He entered so quietly they hardly noticed him at first. Sammie realized something was wrong when she saw one of the waitresses running across the floor, tripping heavily as she collided with a table. The intruder, who was standing beside the cash register, stepped back nervously, jerking his weapon at anyone he saw. All the other people in the restaurant had noticed at the same time, but before anyone could move another man, dressed in the bright orange shirt worn by all AI's employees, appeared from behind the salad bar and fired a shot at the intruder. lt missed.
People began screaming, trying to get up from their seats or duck down under the tables.
Most of them were trapped by the narrow gap between the tables and the couches that ran round the booths. Sammie reached instinctively across to Kelly and Cameron, attempting to pull them down towards her lap. Cameron, twelve years old and big for his age, resisted. He wanted to see what was going on. Sammie saw Rick rising in his seat, lifting a protective arm towards Doug.
The intruder's reaction to being shot at was instant and deadly. He fired a burst of shots in return, then moved across the floor of the restaurant, firing in all directions.
A bullet slammed into Doug's head, hurling the boy backwards and spraying the tabletop with blood. As Sammie sucked in her breath in horror and twisted frantically in her seat, another bullet tore through her neck and throat. She died not long afterwards.
'I hate this training,' Teresa said quietly to her friend Harriet Lupi, who was taking the same course. 'I was up sick all night.'
'You going to quit?' said Harriet.
'No.'
'Neither am 1. But 1 sure thought about it yesterday.'
They were in the corridor with seventeen other trainees, waiting for Dan Kazinsky to arrive.
'Do you think it's a real incident?' Teresa said.
'Yeah. 1 looked it UP. 5
:Oh shit. They're the worst.'
Yeah.' lt was many years before.
Her name was Sammie jessup. Sammie and her husband Rick were eating at a family restaurant called AI's Happy Burgabar, in a small town called Oak Springs along Highway 64 between Richmond and Charlottesville. lt was 1958. Sammie and Rick had their three children with them.
Teresa had time to look around, think back, think forward. Time to get frightened. She looked over her shoulder, out of the window, and saw a man with a rifle walking steadily across the parking lot.
They were in a semicircular window booth. The kids had piled in, noisily sliding into the centre of the padded couch seat, but she and Rick had piled them all out again. Now she was in the centre, wedged between Cameron and Kelly, with Doug next to Kelly on one end and Rick next to Cameron on the other.
They were waiting for the ice creams they had ordered when the man with the rifle walked in quietly through the door.
Teresa saw one of the waitresses running across the floor, tripping heavily as she collided with a table. The intruder, beside the cash register, stepped back nervously, jerking his weapon at anyone he saw. Everyone in the restaurant had noticed at the same time, but before anyone could move a staff member in bright orange shirt appeared from behind the salad bar and fired a shot at the intruder. lt missed.
People began screaming, trying to get up from their seats or duck down under the tables.
Most of them were trapped by the narrow gap between the tables and the couches that ran round the booths. Teresa reached across to Kelly and Cameron, attempting to pull them down towards her lap. Cameron, twelve years old and big for his age, resisted. He wanted to see what was going on. Teresa saw Rick rising in his seat, lifting a protective arm towards Doug.
The intruder fired several shots at the man by the salad
bar, then moved across the floor of the restaurant, firing in all directions Teresa sucked in her breath in horror and twisted frantically in her seat, snatching at Doug's jerkin to pull him down. The window shattered behind them. Teresa grabbed frenziedly at her children, sliding them under the hard, unyielding surface of the table. A bullet went past her neck and buried itself in the thick cushion behind her. Rick was thrown backwards by another bullet, and as Teresa turned towards him she too was struck in the back of the head.
Teresa sucked in her breath in horror and twisted frantically in her seat, snatching at Doug's Jerkin to pull him down. The window shattered behind them. Rick was rising in his seat.
Teresa leaped across at him, crushing Cameron down into the seat. The bullet went through the side of her head.
Teresa sucked in her breath in horror, and rose desperately from her seat, pressing down her children's heads with both hands. Rick was starting to get up too. A bullet went past her and the window shattered behind them. Doug spun round as another bullet went through him, spraying the tabletop with blood. She hurled herself across Cameron, crushing the boy down into the seat, and shoving Rick to the side. The bullet went past them both, and embedded itself in the brightly coloured painting of the clown on the wall behind them. She could hear Kelly screaming, and the man's gun fired again and again, a curious clicking, horribly rhythmic, surprisingly quiet.
Teresa and Rick were sprawling on the floor, and she rolled to one side, clawing her way upright by gripping the hard edge of the table. Her fingers slipped in the blood that now poured across it. As she forced herself up a bullet went through her chest, and she died not long afterwards.
Teresa sucked in her breath in horror, yelled at her kids to throw themselves flat. She stood up. A bullet went singing past Doug's head and smashed into the window behind them.
Teresa forced herself up on to the hard surface of the table, then leapt across to the aisle. The man turned his rifle towards her, but she ducked down and ran crouching along the aisle.
People were screaming, and the place was full of smoke. She briefly lost sight of the man, but when she came
