Split Second

"Uh, no, that wouldn't be a good idea." King was watching theclock as it moved to 10:29. Eight years ago Ritter was in front of him, dealing with the adoring crowd. King wasn't going to make that mistake with Bruno. He led him over to the rope. "I want you to stand behind me. Whatever happens, just keep behind me."

"Yes, absolutely."

Actually King wanted to get behind him. After all these years here he was: a damn human shield again.

He pulled the gun from his pocket. If the bullets weren't real, he had no chance. He eyed the velvet rope. He took a step forward. He was within an inch of it now, ironically almost in the exact same spot Ritter was in when Ramsey shot him. As the hand moved to 10:30, King chambered a round.

"Well, bring on the fat babies to kiss," mumbled King. "Just bring it on."

As Michelle peered around the corner, she saw the man standing outside the door to the Stonewall Jackson Room. He was armed with a pistol and rifle and looked to be the man who'd impersonated the police sniper in the tree before joining Parks in trying to kill her. She couldn't see his face clearly, but she suspected this man was Simmons. If so, she had an advantage. Should she jump out and tell him to freeze? He might get a shot off and be lucky enough to hit her. And then she looked up and saw the sentry glance at his watch and smile. That could only mean…

She rolled out, her pistol aimed at his chest. She did tell him to freeze, but she modified that approach somewhat by firing at the same time as she cried out. The slugs hit him right in the pecs; he yelled out and dropped. Michelle ran forward, reached the fallen man, kicked his weapons away, knelt down and checked his pulse. The booted foot came up and caught her on the shoulder, and Michelle tumbled back and lost her gun.

The man staggered up, grasping at his chest. How could that be? She'd nailed him squarely in the upper torso. She answered herquestion almost immediately as she struggled to her feet. Body armor. She lunged for her gun but so did he. They crashed into each other, and he got a stranglehold around her neck.

"This time," he hissed in her ear, "you're going to die, bitch." It was the man who'd tried to kill her in her truck.

She couldn't match him in strength, so she decided to use her advantage. She jammed her elbow into his left side, right where she believed she'd shot him that night. He moaned and his grip broke and he went to his knees. She kicked away from him, slid across the floor and fumbled for her gun. As her hands closed around it, she turned and saw Simmons rise up and pull a knife from his belt.

She aimed and fired, and the round hit him in the dead center of the forehead. She dragged herself over to him. As she stared down at his body, she had an idea. It just might work.

73

At precisely 10:31 King realized he had a major problem, or at least another major problem to join all the others. He glanced at the elevator. If the present held to the past, something was going to happen with that elevator. The problem was, if those doors somehow opened and King didn't look away to see what it was, he and Bruno might be attacked from that direction. Yet if he did look to see what it was, as he had eight years ago, that momentary distraction could spell doom for them both. He envisioned Sidney Morse watching him ponder this dilemma and laughing his butt off.

As the clock moved to the fateful minute, King reached back and grabbed hold of Bruno. "When I tell you to go down," he whispered urgently, "you go down!"

It was as though King could see every sliver of the clock's movement as the hand moved to 10:32. He readied his pistol. He thought about firing a round, to see if his ammo was live, but Morse could very well have only given him one real bullet, and he would have wasted it. Morse had probably figured that one too.

He made sweeping arcs with his gun, and his grip on Bruno's coat grew tighter. The candidate's breathing was accelerating so fast King was afraid he might just faint. He thought he could hear the smacks of Bruno's heart and then realized they were his own. Okay, he was as ready as he was going to be.

The clock hit 10:32, and the arc of King's gun became faster ashe tried to cover every inch of the room. The lights went out, and they were plunged into total darkness. And then the room erupted in kaleidoscope lights that would have done any disco proud. They swept around the room like a flash fire, and the voices started up on high volume. It was deafening and blinding, and King had to shield his eyes. Then he remembered and reached in his pocket and put on his sunglasses. Score one for the guys in shades.

Then the ding of the elevator came.

"Damn you, Morse!" King called out.

The doors slid open, or was it just a trick? Indecision was tearing King apart. Should he look over or not?

"Hit the floor!" he told Bruno, and the man dropped instantly. King turned his head, determined only to look for a split second. He never made it that far.