Dirt

car for us,” he said, stepping over Jimmy and into the hall. Quickly, silently, the two men walked toward the apartment door.
    Jimmy began to come to. He got an arm under him and pushed himself back into the elevator. Painfully, he reached up and pushed the button for the lobby.
     
     
    Arrington was putting up the best fight she could with her hands taped behind her. She was naked now, and she struggled to get a foot free so that she could kick, but Tommy held them fast.
    “Why don’t you just relax,” Charlie’s voice said softly. He was close enough that she could feel his breath on her face. Quickly she pulled her head back and aimed her forehead at the voice. There was a cry of pain as she connected, and something warm splashed onto her face. She managed to get a foot loose and kicked with all her might, connecting with something, she wasn’t sure what.
    “The bitch broke my nose!” Charlie wailed. “I’m going to fuck her with the knife!”
    Arrington continued to struggle, but she was losing. Then she heard the door open, and suddenly she was released.
    “How ya doin’?” a strange voice said, followed by two dull thumps. She had seen enough movies to know what a silenced pistol sounded like.
    Arrington rolled off the sofa and ran blindly in the direction of the bedroom; she knew she was there when she felt carpeting under her feet. She got behind the door and kicked it shut, then turned around and found the lock. One turn, and she was locked in. She ran into the bathroom, knocking a knee painfully against the toilet. There was a pair of scissors in the top drawer of the vanity; she got them out and began trying awkwardly to aim them at the tape holding her wrists. From the living room she heard two more thumps.
     
     
    The first man straightened up. “Okay, that piece of business is taken care of. What about the girl?”
    “We were told to take out any witnesses,” the second man said.
    “Yeah, but didn’t you see? Her eyes had duct tape on them.”
    “You’ve got a point.”
    The first man walked to the bedroom door and tried it. “Locked. We’ll have to break it down.”
    “That’s gonna be noisy,” the second man said. “These old buildings have solid doors.”
    “You’re right,” the first man said.
    “We’ve been here too long already; let’s get out now.”
    Then someone spoke from the front door of the apartment. “Freeze!” the voice said.
     
     
    Stone stood in a crouch, the .765 pistol fully extended in front of him. He saw, as if in slow motion, the man at the bedroom door start to turn, saw the gun in his hand. He fired once, knocking the man against the bedroom door, then immediately turned and got off another round at the second man, who was pointing a pistol at him. Simultaneously, the man jerked and spun, and Stone felt the breeze and hum of a bullet go past his ear.
     
     
    Arrington heard the shots and a loud thump against the bedroom door, and she redoubled her efforts with the scissors. The tape was tearing now, and she forced her wrists apart until she could get a hand free. She ripped the tape off her eyes.
     
     
    Still holding the pistol out in front of him, Stone stepped over the man closest to him and kicked his gun away from him. He performed the same operation with the man lying in front of the bedroom door, then felt for a pulse at the neck. Nothing. He turned to the other man, who was clutching his side with one hand and struggling to get to his feet. “Lie down,” Stone said. When the man continued to get up, Stone hit him with the gun. He went down and lay quiet. “Arrington!” he yelled. He looked around for her. The two Bruce brothers lay near the sofa, bullet wounds in the back of both heads. There was blood all over the floor. “Arrington!” he yelled again, and went into the kitchen. Nothing there.
    He went to the bedroom door and tried it. Locked. He stood back, pivoted off his right foot, and drove the left into the door, just below the lock. The door burst open, and he rushed in, the pistol out in front of him. Something was coming at him from his left side, and he hit the floor to get away from it, struggling to get the gun up. Something struck the floor near his head.
    Then he saw he was aiming at a naked woman holding a baseball bat. “Arrington!” he shouted, throwing up an arm to ward off the blow.
    She froze. “Stone?
Where the hell have you been?
”
    He got to his feet, stuck the gun into his pocket, and took her