The Case of the Mad Scientist

Chapter 33: Firefight

I’ll have to admit, I was a little startled at that moment, mostly by the scream that echoed off the walls and ceiling.

The two guards standing behind Watanabe drew their guns. They were quick, but a little confused as to where to point them. The scream was behind them. Also a voice called out from that direction, ordering them, in Japanese, to drop those guns. At the same instant, a gruff voice from off to their right ordered them to “freeze!” That one was me.

The fastest thinker of them all was Gato. While the two guards were trying to aim in two directions at the same time, he was moving towards a workbench filled with beakers and flasks and other chemical type stuff. I swung Wilma round to let go a shot in his direction. A big chunk of the workbench exploded into splinters. At the same moment, he was throwing a large bottle at me. Instinctively, I dove to the side to avoid the bottle.

Wilma’s loud bark upset the guards. Both of them swung their guns around towards me. As I lay on my side, I was trying to swing Wilma up towards them. It was the kind of race I hate to lose. The closest guard got off the first shot. An instant later I fired.

I’ll bet the bullets crossed in midair. A piece of concrete burst up from next to me and I felt the sting of the ricochet as it creased my leg. My bullet, on the other hand, had flown more accurately. The guard who had shot me was hit in the shoulder. It must have felt like a sledgehammer blow, because he spun around very fast, his gun flying out of his hand.

I had to wait a split second to make sure that he was going down and I didn’t need to fire a second shot in his direction. Then I was trying to bring Wilma around to the other guard.

I could have taken my time. Gunshots from the other side of the lab rang out and that guard was jerked sideways. Later, I found out that both Hiroshi and Stella had hit him almost simultaneously, one of them going into his side, the other making a small hole in the side of his head and a much larger one out the other side, spraying blood and brains all over the old man standing there.

hands with surprise. The guy in the lab coat was just looking surprised at everything. He was holding a clipboard and a pencil,

on the floor at his feet. He lifted it and pointed it down the lab. It was too bad that he was as old as he was, and very slow. As he brought the gun up, more shots rang out. The old guy was blown backwards into the console behind him. Oddly enough, he was still holding the gun and

ringing in my ears, mostly due to Wilma being so damned loud in that underground room. The guy in the bloodstained lab coat was still

into view. He had a gun in his hand and I started to swing Wilma around at him. Then I saw Stella next

guns, then checked to makes sure the guards were not going to be

to my

Stella. “Who’s this?” I added, pointing to

lifted one eyebrow and said, “Sled, where

them,” I had to admit. “Long

for this business. In the

Gato?” I said, swinging Wilma around towards the rest of

“Who?” Stella asked.

I told her, nodding towards the

there. In fact, he was nowhere in the lab.