THE INNOCENT
AND
THE DAMNED

art

Cody froze in place, his finger curled around the Uzi’s trigger, when the double doors of the banquet room burst open and three people emerged at a hurried clip.

He recognized Kamal and he recognized the other two also: Majid Baqir, long time associatein-terror of Kamal, and a smaller figure dwarfed by the two men: blonde-haired, twelve-year-old Laura Parker, being led along the hall against her will by Baqir, who gripped her wrist like a vise.

Cody felt his chest tighten and his throat go dry with a furious rage. He had no intention of letting them harm a hair on Laura Parker’s pretty head.

There could only be one of two reasons why Kamal was taking the girl away from the others: rape or murder… and the terrorists would pass Cody within the next five to seven seconds.

He drew back into the recess, his Uzi in firing position…