“Shit!” Josh said again as they all listened to the heavy boots clattering into the building. In another couple of minutes, maybe less, they would be here. He suddenly glared at Fiske and Sara. “I told you. They set us up. We been sitting here jawing with them while the Army surrounds this place.”
“In case you didn’t notice, we’re not in uniform,” Fiske said. “Maybe they followed you.”
“We didn’t come from the direction of the prison. When they see the two of us, they’re gonna shoot, and that’s it.”
“Not if you give yourselves up, they won’t.”
“That ain’t an option,” Josh said loudly.
“It ain’t an option,” Rufus repeated. “They ain’t gonna let me live, knowing what I know.”
Fiske looked at Rufus Harms. The man’s eyes darted left and right. He had admitted to killing the girl. Shouldn’t that be an end to it? Why not let the Army put him back in his cage? But Mike had wanted to help him.
Fiske jumped up.
Josh covered him with his pistol. “Don’t make this no harder than it is.”
Fiske didn’t even look at him; his eyes were squarely on Rufus. “Rufus? Rufus!”
Rufus finally seemed to break out of his inertia and looked at him.
“Maybe I can get you out of this, but you have to do exactly what I say.”
Josh said, “We can damn well get ourselves out of this.”
“In about thirty seconds those two guys are going to come through that door and it’ll be over. You can’t match their firepower.”
“How ’bout I put one of my bullets in you right now?” Josh said.
“Rufus, will you trust me? My brother came to help you. Let me finish what he started. Come on, Rufus. Give me a chance.” A bead of sweat trickled down Fiske’s forehead.
Sara couldn’t even speak. All she could hear were those boots, all she could see was that machine gun, coming closer and closer.
Finally, almost imperceptibly, Rufus nodded.
Fiske launched into action. “Get in the bathroom, both of you,” he said.
Josh started to protest until Rufus cut him off and pushed him toward the private bath adjoining the office.
“Sara, you go with them.”
She looked at him, stunned. “What?”
“Just do what I say. If you hear me call your name, flush the toilet and then come out. You two” — he nodded at the brothers — “stay behind that door. If you don’t hear me say your name, Sara, stay put.”
“And you don’t think them Army boys might just want to come take a peek at the toilet, especially if the door’s closed?” Josh asked sarcastically.
“Let me worry about that.”
“Okay,” Josh said slowly. “But let me give you another thing to worry about, smart boy. You sell us out and the first bullet I fire is gonna hit you right about here.” Josh placed his pistol against the base of Fiske’s skull. “But you won’t even hear my pistol fire. You’ll be dead before your damn ears tells your damn brain.”
Fiske nodded at Josh as though accepting his challenge, which, in effect, he was. He looked at Sara; her face was pale. She leaned into him, shaking hard, trying, without success, to catch her breath, as the pounding feet drew closer.
“John, I can’t do this.”
He gripped her shoulders hard. “Sara, you can do this. You are going to do this. Now go. Go.” He squeezed her hand and then she and the Harms brothers went into the bathroom and Sara shut the door behind them. Fiske looked around the office, fighting hard to get his composure. He spied a briefcase against one wall, grabbed it and unsnapped the lid. It was empty. He stuffed files from the top of Rider’s desk into the briefcase. As the boots boomed down the hallway, he raced to the small conference table set up in one corner. As he sat down, he heard the outer door open. As he pulled a file from the briefcase and opened it, he heard the inner door start to open. He leaned back in the chair and pretended to study some of the papers as the door opened. He stared up into the faces of the men.