by Greg Curtis
Soon enough her fears were proven correct as bullets started ripping through the walls. Apparently they weren't as tough as they had seemed. Not to bullets anyway. In fact the bullets were ripping holes in them. Each one as it crashed through the walls sent splinters flying everywhere and raised clouds of dust. Each one made her scream. And if it was like this in her room, she couldn't imagine what it must be like down below where most of the bullets had to be heading.
She quickly found herself a spot in the corner of the room, as far away from the window as she could get, lay down, curled her knees up into her chest to make herself as small a target as she possibly could, and began praying to a God she had never believed in. And all the time she was also thinking – two gun fights in as many days? It just didn't seem fair. It wasn't fair.
Katz lay there on the floor for what seemed like ages while bullets whizzed back and forth. Every so often another cloud of wood dust would land on her while she wondered who would come through the door first for her. From the men on loudspeakers and the extra sirens she could hear, she guessed the police were gathering in numbers outside. They would surely win the battle in time. But Armando might try and grab her before they came through the doors. As Garrick had said, her gift made her valuable to him. But he had also said he would kill her if she gave him any trouble. And while this wasn't her doing, it was trouble. Then things started exploding and she forgot about him.
Someone was blowing up the building while she was still locked inside it! That wasn't good, and yet there was nothing she could do about it. She was still trapped. All she could do was pray harder. But then, when a couple of bullets ripped through the wall just a couple of feet above her head, she had another idea.
“Cassie!”
Katz called for the angel instinctively, knowing that she alone could protect her and hoping that this time maybe she finally would. Now that her life was in absolute danger. Surely she wouldn't just let her die?
“No need to shout child.”
Katz nearly fainted when she saw the angel standing there in front of her. One moment there had been nothing there, the next Cassie was standing right in front of her. And all without so much as a flicker of light or the slightest sound. She'd seen her do that before of course – just not when she'd wanted her to. But now she was here in answer to her prayers? Maybe she really was an angel!
Without thinking, Katz got up and ran for her. Moments later she was hugging her tightly and blubbering like a child. Doing all the things she should never do. And top of the list was hugging a woman who had crippled her. But at that moment she didn't care. She was far too frightened. All she wanted to do was escape this place and she started pleading with her to get her out of this death trap.
“You know I can't do that child.”
Cassie held her tight, almost like a mother, though far too stiffly. But her words made no sense. Cassie could easily bring her to safety. She should. They were like family. And anyway she was an angel. So why had she come if she wasn't going to save her? Katz let it all pour out as she stood there wrapped up in her arms. All of her fear and confusion and doubt wrapped up in two simple words.
“You can!”
“I can't. The rules forbid me to act save in a very few minor ways. I can't take you from this room because the others know you're locked in here. If you weren't here and there was no explanation as to how you escaped it might expose the truth. Miracles can only be very rare things.”
“I don't care!”
“But I do.” Cassie held her tight as she said it. Her words would have been more convincing if a bullet hadn't smashed through the window just then, spraying glass everywhere and causing Katz to scream.
“However,” continued Cassie, “I can help you to save yourself as long as no one sees me. And you might want to start that by moving to your left. Right now!”
“Left?” Katz didn't understand but she quickly did as she was told, stepping to her side in perfect time with Cassie, almost as if they were dancing. Moments later a pair of bullets smashed up through the floor where she had just been standing, and she understood. The angel could guide her. If it was possible to survive in this hell hole, the angel could show her how to. What she didn't understand was why someone in the building below was shooting straight up. Still, that was for someone else to worry about.
“Thank you.” It might not be everything she wanted, but having Cassie there guiding her was a lot. She hoped it would be enough.
So for long minutes that seemed like hours Katz danced with the angel, learning to obey her instantly no matter how strangely they had to move, and somehow each time the bullets missed them. Not always by a lot. But by enough. All they had to do in the end was miss. And little by little as they danced, the battle started winding down.
It took time. But slowly, fewer and fewer shots were coming from inside the building, and that meant that less were being fired back at them. At a guess Katz thought, that meant the men inside the building were falling. Dead or too badly wounded to keep shooting. Briefly she wondered whether she was supposed to feel sorry for them or not? Maybe that would have been the right thing to feel? But she didn't feel it. She couldn't! She didn't know any of the men, but she knew they were criminals, and she knew they had all played a role in holding her hostage. Possibly some of them had attacked the academy as well. They didn't deserve her sympathy.
Eventually there was silence and Katz realised it meant that the gun battle was over. That was confirmed a few seconds later when she heard the police on their loud speakers telling the men inside that they were about to come in and that they should throw down their weapons and lie face down on the ground. They didn't answer. But they also didn't respond by shooting and maybe that was the answer they needed to give.
