But run where? He glanced to his left and to his horror saw two men pointing pistols at him. There was nowhere to run, no place to hide.

Then he heard something from the other direction and a voice bellowed, “Doctor, get down!”

Montambault did what he was told. He dived, landing flat on his belly this time, and as he did, he lifted his head enough to look up and see Jake Rivers standing just outside the door to the stairs, with a gun clasped in both hands and thrust out in front of him.
That gun spat flame as four shots erupted from it, the reports rolling through the air so fast they sounded almost like one long roar. A tiny wisp of smoke curled from the muzzle as Rivers stopped shooting.

No more shots came from the other men, either. Montambault jerked his head around, twisting his neck so he could see them lying on the floor a few yards away. One man was motionless, but the other still writhed and spasmed as a little fountain of blood arched up from his ruined throat where a bullet from Rivers’ gun had torn through it.

Then with a hideous gurgle, that man slumped down, too, and didn’t move again. Montambault’s brain was stunned, but enough of it still worked for him to realize that Rivers had killed those two men in not much more than the blink of an eye.

- Chapter 34