She reached forward with both arms and

She felt an ominous vibration in the floor that told her Elton had started to climb the ladder. It was now or never. She reached forward with both arms and emptied the bag of rats over the top of the ladder. She heard Elton give a roar of shock and disgust as five live rats dropped on his head. His shout woke Caroline, who let out a squeal and sat upright. There was a crash as Elton lost his footing on the ladder and fell to the floor. Toni sprang to her feet and looked down. Elton had fallen on his back. He did not seem seriously hurt, but he was yelling in panic and frantically trying to brush rats off his clothing. They were as frightened as he, and trying desperately to cling to something. Toni could not see his gun. She hesitated only a fraction of a second, then jumped off the loft. She came down with both feet on Elton's chest. He gave an agonized grunt as the air was knocked out of him. Toni landed like a gymnast, rolling forward, but still the impact hurt her legs. From above, she heard a scream: "My babies!" Looking up, she saw Caroline at the top of the ladder, wearing lavender pajamas with a pattern of yellow teddy bears. Toni felt sure she must have squashed one or two of Caroline's pets as she landed, but the rats scattered, apparently unhurt. Desperate to keep the upper hand, Toni struggled to her feet. One ankle gave her a stab of pain, but she ignored it. Where was the gun? He must have dropped it. Elton was hurt, but perhaps not immobilized. She fumbled in her jeans for a billiard ball, but it slipped through her fingers as she tried to pull it out of her pocket. She suffered a moment of pure terror, a feeling that her body would not obey her brain and she was completely helpless. Then she used both hands, one to push from outside her pocket and the other to grasp the ball as it emerged. But the momentary delay had allowed Elton to recover from the shock of the rats. As Toni raised her right hand above her head, he rolled away from her. Instead of bringing the heavy ball down on his head in the hope of knocking him senseless, she was forced to change her mind at the last instant and throw it at him.