“Except for those four outside hunting me. I’m thinking two, maybe three at the most, and Hunter and Adan, all at the rear of the church. I spotted those two while they had the front doors open.”
“How about I drive the dozer and you work the rifle. I’ll go to the church and scrape a corner to open it up, then Hunter and the kid can come out, or you can go in. We’ll have to be quick when we do it.”
“We can’t outrun the gunmen on a dozer.”
“Won’t have to. We only have to make it back here and we can get in my Suburban parked at the back.” Raymond nodded and both men walked to the old D-9.
Raymond said, “A cable rig, huh?”
“Uh-huh. Made in 1941, and still has the original cables on it to work the blade. I’ll have the blade up high so it’ll give you cover.”
“Thanks.”
Both men climbed on the big machine and Raymond said, “If you can, knock that rear corner off the church, the one by the big rock.”
“I’ll do that and push the rubble out of the way so you’ll be able to run.”
Raymond nodded, worked the bolt to load the AK, and took a seat so he had a good field of fire. Joaquin started the dozer toward the church as the cables raised the blade to a point where Raymond could see over it, but his body was protected. The dozer moved fast and smooth across the yard and reached the Church in less than a minute. The armed men outside church stopped their recon, then watched for a moment before Ellis yelled at the others and they hurried to help.
Raymond put two fast rounds into the brush near Ellis, scattering the men. Two dropped to the ground, but RL and Ellis crouched and continued to advance, f
iring as they went.
The .223 rounds from Ellis’ AR-15 made crack-crack-crack sounds and the bullets zinged and moaned as they ricocheted off the dozer blade. Raymond’s AK rounds were louder and deeper, with boom-boom-boom-boom echoing off the church.
Men scurried from inside, and yells and shouts filled the air as Joaquin drove the big machine to the back of the church and into the wall at the far corner beside the big rock.
The blade lowered and dug into the white wall just below knee level. A bullet zinged off the back of the blade and both Joaquin and Raymond jerked in reflex. Raymond glanced behind the dozer to spot Ellis firing again, and this round barely missed Raymond’s chin, coming so close he felt the feathery push of air as it passed. He jerked his head, and turned to spray the AK in the direction of Ellis, who dropped out of sight in the brush.
Joaquin worked the blade and gunned the motor. The wall began to give, showing jagged, lightning-like cracks as it opened and traced the edges of the adobe bricks under the stucco. He steered the dozer slightly off-center and the blade hooked one of the bricks, pulling a door-sized opening in the wall as it also toppled the big white boulder at the corner.
Ellis rose to his knees and snapped off several rounds, all of which hit the church wall. Raymond fired back, and both men missed. He turned and yelled into the new opening in the church, “Hunter! Come out! It’s Raymond!”
More men joined Ellis. All of them opened up on the dozer and the two men half-hidden in the cab. Bullets slapped metal all around them.
Joaquin said, “Shit!”
Raymond looked in the hole one more time to see no one. He said to Joaquin, “Get us out of here.”
Joaquin didn’t wait, but turned the dozer and sped off the rise and back into town, all the while with bullets striking around them.
Raymond felt terrible, constantly looking back at the church, hoping for a glimpse of Hunter and the boy. When the rise blocked his view, he stopped looking, but his thoughts were with his friend.
Chapter 14
Hunter and Adan huddled together near the church’s rear wall as Winston Hart held a large Colt Government Model .45 on them. They heard everything going on outside, but didn’t know the specifics. A loud motor was coming closer, they knew that for sure, as it made slight vibrations pass through the church to send fine dust floating down from the damaged ceiling.
Winston said, “I should shoot you two right here.”
Hunter said, “You ever kill somebody before?”
“No, but I often wondered about it.”
“Not as easy as you think. It’ll damage your soul, Winston.”
“My soul is fine.”
She looked at him as she pushed Adan behind her. “Why murder us?”