Chapter 22 #2
The gunfire came from across the barge, near the structure with the bank vault, and it forced John back into the captain’s quarters. John attempted to return fire, but Dillon’s automatic rifle provided zero opportunity to gain any ground.
John’s first instinct was to retreat back into the wheelhouse for cover, but something told him he needed to press forward. If he didn’t do something to level the playing field now, then Dillon would only have more opportunities to hurt them. Parker was right. The man was never going to stop.
John pressed forward, rushing toward Dillon as fast as he could, using whatever cover he could find along the way to give himself short breaks on his path forward.
As John approached, his heart rate skyrocketed. There was a stretch of no man’s land of at least twenty feet before he could reach the vault. He didn’t think it was possible for him to make it there without Dillon putting a few holes in him.
John needed to play this smarter. Dillon didn’t play by the rules, so John decided he wouldn’t, either.
The barge that Dillon had commandeered to move his money with the safe also happened to have a large construction crane on board. The crane’s big metal shovel was more than capable of stopping bullets and tearing through whatever structure Dillon tried to hide behind.
John hurried to the crane before Dillon had a chance to shoot at him again. He had worked one of these in construction before, and though it had been on land, he figured the controls were the same.
The crane started without hesitation, and John pulled the levers to swing the massive crane around toward the shed where Dillon had sought cover.
The moment Dillon heard the crane turn on, he must have realized what John was trying to do. He emerged from cover, firing wildly at John in the crane, but he swung the heavy metal bucket around before Dillon could stop him.
John dropped the massive shovel through the top of the shed’s structure. The roof immediately collapsed, the heavy metal bucket ripping through the sheet metal like it was a paper maché.
Dillon sprinted from the structure before it collapsed on him, shooting at John on his dash past to the next shed-like structure.
But John was quick to follow, swinging the big crane into the next little building and collapsing it into rubble as well, just as Dillon disappeared around the backside of it.
The gunfire stopped, but John couldn’t tell if he’d hit Dillon or not because the crane obstructed his view of the damage. John reached for his weapon and then stepped out of the crane’s control seat. He hesitantly approached the wreckage, searching for Dillon, but found no sign of a body.
John glanced back at the wheelhouse, making sure Dillon hadn’t made a move toward it, but found it vacant as well.
The barge continued its slow progress toward the riverbank as John searched the top of the barge. It was oddly quiet, but when John approached the second collapsed shed, he saw the automatic rifle Dillon had used discarded on the ground.
Dillon had run out of ammunition, which was good news for John, but the fact that he couldn’t find the slippery snake was concerning.
Perhaps Dillon had abandoned the ship. Maybe he had decided it was better to live to fight another day, but John didn’t believe the man was capable of letting something go, not after everything he’d learned about the bank robber.
John glanced at the shoreline, and he saw his wife and Parker waiting for him near the water. He was focused on them when Dillon snuck up from behind and tackled him to the ground.
Dillon was on him so fast John barely had time to react. John only managed to fire off one shot before Dillon knocked his weapon out of his hands and pinned John down. Dillon had the upper hand, and he pummeled John’s body with a series of punches he couldn’t defend.
John had never been a good ground fighter, but the way Dillon was striking him, it was clear Dillon was trying to kill him.
With his life on the line, John used all of his strength to flip Dillon off of him and get back to his feet.
John searched for the weapon he had dropped, but Dillon saw it first. Even though Dillon reached the gun first, John wasn’t far behind.
The pair grappled for the weapon, and Dillon pulled the trigger, firing off several shots before John could regain control.
John’s ears were ringing from the gunshots, and his muscles were burning with fatigue from the long day.
Dillon didn’t look like he was tired at all.
If anything, he looked like he was gaining strength.
But John wasn’t about to die and lose here, so he dug deep, searching for energy reserves, and found another gear.
John pinned Dillon’s arm and then twisted his wrist, forcing him to drop the weapon. He then landed two punches to Dillon’s head, knocking him backward.
Once Dillon was off balance, John managed to get into a rhythm, knocking the man backward with each blow. And with each hit John landed on Dillon, he felt himself lose more control. He wanted blood, and he was about to get it.
But Dillon wasn’t about to lose his momentum, either, and he doubled down, the pair locking horns in a stalemate.
“You’re tougher than you look,” Dillon said, grunting through a strained breath. “But you’re tired and out of gas.”
“You don’t look much better,” John replied, his muscles on fire.
“Better than you, at least,” Dillon said.
When Dillon smiled, John wasn’t sure what the madman had planned, but then he bit John’s wrist, drawing blood, and it caused John to drop the weapon. It was only a second, but it gave Dillon the upper hand as he turned to aim the weapon at John.
At that moment, John watched his life flash before his eyes. Time stood still as he stared down the barrel of the gun. And when he heard the gunshot, he believed his life was over.
But it hadn’t been Dillon who had fired the shot.
Maggie and Parker fired shots from the riverbank, pushing Dillon away from John. The barge had moved close enough to the riverbank for both of them to have a good shot.
With Dillon distracted, John hurried to the wheelhouse for cover and then watched as Dillon sprinted toward the edge of the barge, away from Maggie and Parker’s gunshots, and splashed into the water, disappearing into the river.
John rushed to the barge’s side and stared down into the water, but Dillon never surfaced. And even though Dillon was nowhere to be seen, John feared he would return.