board that'd been knocked to the floor. A fat spider scurried across the grimy gray paint next to his ear.
A heavy thud echoed from the diner. Michael crept forward and peeked through a crack in the doorjamb.
Souther had thrown a table up on its side. The cook stood and heaved another pan, then sprinted for the back door. The pan bounced harmlessly off Souther's shield and he stood and fired.
The cook's head exploded like a melon thrown from a speeding train as bits of brain and bone sprayed the kitchen walls. The old man with the donut fainted and slumped to the floor.
Souther walked calmly toward the kitchen and emptied his. 45 into the cook and tossed the gun on the counter. Then he leaned in and yanked a meat cleaver from a block and turned toward the restroom, the razor- sharp blade glistening as it hung from the end of his powerful arm.
Michael scanned the tiny restroom for an exit. He saw a window above the sink, but he judged it to be too narrow.
Suddenly the door shook as someone tried the knob.
Michael froze.
Then, with enormous strength, the intruder attacked the door. Splinters flew as a heavy blade penetrated the wood.
Michael's mind worked frantically. He saw a urinal, a sink, a mirror with no glass, the window, and the single toilet stall containing the terrified woman.
'Unlock the stall door,' he said to her. ' Quickly!'
The bolt slid back, and with a heave, Michael hoisted the heavy steel gate from its pins and stepped back behind the restroom door. Utterly exposed, Ashley cowered in the narrow space next to the toilet, her thin, pale arms covering her head.
With a brutal crash, Johnny Souther burst through the door — eyes bloody with rage.
Ashley screamed and Michael wielded his weapon.
The sharp corner of the stall door caught Souther's skull just above the ear, sending the cleaver clattering across the tile. He expelled a sickening groan and crumpled heavily into a heap.
Michael staggered back against the wall, his heart trying to beat its way out of his chest. Ashley stared wide-eyed at the pool of blood spreading over the tiles beneath Souther's head. She leaned over and vomited into the toilet.
– Michael stepped through the mangled restroom door into a quiet diner. Streaks of blood drained down the panel behind the stove and mixed with the grease on the grill, creating swirling patterns. The contorted image of the old man was mirrored in the chrome at the base of the stool where he lay. Michael took a seat on his favorite stool.
Ashley stood in the restroom doorway looking at him, wiping her mouth with one hand, adjusting her rumpled sundress with the other. He swiveled in her direction and their eyes met.
Suddenly, from behind her, Johnny Souther appeared, his face obscured by blood. He held the meat cleaver high overhead, ready to bury it in the back of Ashley's skull.
' Behind you! ' Michael cried, jumping to his feet.
Ashley turned and screamed.
From outside, twin blasts of automatic-rifle fire shattered the front plate-glass window and sent Souther careening into the counter. Ashley spun away in horror as blood spattered her face and clothing.
Souther opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came as he twisted in agony, clawing the bloody countertop with his fingernails before dropping to the floor with a sickening flump, where he lay still… in a lifeless sprawl.
Chapter 52
Michael and Ashley stared in shock and loathing at Souther's mutilated body… the floor… the walls… themselves. At last they turned toward the front of the diner.
Framed in the opening where the large window had been were two young boys. Thin gray wisps of smoke curled from the over-heated barrels of the assault rifles they held in their hands. Behind them, on the sidewalk in the rain, lay an old BMX bike and a rusty beach cruiser — spoked wheels still spinning.
The taller of the two boys looked hardly more than a ragged savage — his eyes dark, his face gaunt, his hair matted. A coal black, rain-soaked overcoat hung on him like a heavy blanket thrown over a tombstone. The front of the coat draped open, revealing a crimson rose that bloomed in the center of the large white bandage wrapping his chest.
Ashley was stunned. Tears welled in her eyes and her hand moved to her mouth. ' Aaron? ' she said, but he was oblivious.
She stepped through the window and went to her son.
'Aaron?' she said, softly. 'Aaron, honey — it's me… it's Mommy.' She carefully removed the rifle from his hands and laid it on the sidewalk. Then she took him gently in her arms and held him.
'I'm sorry,' Aaron said at last, his voice soft and hoarse.
'Shhh,' she said, her eyes flooding with tears. 'No apologies, okay? I love my little boy. I love him with all my heart.'
Aaron buried himself in his mother's warmth and cried the deeply mournful cry of a long lost boy come home.
– Willy stood alone, staring unblinking at Souther's broken body through smudged glasses. The diner's neon OPEN sign lay in pieces among the shards of glass at his feet.
Michael went over and knelt next to him on the sidewalk. He took the rifle and set it carefully aside, and then he rested his hand on the boy's shoulder and spoke softly to him. 'Willy — it's Michael
… It's over… you're safe, now.'
Willy was struck mute.
Michael tried to appear lighthearted. 'I think we better get the heck out of here before the cops come,' he said. 'Is that all right with you, Willy?'
Willy looked up at Michael and nodded.
'Stay right here and don't move,' Michael said. 'I'll be right back.'
Michael collected the two rifles and stepped into the diner.
Aaron followed him inside.
– Michael laid the firearms on the counter, then reached in and used a towel to pick up a pan full of hot oil, which he poured over the guns, coating them completely.
Aaron walked over to Souther's grisly corpse and knelt next to it. Then he calmly went through the pockets until he found what he was looking for: the precious photo of his mother and father together in the alpine meadow.
Chapter 53
The rain had stopped, and the night air was calm and crisp. A brilliant moon ducked in and out of patchy gray clouds, highlighting the edges a snowy white.
Michael and Aaron exited Sally's Diner through the front door and joined Willy and Ashley on the sidewalk. Ashley had been talking with Willy and he was feeling much better.
Michael handed Ashley her jacket and purse, and a clean towel.
She clutched them to her chest and smiled at him, forming two little dimples in her cheeks that he hadn't
