Amy, says a voice inside me—and I’m presented with two threats: I go to the deadlier one, the man with the submachine gun, and open fire.
Inside the Yukon, Hamid jerks at hearing the familiar sound of gunfire, and he turns in his seat, ready to slaughter the American behind him when the word comes, but the American is bent over, seemingly crying and sobbing, and Hamid shouts, “Shut up, you bawling woman!”
He has a pistol on him but is going to go with the folding knife that is now in his hand. A bullet to the American’s head would kill him and be merciful.
Hamid is not going to be merciful.
The little girl is also crying, and Hamid is ignoring her.
Tom Cornwall is bent at the waist, making noises to signal he’s crying and afraid of the gunfire, but he’s been in a number of tight places before, and the gunfire is now just part of the background noise, like the yells and the curses he also hears.
With his hands bound in tape, he is desperately working at his left pant leg, which he manages to drag up, revealing his sock and—
God, yes, the cutting tool.
He tries to work with the tool, cutting and slicing at the tight tape, and he winces as the blade twice cuts into his own skin, but he keeps on working.
The gunfire outside continues.
The bitch was using his father to get to him, Pelayo screams inside, and he opens fire, just as Paco aims at the woman, and there’s an ugly noise of metal being ripped apart, and then there’s a quick “oh” and the side of his face is suddenly soaked, and he spares just the quickest of glances, seeing the pockmarked metal on the Yukon’s hood where the woman opened fire in Paco’s direction.
It looks like four or five rounds worked their way up the metal, until the last bullet took off the top of Paco’s head.
Pelayo fires off two rounds, ducks, and picks up the MP5, rolls to the left, and the woman is advancing, shooting at him, and Pelayo yells out, “Hamid, Hamid, kill him, kill him!”
Hamid hears the blessed words, and he yells, “American, sit up, look at me in the eye!” and yes, the American comes up, but he has something in his hand which whirls toward Hamid, and then his throat is burning, and he tries to yell something again, but his mouth is full of blood and he falls back.
I have no cover so I’m doing what’s called advancing under fire, and I think I get the gunman with the submachine gun and then Pelayo is on the ground, firing back at me, but yeah, like most civilians, he’s not used to firing in a prone position, and there’s whistling noises as rounds roar by me, and I shoot and shoot and I’m aiming at the Yukon’s tire, and then at Pelayo, for my loved ones are in that vehicle and I’m not about to let it head out.
The rear passenger door suddenly pops open, and Tom and Denise tumble out in a confused pile, and I keep on advancing, and another Yukon roars by, front passenger door opening up, and Pelayo runs to it, and I don’t care, I let him go. Tom and Denise are right here, and Pelayo can go to the North Pole for all I care, and now I take cover behind the first Yukon and Tom rolls over, eyes wide, covered with blood, and he’s struggling to take a piece of tape off his mouth.
And the little girl next to him is in familiar black slacks and an Epcot sweatshirt, and as I reach for her, Tom screams, “That’s not Denise! That’s not Denise!”
The girl rolls over, eyes wide, tape on her mouth as well.
A hammer blow hits me so hard I think I’ve been struck by an RPG round.
The girl is not Denise.
I run to the front of the disabled Yukon.
The second Yukon is still there, door open, Pelayo climbing into the passenger’s seat, and there’s a confusing scramble, and then he shoves out a little girl who screams, “Mommy!” and then she’s pulled back in and the door slams and the Yukon roars off.
CHAPTER 85
TOM CORNWALL sits up and wipes at the blood on his face and shirt. His lower legs are still secured by tape. He crawls back into the rear bloody seat of the Yukon, finds the cutting tool, goes back out to the parking lot, works at