ready to argue with a loaded gun. With his shirttail hanging, he backed out the driver’s door. Jimmy could see the leather pouch on the floor, the pouch that had housed Glenn’s pistol.
Terrie, crying, didn’t seem to understand what either man was saying. She had run around to the driver’s side and was too busy dragging her two suitcases out from the back seat.
Jimmy was quite certain Glenn had the gun somewhere on him, but where? Most likely in a hip pocket. First he would have to find it and then he would—he didn’t know what he would do next. Jay was big. To Jimmy he seemed so large that without his own gun he would not stand a chance against the man. Unless he could get the other gun off Jay what came next was immaterial. There would be two new graves on the mountain. If the man even bothered to bury them. More than likely he would leave them for the wild animals to feast upon.
“Get your shirt off,” Jimmy said. The gun had to be on Glenn somewhere. Had to be!
“Damn you! You stupid bastard! You’ve really had it now. Your ass is dead! Don’t think it ain’t. You hear me, asshole?”
For Terrie, there was only one frightening reality. She was a long way from where she was supposed to be, alone on a mountaintop with two lunatics and one of them had a gun. What had John said? Was it, “I’ll protect you” or “I’ll kill him?”
She dragged her suitcases away from the car. It was too late now.
“Dammit, get your shirt off !” Jimmy shouted. “I’ll kill you if you don’t.”
“I’ll take my shirt off, you son of a bitch. It’s you who’s gonna get killed though. You ain’t man enough to kill old Jay. I was shootin’ guns before you was born.”
Jimmy knew what he must do. If he could find the other gun, he would first take it away. Then he would force Jay to crawl inside the car’s trunk. Close the lid and lock him in. He and Terrie could drive to the nearest town and leave the car. Then they could hitchhike out, her one way and him the other. Or maybe they could just leave Jay there without his shoes and take the car. Jay wouldn’t have too many miles to walk for help. Whatever they did it was important that Terrie stay.
Now that he’d stuck his neck out for her, he didn’t want her wandering off down the mountain. He’d take her where she wanted to go. Sacramento or wherever. As for Seattle, there was no longer any hope of going there now.
Jay’s shirt was off. There was no gun to be seen. Where was Terrie? Where was the gun? When Jimmy could hear anything other than Jay ranting and raving, he heard Terrie crying and screaming. Jimmy’s sense of direction was confused. “Where are you, Terrie?” he called.
“Don’t go. Please don’t go. I’ll shoot him if I have to. Don’t think I won’t kill him.”
Jimmy didn’t know how long he would be able to hold the gun on Jay. His hand was trembling. Would it even shoot? If he had to pull the trigger, would anything happen?
Although the gun was heavy, it seemed awfully small. Was it powerful enough to stop a wild man like Jay? Hopefully, he would never have to find out.
Terrie was screaming as she moved away from the car. She was making such a lot of noise that Jimmy wondered if she had been shot or cut or something. What had Jay done?
Jimmy turned away for only an instant, searching for a sign of the girl and at the same time trying to keep one eye on the old man.
When he turned his full attention back to Jay, his worse nightmare was taking shape. Jay’s right hand was whipping around from behind his back. Jimmy caught sight of the gun as it was coming up.
Oh, God! There was no time to consider his next move, no opportunity to make a rational decision. Jimmy quickly raised his gun and silently prayed it would fire. As he squeezed the trigger, Glenn snapped off a shot.
Terrie was moving across the clearing, dragging her suitcases down the logging trail, trying to reach the road they’d come in on. She heard what she thought was one shot. She let out a loud cry and walked even faster. Her screams intensified.
Jimmy felt a sharp pain as Glenn’s bullet tore flesh from his right forearm. The small gun threatened to slip from his hand. His bullet had hit Jay high on the chest. Jay’s mouth flew open and his left hand clutched his breast as he bumped the car, stepped to his right and dropped to one knee. Terrie glanced back only long enough to see the old man kneeling down. Tears filled Jimmy’s eyes. Supporting his right hand with his left, he brought his gun to bear on his nemesis.
Jay’s gun lay within reach. Jimmy started moving to his right so the old man wouldn’t have a clear shot. Don’t do it, Jimmy silently pleaded. “It’s over, man, it’s over,” he said aloud. “Get your hand back. I’ll get you to a doctor. You’ll be all right.”
“You rotten son of a bitch, you’ve shot me. Damn you to hell, you’ve shot me. I’ll kill you! Kill you!”
Nothing short of death could prevent Glenn from trying. No little guy was going to get the best of him. The gun was within reach. From one knee he twisted around. His hand touched the cold steel.
Terrie cried out when she heard a second shot.
Silence. A total absence of all sound. Had someone whispered, Jimmy felt as though he could have heard every word.
Only moments before, the noise had been maddening. There had been yelling! Screaming! Cursing! Terrie was crying. Sounds had seemed to attack his senses from every direction. And then came the most shattering explosion of all: the roar of gunfire. The little pistols had made more noise than he would have thought possible. Louder than the big guns had been when he was aboard ship off the shores of Vietnam. These were little guns that hurt bad.
Those sounds had evaporated. Now it was as though all the nocturnal animals were frozen in place and holding their collective breath. There was only silence. Stark silence. Deafening silence. Jimmy was certain that this silence was louder than all the noise had been earlier. He felt as though he was in danger of going mad and losing all sense of reasoning.
He closed his eyes but the silence increased in intensity until Jimmy feared his head would burst. And then it was interrupted by a repetitive sound that grew louder and louder, a sound that closed in and threatened to beat him to the ground. Any noise would have startled him but this one was devastating beyond all measure. Some moments passed before he recognized the sound of his heartbeat as his breathing grew shallow and rapid.
Gradually he realized that if he didn’t gain control there was the danger he might collapse. As helpless as Jay seemed to be, this he could not allow. If he quit now, he would never get down off this mountain.
He willed himself to take deep breaths. His forearm burned as though someone was pressing against it with a hot coal. There was a real danger that he might pass out. This he could not, would not, allow to happen.
Was Jay still alive? He didn’t know. All Jimmy knew for certain was that a few moments earlier he had been in a situation where he had to shoot or be shot. Kill or be killed. His life or Jay’s. All because Terrie had screamed and yelled for help.
Where
