The men took careful aim and their fingers went to their triggers. They would have her dead center in a lethal field of fire.
She gave a small shake of the head, and even managed a smile.
“Finito,” she whispered to herself.
“Go to hell!” she shouted at the militiamen as she raised her gun for what would certainly be the last time.
That’s when the first explosion hit.
Caught off guard, Reel instinctively ducked and rolled under the truck. Her first thought was that one of the idiot militia guys had dropped a grenade and blown himself up.
When she looked back it seemed that this was indeed the case. The trucks on her forward flank were on fire, the men there dead, dazed, or scattered.
But then from the corner of her eye she saw a shot originate from a ridge to her left. It impacted with the side of one of the trucks on her rear flank. Its fuel tank ignited and lifted the two-ton truck three feet into the air, scattering lethal bits of metal in all directions.
Six of the men there were gutted where they stood and dropped, never to fight again. Then the gunfire opened up. But they weren’t firing at her. They were firing up at the ridge.
Reel looked out from under the truck. The sunlight was in her eyes, but she slid a bit to the right and the glare vanished. She grabbed her binoculars from her pocket, clapped them to her eyes, and spun the focus lever.
She saw the muzzle of a sniper rifle. And not just any sniper rifle. She had one just like it. A customized job that only had a few patrons.
The gun fired once, twice, three times.
Reel looked back and saw three men drop to the dirt, dead.
She stared back up the ridge. The man was moving so fast and so low to the ground that he resembled a cougar going after prey.
Her jaw sagged. It was Will Robie.
She marveled at his ability to maneuver so fluidly through the rough terrain. Then she wondered why he was giving up the high ground.
She stopped wondering with what he did next.
He fired a round into the fuel tank of the second truck on her rear flank. He’d had to move to get a sight line on the tank. He must have been chambering incendiary rounds, because this truck exploded too. Three more men died and the survivors ran for it, disappearing down the road in full retreat.
Robie stopped, pivoted, and then rapid-fired with his sniper rifle at the remaining men on the forward flank.
Acquire a target and fire. Acquire a target and fire. It was like taking breaths, as natural and seamless as could be. Reel counted off each shot and with each round fired, a man fell. Robie never once missed. It was a man against children.
They took cover and fired back. But even though he was outgunned it was like Robie had the superior firepower. While the militia shot wildly, their adrenaline and fear making it unlikely they would hit anything, Robie aimed and fired with such calm efficiency that it was like he was playing a video game and could hit reset anytime he wanted.
After another minute of this slaughter the remaining militia on the forward flank were in full-scale retreat.
That left just the two of them.
Reel looked back at Robie. He stood on a small knoll staring down at her.
She came out from under the truck and held her pistol loosely at her side.
He had dropped his rifle. His Glock was in his right hand. He held it loosely too.
Reel looked at the burning carnage and the dead bodies and then back at Robie.
“Thanks.”
Robie took a few more steps forward and then stopped. He was nearly at level ground, sixty yards from her.
They both knew the same thing.
Twenty more yards of closure and their Glocks would easily be in kill range.
“You could have just let them kill me,” she said. “More than twenty to one, inevitable. Keep your hands clean.”
“Wasn’t on my option board.” Robie glanced at one of the dead men. “Who are they?”
“Militiamen. And not very capable ones.”
He nodded. “Did you kill Jacobs and Gelder?”
Reel drew a few yards closer and stopped. She glanced at Robie’s hands. They hadn’t moved. But it would only take a second for that to change and the Glock to fire.
“How did you know to come here?” she asked.
“Friend of a friend. Didn’t know if you’d be here or not. I was looking for West.”
“Why?”
“Because you were looking for him.”
Reel said nothing. She just stared at his gun hand.
“You don’t have to send any more cryptic texts, Jessica. I’m here. So tell me what the hell is going on.”
“It’s complicated, Will.”
“Then let’s start out simple. Did you kill them?”
Robie walked forward another five yards. They were now right on the cusp.
Neither of them was holding their Glocks loosely now. The muscles in their trigger hands were flexed tight. But the fingers were still on the trigger guards.
“You haven’t changed much, Will.”
“Apparently you have,” said Robie. “Roy West? Where is he? With the pile of bodies?”
She shook her head. “Not those piles. But he’s still dead.”
“You killed him too?”
“He did himself in. It’s dangerous to fill your house with explosives. Like living with rattlesnakes.”
“Why did you need to find West?”
“He had something I needed.”
“A document?” asked Robie.
Her face flashed concern. “How did you know about that?”
“Did you get it?”
“I already had the document and I’ve read it. I wanted more info, but I didn’t get it.”
“So all this was a waste?” he said.
They both glanced sideways. In the far distance a sound could be heard. Sirens. Even in the middle of nowhere explosions and gunfire drew the police eventually.
She looked back at him. “I know what you’ve been tasked to do,” she said.
“And I’m giving you a chance to explain.”
“So explanation before execution?”
“That depends solely on the explanation.”
The sirens were drawing closer. Each singsong screech burst the quiet like artillery rounds.
He added, “And we’re running out of time.”