Page 101 of Guess Again

Lake Morikawa, Wisconsin Tuesday, August 5, 2025

THE WOMAN’S EYES WENT WIDE AS SHE DROPPED THE GLOCK AND studied the spear that impaled her chest cavity.

She grabbed it with both hands and, amazingly, drew it forward through her body, pulling it from her chest.

Ethan lay on the ground, unable to do anything but watch it all unfold.

Maddie stood behind the blond woman and released her grip on the spear as the woman pulled it through her body.

Ethan knew, depending on which organs had been pierced, that there might have been a chance the woman could survive such a wound. But only if the spear had remained in place until she got to a trauma surgeon. Once she removed it, any chance of survival was gone.

Once the spear came out of her chest, blood spurted from the wound like an open spigot.

Shocked and confused, the woman simply stared at the blood that flowed from her body and never attempted to stop it.

Her face drained of color, and she slowly fell to the ground next to Ethan.

Despite the ringing in his ears and the throbbing in his temple, Ethan was aware enough to feel the warm flow of the woman’s blood as it pooled on the ground around him.

Maddie stumbled back into the chair, reached for her side, and collapsed into it.

Ethan made it to his hands and knees and crawled over to her.

“What is it?” he asked.

“GSW,”

Maddie said in a hoarse voice, her vocal cords damaged by the garrote.

“Through and through.

Exit wound in front.”

Ethan shook his head to clear the cobwebs.

His left shoulder burned like hell as he ripped away what was left of Maddie’s shirt to see the exit wound.

It oozed with frothy red blood.

He pulled his own shirt over his head, wincing at the pain in his shoulder, and stuffed it into the hole.

“Hold it there.”

Ethan checked her back and found the entrance wound.

The hole there was smaller and barely bleeding.

“Good,”

he whispered, wondering how long Maddie could withstand the internal bleeding.

Could they make it to the hospital in Duluth?

“Ethan,”

Maddie gasped.

Ethan looked up in time to see Francis pull open the front door and stagger out into the storm.