Free Countdown by Susan Rogers Cooper Page A

it I wouldn’t be far behind.
    ‘Well, that has some merit,’ I thought. OK, I sorta wanted to shoot the old lady, but I knew that wasn’t what I
should
be thinking.
    ‘Too iffy,’ Charlie Smith said. ‘She could have one of the hostages with her, or be standing close to them. Just because they were where Mike said they were when he was up there doesn’t mean they’re still in those positions.’
    That pissed me off. I’d already considered that and I wasn’t too happy with Charlie thinking I hadn’t. But this wasn’t the time for a pissing contest. I had bigger fish to fry.
    ‘Maybe we should call in the state boys,’ Emmett suggested.
    ‘You wanna wait for them to get here? Usually takes ’em a couple of hours to get all the paperwork done and their asses in gear. I’m not sure about yours, but my wife will be dead by then,’ I said.
    Emmett nodded his head. ‘You’re right. The time for calling in the state has long gone.’ And the look he gave me then made me question my motives. But what was done was done, and now it was time for ideas and action.
    ‘What if we send somebody else up there?’ Charlie suggested. ‘The staff’s supposed to bring up desserts at closing, which is usually ten o’clock, but we could send someone up with the desserts and say we’re closing early because of the storm—’
    ‘Shit!’ I said, jumping up. ‘The storm!’ I turned to Mike. ‘Did they have the TV on or a radio in the room?’
    ‘No, sir,’ Mike said.
    I grinned real big. ‘Then we gotta evacuate ’cause that tornado could be heading to Longbranch, donja think?’
    Johnny Mac used his flashlight to illuminate the way through what was left of the forest, calling out Matt’s name as he went. No one answered him, but he kept walking. He wasn’t sure which way he was going – he’d gotten all turned around in his head – but he hoped he was heading in the direction they’d taken rather than back to his aunt’s subdivision. As careful as he was, watching where he stepped, he tripped over something right in front of him and fell on his face. The flashlight flew out of his hand.
    He pulled himself up and looked for the flashlight, scared that he’d lost it. But he saw the light shining on some rubble, and was thankful the bulb hadn’t broken when it went flying out of his hand. It was as he was trying to stand up that he noticed what he had tripped over. A bike. A boy’s bike.
    ‘Matt!’ he yelled at the top of his lungs. ‘Cody!’
    He heard something. Just a slight something. He twirled around, not sure which direction it had come from. ‘Louder!’ he said.
    ‘Here!’ came a small voice.
    ‘Keep talking!’ Johnny Mac shouted. ‘So I can find you!’
    ‘I’m over here. Is that you, Matt’s friend?’ came the voice.
    Johnny Mac felt his heart sink. It wasn’t Matt calling out to him. He was glad that he’d found Cody but he really wanted to find his friend.
    ‘Is Matt with you?’ Johnny Mac called as he headed in the direction of the voice.
    ‘I dunno where he is,’ the voice said. ‘And I’m stuck. I think a tree landed on me or something!’
    Using his flashlight, Johnny Mac saw a depression in the ground with fingers wiggling out of it. He grabbed the fingers. ‘You OK?’ he asked Cody.
    ‘I can’t move my legs,’ Cody said.
    ‘I’m gonna try to move some of this stuff!’ Johnny Mac said.
    ‘Just be careful! Don’t make it worse, OK?’
    ‘I’ll try not to,’ Johnny Mac said, thinking,
Duh, like that would be my goal?
    He was just lifting a large branch when something hit him from behind, bowling him over.
    The room was quiet. The old woman, Eunice, was looking out the window at the town square and her daughter was leaning against the door while her son stood in front of the women, glaring at them, the shotgun resting by his side.
    Paula stood up. ‘This sucks!’ she said, and headed for the wet bar.
    Earl’s right arm suddenly seemed to have a mind of its