Lady in Red Ch. 28

Steve quickly stood and strode to the front of the stage, standing off to the side so no students were directly behind him. He gripped both guns tightly under his robe. His attention shifted from the van to the people in the audience. He looked for any signs of an attack. As he looked, he noticed a couple men standing in the back, shifting back and forth and looking at their watches frequently. Steve marked their position mentally as he turned his attention back to the van on the hill.

The driver of the van walked around in front of it. He stood still and looked down the hill at the stage. Steve watched as the man silently waved his hand. Then he held up a cell phone, made a flourish with both hands, and pressed a button.

The result was immediate and beyond anything Steve could have imagined. There was a deafening explosion from the area where the van had been. A shock wave knocked many in the audience and the students on stage off their chairs.

As he staggered backward, Steve shook the sleeves of the robe down below his elbows and brought both handguns up and ready for action. Just as debris from the explosion began raining down on the crowd, Steve saw several men start forward with handguns. One of them appeared to aim in Gwen's direction. Steve terminated him immediately with two bullets to the brain.

People began screaming and ducking as the sound of gunfire filled the evening. As he expected, his position on the stage made him the central target for the gunmen. Steve felt a bullet strike his chest as he double-tapped another would-be killer. From the corner of his eye, he saw a tall man point a gun in Lisa's direction. Just as he brought his left hand gun around, the man's head mushroomed as he was struck by a round from Ted's weapon. Steve felt another bullet strike his chest and he turned to see three men moving down the aisle toward him. Standing his ground, he brought both guns into play, firing so rapidly, witnesses would later claim that it sounded like a continuous roar.

Jared was stunned when the explosion rocked the assembly. He immediately turned to look for the source of the explosion as he was pushed back by the shock wave. That was almost his undoing. Because he was unprepared, he staggered and dropped to his knees just as a bullet whined past his head. Looking up, he saw a heavy man moving down along the crowd toward him. The man stopped and raised his gun again. Without thinking, Jared brought his gun up and started pulling the trigger. The man lurched back when two bullets struck his chest and finally went down when Jared's third shot took off the top of his head.

Ted felt that he was on the verge of a heart attack as he sat and tried to listen to Gwen's speech. He knew fear as he looked at his wife and daughters sitting near him. What if they were hurt, or worse? The tension was winding him tighter and tighter. Paula tried to reassure him, but it only increased his feeling of dread and anxiety. The sudden loud explosion and resulting mayhem somehow ended his anxiety. Now that it was happening, Ted reached way down and found the calmness he needed to keep his family safe.

Paula saw Steve shooting from the stage. Suddenly a gunman appeared a short distance in front of her. He raised his weapon toward Lisa, and Paula knew absolute fear. There was a loud explosion next to her and the gunman's face turned to blood. Paula swung around in stunned disbelief. She saw Ted holding a handgun with smoke tendrils curling out of the barrel! He had saved Lisa!

Gwen had a bad feeling when Steve strode up to the front and side of the stage so suddenly. It was not part of the program and she knew of no reason for him to draw attention to himself. Then she suddenly knew fear as she realized there were only a couple possible reasons for Steve to want to attract attention. He was diverting it from others! When Jared took a similar stance on the other side of the stage, Gwen had no doubt that something really bad was afoot and the two men were moving out to meet it head on.

Gwen was knocked backward from the force of the explosion. As she scrambled to her feet, she saw a man moving down an aisle while pointing a gun at her! Before she could react in any way, the man's head turned crimson and he fell to the ground. Swinging around, Gwen saw Steve's robe jerk violently as Steve lurched backward a step. He used his left hand to shoot a man with a gun in the back row. Then he swung both guns up and began firing nonstop as three armed men charged him. All three dropped to the ground not twenty feet from Steve.

As suddenly as it began, the gunfire ended. Sobs and cries of fear and anguish began to fill the air. Steve remained standing, scanning the crowd for any further terrorists. Jared stood ready on the far end of the stage, while Ted stood guard over his family, his gun pointed to the skies as Paula sobbed and hugged Lisa.

Amber Stahl had been set up on the side of the seating section and had recorded the entire event. She had planned on editing everything down to a minute or so for the evening news. Now she was on the phone to the station.

"Put me on live! There's been mass shootings and a bomb blast here at Sparta. Yeah, he was in the middle of it. I'll send the video back right now. Just get me live as fast as you can. This is a major news event!"

Once again, Channel 5 was the only station with a reporter on scene for a horrifying series of events in Sparta. The station went live immediately, and within another minute the CBC Network was broadcasting live the aftermath of the bomb blast and shootings.

"Steve! You've been shot! I saw the where the bullet hit you in the chest!" cried Gwen as she rushed to Steve as he continued to sweep the crowd with his eyes. "My God! Look at the holes! You've been shot three times!"

