It worked almost like it had in the movie Hannah had seen with Mike. There was only one exception. She didn’t have a black belt in any martial art. The pistol did fall over the rail to the ground below just like it had in the movie. And Lady Die did stagger back a half-step or two. But she recovered her balance much more quickly than the villain had in the movie. And she came after Hannah with a vengeance.

As Hannah turned to run, she knew not where, she heard a sound she recognized from the end of the hallway. The exercise machine was on and the treadmill was running! Hannah dashed down the hallway and into her bedroom, making a sharp turn just inside the doorway. She saw an orange and white streak as Moishe jumped off the treadmill and slid under the bed at high speed. At almost the same instant, Hannah scrambled over the mattress and dropped to the rug between the wall and her bed, feeling frantically for the bowl of flour she kept under the bed. She pulled it out and popped up just in time to see Lady Die step squarely on the belt of the treadmill.

Time slowed to a crawl for Hannah as she watched Lady Die recover her balance once. The woman must be in incredibly good shape, probably enhanced by using Keith’s “girls” as punching bags. Then Lady Die managed to stay on her feet a second time by windmilling her arms and grabbing at the handlebars. Surely she couldn’t maintain her balance for long. Or could she?

Hannah didn’t want to take the chance. There was too much at stake. She sidestepped around the edge of the bed and planted herself in front of the handlebars. Then she ripped off the lid she kept on the top of the bowl.

“This is for Sugar,” Hannah exclaimed, throwing the bowl of flour squarely into Lady Die’s face.

Lady Die let out a sound that was part scream and part growl as she lost her grip on the handlebars and fell, headfirst, on the belt. The belt kept moving, carrying her backward and she crashed into the bedroom wall at the back of the machine. It should have been over, but Lady Die would not give up. She attempted to make her way to the handlebars again by crawling.

“Hands up!” a male voice yelled, and Hannah’s head swiveled toward her bedroom doorway in time to see Norman sprint forward to pull the plug on the machine. “I said, hands up! I’m a dentist!”

What happened next made it fairly obvious to Hannah that Lady Die must have suffered some brain damage when she fell and hit her head on the machine. She just sat there wiping the flour from her eyes and laughing.

“So whatcha gonna do, Mr. Dentist?” she asked. “Pull my teeth?”