Schism

Chapter 48 part 1

Chapter 48

Jared smiled as his men poured in the door.  When Harold had run down the stairs, he'd been tempted to shoot him.  It had been obvious that he was running away and that meant that the killer was still alive upstairs.  With all that Harold could do, he was still worthless if he didn't have any discipline.

But these men did.  They had trained together, had worked hard with Jared to make this city safe from the other races.  They brought hope into the room with them.

He stood up, rifle still at his shoulder, but muzzle down.  "The race traitor is upstairs.  Extreme threat.  Two men stay to guard that door."  He had considered ordering more of them to hunt down Mickelson, but he wanted that pleasure for himself.

As the men reached the top of the stairs, the point man nudged the door open with a toe and dropped to a knee.  He and the man behind him both began to fire into the room.  They emptied their magazines and the two behind them edged around into the loft and began firing.

Jared's smile grew as he brought the rifle back up and began to hunt for the detective.

*

Bryan cursed to himself as the gunshots rang in his ears.  It had been bad enough when Jared and Harold were stalking him, but now there were two men at the door that he had to hide from.  If any of them got a clear view of him, he'd die.  Three would shoot him and the last would turn him into a briquette.

A quick peek showed him that the two sentries were staying put, but the real threats were both getting closer.

He had hidden when Harold had run down the stairs and listened as Jared called out instructions to the maintenance man.  Jared had told Harold that it was Bryan hiding among the crates.  Aside from the obvious disadvantage of having his pursuers communicate, Bryan had been dismayed that the white supremacist had known his name and who he was.  Smart, a good shot and well informed were traits he did not want in an opponent.

And when the men had come in, he'd had no choice but to keep low and watch them run up the stairs.  If he had tried to stop them, he only would have become a perfect target, and then William and Jess would have had no backup.  Not that he was doing such a good job at the moment.  He chuckled under his breath and looked at his gun.  It felt lighter in his hand, though he knew it was just his imagination.  The clip was nearly full, but it was his last one.  With the Ruger empty, this gun was the limit of what he could do.  He dried his palm on his pants and re-gripped it before he peered around the other side of the crate, his face low to the ground.

The bullet skidded into the concrete not six inches from his face and Bryan squinted back the spray of dust as he scrambled back.  Without waiting, he dashed back to the next pile of crates.  He turned the corner around them just as the nearest one caught on fire.

His eyes burned and he tried to blink out some of the dust and what felt like tiny bits of concrete.  Above him, the gunshots continued to ring out, the rate of fire almost continuous.

*

William stared down the hallway as the red paths of the bullets filled the front room and came sliding down the hallway.  They quickly filled the main room, not only high up, but low to the ground as well.  It was a large team of men and they were being thorough.

"How many?" he asked.

Twelve, The Hunter said.  He hadn't faced odds that high before.  Moments ago he had lamented that he hadn't needed to protect Jess, now he had a dozen armed men that wanted to kill them both.  "Be careful what you wish for," he said.

He looked around the room.  There was no clear spot where he could pull Jess to and no window to jump from.  From the timing of the red streaks in the other room, he saw that he would have a second or less between the first shots into this room and the time when they completely filled the room with shotgun blasts and automatic rifle fire.  There was no way it would be enough time, not to fight them and protect Jess.  It would be too easy for her to become a new target for one while he was trying to kill the others.  He couldn't protect her here.

But there were other rooms.

He pulled the fog tight around him and nodded to the voices as the front room filled with gun blasts.  The Hunter led the way down the hall and into the first door on the left as William grabbed Jessica. 

Go now, The Advisor said.

They cannot see down the hall yet, The Caretaker said.

He staggered down the hall, his burnt leg no longer bleeding, but refusing to fully work.  The room was another bedroom, smaller than the one Jess had been in.

At the far end of the room, an army footlocker stood open in a wide closet.

He nodded again at the voices and the red bullet paths filled the new room.  He crossed to the closet and saw them pierce through the lid.  He knelt to look closer and saw that the lowest part of the closet, behind the body of the locker was clear.

Behind him, the shooting moved down the hallway.  He saw smoke begin to mix with the fog.

He dropped Jess on her back behind the open footlocker and lay down between her and the doorway.  He didn't take the time to judge the height of the lowest bullet entries, but hoped that he would at least be able to provide cover for her.

They are coming, The Hunter said.

Jessica's body was still limp as he pulled her tight and leaned over her.  There was a pause in the shooting for all of two seconds.

Someone shouted from the front room.  "Clear!"

"Go!"  Another voice, then a few footfalls and another round of gunfire.

They are here, The Hunter said.

(Author’s note: Outnumbered, outgunned and trapped.  What do you think?  Is there any way for William and Bryan to make it out of this?)