There was a crash, and one of the white-clad figures in front of him fell backwards, leaving a gap.
Its mask fell off, revealing a shocked and very pale womans face. Blood was streaming from her nose, soaking the front of her white overalls.
A moment later he caught sight of Becca. Right behind Black with her hand on his arm.
Far too close …
Slowly he began to pull his hand out of his pocket …
GUUUUN!! Thomas roared, and she saw him draw his own weapon. In amongst the white-overalled figures she caught sight of a dark figure. Baseball cap, sunglasses, a scruffy beard …
Hands were tugging at her clothes, trying to grab hold of Black …
The shout came from his left.
A guttural roar that he hardly heard. He didnt turn his head. Instead he went on raising his hand, his eyes fixed on Black.
All of a sudden everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. She could make out every little detail in the scene playing out around her. The white-clad demonstrators that Thomas had just pushed over, the blood on their overalls.
Then Thomass silver revolver slowly emerging from its holster.
The demonstrators in front of him raised their hands, trying to defend themselves.
She could see the suspect clearly in the crowd. The cap, the mirrored glasses, the dark camouflage jacket. The hand that was halfway out of his pocket …
Then her view of him was blocked briefly. Her hand reached for her own pistol and closed around the handle.
The shaking hadnt stopped. Alarm bells were going off in her head, drowning out her thoughts. Something about this whole situation felt wrong … The hands were still grabbing at her, trying to pull Black from her grasp.
Thomass gun was out now, the barrel aimed directly at the man in the camouflage jacket. But the demonstrators seemed to be blocking his line of fire. He moved sideways, trying to find a gap.
The alarm bells went on ringing like mad.
WRONGWRONGWRONG!
Suddenly a gap opened up through the protestors. The man in the military jacket was standing motionless just five metres away. He was staring straight at Black, straight at her. His hand emerged from his pocket. She caught a glimpse of a dark object.
Instinct took over. Quick, practised movements.
Draw,
bolt action,
fire!
The sound came from in front of him.
Close enough for him to feel the pressure wave on his face.
A hard blow to the stomach. The next moment his knees gave way. Screaming, falsetto voices on all sides.
Someone grabbed him round the neck, dragging him backwards. Everything went black.
People were screaming in panic, throwing themselves to the ground.
She saw Thomass head turn, and he stared at her as the figures in white scattered all around him.
In a flash she holstered her gun, grabbed Blacks arm and shoved him as fast as she could ahead of her towards the edge of the pavement and the waiting cars.
Kjellgren caught up with her and helped get Black in place. Then quickly into the car.
Drive, she snapped at Kjellgren.
What about him?
Thomas was still standing on the pavement with his revolver in his hands, sweeping the barrel over the crowd as if he were looking for someone.
One of the uniformed police officers shouted something that she couldnt quite hear, then aimed his own weapon at Thomas.
Hell have to look after himself, drive, drive!
Kjellgren put his foot down and they shot away from the pavement with a screech of tyres.
What the fuck was that all about? he snarled when they reached Strömbron.
Swaying, lurching movement, so familiar.
He was lying in the back of a vehicle, a van of some sort, driving fast. Very fast.
A sharp corner pushed him up against one side, making him whimper in pain.
Hes awake, he heard a female voice say somewhere behind his head.
He tried to turn his head, but the effort made everything go black once more.
No, hes gone again … was the last thing he heard.
13
Team Fortress
She didnt like travelling by helicopter. The jerky movement of the machine felt unnatural. Nothing like an aeroplane gently riding the currents. If the engines of a plane suddenly stopped, nothing much would happen. The pilot would lower the nose and glide for a while as they tried to deal with the problem.
But if a helicopters engine stopped, you wouldnt be able to defy gravity for too many seconds.
She shook off her discomfort and looked at her watch.
Ten minutes to go …
Black looked up from his Blackberry.
Okay, thanks …
Have you heard anything from Thomas?
Yes, he says everythings been sorted out with the police and that hell be joining us by car later in the day.
