Blindside

upper arm. She’d wanted to hit him high on the shoulder, wanted to bring him down, but the rain and fog were hard on her aim.
    He managed to keep his gun. She had hoped he’d drop it.
    She shouted, “Come forward, both of you, slowly!”
    But neither of them took a single step toward her, not that she’d expected them to. Both men ran back into the thick trees. She fired after them, once, twice, then a final time. She thought she heard a yell. Good.
    The little boy, panting so hard he was heaving, was on her the next instant. He grabbed her arm and shook it.
    “You can’t let them go, ma’am! You’ve gotta shoot them again, you gotta kick their butts!”
    Katie laid her rifle alongside her leg, and pulled the boy against her. “I got the fat one in the arm. Maybe I got the other one, too, while they were running back into the forest. You can count on it—the fat one’s hurting bad. Now, it’s going to be all right. I’m Sheriff Benedict. I’ll get right on my cell phone and call for some help with those guys. Come into the truck and tell me what’s going on.”
    Sam looked up at the tall woman who could have shot Fatso right in his big gut, but had only shot him in the arm instead. “Why didn’t you kill him?”
    Katie smiled at the boy as she quickly herded him back to the truck. She didn’t want to hang around here. No telling if those guys would pop back out of the woods. “Itry not to kill every bad guy I run into,” she said. “Sometimes I like to bring them in front of a judge.” She squeezed him hard. “You’re okay and that’s all that matters. Now let’s move out of here.”
    The narrow bench in the back could hold no more than a couple of skinny kids. What it did have was a stack of blankets, not usually for warmth, but to soften the ride.
    She grabbed the blankets and lifted the boy up onto the front seat. “Keely, we’re going to make room for—”
    “My name’s Sam.”
    “We’re going to make room for Sam. He’s cold and he’s wet.” She settled him between her and Keely and covered him with five blankets. “Sweetie, don’t worry about your seat belt. You just press close to him to help him warm up, okay?”
    “Okay, Mama.” Keely pressed against his back. Her little face was white, her voice a thin thread.
    “It’s going to be all right, baby. I don’t want you to worry. I want you to be real brave for Sam here. He needs you to watch over him now. He’s been through something bad. Can you do that?”
    Keely nodded, the tears that were near to brimming over nearly gone now. To Katie’s surprise, she shook Sam’s arm. “Hey, who were those guys? What were they doing to you?”
    Sam was shuddering.
    “Not now, Keely. Let’s just let Sam warm up a bit before we grill him.”
    Sam managed to get his mouth working, but it was hard. “What’s your name, ma’am?”
    “I’m Sheriff Benedict and that little girl next to you is my daughter, Keely. Did those men kidnap you?”
    Sam managed to nod. He wasn’t going to cry. “I squeezed through a window and fell on my head. But I got away.”
    “My goodness, you’re really brave, Sam. Now, let’s getyou over to Doc Flint’s. Keely, you press close to Sam and try to get him warm.”
    “I call him Doc Flintstone,” Keely said, watched her mom frown, then grab one of the towels to dry off the little boy’s head.
    Sam said from behind the towel, “My mama used to give me Flintstones vitamins every morning with my toast.”
    “I like marmalade on my toast. I don’t think smashed vitamins would taste very good.”
    Sam thought that was funny, but he was just too cold and too scared to laugh. He burrowed under the blankets; all he wanted to do was get warm. He pressed himself as hard as he could against Sheriff Benedict’s leg. He felt the little girl squeezing against his back. He wondered if he was going to die now that he’d gotten away from those men. The little girl was pressed so hard against him, he’d bet she was going to get her clothes as wet as his.
    Katie slid her rifle onto the floor behind the driver’s seat. She turned the heater on high. “Okay, kids, I cranked up the heat so it’ll be roasting you both in a minute. I know you’re wet clear through, Sam, but the blankets should help a little bit.”
    “I don’t like marmalade,” Sam said as Katie looked at him closely.
    “You’ll like my mom’s. It’s the best.” Good, the boy wasn’t in shock, at least not yet. Katie put the