“Will you put that gun away?” George snapped at his cousin. “Who do you think you are, Arnold Schwarzenegger?”

Cap shushed them harshly. “Stop talking and listen.”

Insects and corn. Nothing else. Insects and corn.

Notso did not stay silent for long. “It sure is quiet out here,” he said in a reasonably hushed tone. “Spooky quiet. Man, I couldn’t sleep a wink if I didn’t hear sirens and car horns all night.”

Lou grinned. Over the years, the urban theater had taken up residency in his soul, and he often said as much to Renee when she suggested that he move to a neighborhood more conducive to raising Emily.

Cap had wandered over to the corn. He snapped off an ear and inspected it. Then he pulled back the leaves and held it up to capture what little bit of light existed where they were. “Weird,” he mused.

“What?” Lou asked.

“I remember my grandpa telling me that each corn stalk makes one ear, but this one has four and—”

There was no chance for him to say more.

Two gunshots pierced the blackness.

Lou looked ahead at Notso, thinking the big man had mistakenly fired his weapon, but Notso was looking around, confused.

Three more gunshots rang out.

“Run! Scatter!” Cap cried.

Another shot.

Notso groaned loudly, doubled over and clutching his stomach, and stumbled into the corn, Cap following. Lou and George thrashed into the jungle on the opposite side of the road. Stalks lashed at Lou’s face and arms as he plunged into the blackness.

There were more shots, coming from not far away.

Then, from somewhere across the road, Lou heard Notso Bright’s voice. A single, grunting, agonized word. “Shit!”

Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

Lou stumbled into the dense corn, quickly losing his footing and falling hard. Air exploded from his lungs. Thick stalks snapped in half with a sound like breaking bones as jagged edges sliced his face and arms. Dust coated his mouth and throat.

Gunfire seemed to be erupting from all directions, piercing the darkness with flashes of light. Crawling deeper into the corn, Lou had become separated from George. Movement of the stalks tipped the gunmen as to where he was, and instantly, bullets snapped through the leaves overhead and slammed into the ground close enough to spray clumps of dirt into his face.

Pivoting his body, Lou flattened himself in a deep furrow between two rows. Then, lying motionless in the dark, he listened.

“One’s down,” a gravelly voice called out from somewhere behind him.

“Stay cool!” The angry warning emanated from just a few feet to Lou’s right.

“We’re closing in on two of them!” the first man yelled back.

Lou kept still and forced his breathing to slow. He sensed movement. The man was on the move.

Moments later, Lou heard Notso Bright groaning in pain and crying out.

“I’m shot … Cap, help me … Ca—!”