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Beth watched the hammer disappear from the crack and then slam back harder, the metal waggling as the handle was twisted to open the gap. He just needed an aperture wide enough to shoot them through.
“It’s a stud wall.” Mrs O’Doole gripped Tyler’s ragged tee shirt and tried to drag him back towards Kevin. “Just drywall.”
Tyler, minus his bandana, the back of his bald skull raked and scratched by fingernails, stood his ground.
“Let’s not wait for him.” Beth gripped Tyler’s arm tight. “Can you shoot him through that?”
He nodded, aiming the rifle at the crack as the hammer was extracted again. He fired once, and his whole body jerked with the recoil. The gun had done its best to dislocate his shoulder, but he quickly reloaded and pulled the trigger again.
The noise in their enclosed space was deafening. Beth’s ears hissed as they waited for a sound from the landing. The head didn’t return. Daylight was seeping in through the crack.
The same thought occurred to everyone at once.
“Down!” Beth reached Kevin first and dragged him around to the other side of the bed. The four of them crouched there in the three spotlights from the holes that had been punched in the shutters.
A different ear-piercing shot rang out. The bullet thumped into the wall above them. Beth put her arms around the O’Dooles and pulled their heads as far down as they would go.
Another quickly followed, and she watched a column of holes working its way down the smashed wall. Only the angle of the end of the bed protected them, and his bullets would easily puncture it as soon as his shot was aimed a foot further down. He was quickly working his way towards that. Either they’d be dead by then or he could just kick out the perforations he was making and finish the job.
Beth watched another hole appear the same time she felt something buzz past her head. “Tyler!”
He was lying against her lap, his fingers still shakily reloading the rifle. Beth waited for the next shot and wondered whose it would be. But another sound beat them both. A police siren.
Dust and plaster floated about the room. As Beth’s eardrums still throbbed from the gunshots, she watched Tyler’s hands frozen on the rifle. It got louder until they could hear the car’s engine. They held their breath and knew the gunman had to be doing the same.
Soft footfalls on the stairs. He was on his way down them. Beth struggled to her feet and scrambled to the window.
A hiss of gravel as the car and siren halted.
Knowing he was downstairs, she felt safe enough to peer through the bullet holes in the glass.
“Let me look.” Tyler was behind her.
“Get back here, Tyler.”
“Do as she says.” Beth squinted through the holes but, after her eyes accustomed themselves to the bright daylight, saw only the trees at the top of the bank. She quickly unlocked one window. She swung it in and then released the eye-and-hook catch on the shutter. Even if he was walking fast, he could still only be on his way around the side of the lodge. She gently pushed on the slats.
A police car, lights revolving, was parked at the top of the bank and two officers with buzz cuts in black zip-up jackets and matching potbellies were concentrating on the wooden steps as they made their way down them.
“Help! Up here!” Beth shouted.
They looked up in unison, pausing a few steps from the bottom.
“I’m Officer Breslin. One of the residents called us and reported a man with a firearm.”
“There’s a man coming to meet you and he’s dangerous.”
“Are you being held against your will?”
“He’s on his way to you now!”
Both officers put their hands to their holsters.
“Just get us out of here!” Tyler shouted at her ear.
Beth watched the gunman emerge from the side of the lodge in his socks, his arm extended. The officers turned from the window, their guns swiftly drawn.
The gunman’s weapon discharged first and one officer slammed back against the steps, his hand still gripping the wooden rail. The second officer loosed off a shot, and Beth saw the gunman’s left shoulder dragged back by the bullet. His right arm remained rigid as he fired a second time.
The second officer’s elbow shattered in a cloud of red, and then the material of his dark jacket jumped against his chest as another bullet pounded into it. He slid down the steps, his trousers riding up his white legs.
The first officer was still trying to get to his feet. As he pulled himself back up by the rail, his neck burst, dark blood spattering his face and the steps, before the top half of his agonised expression was obliterated.
The second officer came to rest at the bottom of the steps while the first finally released his hold on the handrail. His lifeless hand slapped against his waist and slid beside him. The sound of the gunfire still bounced around the trees.
“No!” Tyler screamed.
Without faltering, the gunman turned and shot at the window. Beth turned and threw herself against Tyler. The glass lampshade exploded above their heads and showered them with frosted fragments as they hit the floor.
