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Declan mac Coul's shot hit Doc Wilde in the chest.
The gun made nary a
sound as it fired its high-speed dart. This dart contained a paralyzing
agent that would put a man out of action for at least two hours but did
no actually harm to its victim. Doc cherished life and despised
unnecessary violence, so his team favored non-deadly weapons.
Declan shot Phineas
Bartlett next, the dart hitting the majordomo in the neck.
The Irishman turned
toward Wren and Brian and fired. A dart snagged in Wren's upper arm. She
made a tiny cry before paralysis hit.
One to go.
He fired at Brian. But
the boy had awakened at his sister's tiny cry next to him and, in the
light from the glowing frog, saw Declan mac Coul aiming at him and
rolled quickly to the side. The dart THUNKED into his
sleeping mat, which started to deflated with a wheeze.
The gemstone frog atop
Declan's head flared a brighter green as Declan swung the gun to get the
boy in his sights again.
Brian jumped at the
wall, drawing his knife and slicing a huge slit in the tent. He dove
into the night, rolling to his feet as he heard another dart hit the
tent wall behind him.
There was a bright
flash of green and Declan grunted, as if annoyed.
Brian raced across the
rough ground, hearing the stocky pilot thrash his way out of the tent.
He ducked behind a huge tree, its trunk thick with vines.
It was so dark he could
almost feel the texture of the darkness in the air. Rain poured steadily
down. Looking back, Brian could see the campsite in the small circle of
light thrown by the camp lantern. He could also see the greenish glow of
whatever that thing was on Declan's head, moving around behind the tent
as the burly man searched for him.
Brian analyzed the
situation.
Something was somehow
controlling Declan via the emerald frog. The Irishman had shot everyone
but Brian. He was using his dart pistol, which meant the others were
only paralyzed. Everyone slept in their clothes in case of trouble, so
Brian was fully dressed except for his utility vest. Which, of course,
meant he had none of his gear.
He did have his knife.
It was always at his belt, so it'd been at hand when he needed to escape
the tent. His father taught that a knife was a tool, foremost, and only
a weapon in the most extreme circumstance. Brian had never used it as
anything but a tool. And he wouldn't use it as a weapon on Declan mac
Coul, his friend, who wasn't responsible for what he was doing.
The young Wilde was at
a loss. The pilot was a short man but a solid slab of brawn, outweighing
Brian by about two hundred pounds. And he had a gun.
How could Brian prevail
against him? |
