will.’’
I didn’t hear any cavalry coming.
‘‘I can’t do that!’’ I yelled. ‘‘You know that!’’
‘‘Don’t be a hero, Houseman!’’
Silence.
‘‘Hey, Gabe?’’ I yelled.
‘‘What?’’ boomed back.
I didn’t answer. I was looking at the little gate in the barrier, watching it move open a quarter of an inch at a time. Whoever it was, he was on his belly. I couldn’t see him, and wasn’t able to tell if he was on the left or the right of the door. I carefully aimed and fired a round at the gap. I nicked the edge of the door, slapping it back about ten inches until it contacted whoever was behind it. On the left. Sally jumped a foot.
‘‘Jesus!’’
The little door, now with a bent hinge, hung at an angle. No sign of movement behind it. I assumed that had been Ted back there. I expected he was a little further back now.
It was quiet again for a few seconds.
‘‘Three, Comm!’’ My walkie-talkie.
‘‘Go…’’ I hated the distraction, but I was also pretty damned anxious to be rescued.
‘‘Keep low,’’ she said, not quite certain what she was being told to say. ‘‘They say to keep low!’’
‘‘Okay,’’ I said, just as Sally let out a little yelp and fired the pistol.
I must have jumped a foot myself. Nola let out a scream, and covered her swollen face with her hands.
‘‘What the fuck!’’
‘‘Somebody at this door,’’ quavered Sally. She wasn’t so much scared as on an adrenaline rush. ‘‘I think I killed him,’’ she said, breathless.
I looked at my door, and then back at hers. I saw what appeared to be a bullet hole near the further doorframe.
I looked back. ‘‘I don’t think you killed him,’’ I said. ‘‘Keep your eyes open.’’
We were already down when they called. We were just waiting now.
Three very loud cracks outside in the hall, with enough light to make me think they were using flashbulbs out there. Ah. Flash-Bangs. Antiterrorist stuff, tremendous light and noise, no fragments. Relatively harmless. Effective.
Sally just said, ‘‘What’s that?’’
After all the firing, we weren’t too noise-sensitive.
‘‘Our guys,’’ I said.
There was a clattering outside in the hall. It sounded like somebody was dropping small coins on the floor out there. A lot of them.
‘‘What’s that?’’
‘‘I think it’s empty shells,’’ I said. ‘‘The bad guys are using silencers. All we can hear is their empty shells hitting the floor.’’ I hesitated. ‘‘I think.’’
There was a sudden distant rumbling sound, and two of the exterior courtroom windows shattered. I felt an overpressure, like a shock wave that had lost most of its punch.
A second later Sally said, ‘‘And that?’’
‘‘Beats the hell out of me,’’ I said.
It was quiet for a second, then there was a flurry of shots. Loud shots. No silencers.
I didn’t wait for the question. ‘‘That’s the good guys,’’ I said.
About two seconds later, my radio came to life again.
‘‘Three,’’ said a male voice, ‘‘we’re comin’ into the courtroom, through the main door and the side door. Don’t shoot. We’ll come slow.’’
‘‘Ten-four,’’ I said. ‘‘But you might have one or two in here with us. In the aisles.’’
A moment later, a man I recognized stuck his head around the corner. The one known as ‘‘Team Leader’’ from the Wittman farm. He saw me and waved. He moved aside, and two other men dressed in gray BDUs slipped in. One of them sort of went on point like a good hunting dog, and the other one jumped up into one of the benches and pointed his submachine gun down toward the floor.
‘‘Put your hands over your head,’’ he said sharply, ‘‘and get up on your knees.’’
A moment later, a figure in green BDUs with a face mask, hands clasped behind his head, rose up from near the swinging door in the barrier.
‘‘I think that’s Ted,’’ I called out. ‘‘Is there another one over by the jury box?’’
‘‘He’s dead,’’ said Team Leader. ‘‘Real.’’
A moment later, as they were securing Ted, the other door opened and two more men in gray BDUs came through, with a prisoner. Also in green. No mask this time.
‘‘He the only one in there?’’ I asked as I stood.
‘‘Yep.’’
Good. Sally hadn’t killed him. From the looks of things, she hadn’t even scratched him. Even better.
She stood too, helping Nola up.
‘‘We’re gonna need some cold water for this lady,’’ I said. I unloaded my rifle and repossessed my handgun from Sally.
Volont, Hester, and George came into the room.
‘‘Holy shit,’’ said George.
Volont just looked around, quietly. He spun on his heel and went back into the hall.
Hester came over to Sally. ‘‘How you doin’?’’
She’d seen the tears. ‘‘Fine,’’ said Sally. ‘‘You got a Kleenex or somethin’? I’m not crying. I had to Mace the bitch.’’
Hester reached into her slacks and came up with a tissue. She took a deep breath. ‘‘You sure did, didn’t you.’’
Sally blew her nose. ‘‘Hey, I’m not so bad.’’ She pointed at me. ‘‘The big dummy got shot.’’
I thought Hester and George were going to have heart failure.
‘‘In my vest,’’ I said quickly. ‘‘In my vest. I’m fine.’’
‘‘They sure knew who the big dummy was, though, didn’t they?’’ said Sally smugly.
We walked out into the hallway. ‘‘You might not want to look,’’ said Hester to Sally.
There were three dead men in green BDUs lying near the middle of the hallway. All had had their masks pulled off. Nola choked back a sob.
The county attorney, Nola’s attorney, and the court reporter were bound with plastic straps, toward the end of the hall, and were being freed by a TAC officer with a pair of shears. The clerk and the judge were standing just outside her office, talking to one of the TAC team members.
Mark’s body was at the end of the hall. I didn’t look too closely.
We packed Nola down the stairs, along with several TAC team people, both federal and state. They surrounded us outside, while we waited for a cop car to back onto the lawn, going around the felled trees.
The sky was black with smoke, and the sidewalk was covered with broken glass.
‘‘What was that big thump a minute ago?’’ I asked.
‘‘One of the small propane tanks going off,’’ he said. ‘‘You hear that ‘jet engine’ out that way?’’
Yeah, now that he mentioned it. I thought it was just my ears still ringing.
‘‘Big propane tank, vented when it got too hot.’’
‘‘Oh.’’
Volont came down the stairs behind us, and watched Nola get in the back of the cop car. Sally got in with her.
I leaned over, into the back seat of the car, and said to Sally, ‘‘You were great. Really mean that. Fantastic.’’
Her grin spread all over her face. ‘‘Can I tell ’em I got to shoot your gun, Dad?’’
I smiled and shut the door.
Volont motioned me and Hester over to him and George.
