WATCHERS by Dean R. Koontz

cool.

Einstein came sniffing around, and Travis said, “They’re too hot yet.”

The dog returned to the living room to look out the front window at the rain.

Just before Nora turned off the Coast Highway, Vince slid down on the seat,

below the window level, out of sight. He kept the gun on her. “I’ll blow that

baby right out of your belly if you make the slightest wrong move.”

She believed him.

Turning onto the dirt lane, which was muddy and slippery, Nora drove up

the hill toward the house. The overhanging trees shielded the road from the

worst of the rain but collected the water on their branches and sent it to the

ground in fatter droplets or rivulets.

She saw Einstein at a front window, and she tried to come up with some signal

that would mean “trouble,” that the dog would instantly understand. She couldn’t

think of anything.

Looking up at her, Vince said, “Don’t go all the way to the barn. Stop right

beside the house.”

His plan was obvious. The corner of the house where the pantry and cellar stairs

were located had no windows. Travis and Einstein would not be able to see the

man getting out of the truck with her. Vince could hustle her around the corner,

onto the back porch, and inside before Travis realized something was wrong.

Maybe Einstein’s canine senses would detect danger. Maybe. But . . . Einstein

had been so ill.

Einstein padded into the kitchen, excited.

Travis said, “Was that Nora’s truck?”

Yes.

The retriever went to the back door and did a dance of impatience—then stood

still, cocked his head.

Nora’s stroke of luck came when she least expected it.

When she parked alongside the house, engaged the hand brake, and switched off

the engine, Vince grabbed her and dragged her across the seat, out of his side

of the truck because that was the side against the back end of the house and

most difficult to see from windows at the front corner of the structure.

Climbing from the pickup, pulling her by one hand, he was looking around to be

sure Travis was not nearby; distracted, he couldn’t keep his revolver on Nora as

closely as before. As she slid across the seat, past the glove box, she popped

open the door and snatched up the .38 pistol. Vince must have heard or sensed

something because he swung toward her, but he was too late. She jammed the .38

into his belly and, before he could raise his gun and blow her head off, she

squeezed the trigger three times.

With a look of shock, he slammed back against the house, which was only three

feet behind him.

She was amazed by her own cold-bloodedness. Crazily, she thought that no one was

so dangerous as a mother protecting her children, even if one child was unborn

and the other was a dog. She fired once more, point-blank, at his chest.

Vince went down hard, face-first on the wet ground.

She turned from him and ran. At the corner of the house she almost collided

with Travis, who vaulted over the porch railing and landed in a crouch in front

of her, holding the Uzi carbine.

“I killed him,” she said, hearing hysteria in her voice, fighting to control it.

“I shot him four times, I killed him, my God.”

Travis rose from a crouch, bewildered. Nora threw her arms around him and put

her head against his chest. As chilling rain beat upon them, she reveled in the

living warmth of him.

“Who—” Travis began.

Behind Nora, Vince issued a shrill breathless cry and, rolling onto his back,

fired at them. The bullet struck Travis high in the shoulder and knocked him

backward. If it had been two inches to the right, it would have hit Nora in the

head.

She was almost pulled off her feet when Travis fell because she was holding him.

But she let go fast enough and went to the left, in front of the truck, out of

the line of fire. She got only a quick look at Vince, who was holding his

revolver in one hand and clutching his stomach with the other, trying to get off

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *