Double Jeopardy (Stone Barrington #57)(64)

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—

Here goes,” Primmy said. She leaned over and kissed Carly on the lips. “Make some noise,” she whispered.

Carly gave out a low moan, then Primmy kissed her on a nipple and bit lightly.

“Ahhhhhhh!” Carly cried. “More!”



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—

Ed saw a curtain move inside the upper porch window and brought his rifle up. Doing his best to ignore the women’s actions, he got ready for someone to step onto the porch.



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—

Stone peeped around the tree, but saw little. Then he heard a louder cracking noise than before. After that, things seemed to happen in slow motion.





57

Stone started around the tree for a better angle.

Ed Rawls saw a naked twin step onto the porch, but his brother did not immediately follow. The twin clapped his hands, and a bag flew from inside the house into his hands. The women seemed to be so involved in their performance that they didn’t notice. Then the second twin stepped outside, and Ed sighted them through the scope. Almost, he breathed. A little farther.

Then the limb gave way beneath the deer blind and Ed began falling. Stone got off a round before the limb struck him, but he had no idea if he’d hit anything. He took the limb across the back of his neck and went down and, for a few seconds, out.



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The noise made Primmy look around, and the first thing she saw was a naked man holding a tube of something. “Carly, run!” she shouted.

“Run where?” Carly asked, sitting up. Then she saw the man, too, and a second man joined him. “Where the hell is Ed?”

They heard a great creaking sound as a branch snapped off a tree near the porch. The twins spun around and stared.

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.”



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—

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.”

Ed bent over and felt at the neck of one, then of the other.

“Jesus Christ,” he said. “They’re both dead, but how?”

Stone helped him and they pulled the twins apart. One had a bullet wound in his back at the base of his neck, the other a wound in the chest.

“How many shots did you fire?” Rawls asked.

“Two, I think, but I don’t think one of them hit anything. I couldn’t see very well.”

“Give me a hand,” Rawls said, taking an arm and hoisting. Stone helped, and he and Rawls lifted the body. “There,” Rawls said. “You killed them both with one round.”