Time Breach

Curtis brought the Ruger P-85 horizontal and aimed it in Roth's general direction.  Come a little closer, he thought as he gauged the distance from himself to the four men.  Adrenaline surged through his body and his leg muscles twitched in anticipation as he physically prepared himself to intercept Alexander Roth for the second time and forcefully procure the Misergas formula once and for all.

Without warning, Wessen stopped and slowly backed away from the group.

Alexander Roth sensed the altered situation.  The echo of their footsteps down the empty hall had faded, or perhaps their shadows had separated, he didn't know, but instinctively broke his stride, turning to face the dissenter, Jack Wessen.  So suddenly did Alexander Roth stop, that Giesle almost plowed directly into him, narrowly averting a collision by quickly stepping to the left.

“This is where we part company, boys,” Wessen announced as his retreat was discovered.

Roth slowly and consciously raised his chin to appear taller than Wessen in an attempt to dominate the situation by stature alone.  “Not if you want to live long enough to see daylight,” he challenged.  “We all leave, and we leave together.  No one stays behind for the cops to interrogate.”

“Sorry, Roth,” Wessen sneered as he slid a small, accurized Colt 1911 Automatic smoothly from his nylon bag and cocked the hammer with his thumb, “but I've got other plans.”

“Cancel 'em,” Reid yelled from the doorway of the lab as he stepped into view and trained his Ruger P-85 straight at Wessen.  “You're all coming with me.”

At that instant, a movement in the shadows to his left caught Doug's attention.  What was that?  Merril did not move his head but his eyes darted to the left and focused on the shadows across the room.  There!  By the loop!  His eyes focused on the figure of a woman.  Jan!  Doug slowly sank below the edge of the lab bench and, clutching the shotgun in his right hand, half crawled, half ran toward the loop.  Stay there, Jan!  Don't come in!

“Curtis ¼ ?”  The voice came from behind Curtis Reid and to his left.  “Curtis, is that you?”

That's Jan's voice, the thought flashed through Reid's mind.  What's she doing here?  Curtis stole a glance over his left shoulder.  Not now! he thought.  Curtis directed his attention back down the hall to Wessen.  His aim had drifted to the left and he centered the sights again on Jack Wessen.  Reid glanced back toward the loop, “Jan, get back!”

A deafening crack split the air as Wessen pulled the trigger of his Colt 1911.  Two shells ejected from his gun and the report echoed off the wall at the end of the hallway.

Reid staggered as the first ball of lead struck him in the center of the chest, pounding him backwards with a tremendous force.  Both arms flailed together in front of him as they jerked to follow his body.  The second bullet struck slightly above the naval and an inch to the left.