Today's Reading
CHAPTER TWO
Now in front of the cabin, the older man remained stationary, examining its front porch in silence. He was shrouded within a shadow beneath the overhanging roof, just a step or two beyond the glow of the light from a nearby window.
His eyes then moved to the door. Solid with a standard knob and deadbolt, also attached to a standard wood frame and opening inward.
The two verified that no one else was in the car, which meant a single individual in the cabin.
The man in front of the porch estimated three steps to the top, skipping every other stair, and two long strides to the door. There were no signs of security, suggesting the door and frame were typical, and the doorknob and deadbolt were both secured by standard one-and-a-half-inch screws. Enough to pierce the thinner wood of the doorframe but not long enough to reach the stud behind it.
Of course, if he was wrong, his entry would be anything but a surprise.
The cabin's occupant was seated in a simple, somewhat dated living room. In a padded high-backed chair and deep in thought when there was a brief sound outside before the front door exploded in a sudden, violent crash, sending thin shards of wood flying across the room and across the floor as the door swung wide and slammed into the wall. Ricocheting and bouncing back before a large hand stopped it in midswing.
The woman in the chair screamed, her glass of wine crashing on the wooden floor. Panicked, she scrambled up and into the back of the chair's high back before tumbling over an arm and attempting to crawl away.
The intruder stepped through the open doorway into the small living room, smoothly drawing his Smith & Wesson. Then raised and leveled it before the woman.
She was utterly frozen. Unable to move. Staring into the dark circular opening of the gun's barrel. Unbreathing.
From his white-bearded face, the man's eyes scanned the remainder of the room and peered past the cabin's moderate kitchen, then down its short hallway.
With his gun still raised, he waited several moments for his cohort to appear, but there was nothing. Leaving him staring at the woman in his sights.
His gray-blue eyes were hard. Unblinking, with an even harder face. No expression. No emotion. Just cold and calculating.
Devin Waterman stared at her for half a minute, watching the hyperventilating woman before finally speaking. "What's your name?"
Her mouth struggled to move, let alone form words.
"Tell me your name," he repeated.
After several moments, the trembling woman finally regained control of her lips. "N-Nora Lagner."
Waterman stepped back, keeping the gun raised, and examined the hallway again. This time, more closely. "Anyone else here?"
The woman named Lagner shook her head.
"If there is," he said, "I shoot, then ask questions."
There was nothing. No sound. No movement. Only them and their breathing. Prompting Waterman to ease the grip ever so slightly on his gun. "Sit down," he commanded.
Lagner stared momentarily before stumbling forward, haphazardly making her way back to the chair as if she were blind.
Waterman watched as she lowered herself into it cautiously and carefully. "You know me?"
Again, she shook her head.
"Good," he said. "It's mutual, and that means I have absolutely zero compunction over shooting you. All I need...is a reason. Understand?"
Lagner nodded.
"Do you believe me?"
Another nod.
"Good. Then you're not entirely stupid."
...
