FAST PACED FICTION BY ESTHER CARNEY

‘Drop those guns!’ she shouted to the group of men inside, now pointing her rifle at Lanham. The men dropped their guns and she noted with satisfaction the look of fear on Lanham’s face as his weapon clattered to the floor. As her finger rested on the trigger she thought of the way he had tricked her and was very tempted to shoot him. It was a temptation which she resisted. In the next second a bullet whizzed past her right arm from somewhere behind her and lodged in the woodwork of the window frame. There was obviously someone outside the house, but as she looked around she could see no one in the dim light. Her eyes were still adjusted to the brightness of the room she’d been staring into just before. She ran, shooting out two of the tires of the parked car in the driveway as she passed it. Reaching the clump of trees nearby, several shots rang out near her.

She leaned against a wide tree panting as she looked back towards the house. Now she could see Lanham’s fifth man standing behind the car in the driveway looking around for her. He was one she had not met earlier that day and consequently had no way of knowing of his existence until now. Watching as he raised his rifle, she aimed her own carefully and shot the weapon from his hands. It was a warning which she hoped he would heed.