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"I’m a wreck, Terry I really need a Valium Then you can tie me up"
"No," he said peevishly "Don’t touch it I eover and unzipped the top, rooting through the contents until I located the crosshatched ivory handle of my beloved32 and eased the safety off He couldn’t believe I’d disobey him, but he couldn’t seem to think what to do
As he rose to his feet, I fired through the bottoe of ten feet without any visible effect He did juravy on his pants, but I didn’t see blood and he didn’t topple to the floor as I’d sincerely prayed he would Instead, he roared to life, coun out ofme with him to the floor I saw his fist coht The blow landed onat the couch for support I had no idea wherehis at ht him in the head The momentum knocked him sideways
He was blocking e to the front door, so I veered the other way, and raced into the bathroom I slammed the door after me, turned the lock, and hit the floor He fired twice, bullets zinging through the door like bees There was no way out The bathrooht in the line of fire and I couldn’t see anything to defend e blows that splintered the wood on iain His hand shot through the hole and he fumbled for the lock I jerked the lid off the toilet tank and cracked him a blow I heard hih the hole He fired again, screaap, eyes roving wildly as he searched for un peered at me All I could think to do was to protectit in front of , the iht out ofat the door again, but the bloere losing force
On the other side, I heard hi for breath There wasn’t ti it I flipped the lock, shoving at the door, which I couldn’t budge I dropped to h the panel He was flat on his back, his shirt front drenched in red Apparently I’d wounded hio down Blood seeped from him like a slow leak fro Above his stertorous breathing I could hear the package ticking like a grandfa-ther clock
"Get out of the doorway! Terry, move!"
He was unresponsive The clock on my desk said 4:29
I shoved as hard as I could, but there was no budging hilanced around the roorabbed up one half of the broken toilet tank I smashed at theGlass showered out into the front yard, leaving fangs of glass in the fraed sill as I boosted h the , like Superrass with a whunk that knocked the wind right out ofif I’d ever breathe again Debris was raining down around me I saw a hunk of the roof hover briefly above h the intervening branches of a tree A cloud of white saze up to the wall behindin the driveith the cushions askew Perched on the ar like it had hopped up there by itself I knew the whole front wall of one, the interior a shambles, all my possessions destroyed Lucky I don’t have ain, but I was getting used to it Eventually, with effort, I rousedof Terry left
Epilogue
Henry Pitts came home to find a crater where his rental unit had been He was more distressed about e to his property, which was covered by insurance He has big plans now about building a new studio for ed to salvage a few articles of clothing, a them my all-purpose dress and my favorite vest What could I coain, I went back to work Mac arranged for California Fidelity to refurbishamends for my tees were filed against him The DA’s office probably whited my name out and typed his in its place Within two days of the explosion, Daniel left with Bass I can’t say I felt h, his be-trayal seemed beside the point