The night was perfect. Dougie and Tawny sat in Christine’s convertible down the street from the Hutchins’s residence. They maintained an ever-vigilant eye on the house. A “Dead End Ahead” sign stood twenty-five feet before them.
“He might not have any reason to go out tonight,” Dougie said in reference to Dolph. “What a wasted evening it would be.”
“Sshhh,” Tawny said. “There’s tomorrow night and the night after and the night after that.”
Dougie groaned with displeasure. Tawny kissed him on the cheek to assuage his irritation.
Jimmy and Christine were on the next road up the hill and about 100 feet to the east. They sat on their haunches on the shoulder of the road where they could see below.
“Careful of that thing now,” Jimmy said to Christine as she handled the rocket launcher.
“Whew! Man, that thing is heavy,” she said. “That S.O.B. had better get his tail outta there and haul ass. I don’t have all night.”
“Suppose he doesn’t come out?”
“Oh, he’ll come out one way or another, even if I have to drag him out.”
“What if he doesn’t come down this way?”
“Oh, brother. Sometimes you can be dense, but that’s what I like about you. Stop fretting so much. He has to come down this way. It’s the only way to come and go because there’s a dead end down that way. Well, wait till he comes to this dead end.” She snickered quietly.
Nearly an hour and forty-five minutes went by when the front door finally opened and Dolph stepped under the porch light. Dougie and Tawny watched Dolph fumble with a set of keys, then get in the limo and drive away.
“I hear a car,” Christine whispered as she rose from her haunches.
Christine and Jimmy looked down and saw Christine’s convertible go by as the headlights flashed a couple times. Tawny leaned out the passenger side window, looked above and waved. She thumbed in the direction behind the car, then encircled her thumb and forefinger to indicate that everything was okay.
“Help me with this flippin’ thing,” Christine said.
She kneeled on one knee as Jimmy lifted the front end of the launcher. Christine hefted the back end and placed it on her shoulder. With one hand, she held the launcher steady and with the other, she delicately placed a finger on the trigger.
“Ready . . .” Christine said.
She looked through the viewfinder.
“Aim . . .”
She focused the crosshairs on the limo as it came into view and cruised down the road.
“Fire!”
She pulled the trigger.
The projectile shot out of its cylindrical chamber and streaked toward the limo.
“Hah!”
The missile slammed into the gas tank on the rear right side of the limo. A tremendous explosion reverberated throughout the neighborhood. Christine and Jimmy felt heat emanate from the huge fireball. Flames crackled and thick smoke billowed into the night air.