Schism

Chapter 45 part 2

Bryan adjusted his grip and followed William inside, then broke to the right and ducked behind the stack of disassembled crates. 

He stayed low and peeked around the far side of the wood pile.  There was nearly a hundred feet of open space of bare factory floor between him and where Jared Smith was probably waiting.  There were more crates off to the left, near the stairs, but they offered no help in getting to Smith.

Hayes and Meyers settled in next to him and Bryan wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or not that the racist hadn’t fired any shots at them.  Meyers looked around the opposite end of their wooden cover.  "I can't see Smith."

Bryan watched William.  His friend got half way up the stairs before he ducked and a section of concrete above his head sprayed out in a cloud of dust.  The report from the rifle was loud, louder than he had expected.

William took another step forward, then leaned back.  Another explosion of dust and concrete chunks dropped down onto the stairs.  At least Bryan knew why he hadn’t been targeted yet.  He looked back around toward Smith, but missed the muzzle flash.  "Did you see it?" he asked Meyers and Hayes, voice low.

They both shook their heads.  The echo of the rifle died and Bryan waited for another shot.  William had made it to the top of the stairs and out of sight.

That meant that he, Meyers and Hayes were now Jared's targets.  He snuck one more quick look out at the open space, then leaned back against the stack of wood.

As soon as he did, the wood by his right shoulder sprayed out, covered him and Hayes in all sizes of splinters.  Another bullet tore through the wood and the three detectives sank as low as they could to the floor. 

Bryan felt his brain nearly stop as his heart pounded fast and hard in his chest.  It was the second time in his life he'd been shot at, but definitely the first time that he'd felt like a target in a shooting range.  He pressed his body flat to the ground and prayed that Smith wouldn't start aiming lower.

Another bullet tore through their cover and they were all showered in shards of wood. 

"What the hell is he shooting?" Hayes asked.

Three more shots sliced through the wood and into the wall behind them and Bryan heard a metallic ping from the far side of the room.  He stayed flat but saw Meyers roll over and peer out.  "What?"

Meyers settled back to the concrete floor.  "That sound.  It's an M1 rifle.  It makes that noise when it ejects an empty cartridge.  He's firing thirty aught six.  Six inches of sand would stop it, but not this wood."

Bryan would have gaped at Meyers if he dared move his head up.  "How the hell do you know all that?"

He heard Meyers sigh.  "Some cops actually do like guns, Mickelson.  When you hear that ping again, he's got to reload."

Before Bryan could ask anything, they were under fire again.  Three quick shots dumped more wood on his head, then after a moment two more came.  The ping followed the last shot and Bryan rolled to his left.  He began to fire.

As he did, Hayes scooted up and turned to pop into a crouch behind the wood.

"Wait."  Meyers hissed.

*

It was an old trick, one his grandfather had taught him.  Jared had picked up the empty en bloc clip from the floor and held it as he began to shoot again.  After five shots, he threw it to the concrete and waited for them to come into view.  It sounded like the gun had just ejected an empty clip, but he still had three rounds left.

Mickelson, the detective who had been inside the burning apartment building, rolled out and began firing blindly.  Jared sighted, but kept his finger still.  He waited and glanced at the stairs.

Harold had lied about the vigilante.  The man, William, was still alive.  As soon as he had seen the man, Jared had known the shots would be futile.  He had still tried, but the bullets were wasted and William had made it upstairs.

Jared looked back at the wood pile.  He could continue to shoot randomly at it, and would probably hit the three detectives, but he had only two more full clips and was afraid he'd need them all for the vigilante.  He knew he should be trying to get away, but so many of his people had died, had been murdered.  He had to stay.  Without loyalty, the cause was nothing.  Without it, whites would be just as bad as the other races.

And, he did believe that Harold could kill William.  The man was too fast to shoot, but he couldn't outrun a fire started in his own body.  Harold was upstairs dealing with him now; Jared had to believe that, which left these three men for him to deal with.

He pulled the rifle in close and the target he wanted popped up in the middle of the pile.  If he couldn't kill William right now, he'd kill the black detective, Lieutenant Hayes, first.  He sighted and fired.

*

Bryan couldn't see Jared until the muzzle flash.  When he saw it, he flinched away without firing back, rolled back for cover, knowing that it would be too late if he'd been the target.  He struggled to keep his breathing steady.  They were trapped where they were.  Even if they tried to move out together, Smith was concealed and they would be easy targets.  At best, two of them would make it out without being shot.

But they had to do something. 

He snuck a quick look around the edge of their shelter and turned back to the others.  If he could get them out, maybe Meyers could get a shot at Smith from a side window.

Then Hayes fell beside him.

As his lieutenant fell, Bryan felt a vibration over his heart.  He looked down, expected to see blood.  He had no frame of reference to imagine what it felt like to be shot in the chest, but it had to be worse than what he had just felt.  Then he remembered the cell phone he'd taken from the young man.  He had forgotten it was still in his jacket, had forgotten that he'd had it at all.  As he took a breath and realized that he hadn't been shot, he began to wonder why it was ringing now.   Staying as low as he could, Bryan crawled over to the lieutenant. 

*

(Author’s note:  What?  Hayes shot…a message on the bad guy’s phone…how are these thing connected?  What does everyone think?  Who’s going to make it out of here?!  Thank you all for the votes and notes!  Please keep them coming and tell your friends about Schism and don’t forget that autographed copies are available at http://hopebooksllc.com/buy  Talk to you all soon!)