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I had no premonition of what was
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I had no premonition of what was waiting for us
inside the long, overgrown outbuilding, which was
dark and stifling hot, and no idea that Wireman
had drawn the Desert Eagle automatic until it went
off
The doors were the kind that slide open on tracks,
but these would never slide again; they were
rusted in place eight feet apart, and had been for
decadesGray-green Spanish Moss dangled down like
a curtain, obscuring the top of the gap between
the doors
"What we're looking f-" I began, and that was when
the heron came flapping out with its blue eyes
blazing, its long neck stretched forward, and its
yellow beak snappingIt was getting itself into
flight as soon as it cleared the doors, and I had
no doubt that its target was my eyesThen the
Desert Eagle roared, and the bird's mad blue glare
disappeared along with the rest of its head, in a
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fine spray of bloodIt hit me, light as a bundle
of wires wrapped around a hollow core, then
dropped at my feetAt the same instant I heard a
high, silver scream of fury in my head
It wasn't just me, eitherJack
dropped the handles of the picnic basket and
jammed the heels of his hands against his ears
"One dead heron," Wireman said, his voice not
quite steadyHe prodded the bundle of feathers,
then flipped it off my boots"For God's sake,
don't tell Fish and WildlifeShooting one of
these'd probably cost me fifty grand and five
years in jail
"How did you know?" I asked"What does it matter? You told me to
shoot it if I saw itYou Lone Ranger, me Tonto
"But you had the gun out
"I had what Nan Melda might have called 'an
intuition' when she was putting on her Mama's
silver bracelets," Wireman said, unsmiling
"Something's keeping an eye on us, all right,
leave it at thatAnd after what happened to your
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daughter, I'd say we're owed a little helpBut we
have to do our part
"Just keep your shootin iron handy while we do
it," I said
"Oh, you can count on that
"And Jack? Can you figure out how to load the
speargun?"
No problem th |