The Big Thaw

'This is… Houseman… here. I need… Grossman's phone number… really fast…'

I dialed the Grossman house. I was betting that Linda was in the house, and that Harvey and Gabriel were in the shed. I felt that I would be able to convince Linda to give up, or at least to not make it worse for herself by taking shots at us, or signaling to the men in the shed.

'Hello?' Such a little voice.

'Uh, uh, Carrie?' Carrie. I'd forgotten about Carrie.

'Yes.'

'Hi. This is Deputy Houseman. Remember me?'

'Yes. You're the one behind the tractor, aren't you?'

'Yes, I am.' Oh, Lord. 'Carrie, can I speak with your mom?'

'She's not here, Deputy Houseman.' A little voice, but so very serious.

'Oh, that's too bad. Uh, do you know where she is, Carrie?'

'In the shed with my dad.' Her voice quavered just a bit. 'Are you going to hurt them?'

'I sure don't want to, Carrie.' I didn't want them to hurt me, either. 'Uh… is there somebody else there in the shed with them, too?'

There was a pause. 'No.'

No? In there with Carrie? 'Are you alone in the house, Carrie?'

'Yes.'

Well, that was sort of a relief. She was effectively out of the way for any activity. But the crucial question was 'Where's the other man, Carrie?'

There was a longer pause. 'I shouldn't tell you. But I can see him. Can't you? He's by the snow pile.'

Oh, hell, I thought. That's Volont.

'I think that man came with us in the helicopter, Carrie…'

'No, it's Mr. Gabriel. I can see him. He's with that man who came with you. See? Here they come… I better go now…' And she hung up.

'See?' 'See?' I looked toward the edge of the snow pile where Volont had disappeared. A moment later, Volont and Gabriel emerged. Together. Sort of. Except Volont had his hands clasped behind his head. As they moved out a bit more, I could see that Gabriel was, as usual, doing things right. None of this gun to the hostage's head business. No, not him. Gabriel was about three feet behind Volont, with a handgun pointed at the agent's back. No way Volont was going to be able to try for the gun without being shot. None. Just too much distance between them.

They came just about to the front edge of the shed, and stopped.

Hester saw them, too. 'Carl… They've got Volont…'

'I see…'

George, way over to my left, couldn't see either Volont or Gabriel because of the edge of the barn.

'What? What…?'

'Gabriel's got your boss,' I said. 'Between the buildings…'

George scooted out from behind the pile of drums, and ran as hard as he could for the barn. He slipped once, but made the concrete apron leading to the main door. He pressed himself against the side of the barn, and held his gun down at his side. From where he was, the people in the shed couldn't see him unless they came forward from the shadows. They had to have known he'd broken cover and headed for the barn, though. I pointed my handgun around the edge of my faithful tractor tire, and took aim at the general area where one of the Grossmans would have to be if they were to get a shot at George.

'Hester?' As quietly as I could, and still have her hear me. Pretty loud.

'Yeah…?'

'Hester, the little Grossman girl is alone in the house. She answered the phone. Both parents are in the shed with the plane.'

You never have to tell Hester twice. Ever. She popped her head up for a second, got her bearings, and then began to move quickly and apparently effortlessly to her right, into the cover provided by the house. The last I saw of her, she was disappearing around the corner, heading for the backyard.

'Drop your guns!' Gabriel. Nobody moved.

'I said, 'Drop your guns!' If you do, nobody will get hurt.'

I doubted that. The dead surveillance agent had pretty well gotten me past that point. It did occur to me that, with George concealed from the line of sight of the bad guys, and Hester slipping around the back of the house, I was the only one to do any talking for the good guys.

'Nobody will get hurt if you put yours down,' I shouted. Brilliant. But I couldn't really think of anything else to say.

'Deputy Houseman? Is that you?' Gabriel sounded almost happy.

'Yes!'

'Are you still insured with Lloyds of London?' he boomed.

'Probably not!'

'You can't bluff this one, Houseman! Drop your guns!'

Well, of course we couldn't. No way. The thing was, time was really on our side, now. The helicopter would be coming back soon, with the cavalry. Once they landed and got into position, what with George and Hester flanking the bad guys, and me blocking the front… endgame.

It began to occur to me that me blocking the front was the only catch. They knew about George heading toward the barn, but they had to think Hester was still out front with me. Their obvious move was to take out the people blocking the front. Get in the plane. Taxi straight out of the shed, and just take off.

I began to feel there was a neon arrow pointing to the ass end of my tractor.

Stall. I had to stall.

'It's all over!' I shouted. 'Don't get any more people hurt or killed! Surrender!'

I keep forgetting. 'Surrender' to your average criminal has a lot less stigma than 'surrender' does to a career military man.

'No!' He paused. 'Take him out!'

What?

Somebody in the shed, I assumed Harvey Grossman, let loose with a rifle on full auto, and pretty much emptied a magazine toward me and the woodpile where Hester had been. I could see, even as I started to duck back, that some of the slugs tore into the ground between the front and rear of the tractor. Most seemed to strike the cab and the huge rear tires and rims. I was showered with tiny bits of glass, wood splinters, and sprayed with a thick liquid. For a second, I thought the viscous stuff was blood, until I realized that most farmers filled the tractor tires with oil instead of air.

I waited what seemed like forever before I screwed my courage up and hollered around the tire again.

'There's no more reason to go on with this! Give it up!' How many ways are there to say 'surrender' without saying 'surrender'?

At least this time, nobody shot.

'If you don't come out with your hands up,' hollered Gabriel, 'I'm going to shoot our boy Volont!'

Where was that damned helicopter? I couldn't think of anything else to say, and until it arrived, Gabriel had the upper hand.

'Like I said, 'Give it up!'' Stalling, stalling…

' Harvey, start up the plane!' Gabriel stepped forward with Volont, toward the opening to the shed. They stopped, so close to the front of the barn that Volont, a few feet in ahead of Gabriel, saw George. He only glanced at him, and then looked steadfastly over in my direction. Control.

There was a little commotion inside the shed, near the plane. I more sensed it than actually saw anything. But a few seconds later, Linda Grossman emerged, hesitant, with a gun in her hand. 'I'm going to the house!' she yelled. 'We're taking my daughter!'

I saw Gabriel's lips move, but didn't hear what he said. Linda stepped slowly into the yard area, obviously afraid of being shot any second. She was concentrating mostly on the house, and began to move more quickly the closer she got.

Shit. Now we'd have Carrie in the plane as well. No chance at all. Gabriel was just about home-free.