ddddbbbbbbbyyyyyyee."
The sound of the shot struck Anne like a blow. She fought harder; denial replacing the fragile hope the shot had killed. The second then third shot reached her in close succession. The river that was now aiding her through the wall abruptly stopped. Caught off-guard and mind on other things, she teetered forward. Her hands went out to keep her head from hitting the floor. She wondered who was in the room next door, wondered what they thought of the two hefty legs protruding up into their room at waist level. She was glad she wasn't wearing a skirt.
Obviously the cast-man had discovered her little ploy and was compensating. Now she was going to have to compensate too, of course she didn't yet know how. Being stuck upside down and wedged in a wall wasn't the best starting point for any plan. She pushed with her arms, pedaled her feet, but didn't make much progress. This would be funny if she wasn't about to die.
"Ggggggooooooooodddddddbye!" Mendez said as the slow motion of her combat fugue came to an end.
She pressed up on the floor and craned her neck to get a look. Hawthorne held her gun at full extension, pointing it as far from her head as possible. She gasped desperately, left hand on her face. Mendez was on the floor, propped on one elbow, still holding his gun toward the remains of the cast-man, not satisfied that he was dead. He fired into the corpse twice more... yep, not satisfied at all. Then he slumped onto his back, the gun hitting the floor as his arm relaxed. He sighed heavily.
"When will they learn that... evil bravado never pays?" He croaked.
Hawthorne snapped somewhat to her senses and rushed to her fallen partner. She knelt beside him, examining the two ragged holes in his torso. "Well, at least we're in a hospital." She gave him a reassuring grin.
"Maybe after you get the doctors you could give me a little help?" Anne said, still upside down. With no leverage, she was hopelessly stuck in the wall. One of the broken studs shifted and she slid down through the crumbling sheet rock, wedging tighter.
***
Rae was through being strong. There's only a certain amount of bravado and denial that anyone is capable of, and she was far past her limit. She sat in Roy's living room, holding her man, looking through the panoramic windows, across the choppy lake, and into a gathering storm. She trembled, bones seeming to knock together. She'd like to be