by Dani Corlee
"Stop or I'll shoot!" Randy ordered.
Whitmore laughed. "And where did you hear that? In a film for children?" Suddenly serious, he shot back, "Drop the gun on the ground. Otherwise, I'll blow your brains out. Hurry up boy." And he got closer, keeping his aim always on Randy.
Mabel looked at the scene alarmed. From her position, she shouldn’t have been able to see anything if it hadn’t been for the fact that for once the spell was successful, and she could see through the boxes.
What to do? She wondered. I have to think fast. I need a diversion, she thought. Give Randy a way to catch him by surprise. Praying that everything would go right, she tried to drop a box from the top, not too close to Percy, who taken by panic, could fire wounding Randy or worse killing him. She concentrated as much as possible for a few seconds, and nothing happened. She heard Percy yelling something at Randy, but she was too busy to understand what. Finally, a box fell from its place and fell farther and lower than she had planned.
Percy wasn’t more flustered than usual. Almost without moving, in a single flash of his arm he fired behind him, in the direction of the box, hitting it.
"Is it that stupid little girlfriend of yours, or one of your policemen wimps? I feel so sorry for you. The worst police station in the state. Why do you think I wanted to come back here to live? But don't worry, you won't suffer the shame of failing miserably. When they find your body and that of your assistants, I will already be far away."
Mabel felt increasingly terrified. She was cold and scared and didn't know what to do. It occurred to her suddenly a distant memory, which had long been forgotten. She was very young and one Christmas Eve she had wanted to be awake for Santa Claus, hiding behind a piece of furniture not far from the tree. She must have fallen asleep and woke up chilled, no longer remembering where she was and then she realized that there was a man next to the fireplace, with his arm extended forward, toward the stocking she had hung up with her mother the night before.
To see that man again and watch Randy motionless, with his arm pointing at Whitmore, was one and the same. Unknowingly she saw the two images overlap, and Randy was suddenly dressed as Santa Claus. It was only a matter of a moment but enough because Percy had also seen that image and was flabbergasted. The criminal looked at Randy with his mouth open in surprise, suddenly white-faced and loosened the tension in his arm.
Randy didn’t understand what had happened, but he took advantage of the man’s confusion. With a quick swerve he dived to the side, beyond the gun’s trajectory taking him by surprise and easily managed to disarm the man. He dealt a blow with full force to his face with the butt of the gun and after throwing him to the ground face down, brought his arms behind his back and, holding them with one hand, he put the gun away and took the handcuffs to tie him up.
Having gone around the shelving Mabel came close.
"Stay away," he told her. "With certain types you never know."
But Percy did not seem to react.
They heard footsteps approaching fast and two armed colleagues entered the room.
"Randy!" called one.
"I'm here," He answered. "I got him!"
The two agents came in and took custody of the offender.
Randy turned to Mabel and putting a hand on her back pushed her gently towards the exit.
"We did it, did you see?" He said with pride.
Mabel turned and impulsively put her arms around his neck, hugging him.
"I got so scared that something bad would happen to you!" She said all in one breath.
Then embarrassed she let go, as her cheeks lit up.
Randy remained rigid, embarrassed as much as and perhaps even more so than Mabel, eyes wide open.
"Well," he said slowly. "Everything went just fine. Did you see?"
Mabel nodded and gave him a smile that he returned immediately.
"I don't understand how it happened. He had a moment's hesitation which allowed me to catch him by surprise. It was almost like he was afraid as if he had suddenly seen a ghost."
"Maybe he saw a mouse?" She said, not knowing what else to say and suddenly once again starting to blush.
"A mouse? But he was looking at me in the face!"
"Then maybe he understood that you don't mess around!" She said giggling.
"Are you kidding me? No, I really don't understand." He shook his head. "But no matter. All's well that ends well!"
Mabel smiled, closing the cellar to leave behind that awful adventure.
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