“Please,” she tried to put all of her urgency in her eyes, “there’s real danger here. We allneed to go.”
For a moment she saw something in the other woman’s eyes that said she might be getting through to her.
But then it was too late.
“Andy? What are you doing?”
Noelle turned toward the direction of the manager’s voice and saw Andy... Anthony securing the lock on the doors to the garden center.
The doors were more of a gate, open during business hours and closed with a chain and lock after hours.
Now, she heard the jingle of the chain as it fell against the fence.
She hadn’t seen him close the lock, but she knew he’d done it.
“Open it right now, Andy! What are you doing?”
It was clear that he expected ‘Andy’ to do what he’d been told, yelled in his direction.
But the manager hadn’t expected the man to pull a gun out of his overalls.
“You,” ‘Andy’ shot back, “should go out that door,” he pointed the gun toward the doors that led into the main store beyond, “and lock it behind you.”
The manager puffed up, his inhaled breath and hands on his hips said he wasn’t about to follow ‘Andy’s orders. “You put that away.”
That, being the gun.
Noelle knew that her phone was useless. There was no need to reach down and pick it up. It wasn’t a fancy phone and the cover she had on it was good, but it certainly didn’t stand up to an angry women throwing it down on asphalt and concrete.
Over in the corner, she saw a flash of color that reminded her of the baby sling that Tracy used to carry around her baby when they were out of the house.
She hoped that Tracy had heard the commotion and was on her phone.
Even more, she hoped that Tracy was herding everyone toward the exit doors.
“I’m waiting, Eddie.”
The manager’s face turned a livid red. “What did you call me?”
Noelle took a step back, hoping to get around the display tables and find her family.
The woman who’d been blocking her way, now seemed to realize the danger they were in.
Her hand snaked out, surprisingly fast, and grasped Noelle’s shirt.
“Don’t you leave us!”
Her shouted denial turned heads.
‘Andy’ and the manager looked over.
“I’m not,” she told the woman, but Noelle was looking at the room in general. “I just needed some space.”
Noelle moved her eyes back and forth around the room, hoping to catch a glimpse of the others, but not trying to draw attention to a specific area.
“This is crazy,” the manager raged, his hands lifting up into the air. “What’s going on here?”
His rage turned to shock as the barrel of the gun in ‘Andy’s hand cracked him across the face.
