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By Root 520 0

to where the radio would be if she was in her patrol car. She cursed when she realized that there was no way to call for backup. At first she thought that someone was trying to break Keller and Puryear out. When the man began to raise the gun, however, she realized that this wasn’t an escape attempt. It was an execution. She whipped her little car through a screaming left turn over the sunken tracks that ran through middle of the intersection. She slammed to a stop in the far opposite facing lane from the sheriff’s car and reached for her weapon on the passenger seat.

Now, she was wondering if she had done the right thing. The man with the machine gun had caught her totally by surprise. She was lucky he hadn’t killed her with the initial burst. Now, she just had to keep him interested long enough for the cavalry to arrive. She straightened up to try to pop off another couple of rounds. The pistol fired once, then jammed. She swore again as she slid down to the ground behind the car. She worked the action frantically, cursing under her breath as she tried to clear the jam.

Keller could see the machine-gunner grimacing in frustration. He paused to slam another long clip into his weapon, then began firing longer bursts, as long as he dared without melting the gun barrel into slag. Marie was pinned down by the steadier rate of fire. The man grinned like a death’s head and began advancing towards the Honda. He had his quarry pined down and he was coming to kill her. His path took him between the back of the pickup and the front of the patrol car. Keller gripped the blood-slicked wheel in both hands and floored the gas pedal.

The roar of the big police engine was still not enough to drown out the sickening crunch of flesh and bone or the man’s scream as he was caught between the rear bumper of the pickup and the front grille of the patrol car. He seemed to fold sideways across the hood of the car. The machine gun clattered onto the hood, then slid forward as Keller jammed the car into reverse gear. Man and gun disappeared between the vehicles.

“Come on,” Marie muttered, frantically trying to work the slide on the pistol. She heard the rate of fire pick up, heard the zip-zip-zip of bullets over her head. She resisted the urge to curl into a ball and whimper. She realized that the sound of the machine gun was coming closer.

Suddenly the sound of the ruined patrol car’s motor rose from a rumble to a full-throated bellow. The sound was followed by an inhuman shriek of raw agony and a horrific snapping like branches cracking under the weight of ice. It sounded as if some enormous predator was dismembering its quarry alive. She peeped over the hood of her car.

The man with the machine gun was falling to the ground like a broken doll. He came to rest with his torso turned at almost a ninety degree angle to his hips. Incredibly, he was still screaming. The car roared again and shot backwards. Marie saw Keller behind the wheel. He turned toward her for a moment. She expected to see rage, elation, even fear; but his face and eyes were totally calm, the eyes of a hunter.

Keller stomped the pedal again and whipped the car around in reverse 180 degrees until he was beside the pickup. He automatically scanned the scene for more threats. He spotted Marie crouched behind her car. He yanked the gearshift into Drive. She looked panicky for a second, as if she thought he was about to run over her. He punched the gas and ran the car over the tracks, across two lanes and up onto the sidewalk beside her.

“Get in,” he yelled over the engine.

“You’re out of your mind!” she yelled back.

Keller didn’t answer. He pointed over Marie’s head. She looked back.

Raymond Oxendine was slowly getting to his feet. There was blood staining the right side of his shirt. He staggered slightly as he walked over to where the dark-skinned man was still thrashing and screaming. He walked past the man as if he wasn’t there and bent down to pick up the machine gun.

Marie leaped for the door of the patrol car and yanked it open. She landed almost on top of