He had gone to his car at the edge of the woods and taken some items from it in the dark. He had taken the rubber floor mats from the car and some duct tape. Once the lights in the storage building were out, he had wrapped the two smaller rear mats around his forearms and taped them there. He had wrapped the longer, wider mat from the passenger seat around his midsection and taped it around and around to hold it. He had taken the tire iron from the trunk and a razor-sharp knife from the toolbox. He held the two weapons in his hands in the proper positions, with the tire iron on the right and the knife on the left.

For a moment he considered replacing the knife with his pistol, but a gunshot would make enough noise to bring everyone running, and he was fairly sure they would kill both him and Lonny in the dark. It was less risky for them than waiting for hours to sort things out in daylight. They didn’t owe him a trial, and they certainly didn’t owe Lonny anything.

He lay awake for a long time and then dozed. At just after 3:00 a.m. he heard the old sounds stop and new sounds start. Lonny had stopped his slow, rhythmic breathing. There was no sound of breathing at all.

Ed must have rolled over in his sleep. He was facing the wall and the door instead of facing Lonny’s end of the room. He regretted it, but if he stirred now, he could be lost.

He heard a whispery sound as a shoe moved a bit on the concrete floor. He decided it was Lonny Mann’s work boot. The sound was just a dry whisper of the hard rubber sole over the concrete. Leonard was sure it meant that Mann hadn’t wiped his feet on the mat when he’d come in, and the dust was making the shoe lose a little of its traction.

He grasped his knife with his left hand and the end of the tire iron with his right, without moving anything but his fingers under the covers.

There was the whispery sound, another, and another, moving more rapidly now. And then Ed felt the punch of the knife blade. It hit his back behind his heart between the fourth and fifth ribs, but that was where the rubber mat was wrapped thickest around him. The blade punctured the outer layer of rubber, but it was a blow, a stab not deep enough to slide into him. He rolled fast toward his assailant and swung the tire iron at him.

Lonny Mann jumped backward and evaded the swing, but as soon as the lug end of the iron swept past his face, he attacked again, advancing two steps, slashing wildly at Leonard with the long-bladed hunting knife.