Eye to Eye: Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective by Don Pendleton Page B

involved nor how many buildings,
residences, etc., were there. So I was really on uncertain ground
and simply feeling my way along in the darkness, now and then in
open moonlight but mostly in deep shadows.
    All that changed, though,
as suddenly and dramatically as that first glimpse of the big dome.
Suddenly there it was again, bathed by the moon—immense, in the
closeup, and even more impressive. And there was Jennifer's
borrowed silver sedan, parked beside it, and there was Jennifer,
herself, struggling in the grip of two determined men who were
dragging her toward another car—and, off to one side, there was my
old pal Greg Souza, just a casual observer.
    I hit the ground with the Walther leading
the way, even before the thinking part of me could assimilate all
that, and I fired a shot "across the bow" to announce a new element
in the drama. Actually I sent the round into that other vehicle.
Both guys reacted to that by releasing Jennifer and clawing for
their own weapons.
    So...shit. Right there in
the shadow of the eye on the universe, I had myself a gun
battle.
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Eight: Incident at Palomar
     
    No more than a dozen shots
were fired, in all—four of them mine. I was going not for a kill
but for a statement, that being: you can't have her all that easy,
guys. Keep in mind that I did not yet know the name of the game nor
even the identities of the players. Hell, these guys could be FBI,
local police, anything. So it's nice, at such a time, to be a
marksman. My general theory of firearms, in fact, is that anyone
who owns one should take the time to thoroughly understand
ballistics science and to master the art of sending a bullet to a
precise mark. So I am a marksman and I sent four to carefully
selected targets; the first, to capture attention; the others, to
encourage sane thought. I grazed both of those guys in nonvital
areas—an arm of one, a leg of another—deep enough to etch a pretty
good groove and produce some bleeding. Meanwhile, their return
fire was totally ineffective, mainly because they could not see me.
I was in dark shadow while they were brightly illuminated by the
headlights of their own car. So they got very sane, very quickly,
and got the hell out of there—a bullet-hole in their door and a lot
of pain behind the wheel, if the erratic course of that fleeing
vehicle was any measure. That reaction answered at least one
identity question as well. I have never known cops to run away from
a fight; they just hunker down and wait for help, if that is
needed.
    Jennifer had run inside the building the
instant she was released. Souza was standing exactly where I had
first seen him, hands raised over his head and peering into the
darkness from which my first round had erupted. "I am not armed,"
he announced to the world at large in a calm voice.
    I called back, "You should be, you
asshole."
    The arms came down immediately and he
replied with obvious relief, "That you, Ash?"
    I said, "Yeh," and joined him in the
moonlight.
    "You should have iced those bastards," he
told me.
    "Who are they?"
    "Beats me. You're the one was throwing lead
at them. I figured you knew."
    I told him, "This thing is getting crazy. Or
I guess you know that already. Nice work you did on Gavinsky."
    He said, "Thanks"—then did a double take
with: "What's that nice work I did?"
    "You didn't do it?"
    "Damned if I know, Ash. What're we talking
about?"
    "I went home," I explained. "Gavinsky was
still there. Well...his body was. Someone did his throat. Ear to
ear."
    Souza winced, said, "No, don't credit me
with that. You're right, it's getting crazier. Look. We need to
talk."
    "Right now," I replied, "I need some words
with Dr. Harrel."
    "She ran inside."
    I said, "Yeah, I noticed. What the hell are
you doing here, Greg?"
    "Just came down to look it
over," he told me. "Been here a couple of hours. Surprised as hell
to see the girl come streaking in here. God, she looked wild. Saw
me and started running. Right into