Alice slid her arm through a rung of the ladder to hang by her elbow and grabbed the gun from her jeans. She flicked off the safety, pressed a small toggle, and held the trigger for ten seconds. It buzzed twice in her palm, and a red light glowed on the handgrip. Using her last shreds of energy, Alice pulled herself onto the deck and threw the gun underhand, like a bowling ball, toward her enemies. It skidded across the space as she dropped to down and covered her head. The explosion was deafening; her ears rang as black smoke blew over her. She sat, spitting the filth from her mouth, then looked up to see the deck had buckled around a sharp-edged crater. Both killers lay to one side. Fires popped and crackled around them, smoke mingling with the snow.