That’s all he managed to say before pain and darkness tookhim.
21
Joaquin!” Mia’s heart seemed to explode in herchest.
Dear God,no!
She couldn’t get to him, couldn’t help him, couldn’t even reach hispistol.
Andy was running for her, pistolraised.
She started toward the shotgun, then realized that going after it would put her in the line of fire, Andy’s heavy footfalls already sounding on her frontsteps.
She bolted for the stairs just as the son of a bitch cleared the front door and opened fireagain.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!BAM!
Her right arm went numb, drywall exploding in front of her face, bullets ripping into her walls, her own blood splattering the whitepaint.
Shit!
She reached the landing, ran into her bedroom and locked the door, using her left arm to block it with a chair. She backed away, ran for her phone, dialed 9-1-1. She gave dispatch her name and address. “Officer Petersen has been shot. He’s down. He shot Joaquin Ramirez, too. They may be dying. We need help—SWAT and medical. Andrew Meyer is the killer. He’shere.”
BAM! BAM!BAM!
Andy put a few bullets through her door to blast away the lock. “Mia, you fucking bitch! You can’t win. You might as well giveup.”
She ignored him, interrupting the dispatcher. “He’s going to kill me if he gets through my bedroom door. Hurry for fuck’ssake!”
Please, God, no. Not Joaquin. Not myJoaquin.
Knowing she had only moments, she set the receiver down, keeping dispatch on the line, and went to her closet, looking for something, anything, that she could use as aweapon.
Ski poles. They would bend. She threw themaside.
A baseball bat. It was too heavy for her to wield with onearm.
Bear spray! She had a small canister in her backpack somewhere. She searched the pockets, found it, and used her teeth to peel off the plastic safetytab.
Andy roared in rage, kicking at the door now, trying to dislodge thechair.
Mia looked down, saw blood dripping from her fingers.Damn it.She didn’t have time to make a tourniquet. If Andy got through that door, her arm would be the least of herproblems.
Joaquin!
She took cover as best she could inside her closet. She wouldn’t give Andy a clear or easy target. If that fucker wanted her, he was going to have tofight.
She took a deep breath, tried to focus her mind and calm the pounding of her heart. If she wanted to help Joaquin, she had to stay alive. Shehadto stay alive. She’d passed combatives training, but she hadn’t drilled in more than three years, and she’d never fought anyone hand-to-hand in reallife.
Her bedroom door was coming apart, bits of foam and chipboard flyingfree.
Andy raged, kicked, slammed his body against it. “Open this fuckingdoor!”
She got the pepper spray ready, tried to guess his height. She’d have only a second or two to keep him from blowing her away. If she could blind him, get the pistol away fromhim…
In the distance, she heardsirens.
“Do you hear that, Andy? They’re coming for you. They know it’s you. They’re onto your little trick with the animal blood. They know you killed Garcia and Frank. They have your DNA from when I shotyou.”