Naively, Nathan had expected her to say something first like “freeze” or “throw down your arms.” So he was as surprised as the driver of the van when she just opened fire. In unison, both men turned to face Nancy, then to the body of the militiaman now lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Fortunately Nathan recovered first. With an ease that he had perfected on the rifle range, Nathan brought his weapon up to his hip, drew it tightly into his side and let fly a three round burst. The driver screamed, dropped his automatic rifle, and grasped his midsection as he fell to his knees and toppled over.

Remembering that there was a third militiaman in the van, Nancy ran to the side door, grabbed the handle, and jerked it open. To her surprise she saw Jan staring wide eyed at her cameraman as she held a snub-nosed pistol under the chin of the other militiaman. Looking over to Nancy, the cameraman smiled and wiggled the gun, causing the militiaman to grimace. “I always carry my little friend when it looks like things are going to get stupid,” the cameraman explained.

Jan shouted at the cameraman, as much in surprise as anger. “Don’t ever do anything like that again! Do you know how much danger you put us in?”

Looking around, the cameraman chuckled. “You mean like this?”

Unmollified by Angela Carter’s explanation, Jan was about to lash out at her again when she heard a familiar voice coming through the open door of the driver side. “Hi, Mom! What’s up?”

Anger turned to shock, then surprise, then to joy as Jan pushed her way past Nancy and out of the van. Mother and son came together in a huge bear hug in the van’s harsh headlights. “Oh, God,” Jan stammered through a stream of tears that ran freely down her cheeks, “I was so worried about you, Nate. When I heard …”

Taking her head in his hand and gently laying it upon his chest, Nathan tried to calm his mother. He couldn’t remember ever seeing her so shaken. Of course, he had never been in a situation like this with her.

That thought caused him to step back and look down at Jan. “Mom,” he stated in a plaintive voice. “I need to, ah …”

Recovering some of her composure, Jan shook her head. “I understand.”

Coming up to Nancy’s side, Nathan saw that the cameraman and sound tech were already in the process of binding and gagging the militiaman in the van. Pointing over to the wounded one on the side of the road, he asked what they would do about him.