The Garden of Betrayal - Lee Vance [110]
I started toward him, but Joe grabbed my collar from behind and dragged me back. Reggie took a two-handed grip on his gun and spread his feet slightly.
“One,” he said.
I shook myself loose and peered cautiously out the window. The two men were still in the front seat of the red Explorer.
“We got any hope against these guys?” I muttered to Joe.
He rapped a knuckle against the exterior wall, eliciting a hollow thud.
“Depends. If Smith’s telling the truth, we’re fish in a barrel. Bullets will go through this wall like cardboard. One guy stays in the parking lot and hoses the room high. The other guy runs up the stairs while we’re all hugging the carpet and hoses the room low. Game over. Different story if they want Smith back. They try to come through the door, we might give them a few surprises.”
“What if we open up on them now, when they’re not expecting it?”
“Fire a handgun through a car windshield at thirty yards and you got deflection and penetration problems. Maybe one chance in ten of hitting your target, even for a top marksman. More likely to just make them mad.”
“Two,” Reggie continued, eyes locked on Smith’s.
“Listen,” Joe whispered, leaning toward me. “There’s a window in the bathroom. You should be able to get out that way. You got Claire and Kate to take care of. No reason for you to hang around and take chances.”
“What about you and Reggie?”
“I’m too old to be climbing through windows, and Reggie’s too big. We’ll make our play here.”
A low groan made me glance toward Mohler. Urine was spreading from the crotch of his pants. Dying in a crappy motel room was bad, but not as bad as abandoning my friends.
“I’m staying,” I said. “Give me a gun.”
Joe reached into his coat pocket with his free hand, pulling out Smith’s Ruger and the loose clip. I rammed the clip home and flipped the safety off with my thumb, just like Reggie had shown me.
“You got to pull back on the slide to load the first shot,” Joe instructed, pointing to the top of the gun. “Shooting starts and you hit the floor and wait for a target. Aim low and count your shots. You got a ten-round magazine. Try not to let go of your last round until you absolutely have to.”
I nodded and looked back to Reggie. The tendons tightened on the back of his arm as he began to apply pressure to the trigger. I believed he was about to fire, and also believed that we’d all be equally dead shortly thereafter, just as Smith had said. I felt terrified and calm at the same time, one half of my brain screaming to run and the other half analyzing my situation. I needed to get in touch with Claire, to warn her to leave the Meridien and to tell her how much I loved her. I reached for my phone.
“Guys getting out of the car now,” Joe announced from behind me. “Both look to be wearing body armor. I can’t tell about HKs, but they got some kind of assault rifles.”
“Last chance,” Reggie crooned softly.
Smith laughed. Reggie took a deep breath, his chest expanding.
The staccato hammering of automatic gunfire from outside made me dive to the floor, both arms locked over my head in an instinctive effort to protect myself. Mohler shrieked, and I figured he’d been hit, but I realized almost simultaneously that I wasn’t hearing any impact noise from bullets. Somebody was shooting at something, but not us. I lowered my arms as the firing ceased and saw Mohler scuttle, crablike, into the bathroom. Reggie, Smith, and Joe were all frozen in the same postures they’d been in a moment ago.
“What the fuck happened out there?” Reggie demanded, his eyes still glued on Smith.
“White delivery truck on the east side of the lot,” Joe responded urgently. “Rear door rolled open and some guy opened up with a weapon on a tripod. Maybe a BAR. Both bad guys down. Shots