Primmy saw her chance and sprang for the door, landing on the floor, within reach of the shotgun. Carly was right behind her, grabbing her handgun. “Freeze!” Primmy yelled, in her best TV-show shout. The twins backed up against the porch railing and stared at them both. Then, as one man, they turned, grabbed the porch railing and vaulted over it into space.

The women ran to the railing, their weapons before them, and looked down. What they saw was a tangle of male bodies, two of them naked and bleeding, Stone looking shaken and dazed. Ed Rawls was struggling to get the twins off of him and to pry his rifle from under them.

“Freeze!” Primmy yelled again. But no one took any notice of her. She and Carly watched.

“We can’t fire,” Carly said. “Who’s who?”

“The twins are naked,” Primmy said, “that’s all I know, but I don’t have a shot.”

—

Stone was able to sit up now, and was observing the scene as a stream of blood ran from his scalp, down his forehead, and into his eyes. He grappled for his handgun in its shoulder holster and got it out while wiping at his eyes with his free hand. Finally he could see a little. He looked up and saw two naked women standing on the porch, holding weapons. “Shoot somebody!” he shouted.

“Who?” Primmy shouted back.

“Somebody naked. You’ve got the angle!”

Primmy brought up the shotgun, racked the slide, pointed it down, then turned her head away, closed her eyes, and fired. The noise was horrific.

Ed was crawling away from the twins as fast as he could, dragging his rifle.

Stone could see out of one eye now. He raised his handgun to aim at something.

One of the twins stood, his back to a porch piling. He cupped his hands in front of him, making a stirrup, and shouted at his brother, “Up! Get the shotgun!”

Stone raised his gun and snapped off two shots in their general direction, then rubbed at his blocked eye. He had never been a great shot with a handgun, and he was going to need both eyes, if he wanted to hit something.

“Stone!” Rawls shouted. “Hold your fire! Hold your fire!”

Stone leaned against the tree and groped for a handkerchief.

“Don’t shoot any more, anybody. You might hit me!” Ed shouted again. He was on his feet now and was aiming his rifle at the twins, who had collapsed into a heap at the foot of the piling.

Stone could see now. “Ed, don’t finish them off!” he shouted.

“Why the hell not?” Rawls said, walking up to them with the rifle. “One each in the head will do it.”

“Look at them, Ed. They’re dead!”

“Dead my ass,” Rawls replied. “They don’t die that easy.”

Stone walked over to the pile, holding his gun before him. “Then get a pulse.”