Today’s
excerpt is from Too Many Women, Book #1 of the Becker Trilogy. Another try on Terri fails. Enjoy and have a fantastic day.
m.j.
Two hours after
they made their plans, Horace was in the gun room, looking things over with the
binoculars. Bill was planning their
evening meal, and Leo was keeping an eye on Terri as she played with Tillie in
the back yard—but not too far away…as instructed by Leo.
Terri—who was
bored out of her mind, and having finished her “housecleaning” for the
day—decided a bit of fun was reasonable.
In no time, Tillie had the wig and was running around with it, Terri in
hot pursuit—further away from the house and to the left of the kitchen
area.
Leo saw and
shouted, “Dammit, Terri, get that wig back on your head. Matilda, stop!”
Tillie didn’t
know, of course, Leo was a retired Sergeant Major, but did recognize authority when she heard it—plus which, Leo had already
befriended the dog. She stopped in her
tracks. Terri ran to her and took the
wig. She was facing the back of the
house, far enough away from it and far enough left of the middle of the house
for Boxer to see her—without the wig. He
and Burras were wearing communication sets and he said into his, “I’ll be
damned…it’s her—Durbin’s wife. That fat
blonde I told you about is not
blonde, and I bet she’s not fat either.
It’s his damned wife. I’m
pluggin’ her—get ready to split.”
As Boxer lined
up to take his shot, Terri started to put the wig back on…but wiggled it a bit
at Tillie, which was all Tillie needed to make another try at it. As she jumped, Terri stepped back to receive
the brunt of Tillie’s charge in the midsection.
The end result was she bent forward just slightly…at the precise moment
Boxer fired. Terri had the wig above her
head at the time, only to have it blown out of her hands.
Leo saw, heard
the report of the rifle, saw a splash in the distant pool, and shouted, “Terri,
get back here right now. Someone’s
shooting at you.”
Terri paused
just a second, for Leo’s words to sink in.
Then, with the wig flying out of her hands and the sound of gunfire, she
immediately did as told. Meanwhile,
Tillie ran after the wig, retrieved it, and started running around the back
yard. Leo sighed, shouted at her to
“come,” then went forward to grab Terri.
“Horace, shot fired—my guess is about one or two o’clock from you…probably
in a tree.”
All three men
were wearing communication sets, as well as their foes. Horace didn’t bother replying, just started
looking around with his binoculars and spotted Boxer in the tree. He picked up his own sniper rifle and sighted
in as Boxer was looking through his rifle scope, looking for Terri.
Meanwhile, Bill,
rifle in hand, was heading for one of the two dune buggy-type vehicles parked
right outside the back fence. As he
raced out the back door, Leo had Terri, and made sure she was now out of the
line of fire. “Get your ass up to Horace
and stay with him until I come get you—now…move!”
This time Terri
minded his every word and headed in the house, with Leo right behind. As Tillie came bounding in, he didn’t even
watch as Terri was followed up the stairs to the second floor by a
still-wanting-to play-Tillie. He grabbed
another rifle, ran out the back door, and headed for the other buggy-like
vehicle.
By then, Horace
had squeezed off his shot, having spotted Boxer. His intent was to first disarm the sniper,
then, with a follow-up shot, wound him so they would have someone to question
as to the whereabouts of Durbin…assuming it wasn’t Durbin in the tree. The plan was excellent, his shot was true,
but luck wasn’t part of the equation—or at least good luck. His shot hit the
scope of Boxer’s rifle, disabling it, but then ricocheted up, directly to
Boxer’s jugular vein. In an instant,
Boxer knew he was in trouble, as blood was shooting out of him in spurts.
As he started to
get down from the tree, he said, in a very garbled manner, “LeRoy, I’m
hit. I need help.”
Burras hurried
along the side of the embankment as fast as he could. When he was about halfway to Boxer, he
watched as the mortally wounded Boxer fell out of the tree with a thud…and
didn’t move at all. Burras saw the still
form of his fellow Durbin employee, decided there was nothing he could do for
him, then turned and headed back toward their car.
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