The Magnum landed beneath the police car.
Rafferty and Lester fought for the Police Special. Rafferty got it once, but Lester knocked it from his hand. The gun landed at Rafferty's feet, accidentally firing. Lester went for it, and Rafferty kicked him in the face.
Rafferty ran stumbling away from him and towards the gun in the dirt. Lester came after Rafferty and caught up with him. He punched Rafferty's already battered face and kept punching until Rafferty's nose and mouth were bleeding and his left eye was closed and starting to swell. Rafferty sank to his knees.
Lester picked up the police special, aimed at Rafferty who was sprawled in the dust, and fired. But the gun was empty. Lester threw it away, then hauled Rafferty to his feet, shook him and slammed him against the police car. Lester smacked him, banging his head against the car.
Jimmy Quint arrived in the woods near the Quint House and saw Rafferty being battered by Lester. Jimmy grabbed up his rifle and started loading it. He didn’t realize how far he was from the action.
Rafferty sandwiched his hands and gave Lester a roundhouse swing that slowed him. Then Rafferty devastated him with a palm up his nose. If Rafferty's strength had been there, Rafferty would've killed Lester then. But Lester fell to one knee, grabbed him and tried pulling him down to the dirt. Rafferty pushed him away.
Fifty yards away Jimmy Quint took careful aim at Lester's head, then very carefully squeezed the trigger, just as he was trained.
Rafferty was shot in the thigh. He fell to the ground, landed hard, landed wrong, right on his pelvic bone, right above where the bullet has struck him. A pulse of pain cut through him and almost stopped his heart.
Rafferty cried out, "Oh God!"
Jimmy was horrified at his bad shooting. He tried firing again.
Lester hit the ground, as the next bullet kicked up dirt beyond his head.
Rafferty dragged himself behind the patrol car, while Lester hid behind a wheelbarrow.
Jimmy fired twice, very fast.
Jimmy's first bullet hit the satellite dish. His second one shattered the windshield of the patrol car.
Rafferty struggled to pull himself up.
Rafferty called out, "Jimmy! Throw me the gun, Jimmy! Just throw me the gun, and I'll shoot the bastard!"
Jimmy's next shot came within inches of Rafferty's face. Rafferty ducked behind cover again, cursing Jimmy Quint under his breath.
Jimmy was heartsick. He very carefully aimed and fired at Lester and the bullet went wild and completely missed Lester.
Lester ran for the patrol car. Once there he stretched his arm beneath the patrol car and grabbed the Magnum.
Jimmy ran from the woods to get a closer shot at Lester.
Rafferty saw Lester reaching for the Magnum. Rafferty staggered to his feet and towards the compost pile, where he took up Jeremiah Quint's compost shovel.
Magnum in hand, Lester ran from the patrol car. He shot several times at Jimmy, hitting him only once, which struck Jimmy's foot at the ankle. Jimmy fell to the dirt, unable to continue. His rifle flew from his hands, went clattering out of his reach.
As Lester slowed, he cocked the magazine for a fresh load.
Jimmy crawled towards the compost pile and the woods beyond. He could not reach his rifle.
Standing over Jimmy, Lester grinned and aimed at Jimmy's forehead.
Rafferty hit Lester with the blade edge of the shovel. When Lester fell, Rafferty hit him again. Lester collapsed on the compost pile. As he died, his falling body crumbled the compost pile and Jeremiah Quint's missing money was revealed inside sealed mason jars under the compost pile.
Rafferty returned to Hartman, but stumbled and fell to the dirt, completely exhausted, still bleeding from Jimmy's bad shooting. He wanted to pass out.
Jimmy, badly injured and using his rifle as a crutch, approached Rafferty and Sheriff Hartman. The Sheriff tried pulling himself upright, barely managing to extract his car keys, which Jimmy took.
Hartman said, "Jimmy, there's a first aid kit in the trunk of my car."
Jimmy left for the patrol car.
Sheriff Hartman was so wounded, he collapsed. When Jimmy returned with the first aid kit, Rafferty took it from him.
Rafferty, with difficulty, said, "Use the radio in the police car, Jimmy. Turn the ignition on, take the microphone and press down on the button. Just keep saying over and over again: Mayday, mayday, officer down, officer down."
Jimmy practiced: "Mayday, mayday, officer down, officer down."
Rafferty said, "Then release the button. When somebody answers, you tell them where we are. Tell them to send paramedics by helicopter."
Jimmy went off to make the call.
Rafferty crawled over to Sheriff Hartman and unpacked the first aid kit. Rafferty wrapped bandages around the Sheriff's wounds. Jimmy returned to Rafferty's side.
Jimmy said, "They said Alice is on her way." He didn’t know her. "Who’s Alice?"
Hartman said, "Alice is fast. She’ll get here quick."
"Jimmy?" Rafferty was grateful. "Jimmy, you know you saved our lives."
Jimmy was dumbfounded when he realized this truth, then nodded his head.
Rafferty and Jimmy locked eyes.
Rafferty said, "Jim -- " He tried again. "Could the Senator have saved her?"
Jimmy said, "No one could have saved her."
"It was an accident?"
"I was the one who turned the heater on."
The Sheriff said, "I thought it was their honeymoon."
"It was a junket to visit NATO bases in the South of France."
The Sheriff said, "Oh, they weren’t alone."
Jimmy knelt by Rafferty’s side. He was inches from outright weeping. "I really screwed up, Terry." He began weeping. "I'm sorry."
"Jimmy -- " Rafferty said, biting back the pain. He consoled Jimmy. "It wasn't your fault, Jimmy. It wasn't."
Rafferty and Jimmy hugged, while Hartman watched warily.
As the men lay bleeding in the dirt, they heard a helicopter approaching.
Rafferty said, "I like fast women."
FB2 document info
Document ID: 66b8e6fa-6c26-1014-b634-8ed7a9d662bc
Document version: 1
Document creation date: 12.06.2008
Created using: Text2FB2 software
Document authors :
traum
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