“Stay down!”
Time slowed in Nick’s mind. Thousands of hours in combat and dangerous missions worked to engage the killer within. He threw his keys at Saif’s face before the man could pull the revolver’s trigger again. They struck him in the forehead, but he fired as he staggered back. The bullet grazed Nick’s head near his left ear. Nick’s weaving charge carried him into Saif, slamming him onto the floor. Fighting off the hazy tendrils of unconsciousness with single minded purpose, Nick jerked Saif’s right hand still clutching the revolver into the man’s ribcage. It appeared Nick was fighting the gun toting assailant to witnesses cowering near the scene. What happened in actuality was Nick forced the revolver into Saif’s chest, watching with grainy vision Saif’s look of horror before his own finger fired the rest of the revolver’s loads into his body with Nick’s help. Nick grinned stupidly as darkness descended. He collapsed into Saif before rolling loosely over on his back to the floor.
“Nick!” Hands reached out to grab the streaking Jean, but no one was fast enough to stop her rush to the two immobile bodies, both bleeding profusely, but only one with the heart continuing to pump. Jean cried out as she covered Nick’s head wound with her own hand, screaming for help, before focusing on Nick. “Don’t you die, Dad! Don’t you die!”
Gus and Deke arrived at her side moments later. Gus pushed a swatch he had ripped from his own shirt onto Nick’s wound, replacing Jean’s hand with his own. “It’s okay, honey. Nick’s goin’ to be fine. It’s a flesh wound.”
Gus scanned the faces in the crowd as Jean hugged Deke. “Did anyone call this in?”
Dimah knelt next to Jean, holding her cell-phone where Gus could see it. “I called 911. The operator is still on the open line.”
Gus nodded. He tried not to grin, seeing Nick had managed to end Saif, even with a head wound. “Thank you. Are you Ms. Kader?”
“Yes. That is my cousin Saif. His Father died last night from a stroke they believe. Then this morning… Saif ran into the school in that uniform, ready to shoot me. I do not know how Nick stopped him. It was all a blur, and they were both down, wrestling on the floor. Then there were four more shots, and Nick rolled to the side.”
The parents, students, and teachers, caught in the hallway during the incident only then hovered within a safe distance of the scene. The smoke, cordite smell, and noise aftermath held the survivors in stunned silence. Only when sirens wailed in rapidly escalating sound did people begin using their numerous devices, calling loved ones, and recording their surroundings.
The police entered the school in a fully armed squad with riot gear and armor. The principal, Norma Collins, met them inside the entrance, explaining the situation had ended. In a more relaxed formation, they approached the crime scene with caution. Gus had sat down with Jean and Deke next to him, holding Nick’s head in his lap while continuing to apply pressure.
“What happened here, Sir,” a police sergeant asked with Dickerson on his nametag.
“Is the ambulance or EMT’s here yet,” Gus countered.
“They’re five minutes out from Community Hospital.” Dickerson pointed at one of his men. “Meet the med team, Phil. Bring them in the moment they arrive.”
The policeman spun without a word to jog toward the entrance.
Dimah approached Dickerson, choking back sobs. She pointed at Saif. “This… this is my cousin, Saif Kader. He was going to kill me. Mr. McCarty stopped him. There was a struggle on the floor with shots fired.”
Dickerson did not bother to move the revolver still clutched in the dead Saif’s hand. The gaping chest wounds, and staring eyes of the corpse, would allow time for a crime scene workup later. “Then your cousin was not a security guard?”
“No Sir,” Dimah answered. “I believe he wore the uniform to get into our school to murder me.”
Dickerson’s perplexed look drew a statement from Gus, who was trying to stay out of the conversation, but making sure Nick emerged as the good guy had to be pursued. “It was an attempted honor killing. Naseer Kader and his son, Saif had to be escorted away from the school one other time.”
“That is true,” Principal Collins added. “I had our security guard escort this man and his father off school property.”
One of the other policemen whispered something to Dickerson that surprised him. He pointed at Nick. “This is Nick McCarty the novelist?”