I could see sheets of smoke from the rifles rising to my right. I could also smell the gunsmoke in the air.

It struck me that we weren't getting out of this one. I could see Sampson where he lay. He wasn't moving. Not even a twitch. I couldn't get to him. They had me pinned down. My last case. I had said that right from the start.

“John,” I called. “John! Can you hear me?”

I waited a few seconds, then I called out again. “John! Move something. John?”

Please say something. Please move.

Nothing came back to me.

Except another round of heavy fire from the woods.

Alex Cross 8 - Four Blind Mice

Chapter Ninety-Six

I hadn't experienced anything like the explosive rage, but also the fear, that I felt. This happened in combat, I realized, and considered the irony. Soldiers lost buddies in the war and went a little mad, or maybe a great deal mad.

Is that what had happened in the An Lao Valley? There was a noisy buzzing inside my head, bright flashes of color in front of my eyes. Everything around me felt completely surreal.

“John,” I called again. “If you can hear me, move something. Move a leg. John!”

Don't die on me. Not like this. Not now.

He didn't move, didn't respond. There was no sign that he was alive. He didn't shiver or twitch.

Nothing at all.

More rifle fire suddenly erupted from the woods, and I hugged the ground, digging my face into leaves and dirt.

I tried to put Sampson out of my mind. If I didn't, I would wind up dead. I had a terrible thought about John and Billie. Then I let it go. I had to. Otherwise, I'd die out here for sure.

Trouble was, I didn't see how I was going to out-maneuver three Army Rangers in the woods, especially on terrain they were familiar with. These were experienced combat veterans. So they wouldn't risk closing in on me right away. They'd wait until dark.

Not too long from now. Maybe a half-hour. Then I was going to die, wasn't I?

I lay behind a big hemlock, and a lot of disconnected thoughts shunted through my head. I thought about my kids, how unprepared I was to die, and how I would never see them again. I'd had so many warnings, so many close calls, but here I was.

I checked on Sampson again he still hadn't moved.

I raised my head a couple of times. Just for a second. I turkey-necked a look across the horizon.

There were no moving shadows in the woods. I knew they were there though, waiting me out. Three Army assassins. Led by Colonel Thomas Starkey.

They'd been here before; they were patient as death itself.

They had killed a lot of people. In the Army. And out of it.

I thought of something Sampson had said before he went to help the two women. When we see them, we open up. No warnings, Alex. No prisoners. Do you understand what I'm saying?