McCade's Bounty (30 page)

Then Molly saw Phil break loose from his guards and spin-kick one of them. Meanwhile Daddy was struggling to break free.

Molly saw a gun, one of Phil's knocked loose in the struggle, slide across the packed earth. She dived forward and felt it heavy in her hands.

Daddy shoved and kicked but to no avail. One of the 56,815 still had hold of his arm. Molly tried to aim but was afraid that she'd hit Daddy instead of the alien. She ran forward and pressed the muzzle against the alien's torso. The slug gun practically jumped out of her hand when she squeezed the trigger. It made a muffled bang.

Mortally wounded, the alien let go and McCade yelled, "Molly! Give me the gun!"

Molly tossed the gun to her father and backed away as the remaining alien moved toward her. It staggered as McCade pumped four slugs into its back, took two more steps, and toppled onto its face.

Both of them stared at it for a second until Molly saw something over her father's shoulder and pointed. "Daddy! Behind you!"

McCade whirled to find 47,721 coming straight at him, a horrible-looking sight with saliva dripping from its jaws, and Pong's blood smeared all over its torso.

The bounty hunter brought the gun up in a two-handed grip, fired shot after shot into the alien's chest, and kept on firing as it slumped to the deck. He stopped when the gun clicked empty.

There was silence for a moment as all of them looked around, surprised to be alive and extremely grateful.

Then McCade was on his knees, with Molly in his arms, both crying and trying to talk at the same time.

Molly heard herself talking, heard herself say, "Oh, Daddy, Mommy said you'd come, but it took so long! And I was scared, and every time I did something it went wrong, and everything was awful. Is Mommy okay?"

And she heard her father reply, saying, "You did a great job, honey, and I'm sorry it took so long to find you. Yes, Mommy's fine, and waiting for you to come home. I love you, Molly. Thank God you're safe."

But years later, long after Phil had recovered, the remaining alien had been hunted down, and the effort to find their homeworld had begun, Molly would remember other things.

She'd remember the strength of her father's arms, the familiar smell of his clothes, and the fact that he'd crossed a thousand stars to find her. Molly was home.