Altering Authority by Ashley Dooley Page B

with an escape plan, should Tatum fail at helping them. He didn’t see how she could get them out of this. He was looking at the ceiling when he thought he saw something whiz past him, overhead. He followed the object and heard it hit the wall behind the guys and then ding to the floor. The man standing next to Norman looked at his boss and walked over to check it out when Norman motioned for him to do so. The rest of the men in the room were looking around, trying to figure out what had just happened. Only Gary saw the other object sail through the air and land somewhere behind Norman, only this time it didn’t clatter to the ground. There was no metallic ringing like the first one.
    Gary turned his head as the henchman picked up the first object, a small hunting dagger. He looked toward his boss, as did everyone just in time to see the man’s arm slowly fall from Jagers neck. A second later the hand with the gun followed and Norman fell to his knees. Gary noticed a streak of blood creeping its way down Normans pristine white dress shirt. Jager took advantage of his freedom and quickly moved to grab Norman’s gun off the floor, pointing at anyone who drew nearer to him.
    Norman wasn’t dead, he’d probably survive. He was lying on the floor cringing in pain, trying to pull the now-visible knife out of his back, completely unaware that Jager was pointing his own gun at him. His guy, the one holding the other knife made a move to walk towards them but Tatum emerged from behind the crate, a gun in each hand.
    Phil saw her and jumped up, ignoring the shotguns surrounding him. One of Normans men cocked back and was about to shoot but not before Tatum let loose and took him and another man out in the process. Jager turned when Phil stood and saw Tatum for the first time. His heart constricted and immediately he thought of finding April on the floor in their bathroom, lying in her own blood, half of her head blown off. She noticed his panicked expression and offered him a quick smile and a wink to assure him it was fine.
    “Put your guns down,” she yelled calmly to Norman’s men, holding each gun out at either side, pointed in the direction of about six of the men. They knew that by the time it took them to load their shot guns, she’d have them all finished with just an ounce of pressure from her finger. They began to lower their weapons. One of them however, decided to be a rebel and let loose. He shot into midair, hitting nothing besides the rafters. Still, everyone ducked and began to scatter. The San Francisco guys grabbed what shot guns they could but had to move quickly as half of Norman’s men never had a chance to lay theirs down yet.
    Tatum open fired, first taking out the guys who took the guns from Sugar, John and Bobo. She ran with Jager behind the crate and peered out only to shoot the opposition. Eventually, the gunfire slowed, and the sounds of moaning and grief filled the warehouse. Slowly, Jager made his way out from around the crate, Tatum following behind.
    Norman was nowhere to be seen but most of his guys were. Amidst the racket of the guns, some of them had escaped out of the broken garage door, but the majority was on the ground. Very carefully, the guys emerged and all were relieved that everyone was unscathed, aside from a scattered scratch and bruise. Phil rushed to his daughter and hugged her tightly. He kissed her and smoothed her hair and the worry in his eyes was enough to bring Tatum to tears.
    “I’m fine Phil,” she said with a smile. He let her go eventually, swallowing hard.
    “I need to remember that you’re tough… I just… I just found you. The thought of losing you terrifies me darlin’. That’s why we didn’t tell you.”
    Tatum looked into her father’s eyes, “I’m not going anywhere,” she said slowly, pronouncing every syllable and reaching up to kiss him on the cheek. “I’ve been doing this since I could walk.”
    Phil smiled then as Tatum turned to Jager,