Copyright © 2013 Mary Hughes
All rights reserved
He
came back down at a dead run, feet thundering on the stairs behind him, JohnJohn
dangling limply in his arms. Feet thundered on the stairs behind him.
“Come on!” He
somehow
freed up one hand which he used to grabherded her with, dragging
her along byout the wrist. door.[M1]
“Stop! They’re
on our side.”
Tess, Vickie realized
about the same time she realized she couldn’t breathe, her breath knocked out
of her. She gasped ineffectively like lightning, throwing her and John
to the pavement and covering them both with his huge body. “Stop,” she heard a voice scream. “They’re on our side!” Tess, she realized. The breath had been knocked out of her a fish.
Cliff made a
shocked noise and his hands were under her arms and she was being
hauled up
and trying to gasp at the same time. Thento her feet. She’d just sucked
in her first breath when she was thrown to the side as Fahrrad’s
men ran out of the building, into the street.
.
Only
Cliff’s sure arms kept her from falling. They wrapped around her as if they
would never let go.
The first men stopped,
confused. More were still pouring out, so they could notcouldn’t
retreat. But in front of them were a hundred of
Kulinahr’s best, rifles trained on them.
The firstOne of Fahrrad’s men stopped, smiled
weakly, threw down his gun, and raised his arms in
surrender. Soon. One by one,
the rest
had followed suit.
Tess ran to
John, dropped to her knees and cradled him against her chest. Her cheeks ran
with tears.
“I’m fine,”
John croaked. “Or I will be. Field tourniquet?”
Cliff let
Vickie go to grab the nearest goon, yank his belt off and cinch it around
John’s arm.
John’s eyes
wandered. “Where’s Fahrrad?” Tess looked up from nursing John, who had
regained consciousness.
Cliff spun on
his knees.. No more men were coming out of the hotel.
Vickie saw
his muscles
tighten. intent in his blazing blue eyes. “No!” she cried. “! You
can’t go back in there.”
“It’s out of
bullets. Take one of Kulinahr’s men’s rifles.”
“Good idea.”
Cliff stood and reached out. Three rifles were thrust into his hand. He took
one, slung it over his shoulder, and turned toward the alleyway.
“No.” Vickie
intercepted
him and grabbed onto his wrist with both hands. It was the only part of him not too thick
to hold
on to. “No. biceps. “I don’t
care about your damned sense of responsibility. You’re not going in there alone
to get yourself killed. I didn’t risk my neck just to lose you again!”
That
stopped him. He looked deeply into her eyes, then smiled for the first time in
weeks. “Why Vickie, you’ve been working
out!” He shook the wrist she held just a
little. “Hmmm. You’ve slowly. “You worked
your tail off for me, and risked your neck for me. Any other body parts you
care to contribute?”
His
smile broadened. “I love you too, Victoria Lynn Johnston. Do you want to get
married, or live together in sin?”
She swatted his
sassy backside, blinkingblinked back tears, and was about to
retort when John interrupted.
“Fahrrad’s onsaid, “Fahrrad. On the roof.”
Cliff
sprang into action. Vickie, however, hadwith a death‑grip
on his wrist,
and hebiceps, was pulled her unintentionally along.
“Vickie,” he beganHe stopped.
He
swore under his breath.
“For
goodness sake, just take her Cliff,” John called. “It’s because of her you’re
even alive.”
He
closed his eyes, then opened them and smiled back. “Well, start talking,” he said..”
He
slung her across his broad back in mid‑sentence. She held ontoclung to
his beloved shoulders as he raced around the corner, jumped for
the fire escape and of the building across from the
hotel, caught it easily, thenand raced up the
stairs. Fahrrad was raining bullets in front of the
hotel from the roof.
Cliff set her
down, lay the rifle on the edge of the building and took careful aim.
Just as he
shot, Fahrrad moved. The shot missed. Cliff squeezed off another…and swore.
“Empty.”
Fahrrad turned
toward them just as Cliff yanked her down and ducked.
A battery of
shot erupted. Vickie said, “Kulinahr’s troops?”
“Laying down
cover fire.” Cliff edged his head over. “Fahrrad’s distracted,” Cliff noted
thoughtfully..”
“You
don’t have a gun,” she observed.any
ammunition.”
He
smiled
secretively atgave her, reaching a small,
secret smile and reached into his pants pocket. “They searched me
fairly thoroughly. Of course, they didn’t find that little sharp‑edge. They
found this, but they didn’t think it was important.”
She eyed it.
“You’re going to take him with your sawed‑off rubber band?”
“Don’t need
one. It’s extremely stable until I activate it with a twist. It’s my own
design.”
“Lovely. Now
how do you plan on getting it onto the clue on next roof
over? Since that must be a good ten feet.”
“Ooh, I can’t
wait to show you my three inches. That’s thirty feet, at least. And how?” He
held up the chip prototyperubber band. “This.”
“What? Ten
yards on a rubber band? Unless you designed that thing out of space age
superball polymers, you’ll never make it.”
“Oh ye of
little faith. I was rubber band shooting champion of my public school (*five*)
years in a row.” He fitted the explosive to the rubber band, and
drew it back. “If I can just get this to gostretch
far enough…”
He released it
with a twang. It shot it up into the air, at an incredibleexactly
forty-five degrees, the best trajectory. possible. It arched way, way up.
“It’ll
never make it,” Vickie breathed. “Oh ye of
little faith
“Faith,”
he retorted.
He
smiled. “Who do you think taught JuneBelva to shoot
rubber bands?”
Vickie blinked and
lost sight of the rubber band and its little payload on the way down. .
She waited. Nothing. “Cliff, are you sureI don’t think that
was explos…”explosiv—”
The
front side of the hotel burst into a cloud of dust. Mo mentsMoments later the
waves of heat impactedhit her. Cliff
hugged her in his protective arms.
On the
opposite roof, Fahrrad reeled around, arms waving like a drunken mime.
Kulinahr’s men flooded into the building and moments later burst onto the roof.
They took Fahrrad captive without a struggle.[M5]
Cliff murmured
into her hair, “You should really learn to trust me more,” he
murmured. .”
She merelyjust
nodded.
[M2]This
statement makes a conclusion. While it works, it's one step removed. Showing
the bad guys boxed in has a better impact.
[M3]A
few paragraphs later she says "You don't have a gun." And to use the
upcoming explosive, he had to not have a gun. I had to play a round of
solitaire to figure out how to work it.
[M5]So
I realized it might have seemed like Cliff blew up the bad guy. I try not to do
that in romantic comedies any more.
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