Frankenstein: The Complete 5-Book Collection. Dean Koontz

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       CHAPTER 72

      STANDING WITH HER BACK to the shared wall between the living room and the kitchen, Carson fished shotgun shells out of a jacket pocket.

      She had the shakes. She handled the fat shells one at a time, afraid of fumbling them. If she dropped one, if it rolled under a piece of furniture …

      Outside at the open trunk of the car, when she had loaded the 12-gauge, she almost hadn’t pocketed any spare rounds. This was a finishing weapon, useful for bringing a quick end to a dangerous situation; it wasn’t a piece you used for extended fire-fights.

      Only twice before had she needed a shotgun. On each occasion a single shot – in one instance, just a warning; in the other incident, intended to wound – had put an end to the confrontation.

      Apparently Harker would be as hard to bring down as Deucalion had predicted.

      She only had three spare shells. She inserted them in the tube-style magazine and hoped she had enough to do the job.

      Skull bone as dense as armor plating. She might blind him with a face shot, but would that matter, could he function anyway?

      Two hearts. Aim for the chest. Two rapid-fire rounds, maybe three, point-blank if possible. Take out both hearts.

      Across the room, Michael was staying low, using furniture for cover, moving deeper into the living room, angling for a line of sight into the kitchen, where Harker had taken cover.

      Harker was only part of their problem, Jenna the other part. The blood in the hallway suggested she was in the apartment. Hurt. Maybe mortally wounded.

      Small apartment. Probably three rooms, one bath. He had come out of the bedroom. Jenna might be in there.

      Or she might be in the kitchen, where he had gone. He might be slitting her throat now.

      Back against the wall, holding the shotgun cross-body, Carson eased toward the archway between this room and the kitchen, aware that he might be waiting to shoot her in the face the instant she showed.

      They had to whack Harker quickly, get Jenna medical help. The woman wasn’t screaming. Maybe dead. Maybe dying. In this situation, time was the essence, terror the quintessence.

      A noise in the kitchen. She couldn’t identify it.

      Rising recklessly from behind a sofa to get a better look, Michael said, “He’s going out a window!”

      Carson cleared the archway, saw an open casement window. Harker crouched on the sill, his back to her.

      She swept the room to be sure that Jenna wasn’t there to take ricochets. No. Just Harker.

      Monster or no monster, shooting him in the back would earn her an OIS investigation, but she would have shot him anyway, except that he was gone before she could squeeze the trigger.

      Rushing to the window, Carson expected a fire escape beyond, perhaps a balcony. She found neither.

      Harker had thrown himself into the alleyway The fall was at least thirty feet, possibly thirty-five. Far enough to acquire a mortal velocity before impact.

      He lay facedown on the pavement. Unmoving.

      His plunge seemed to refute Deucalion’s contention that Victor’s creations were effectively forbidden to self-destruct.

      Below, Harker stirred. He sprang to his feet. He had known that he could survive such a fall.

      When he looked up at the window, at Carson, reflected moonlight made lanterns of his eyes.

      At this distance, a round – or all four rounds – from the shotgun wouldn’t faze him.

      He СКАЧАТЬ