Blaze of Glory Read Online Free PDF Page B

of the weapon as Zinsser reached for another in his vest. Something punched him twice, driving his body armor into his chest. The air in his lungs fled. He stumbled back into the wall but didn’t fall.
    A thin man stepped his way, a large revolver in his hand. Zinsser could see down the barrel. The attacker grimaced as he stepped closer. Apparently he didn’t want to hit body armor with his next shot.
    Zinsser sprang forward, seized the gun and the man’s hand, and twisted. The pain in his shoulder peaked. He could feel blood run from the wound, but it didn’t matter—he and Brian were moments from death. Zinsser would not wait for it.
    Snapping the man’s arm behind him, Zinsser continued to twist his wrist until he felt the attacker’s tendons give way. The man screamed, and Zinsser pulled the gun free. Using the man as a shield, Zinsser raised the revolver and fired at two other men coming through the door.
    The men outside scattered for a moment. Zinsser pushed his captive forward. He ran for the door. Zinsser shot him in the spine.
    The room seemed to tilt. His ears, pummeled by gunfire in a confined space, roared. A second later the roaring was joined with a distant pounding. He swayed. The room stopped tilting and began to spin. Seconds slowed to hours.
    His weapon.
    His M4.
    He reached for it then rammed in his spare clip. “Come on! I’m ready for you! BRING IT.” Vomit tried to rise in his throat.
    Three Somali pirates appeared at the door.
    Zinsser raised his weapon.
    Brian pulled the trigger of his sidearm, but it only clicked.
    The roaring in his ears lessened, but the pounding increased. Not pounding. Thumping.
    The Somalis looked up and fled. A half-second later, bullets rained from the sky.
    “Hey, pal, you all right?”
    Zinsser turned to Brian, but he wasn’t talking to anyone. Where had the voice come from?
    “Open your eyes, Zinsser.”
    Zinsser looked up. A voice from heaven?

    “WHAT?”
    “Open your eyes, man. You’re freaking me out.”
    Zinsser blinked several times. He was back in the hospital room. The voice wasn’t from heaven; it was from the man on the hospital bed. Zinsser looked at his hands; they shook like leaves on a tree. He squeezed them into fists and took a ragged breath.
    “Did I wake you?”
    “Yeah. Screaming, ‘Bring it’ kinda got my attention.” Brian smiled.
    “Sorry. I must have been having a nightmare.”
    Brian chuckled. “Nightmares, is that what they call it? Night-terrors is a better description.”
    “It was just a dream.”
    Brian swore. “Sure, that’s all they are: dreams. Just little dreams that make us wet ourselves and soak the sheets with sweat.” He paused and studied Zinsser. “You told me you were over the dreams; that the doc made them go away.”
    “I am. It’s just . . .”
    “Don’t sweat it, man. I knew you were lying.”
    “How?”
    “Because I’m not over my dreams, and I’m a better man than you.”
    “That a fact, is it?”
    “Watch what you say, Zinsser. You don’t want me to get out of this bed and smack you around.”
    It took a moment for the words to come. “Yeah, yeah I do.”
    “We’ve been over this, Zinsser. My condition is not your fault. You saved my life.”
    “I know.”
    “You know it in your head but not in your heart.” Brian pulled his one arm from beneath the covers and scratched his forehead.
    Zinsser decided to change the subject. “When is your surgery?”
    “Same as it was yesterday when you stopped by. Two days. One more time under the knife to get my plumbing realigned, then a couple of months of rest. After that they’re going to torture me with prosthetic legs. They’ve been working on some new technology. Still, I won’t be doing disco soon.”
    “Any word from Juliet?”
    Brian frowned. “No. She’s gone for good, Zinsser. I told her to leave. She married a whole man.”
    “That’s just wrong on so many levels.” A hot spear of emotion pierced Zinsser.
    “It was hard on