Twelve Angry Guests

Chapter 18

The group gathered around, looking seriously at Gordon and worriedly at Deborah. A groan had them all crowding closer, and Gordon began struggling to sit up. The lamp cord twisted about his arm dragged its broken base a bit closer.

"Gordon, what happened?" Deborah had an arm around his back holding him up.

"Oh, my head . . . when the shooting started, I dove behind the table and then . . . I don't know."

"He snagged his arm in the cord and pulled the lamp down on his head." Hart snickered. "Way to go, Mr. Mayor."

Deborah looked mortified, then angry and got up, pulling him roughly after her.

"Gordon Hardy, you are such a- a--"

"Hey. I did it on purpose, yeah?"

Jessica stood and looked about the villa. "As long as we're all okay, that's what matters, and we still have to find a way to get the others out of the house."

"Right." Hart shook a teasing finger at Gordon and received a dirty look.

"We know there are eight men left plus Malcolm." Jessica ticked off on her fingers. "We eliminated two and we have the pilot. Kitchen staff is three women, two chefs and Carleton."

"Those others you mentioned, I assume are all in the house, so we are looking at eight total, plus Forrester. We need to find a means of getting them away from the house, so we can get the others out and down to the plane." Hart said.

"We need a diversion." Jessica clapped a hand to her forehead.

"Parker's busy . . . sorry," Des said, "I'm just so used to trading shots with him."

"Actually, we might be able to make that work."

"What? I was joking."

"No, really. We split our force. Five will go to join Parker at the airport. He can broadcast that he has the pilot, and they are taking off for help. They can't afford for that to happen so they'll act to stop him. Meanwhile, Des and I will get the others from the house."

"Why five?" Deborah asked.

"To defend the plane and the tower."

"Why me?" Des worried.

Jessica faced her, and in a voice that brooked no nonsense told her. "I have assessed the personnel and made that decision." She thrust a rifle into Des's hands. "Are we agreed?" She looked at the others.

"What if they split up too?" Gordon asked.

"We improvise."

"You sure, Jess?" Jeff said, the scarf around his head giving him the appearance of Rambo.

"When we get them out we will have two teams of six, and if they do all go to the airport, we'll have them surrounded."

"Let's do it." Hart said, dividing up the weapons and ammunition. "Verna, just keep your finger off the trigger, okay."

They huddled and went over the plan. When Parker started taunting them, they would watch the house and if they all left, Des would key a mic and shout, 'Parker'. If some stayed, she would say his name for however many there were.

"Why me?"

"You have that angry exasperation in your voice that he understands."

"We'll need fifteen minutes or so to jog down there." Jeff said.

"Jog!" Gordon looked at Deborah.

"You can amble, Gordy, and greet them when they catch up." Hart said, as he started off at a trot. Immediately the others followed, Gordon tight in the pack.