Sirens were blaring as ambulances and police cars streamed into the parking lot. The ambulances drove as close to the stage as possible. Steve saw the first medics to arrive work on a police officer that was down just beyond the sitting area. The second officer was with him, trying to stem the bleeding. Then a helicopter hovered and landed on the end of the athletic field not in use.

"I'm okay, Gwen. I'm wearing a vest. It stopped the bullets from penetrating into my body. Keep a sharp eye out in case there are any more of those bastards," cautioned Steve.

Gwen recognized the FBI man that had been so rude in the hospital the day of the first attack. He had a gun drawn as he led two other men in suits toward the stage. When he saw Ted holding a gun, he immediately stopped and pointed his weapon at him.

"Drop the gun! We have you covered!" shouted the man as Ted quickly placed the gun on a chair and raised his hands.

Seeing the potential for confusion, Steve quickly placed his weapons on the stage floor and stood with his hands raised shoulder high. As one of the suits moved in and handcuffed Ted, the head man started for Steve.

"Get down with your hands behind your back! Reach for those guns and you're dead!" threatened the government man as Steve gracefully dropped to the floor and placed his hands behind his back.

The actions of the FBI did not go unnoticed by Jared so he quickly knelt down, slid his weapon away from his body and lay down with his hands behind his back. The third FBI suit quickly moved in and handcuffed him.

As Steve was being cuffed, Gwen went off. "What in hell's wrong with you? These men saved our lives! That's Steve Hammer, my father, and Jared White! They're the good guys! Release them immediately!"

"I don't take orders from teenage trim," snarled the agent in charge. "These men are armed and wearing body armor. It appears that they came to this dance expecting trouble. Where did they get the guns and the vests?"

"Vests?" repeated Jared. "Why the hell didn't you tell me you were wearing a bullet-proof vest? Hell, I walked out there because you did, acting all tough and shit. I could've been killed!"

Amber Stahl was nothing if not observant. She quickly determined where the story was and moved toward the encounter with the FBI as Gwen grew angrier.

"You don't take orders from 'trim'? Is that what you said? That settles it. You're going to be out of a job as soon as I can make it happen. Amber, do you want to interview me right now?"

"This is a crime scene. Back off with the camera," ordered the lead FBI agent, causing Amber to take a few steps back.

"Zoom in and I'll speak loudly," promised Gwen. "Steve Hammer, Jared White, and my father Ted Anderson, just saved dozens, if not hundreds of innocent people, from crazed terrorists. These jackasses from the FBI showed up after the shooting was done and handcuffed them after pointing their weapons at them. I'm making this promise to the people watching this as it happens, if these three heroes are not released immediately, I will see that these FBI men lose their jobs, if it takes me the rest of my life."

As she finished speaking, Steve's phone began to ring. Gwen quickly reached under Steve's bullet riddled gown and pulled his phone off his belt. The FBI agent was reaching for her when she answered it.

"Hello? Thank God, it's you! You're watching us on TV? Let me switch to speaker phone, Sir. This FBI man needs to hear this from you," announced Gwen as she pushed the speaker button on the phone.

"This is the President. I want you to release those three men right now. Question them if you feel it's necessary, but do not treat them like criminals. Do you understand?"

"What kind of crap is this?" snapped the lead agent. "You expect me to believe the president has you on his speed dial? These three are persons of interest and I'm taking them in for questioning, whoever you are!"

Then the agent's phone rang. He carefully pulled it out and answered it. "Hello, Mr. Andrews? We have a hell of a mess here. There are eight dead men, a wounded cop, and three suspicious characters that were armed with the same type of guns the dead terrorists used. I have them in custody.

"The president called you? He's on the line now? Okay, but I think it's a bad idea. No, I'm not refusing. I just think that we should...okay! I'll do it!" stated the obviously flustered federal agent as he reached into his pocket and pulled out keys.

"Thank you, Mr. President. I have no idea how Steve wound up with the guns or the body armor, but I'm glad he did! We'll fill you in on everything as soon as we get it straight. One police officer was wounded, and a few people were banged up from the force of the bomb blast. Steve was hit three times in the chest, but the armor must have saved him. He looks pretty good, but we'll have him checked at the hospital. Thanks for helping out, Sir. Yes, Steve's hands are free. Would you like to speak to him?"

Steve accepted the phone from Gwen. "Yes, sir. The short version? I saw men unloading two orange coolers earlier today by the school. I thought they were taking them fishing. A kid told me he saw them under the stage. I dug them out and carried them back to the van they had come in. Gwen's dad helped me. We found guns, plastic explosives, and some bullet proof vests in the van. I grabbed some guns, two vests, called 911 and the state department number I have on my phone.

"It turned out that the bomber stopped to watch from up on the hill as he detonated the bombs with his cell phone, not realizing the bombs were in the back of his van. He unwittingly became a suicide bomber. My impression? They looked homegrown to me. Thank you, Sir!"