Avarice

They walked back inside and stood in the lobby, looking out the window at people either still waiting under the awning or laughing and running for their cars. Rosemaria, a born-and-bred Californian from Simi Valley, knew that heavy summer rain was unexpected and fun for people in southern California. They could hear cars whizzing by on the street on the hill just above the gym, the drivers ignoring the possibilities of an accident on the slippery, oily pavement. They waited five minutes, and the torrential downpour turned into a steady rain, but the black clouds remained. Rosemaria watched a man walking a small dog of dubious origin at the far end of the parking lot. The poor wet mutt was pulling at the leash, but the man was ignoring him. She saw he was wearing an earbud and intent on listening to something or someone. Even walking his dog in the rain, he couldn’t stay off the phone.

“You ready to go?” Raul asked.

“Yes, let’s do it.”

They ventured back outside and stopped under the awning. Only two other people, a man and a woman were still waiting. Rosemaria again noticed the man walking his dog who looked in their direction and immediately began talking to his dog or to someone. Raul pulled open the umbrella, and the rain beat down on it in a steady rhythm as they walked, hunched over, toward the Lincoln a few yards away. She stopped and turned when someone tapped her on the shoulder. It was the blonde receptionist, who now leaned close under their umbrella. “You forgot your jacket.” The words were barely spoken before she heard the sound of a rifle, the receptionist’s head exploded, and blood splatter covered Rosemaria’s face.

Raul grabbed Rosemaria’s arm and ran. “Keep down! It’s coming from up on the hill!” He pulled his Glock out of its holster and fired up the hill where he could see the sniper. A woman who had just stepped out of her car screamed and ran for the gym entrance. Rosemaria glanced back and saw the receptionist lying on the ground in a pool of blood, her face obliterated by the bullet.

The man with the dog dropped the leash and began firing at them with an automatic. Raul could see that the high-powered rifle on the hill was still aimed at Rosemaria, who had ducked down behind a car several yards away from the Lincoln. Raul fumbled the car key out of his pocket, and it slipped from his grasp and fell underneath the car. He fired back at the man in the parking lot then dropped down by the driver’s side and slid under the car as bullets tore into the side of the Lincoln.

Rosemaria was close to the edge of the hill above the road that wound down from the gym to the freeway and decided her best bet for escape was to run down the hill through the thick brush and trees and make her way to the road below. She had left her own Beretta at Joell’s house, not having anticipated that she would need it for a trip to a pricey health club. Maybe Raul could hold off the man in the parking lot long enough for her to get away, then somehow get in the car and meet her at the bottom. She cursed at herself for not being able to protect him.

From underneath the Lincoln, Raul saw the gunman minus his dog, making his way toward the edge of the parking lot where Rosemaria had disappeared. Raul fired three shots from underneath the car at the man’s legs and saw him stumble and fall. The dropped keys were about a foot away, and he managed to crawl two feet forward without exposing himself to the sniper, grab them, click open the door, and pull himself inside. He didn’t have to worry about the man on the hill once he was inside the car. Joell always ordered bulletproof glass on even her rented limos. A bullet slammed into the windshield as Raul started the car. He backed out of the parking spot and saw a man carrying a gun come tearing down the hill. By this time, no one was in the parking lot. Everyone had run inside and was huddled down behind locked doors. The wounded gunman had made his way to a black Ford, and Raul figured he had less than a minute to pick up Rosemaria at the bottom of the hill before they caught up with him. He raced out of the parking lot.