It was about to end and she would be free!
Excitement suddenly filled her, together with an overpowering sense of relief. Not to mention wonder when she stared all around her prison and saw the shocking number of bullet holes that had pierced the walls, the floor and the ceiling. They were everywhere! It was a miracle that none of them had hit her. Which, when she thought about it, probably was the right word to describe it. It was an actual miracle. And she suddenly knew she wasn't worthy of it.
It was a terrible thing to suddenly understand how badly she had messed up. And as she thought about it some more, the weight of her mistakes just seemed to grow. How could she have made such terrible mistakes? She wasn't a bad person. But she had done bad things. Stupid things. Things which simply didn't make any sense.
How could she ever have listened to that man? He was a liar and yet she had believed him completely. She had believed him even when everyone else was telling her the truth about him. She had trusted him when he could never be trusted. She had even helped him rob a bank, simply because he'd said it was the right thing to do. There were no words to describe how stupid that was. Nor how terrible it was that she'd told him where she was and allowed his people to strike out at her friends.
Standing there, still holding tight to Cassie, she knew she had been stupid. Spiteful and difficult too. She had said and done terrible things. Her actions had brought armed men to the school and had gotten people hurt. Some had probably been killed. Maybe some of those who'd died were her friends? Even her own mother had been locked away because of her!
There was no way Katz should have survived this. It wasn't right. And there was no way she could fix the mistakes she had made. Tears started flowing down her cheeks, and they weren't the happy tears they should have been at being alive.
“Cassie, what do I do?”
“You live the life you were meant to live.”
“But my friends? The students? My mother?” She couldn't find the words to ask the questions she wanted to, but she was somehow sure that Cassie understood.
“Will understand.”
The angel seemed certain of that. But then she seemed certain of everything. It must be wonderful to go through life without any
doubt Katz thought.
“But an apology might help. And you could start with the man coming through the door.”
No sooner had she said that then Cassie was gone and Katz was left standing there, trying not to fall over as her support had suddenly vanished. But that didn't matter when she heard footsteps outside her room and a man calling for her. A man whose voice she knew.
“Garrick!”
She started screaming for him, unable to hold herself back. It was wrong. He was the last person she would ever want to see and yet suddenly she wanted nothing more than to see him in the doorway.
“Hold on kid! I'll get you out of there.”
She heard the sound of something heavy being pushed across the floor, and realised he was freeing her. Then the door swung open and he was standing there, even larger than she remembered. A human bull of a man. Katz ran to him.
After that things went a little crazy. She was wailing and sobbing like a little girl, trying to tell him everything that had happened, though nothing that came out of her mouth made any sense. And he was holding her and telling her that everything would be all right. Comforting her even though he had no reason to. In fact he should be telling her off. Blasting her for all the terrible mistakes she had made. But he didn't.
He just kept holding her and telling her it was all going to be fine. Patting her on the back with his bandage covered hand. And while he might be a muscle bound brute, just then it felt unbelievably reassuring to have his arms around her. Like the father she had never had.
Eventually he started walking her out of the room; down the hallway, down the stairs and out of the building. Out to where all the police cars were with their lights flashing, and where a dark haired woman was standing there, waiting for them.
“This is Maricia. She knows all about us and all about what happened, and she'll help you talk to the police. She is an attorney. I want you to go with her, listen to her, tell her what you can and she'll help you to prepare a statement for the police. One that won't get us all locked up. Think you can do that kid?”
She nodded and went to go with the woman, then stopped as she suddenly thought of something.
“My mother. She's innocent.”
And that mattered. Her mother had been locked up in an institution for something she hadn't done. And something that she had always assumed she had done. She had to be freed. Even though she wasn't a good mother she had at least tried to be. She was also the only family Katz had.
“Tell Maricia. She'll work it into your statement and maybe we'll be able to get something started.”
With that Garrick left her, walking off with some of the police officers, though “walking” was a stretch to describe what he did. With one leg so much larger than the other because of the cast and his shoulder still bandaged, he was really managing a lopsided limp. Plus his left hand looked like a basketball of white bandages, making her think he must have been injured again. He was beginning to look like a cartoon figure.
Strangely the thought made her smile. She needed to smile about something.
Chapter Seventeen
Katz's return to the Academy was a difficult one. She was tired and confused. Frightened too of what she might find. And scared that Mark was dead.
No one had been able to tell her anything. She knew that two people had been killed. One teacher – and she was certain that that had to be Mr. Atkins – and one student. But no one could tell her who the student was. The police were there to ask questions, not answer them, and Maricia didn't know. Which left her with only her memories of the night. Memories of the man in black being there and Mark using his light to blind them all, before a shot had rung out and the light had gone away. He was her best friend in the school. The only one who had been on her side. She couldn't have stood it if he was dead.
