grabbed hold once again.
"Get down, " Cole roared to her as he raced forward. The shots were
coming from the roof above the general store, but he couldn't see the
gunman's exact position. He kept shouting at Jessica to get the hell
out of the street, to duck, but she wasn't listening to him.
She squinted up at the roof as she lifted the gun with both hands and
tried to fire. She was shaking so much she almost dropped the gun
again, and when she finally fired, the bullet shattered the glass of
the second-story window.
The sound of gunfire had frightened Caleb, and he was running back to
his mother. "No, " Jessica cried out.
Mr. Johnson watched as she ran to intercept her baby. He was toying
with her. He was having such a fine time, he couldn't resist playing
cat with his little mouse. Because he so enjoyed the look of stark
terror on the woman's face, he wanted to prolong the thrill. The boy
had quickly come back into range. That was nice. Mr. Johnson smiled
as he once again considered killing the boy before the mother so that
he could watch her expression. It was bound to be priceless.
She was moving too quickly to suit him. we canpt have that, he thought
with a chuckle as he fired at the ground in front of her. She came to
a dead stop. "That's better, " he whispered, but then she was moving
again, and he had to fire at the ground to get her to stop. Dust
sprayed up into her face.
Damned if she didn't start running yet again. God love herţ and He
would soon have that opportunity, Mr. Johnson thought, if she went
right to heaven. Was she as pure as she looked? Mr. Johnson
sincerely doubted that. There was no such thing as a pure woman, and
he wasn't going to dispatch this woman to heaven or hell quite yet.
She had to suffer first. His rules, not God's, but in his mind he was
just as omniscient because he too had the power to determine who lived
and who died.
"Time's up, " he whispered as he aimed the barrel of the rifle at her
heart. Only a few precious seconds had passed since the first shot was
fired, but it seemed a lifetime before Cole could reach Jessica. He
dove, knocking her to the ground. He rolled onto his back on top of
her, his guns drawn and ready as he squinted against the sunlight to
find the target.
There . . . in the corner of the roof . . . a flash of metal. "Got
you, " he muttered a scant second before he opened fire.
His second shot struck his target. The gunman lurched up and back,
stumbled forward on his knees, and then plummeted to the ground. Cole
shot him three more times as he was falling to his death.
His attention stayed on the outlaw as he slowly rolled to his feet and
moved forward. His anger was beyond control. Caleb's screams echoed
in his ears. The baby was sitting in the dirt, crying for his mama.
Staggering to her feet, Jessica ran to him. She was too weak to pick
Caleb up and fell to her knees beside him. He clawed at her skirt and
threw himself against her. She wrapped him in her arms and began to
rock back and forth, her sobs overpowering her.