Jeff Brackett - Half Past Midnight

“He’s been through a lot in the last few days,” I said. I sent him a mental message, Don’t give up just yet, son. We’re here. We’re coming for you.

Larry listened to the sound of the battle for a moment, and my heart leapt into my throat as he turned and studied the trees where we hid. I froze, convinced he could see us, that he could see me . I was so convinced that I nearly gave the order to attack. Then, he turned to Han, and they had a quick discussion. The distance was too great for me to tell what was said, but it became obvious when Han tapped half their men on the shoulders and started to lead them away.

“They’re gonna try to help their ambush team,” Megan whispered.

We had known that was a possibility, and we couldn’t let it happen. Sarah and Rene didn’t have enough people to withstand an attack from the rear.

I turned and looked back at Mark. He was a hundred yards back and already watching me, waiting for my go ahead. I pumped my fist at him, and he signaled his men.

Seven men popped up wielding Mark’s giant slingshot. The pullers backed up to their preset distance where Mark waited with his bloody ammunition.

He loaded four skunk scent glands into the pouch loader, adjusted the aim a little to one side, and splattered the fetid payload against the inside wall of the restroom. Larry wasn’t stupid, and I assumed he would know that the sudden, overwhelmingly foul odor was bound to be a ruse to keep him out of the protection of the building. I just hoped the stench would be so strong that he would have no choice but to stay out, in spite of that knowledge.

Immediately, confused and angry shouts were heard as the men scrambled away from the stench. A second later, two more men staggered out of the concrete restroom. Coughing and retching, they kept their backs to the concrete wall.

Han and his men stopped their departure and dropped behind the shelter of the barricades. Larry held Zachary as a shield in front of him as he edged around to the other side of the building.

Our plan appeared to be working, mostly. Larry and the others scrambled along the wall putting as much distance between themselves and the reeking stench of concentrated skunk scent as possible. Zachary cried openly as Larry put a pistol to his head.

Troutman screamed to the trees, “Leeland! I’ll kill him!”

It was the hardest thing I had ever done, but I tore my eyes away from my son’s plight and took aim at the men manning the fifty-caliber on top of the building. My shot was the first of many as ten others down the line made short work of the poor wretches. Three seconds after I fired that first shot, the two men were lying slumped across the concrete benches they had dragged up for protection. We had finished our first volley.

As soon as the shooting started, Larry had scrambled madly for cover behind a picnic table lying on its side.

“Larry!” I shouted. “You’ve got fifty men around you!” Megan raised her eyebrows.

“How’s he going to know any different?” I whispered.

“And I’ve got your son!” he shouted back.

“Let him go, and you get to walk away. But if you hurt him the slightest bit, I’ll kill you so slowly, you’ll beg me to let you die.”

Larry was silent. It took me only a minute to realize that everything was silent. The sounds of the battle at the ambush were gone.

“You hear that, Larry? Your ambush is finished. Your men are either dead or captured.”

“What makes you think it isn’t the other way around?”

“Think about it. We obviously knew they were there, or there never would have been a fight. And if we knew they were there, why would we split up our group unless we had the numbers to be sure of success? We sent eighty men against your little group,” I lied. “Do you really think your people had a chance?”

He laughed, and the timbre of his voice frightened me. He sounded as if he was completely desperate and trying to conceal it. I knew that now was when he’d be most dangerous.

“You don’t exactly give me much reason to keep the boy alive, Leeland.”

“How about a compromise?”

There was no response for a moment, and I peeked around the tree to see if he was still there. “Since we seem to be at an impasse,” he responded, “I’m curious as to what you have in mind.”

“I suggest we simplify things. Take out all the variables.”

He was silent again, probably trying to figure out where I was going with that. Suddenly, he laughed. “Leeland? Are you suggesting a shootout? I do believe the sun has baked what little gray matter you have left. Why in the world would I want to enter the dueling floor with you? What possible gain is there for me?”

“No shootout, Larry. No guns.” This was where it would get dicey. I had to appeal to his vanity enough to get him to overcome his caution. “You once told me that you were a pretty good martial artist. Let’s see how good. Just you and me. You win, and we let you go. No more pursuit, no more running battles.”

He shook his head. “I don’t believe you. I don’t think your people are going to simply pack up and go home if I kill you.”

“Think it through, Larry. We’re not talking about an after-school brawl, here. This is it. It ends here. The way I see it, there are a limited number of possible outcomes to this fight. I kill you, or you kill me. If I win, we take my son and leave. At that point, I don’t think you’ll have any further say in the matter.” Larry’s only acknowledgment was a grunt.

“On the other hand,” I continued, “if you win, you won’t have any further use for him. You turn him loose, and my people will let you go.”

“Why should I believe you? What makes you think that they’ll just stand aside and let me leave?”

“They will if you let my son go. He’s the whole reason we’re all here. You took him to get to me.”

“I didn’t take him at all. One of your own people brought him to me!”

“All right,” I conceded the point. “You kept him to get to me, though. And if you kill me, there won’t be any reason to keep him. Let him go, and my people will take him back to Rejas. It’ll be over.”

“It seems to me that either way this goes, you get what you wanted. Your boy goes home.”

“Yes, and either way, you get what you wanted. I won’t be chasing you anymore.”

Larry thought it through. Finally, he yelled back, “All right, Leeland. You have your duel.”

I exhaled my relief. Zach was going to get out of there. That much was certain. Now all I had to worry about was saving my own skin.

“But I stipulate one slight change.” Damn. Now what’s he up to?

“I don’t trust your men to honor your agreement, so I’ll stay right where I am with your son. You will fight my champion instead.”

My mouth suddenly went dry, and I knew then that I had overlooked a flaw in my reasoning.

I was going to have to fight Han.

Han and I faced each other in the clearing between the tree line and Larry’s makeshift fortress. Larry’s people and mine surrounded the two of us in a loose ring, an uneasy truce holding everyone’s weapons at bay pending the outcome of our fight. To one side, Larry held Zachary, pistol resting lightly against his neck. Despite what I had said earlier, it really did remind me of an after-school brawl.