James Smith - The Flock

First, he got a view of the main gate. It had been broken completely in, half of the chain link section lying in the sand. He switched to the principal foyer and could see a damaged Astro van parked just outside the door, but could see no one there. Where was Billy? He had left Billy to see to the garage when he had gone off to sit and think, to be alone. Billy should have been the one closest to the invaders and should have already confronted them. But he couldn't see his Seminole friend anywhere.

Levin knew precisely where Kamaguchi was, though. He had told Kinji to sit and watch the hallway and make sure that Mary Niccols did not escape somehow. That friend of Riggs' was no weakling, and it wasn't out of the question that she could work her way free of the ropes. They'd tied her pretty well, but it was best to be safe rather than sorry. Adam tried to remember which camera number was assigned to the room where he'd left Kamaguchi. It was the west wing, and those camera numbers were all prefixed with a W. He jotted one, saw an empty lab. "W-8," he muttered to himself. And was rewarded with a soundless vision of Kamaguchi standing to face two men who had, at that instant, burst into the room.

Adam Levin stared in frozen horror as the strange man who had first stepped into the room brought his rifle to his shoulder and fired a single shot into Kinji's brain. Kamaguchi fell lifelessly to the floor in stark blacks and grays, and Levin's eyes were locked on the dead man's form. The killers didn't even pause to check on the man they had shot. They were sure that they'd killed him. As Levin looked on, the one who had fired the shot gestured toward the hallway Kinji had been guarding and then they both passed through the room and into the main hallway. Sitting and staring for a few seconds, Levin slowly realized that they were headed directly toward him and that they would be outside the room in which he would be effectively trapped in about fifteen seconds.

He shut down the security monitors and got up.

"That was a gunshot," Ron said.

"I'm not deaf," Kate told him.

"What's going on? You don't think Levin and Kamaguchi shot Mary, do you?"

Kate had stood, as Ron had done, and after some groping about, both had found their way to the door where each had pressed an ear to it, trying to hear more. "No. I don't think they'd shoot Mary. I told you I don't think they want to shoot any of us. Right now, I'm more worried about Levin and the others. He thinks Mankind is going to destroy this planet, and I can see him getting itchy in this situation." She sighed. "But, that wasn't Adam."

"What do you mean? How do you know?"

"First of all, Adam's not a gun man. He hates the things. Yeah, he knows how to put the bullets in, and has fired them, I know; but he hates them. Also, that was a rifle shot. Adam had a pistol. A.357. Kinji has the rifle."

"Or he did when they both left here. Levin could have it now, for all we know."

"He could. And there's Billy. He was armed, too. But I just can't see Billy shooting anyone. Especially not Mary."

"Why not?"

"Because he's a Seminole, just like Mary is. And I think he likes and respects her, anyway. Billy used to make his living trapping gators when he was a kid. He and his dad, he told me. Shooting Mary would be too much like shooting someone he knows. He wouldn't do it. Hell, he probably knows her."

"But Billy did have a firearm."

"He has access to a number of guns here. He's handy with a shotgun, as I recall. But I told you. Billy wouldn't shoot her. But Billy and Mary…they could maybe shoot at us."

Ron exploded. He couldn't see Kate, but he could feel her body heat. "How do you know that? Huh? You don't know what these dumbasses are capable of. Hell, they kicked your ass in here with me and leveled a gun at you. You don't know what they might or might not do."

He could hear her breathing, her low, even breathing, and once again Ron found that he could not read Kate Kwitney's emotions. Perhaps she had spent so many years hiding her feelings that she had become uncannily adept at masking them. It was something he had found intriguing before, but now he saw it as truly creepy. "I know, just believe me. If we're in danger, then it won't be from Adam or Kinji."

"I hope you're right about them, because I know Mary isn't capable of what you're accusing her of," Ron told her, an edge in his voice that he could not cover. "So, all around, that would mean we'll get out of this alive." Once again, in the darkness, he and Kate were facing one another, unseeing. Some of the things she had mentioned concerning Mary seemed too logical to dispute. But as Kate had outlined her case against Mary, Ron had felt the old feelings for her coming to the surface. He felt like defending her and he couldn't help himself. He did, he realized, still have strong feelings for her.

They were standing, facing one another in opposition when a key was jammed suddenly into the door's lock and it flew open, flooding the room with soft but blinding light. Ron's pupils quickly contracted to pinpoints and the pain caused him to flinch back. He caught just the glimpse of a human figure, arm extended, gun in hand. It was, he saw as he recovered, Levin. The.357 was aimed right at him.

"Let's get out of here," Levin said.

Ron stepped toward the doorway, right behind Kate whose long legged strides had already taken her out of the room. The three of them stood in the hallway. Levin's face was ashen, and he kept glancing up and down the hall, as if expecting Satan himself to come flying down it on gigantic leather wings.

"What's going on, Adam? We heard a shot."

"You didn't shoot Mary, did you?"

Levin's pale face turned toward them. "Someone killed Kinji," he said. "I saw them on the security monitor. They shot him in the head. He's dead."

"Who did that, Adam? Who did you see?" Kate's hand had reached out to take Levin's shoulder, to support him. "You see, Ron? What did I tell you?" Her hand squeezed Levin's shoulder to accent her request. "Now, who did you see?"

"I don't know who they are. Two men. With guns. They came into the room where Kinji was and they just shot him. Just like that. They were coming right for me, but I unlocked the freezer in the west lab and came through it to this hallway. I tricked them," he said, a silly smile on his face. "I tricked them."

"Suck it up, Adam. I think you're in shock. I don't believe you're thinking straight."

"I saw them, I tell you." His face was grim and as white as paste.

Kate reached out and without hesitating, she took the pistol from him. He didn't resist. "Let me have the gun, Adam. You do as we say and we'll find out what's going on." She, too, looked down the hallway and up it, searching for anyone who might be coming their way. "What did they look like?"

"Just two men. Nothing special about them. But they didn't even think about it, shooting Kinji, I mean. The one in front just aimed his rifle and shot him right in the head."

She took a second to glare at Ron. "Wonder how they knew we'd all be here? How about it, Ron?"

Ron ignored the verbal barb and stepped up to put his own hand on Levin's back, at the base of his neck. The man was shivering, perhaps already suffering from clinical shock. Now Ron knew he needn't have worried about this pitiful fellow killing anyone. "How were they dressed? Were they cops? Maybe someone called in cops or something. Maybe they thought Kamaguchi was going to shoot at them and they reacted to that."

"No," Levin said. "They aren't cops. They're dressed in regular shirts, jeans. Not cops."

Ron leaned against the wall, closed his eyes. "It must be the same people who sent those two to my house. It has to be."

"What? Finally coming around, Ron?" Kate looked at him suspiciously, but with less of that I-told-you-so anger.