Rescue

rolling to a prone shooting position with the unfamiliar revolver as Axel Severn came on, still firing. I shot three times at his chest, spinning him around, his silenced M-16 flying off to the side as he went down.
    I got up and was reaching for Eddie, whose hands were over his ears, when I heard Whit Tidyman say, “First I’ll take the boy, then you.“
    I froze.
    “Drop it, now.“
    I did, into the scrub grass at my feet.
    Tidyman came down closer as Axel Severn, clasping his left palm on his right bicep, got to his knees. “That asshole bastard, he shot me, shot me clean through.“
    Tidyman had a silenced M-16, also. “I should have killed you, Francis.“
    I said, “Too late. Listen to the tape, the message it’s sending. The people in the Compound will see for themselves what your boss and girlfriend have been doing. It’s all over.“
    Royel Wyeth’s voice came booming out of the night, competing in its own way with my tape still some distance away. “Where is he? Where is the blas -phe -mer?“
    Tidyman turned slightly as Wyeth staggered toward him, but not enough to give me a realistic chance at the revolver with Eddie so much in the line of fire. Wyeth went right by Tidyman, stumbling a little as he came slightly downhill toward us, pointing at me. Eddie turned to my leg, hugging it and burying his face in my thigh.
    “The blasphemer, back from the dead by favor of Satan to save his minion. It is as I fore -told, as I was told by the others who preceded—“
    A six-round burst from Tidyman’s weapon spat into Wyeth’s back, making him stagger and fall forward, blood trickling downslope from his still body.
    Severn went slack-jawed. “Well, shit, you finally done it.“
    “No,“ said Tidyman, the barrel of the silenced weapon hovering in my direction. “Francis here, he stole one of your weapons and killed the Reverend right in front of you.“
    Severn looked at Wyeth on the ground, then grinned like a gargoyle. “Why, I do believe you’re right, Sergeant. And I’ll tell that in any court in the land. Yes, I will.“
    Tidyman said, “No, you won’t,“ and shot him with a shorter burst, the silencer no good anymore, the popping from the muzzle still hanging in the air as the bullets punched Severn over, his legs catching under him at the knees as he rocked back from the impact of the high velocity rounds tumbling through him.
    I said, “Simpler that way, right?“
    Tidyman turned his dour face to me. “Right. Only one version, mine.“
    I could hear sirens in the background, the sound of the Greenspans’ boat racing across the channel, the voices from the Compound getting louder and angrier as they seemed to be in the courtyard now, only a couple of hundred feet behind Tidyman.
    I said, “Time’s running out.“
    “Only on you, Francis.“
    I stepped between him and Eddie. “You going to kill the boy, too?“
    The muzzle came up. “No more options.“
    Then, off to the right, I heard, “Maybe one more.“
    Tidyman swung his weapon and fired, the M-16’s report overpowered by the ringing sound of a heavy pistol’s three quick shots, the forty-five-caliber slugs knocking Tidyman around like the Invisible Man was pummeling him,
    Howard Greenspan came out of the shadows, limping on his left foot. “Been here sooner, but I twisted my ankle, tripping over a mangrove root. Come on.“
    The three of us got down to the water’s edge, Doris bring-mg the boat in, then broaching it broadside a hundred or so yards out. Eddie said, “We gonna have to swim?“
    “Yes.“
    He bit his upper lip. “I can’t.“
    “I’ll help you.“
    His eyes looked up at me, very grave. “Those men back there. They’re dead, aren’t they?“
    “Yes.“
    “Good.“
    I put my hand on his shoulder, then squeezed once quickly and drew him toward me and into the water.

    At the boat, the first thing Doris said was, “You’re Eddie, right?“
    “Right.“
    “I’m Doris. Come on, just climb up the ladder.“
    She helped the boy over the gunwale. We were on the starboard side, away from Little Mercy Key, anybody seeing the Aquasport 19 from shore hopefully taking it for a fishing boat that came by to see what all the excitement was about. Hanging on to the swimming ladder, I passed my fins up to Doris , then reached back to Howard, the last one in the water. He flinched when I grasped his hand.
    I said, “You hit?“
    “Kind of.“
    “Where?“
    “Foot and chest. Lucky that black tip wasn’t