Good …
She took a deep breath.
So how are you feeling, she asked.
Fine, he said, a little too quickly. Absolutely fine, he added. Im sorry, Rebecca, I should have thanked you for what you did back there. What exactly was going on?
He was trying to sound calm, but she had no trouble at all discerning the faint tremble in his voice. And he also seemed to have switched to calling her Rebecca instead of Miss Normén.
Im not entirely sure. The demonstration obviously got out of hand, but after that everythings rather unclear. I had hoped that Thomas might call me to clarify …
Hes been busy with the police …
Yes, I can appreciate that. Gun laws in Sweden are very strict, Id have been happy to explain them to him if hed asked. But he never told me he was actually armed …
No, that probably wasnt a wise move. Thomas is very loyal. He only wants whats best for me and the company.
She merely nodded in response.
Black straightened up and crossed his legs.
But he didnt shoot, did he, which must count in his favour, mustnt it?
Thats right, she said. I was the one who opened fire.
Is that going to cause trouble for you? For us?
I dont know yet. Were licenced to bear arms, and I called the duty superintendent in Stockholm to explain what happened and how the police can contact me. Well just have to see …
That last bit was a lie.
Shed have a hell of a job explaining what she had done, she knew that already. Whether or not you had a licence, you couldnt just go round firing a gun, and certainly not in the middle of the city. The regulations governing warning shots were the same as firing at a target: there had to be an immediate and serious threat to life and limb.
But obviously there had been.
The man in the jacket had a gun, just as Thomas had shouted, and it was quite clear that he was focused on Black.
Yet she had still only fired a warning shot …
She had been acting entirely on instinct, and in hindsight she couldnt really explain why she had done what she had.
In order to make the best of a potentially disastrous situation, she tried to convince herself.
It had all felt so wrong. Thomass view had been blocked, with no opportunity to act. The gun, the attacker, the whole thing was almost a textbook example of an extreme emergency.
All the criteria were in place for firing directly at the target. But in the crowd it was impossible to shoot at the attacker without risking hitting innocent bystanders as well.
That was it, obviously.
She looked down at her hands, grabbing her knees in an attempt to keep them still.
Suddenly she realized that Black was still looking at her. Studying her face intently in a way she didnt like, and then dropped his eyes to look at her trembling hands.
Adrenalin, she said. Itll soon pass …
For a moment she felt he could see straight through her.
Two minutes to landing, a voice said over the speakers.
Right … she said, giving Black a quick smile.
But he didnt smile back.
He was slipping in and out of consciousness.
He heard voices several times, conversations going on above him.
Hes in very bad shape …
How much has he had?
A triple dose. I darent give him any more …
Have you spoken to the Source?
Mmm …
And?
He says we have to bring him back to life. That there are no other alternatives …
Okay … So what do we do now?
We wait …
Do we know anything else about the place?
The sound of paper rustling somewhere to his left.
He must have been awake for five minutes now, but he was keeping his eyes closed. There was a rhythmic bleeping close to his left ear, which he guessed was a machine keeping a check on his pulse. Best to lie low and take slow, deep breaths.
There were two other people in the room, a man and a woman. He seemed to be lying on some sort of bunk or table a few metres away from them.
He felt a vague pressure in the crook of his right arm, which he guessed was from the needle of a drip, but other than that his body felt surprisingly okay.
There was an odd smell, ether and something musky that he couldnt identify.
To start with, its much, much bigger that we thought. Take a look at this!
The womans voice again, then more rustling which HP guessed must have been from some sort of plan.
Right, so these red marks, are they … ? The mans voice sounded familiar, but he couldnt quite place it.
Red is for guards, blue for security cameras, and yellow is different types of alarm …
Okay … And all this comes from the Source?
Yes.
And you trust him?
Hes never given me any reason to doubt him. Everything hes given us so far has been one hundred percent accurate, just look at that poor sod …
It took HP a few seconds to realize that the woman meant him.