And then there was Armando, who was somewhere in the wind. She didn't know where. All she did know was that while he was out there he might come for her again. That was frightening, and every instinct in her was telling her to run. Run and don't look back. Because staying in one place was making herself a target. But they weren't going to let her do that. She knew that.
All the way back from the police station as she'd sat in Maricia's car, there had been cars escorting them. Police cars with flashing lights. She didn't understand that. But at the same time it made her feel a little more comfortable. Surely even Armando wouldn't attack a police convoy? That would be insane.
Besides, everyone kept telling her that he was on the run. That all his plans were in ruins and he was fleeing in panic. The police were happy about that. More than happy, they were excited. She'd seen it in their faces. They thought they were close to catching him. And that it would be the biggest bust ever.
Maybe they would. And maybe they'd just shoot him. Because he needed to die. For what he'd done he needed to die horribly.
She hated Armando. She hated him as she'd never hated anyone else. He'd framed her mother. Had his men attack her school. Kidnapped her. Lied to her. And maybe killed her friend. Hate just didn't go far enough to describe how she felt about him. She wanted the prick dead. She'd kill him herself if she could. Just the image of his smiling face kept sending her heart racing with rage.
“You ready for this Katz?”
Maricia reached across from the driver's seat and put her hand on her shoulder as Olmstead came into view. She was a nice woman. More than nice really. And she had a pleasant accent. Italian or something.
“There'll be more questions?”
“Not from the police. You've given your statement and that's over. I promise you.”
She'd given her statement. That was a bizarre thing to say. She'd told the police the biggest load of lies they'd ever heard and for some reason they'd believed them. Probably because Maricia was standing beside her and she was a lawyer. She knew the right words to say. Even when they were obvious lies. Except that they weren't all lies.
In her statement she'd claimed that it was all about her father – which in a way she supposed it was. Whoever he was he was an angel after all. But of course she hadn't said that. What she had said was that he was a hacker who had gone underground years ago and now had no name. Not even an avatar. But Armando wanted him. He wanted some knowledge he had. And he had tried to use her to draw him out.
At first Armando had pretended to be her grandfather and before that he'd had her mother locked away so that she would be vulnerable and would fall for his lies. But then when her aunt had rescued her from the streets and she'd been brought to the academy, he'd changed tactics. There was something her father knew that he needed desperately.
Who would believe any of that crap? Katz couldn't imagine that anyone would. And yet when she'd given her statement to the police they seemed to have swallowed it completely. That she suspected was because she had a lawyer standing beside her. People would believe anything from a pretty woman in a suit. On the other hand the police hadn't seemed that interested. Something was going on. Something big. And there simply weren't enough officers around. So they'd rushed her through the interview, taken her details and said they'd get back to her later.
“What about Miss Holdsworth?”
Katz was nervous about seeing the principal again. Now that she knew what she'd done. That two people were dead because of her. And after all the terrible things she'd said about her.
“She knows what happened. Everyone does. And no one blames you.”
She didn't know that. She was just saying it Katz knew. She was saying the sort of thing that adults always did when they thought they were talking to children. Making soothing noises. But she wasn't a child and she knew better.
“It is my fault.” And that was the truth. People were dead and it was her fault.
“No it's Benedict's fault. Him and the men he hired. They came to the school. They shot everyone. And they kidnapped you. You aren't responsible for that. They are and they will be caught.”
Katz was about to answer her, to s
ay something at least, but just then she saw the lights ahead and forgot about it. Flashing lights, lots of them. The entire town was filled with police cars. There were officers in the main street talking to people and taking statements. There were more in the shops as well. They were even in people's front yards. It looked as though the entire town had been overrun by cops.
But that was only the beginning. When they turned onto Ambrosia Drive to head to the academy, she could see more cruisers. A lot more cruisers. And vans covered in police markings. Even a truck. It seemed like there were more cops than students. There was also a fire truck and from what she could see one of the buildings had been burnt out.
“Maricia?”
“It's all right.”
They drove on up the road until finally the reached the small rise leading to the school where the police had set up a check point. There they slowed down but the officers didn't stop them, just waved them through. Shortly after that they reached the school car park. A car park filled with police and covered in yellow crime scene tape. The stuff was everywhere, covering doorways, tied to metal posts stuck in the ground, strung between trees and covering up the entrances to the courtyard. And on the other side of it were people in white paper overalls and gloves. The crime scene people. It seemed that the entire school was a crime scene.
