Read Online Redaction: Extinction Level Event (Part I) by Linda Andrews - Free Book Online Page A

hung over the hunter’s blind. “Maybe it just didn’t work out the way they planned.”
    Enough. There would be no reasoning with him now. His paranoia had become too entrenched. Mavis shifted her aim from the center of his chest to his right shoulder. Mr. Quartermain might forgive her for winging his grandson. “I am going home. Now. If you try to stop me, I will shoot you, Justin.”
    “I’ll shoot you back.” As if he’d just seen the gun in her hand, he stepped back.
    “Bullets are faster than arrows. And I am a crack shot.”
    “Justin.” The boy’s name dissolved in a raspy cough. “Lower the bow, Justin. She’s one of the good guys.”
    Mavis’s arms sagged and she lost her target. Mr. Quartermain had finally arrived.
    Justin glanced at the ground while relaxing the bow string. “But she could be infected.”
    “Mrs. Spanner is a doctor. She’d know if she’s been around any infected.” Mr. Quartermain’s black cowboy hat appeared above the branches. When the breadth of his shoulders appeared, he turned to face her. He opened his mouth and coughed. His cheeks flushed red as he pounded on his chest. Finally, he stopped coughing and spit. “Damned emphysema. You want me to come out there and unlock the gate, Ms. Spanner?”
    Mavis tucked the gun into the small of her back and retrieved the keys from her pocket. “No, I’ll do it.”
    She’d also give the old man a call and make sure he had all his medicines. God forbid Justin should be left in charge of minding the gate. Squatting in front of the lock, Mavis shifted through her keys, until she spied the small silver one. Grabbing hold of the head, she inserted the key into the lock and twisted.
    The key didn’t move.
    She slid it out again them back in and tried again. First right, then left. Still it didn’t turn. Did she have the right key? She sifted through the ones on her chain. That was the only one that would fit. “Mr. Quartermain, my key is not working.”
    “That’s cause I changed the lock after I saw you leave.” Justin smirked.
    The little twerp. Yanking out her key, Mavis tucked them into her back pocket and pulled out her gun. “I hope you have another lock.”
    Just as she drew a bead on the silver square, an engine rumbled. She glanced over her shoulder. No. No. No! Every organ inside her body collapsed into a black hole, leaving her hollowed out, incapable of movement or thought. All thoughts except one: Fear.
    A Humvee rolled around the corner. Red paint scrolled on the side held her attention: We shoot first and let God sort out the pieces.

 
     
    Chapter Seven
     
     
    “You see, Sergeant Major, the night might not be a total loss.” In the back seat of the Humvee, Colonel Ryan Lynch tore off another over-sized bite from his triple-patty cheeseburger before using the sandwich to gesture outside the bullet-proof window. Funny how Burgers in a Basket had ran out of free food for the military, yet his CO had managed to snag three. Grease dropped from the lopsided bun, joining the mustard and sesame seeds on the pant leg of his uniform. “You can shoot a few civilians for being out past curfew.”
    Taking his attention from the rear-view mirror, David lifted his foot off the gas. His hand dropped to weapon lying on the passenger seat. Yeah, cause that’s what he’d enlisted for—to shoot his fellow Americans.
    He gazed ahead, taking in the graffiti smeared brick walls, the burned out cars at ten, eleven and two o’clock. Overflowing dumpsters hunkered at two and three. What remained of the ground cover wouldn’t hide a squirrel. But...
    The eucalyptus at one had a partially concealed sniper’s nest. The current occupants were a boy with a bow and arrow and an old man. Were they protecting the neighborhood or looking at the people in the car as prey? He ducked under the strap of his M-4 and switched his attention to the woman.
    Well, well, the little missy had a gun. Even if she didn’t know how to use it, she