Part 25 (1/2)

He pressed his finger to his lips, then brought his mouth to her ear and spoke in the barest whisper, ”He has a gun. It's a deadly weapon.”

Had she ever seen a pistol? Did she know how much damage it could do?

He thrust her behind himself as the thug moved toward the back of the store. He could feel her tension-and his own.

After the clerk and the man with the gun pa.s.sed, he and Rinna could run out of here and call the cops. But by the time they arrived, the woman might already be dead.

Rinna took the decision away from Logan. He felt her move, and before he could grab her, she was creeping silently around the other end of the aisle. She turned and stared at him, then toward the clerk and her captor. He knew she was telling him that they could take the guy by surprise.

She didn't even know the clerk. But she was going to the woman's aid.

He was pretty sure she didn't understand how much damage a firearm could do. And he couldn't warn her, not without giving the two of them away. So he picked up a can of pork and beans, ready to hurl it and duck back as the man pa.s.sed him.

Before he could act, all h.e.l.l broke loose.

Part of the wall to his right wavered, and he knew in a moment of sick fascination that the portal was opening once more.

His a.s.sessment was confirmed when he looked through and saw the stone chamber from which he and Rinna had escaped. But the chamber wasn't empty.

In the next second, two of Falcone's soldiers burst through. They had exchanged their comic opera costumes for twenty-first century American civilian clothes, but their unkempt look gave them away. Also their weapons. One held a spear and a knife. The other had a bow and arrow and a mace.

The man with the gun saw the soldiers at the same time Logan did. ”What the h.e.l.l?” he shouted, turning and firing several shots in rapid succession.

One of the men went down. The other kept coming.

Logan saw Rinna gasp as she took in the scene. Falcone had sent his warriors after her-and they had stepped into a situation that they could hardly understand.

”Go. Get out of here,” he shouted.

She hesitated.

”Go. I'll meet you outside.”

She gave him a long look, then ran for the wide doors at the front of the shop and ducked out.

He jerked his attention back to the interior of the store as the robber's gun discharged and a jar of grape jelly exploded, spraying gla.s.s and grape-colored goo.

The clerk screamed and kept screaming. The man with the gun kept shooting and the other soldier went down.

While the thug was occupied, Logan came up behind the robber, then slammed the can of beans he was still holding into the man's skull.

In the distance, he heard the sound of police sirens. Obviously the clerk had been able to press a concealed alarm before the a.s.sailant had hustled her off to the back of the store.

The woman was staring at him as though coming out of a daze. ”Help is coming,” he said.

”Don't I know you?”

”No.”

”You were in here before.”