Chapter 4 #2
The artefact gave her a confusing impression of dark and light, that cleared quickly to indicate a bright spot of light just behind Hallie’s shoulder.
She turned and fired through the wall. Three shots.
Obscenely loud in her ears. There was a cut-off cry of pain from the other side of the wall and she ducked through the doorway, moving fast, not stopping, heading for the other side of the corridor where she knew there was another open doorway she could take refuge in.
She lifted her gun, ready to fire again, and saw that there was no need.
The shadowy figure was crumpled on the ground not far from Girard.
Dressed from head to toe in close-fitting black, with its head and hands completely covered, Hallie couldn’t be sure if the intruder was alive or not.
She slowly edged her way across the floor and nudged the nearest foot with her toes, ready to fire again.
Nothing. She crouched down, pulling the weapon out of the intruder’s hand and then quickly patting them down, drawing out another gun and no fewer than three knives.
She threw them all to the other side of the corridor, out of reach, then pulled off the dark, knitted face covering, and stared into the dead eyes of a complete stranger.
Pale skin and pale hair, she noted, so unlikely to be local.
Satisfied that the intruder was dead, she turned to Girard, horrified to see the pool of blood around him. He was still breathing, though, skin pale, eyes losing their focus. He was holding his gun in one hand, the other pressed against his side.
“Medkit,” Hallie said to herself. “Keep breathing. Stay there,” she added to Girard, probably unnecessarily, and ran for the office. There were medkits in there.
She hurtled through the door of the office and into another dark-clad figure standing just inside the door.
Yelling in surprise and outrage, Hallie swung the gun she was holding as a club and connected with some part of her new attacker.
A blow to her midsection sent her staggering backwards, crashing into the table and chairs and almost falling to the ground.
She managed to keep hold of her gun, and moved, heading straight for the attacker again.
It was too dark to see any detail. All she could be sure of was a human shape and then the gleam of light against the metal barrel of a gun pointing in her direction.
Hallie hit the attacker with her full body, sending them both back against the wall and then sliding to the ground.
Her eyes had adjusted better to the low light and she grabbed for the attacker’s gun, twisting it out of their hold and then using it to club them again, following that up with a hard kick in the direction of what she judged to be their groin.
A low, pained grunt told her that she’d probably hit something that truly hurt.
Good. She scrambled to her feet again, throwing the attacker’s gun away and using both hands to level her own weapon at the person on the ground.
“Stay there. Don’t move,” she said, breathing hard.
The attacker didn’t listen, instead surging up from the ground towards Hallie. She fired. Three shots, straight into the centre mass of the person charging towards her. It barely slowed them down. Body armour, Hallie realised, and scrambled to move backwards, to get away from the attacker.
A bolt of energy charged with what felt like fury filled the air in front of her, slamming into her attacker and sending them flying back, into the wall again. The zauber was bristling with temper. If it had possessed a voice it would have been hissing with rage.
Thank you - Hallie told it.
The attacker was slumped on the floor, but she didn’t trust that they were unconscious.
She pulled the flexi-cuffs from her belt and approached carefully, nudging one of the sprawled legs with her slippered foot.
Nothing. She holstered the gun and turned the person, snagging their wrists and binding them together then nudging the person again.
Still nothing. Perhaps the zauber had knocked them out.
She pulled off the knitted face covering and saw another stranger, a man with similar pale hair and pale skin to the first man.
This one’s eyes were closed, suggesting he was unconscious rather than dead. Good.
She patted him down, finding another gun and a pair of knives, which she put into the office safe. Only she and Girard had the combination, which made it the most secure spot she could think of right now.
That done, she headed for one of the tall cupboards to grab the medkits that were stored there. Rather than wondering what she needed and how many to take, she just picked up the storage box containing all the medical supplies and headed back through the house.
Girard was where she’d left him, his breathing harsh and rasping, the blood still flowing.
She was torn between relief that he was still alive and fear at the extent of his injury.
Worry sharpened when he didn’t react when she peeled his hand back from the wound or when she applied the largest field dressing she could find.
She found a pre-filled syringe with painkillers and managed to get the injection into his arm, sitting back on her heels and looking into the dining room.
Manju was dead. She didn’t need to touch the body to work that out. He was slumped to one side, eyes still open, a hole in his forehead and a grotesque spray of blood and other matter on the wall behind his seat.
She looked back at Girard and thought that his colour was marginally better. Relief made her light headed before she drew in a slow, deliberate breath. He was holding his own. For now.
Kasmo. Oreste. They must have heard the shots, but they hadn’t come to investigate.
Panic seized her.
She got to her feet, pulling her gun out again and heading through the silent house towards the kitchen where she assumed Kasmo and Oreste would be.
She found Oreste in the doorway of the kitchen, a hole in his forehead matching the one in Manju’s. Kasmo was in the kitchen, slumped against the counter, another hole in her forehead.
Grief stopped Hallie’s own heart, pain seizing her. The pair had done nothing but their jobs, making the house comfortable for her and Girard. They hadn’t deserved to die.
She dragged her phone out and dialled the director’s number, her breathing shaky and ragged as she waited for the call to be answered.
“Miss Talbot. Is anything wrong?” Peredur answered on the third ring, concern in his voice.
“They’re dead,” Hallie said, her voice too high and quivering.
“Who’s dead? Miss Talbot? Hallie? What happened? Who’s dead?”
“Kasmo. Oreste. Manju. All dead,” Hallie’s voice cracked.
She made her way back through the house to where Girard was still slumped in the doorway.
For a heart-stopping moment she thought he wasn’t breathing but then she saw his chest rise and fall.
Still alive. A tremor ran through her. “Girard’s been shot. ”
“Is he alive?” Peredur asked, tone sharp.
“Yes. Shot in the side. I put a field dressing on and gave him painkiller.”
“Good. That’s good. Well done. What about the attackers? Are they still in the house?” It sounded like Peredur was moving, slightly out of breath, and there were muffled voices at his end of the call.
“One dead. One in cuffs. I haven’t cleared the rest of the house yet.
” On that, a cold wave ran through Hallie.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. “Saints. I haven’t cleared the house.
” Her pulse thudded in her throat, mouth dry.
There could be more black-clad killers waiting for her.
And Girard was in no position to defend himself.
“Stay on the line with me while you do,” Peredur ordered. “Can you do that? I’ll mute my end, but put the phone on speaker so I can hear.”
“Alright,” Hallie said, made the necessary adjustment to the phone and put it into the front pocket of her tunic. “Clearing the downstairs first. Going quiet until it’s done.”
With her heart still thudding too hard and too fast, Hallie made her way through the still and dark house, starting at the office. She’d got one attacker there, but what if she’d missed one? What if there were even more black-clad, masked intruders lurking in the house?
With difficulty she pushed the panic and useless speculation aside. She had a job to do. She had to clear the house. Keep Girard safe until backup could get here. She could do this. She had to. There was no one else.