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At the same time on the other side of city near the old Trenaport Boarding School. The Evacuation Command was using an old shopping mall near the school as an assembly point to evacuate people to the orbiting transports that would take them to Home. There was large crowd of well-wishers seeing people off. One of the well-wishers had walked away from the crowd to check out the large landing craft. He became fascinated by one of the landing gear. He found it extremely interesting. He felt the around the landing gear for a while leaving a small package. The man, part of Father Pierce’s team walked away from the landing craft, his work done. He wondered why he had been told to sabotage this landing craft. By the time the landing craft was loaded the terrorist was several blocks away.
The landing craft carrying nearly five hundred evacuees suddenly exploded when one of its six landing legs encountered the package the priest left in its well. Although not a large bomb it was enough to cause the landing craft to crash and roll onto a small home.
Mitch had been searching for one of the little guys who had turned up missing from the orphanage part of the school/academy. This was not the first time the kid had gone missing. Every time he had been missing he, had been found in this older couple’s home just off the post. They usually called when he or any of the other children wandered into their home. No one knew how the kids were getting off the grounds. School Mistress was going nuts trying to find out how they were getting off the grounds. She knew there was a hole in her sensor net. There had to be. The kids were getting off the grounds somehow, but School Mistress had so far found no holes in her perimeter sensors. The kids would not tell them how they were getting off the grounds. They were eight, nine, and ten years old. So they knew how to keep a secret. Mitch had just gotten to the home when the crash happened. The landing craft had rolled when it crashed. Rolled right into the back of the home she was trying to enter. When she saw through one of the windows part of the back of the house had collapsed. She didn’t need any further incentive. She opened the door and went into the house to find the older couple in it. She found all them, including the little guy, all lying on the floor of the kitchen passed out. She quickly found that they were okay, just dazed. She decided that the little quy should go first. She picked him up putting him into a fireman’s carry and took him out of the house. Once the kid was safe, she went back in and pulled the woman to safety. She laid the still dazed woman next to the little guy, and went back to get her husband. As she tried to get the husband to safety, he began to fight her. As she struggled with him part of the kitchen ceiling collapsed. She brushed off the debris and tried to see where the old man was. He was half buried under some of the ceiling debris. She quickly removed some of the debris and began to drag him out. She couldn’t put him to a fireman’s carry as it was too painful. She dragged him out of the house and almost got him to where the others were when she passed out from the pain. This is where one of the off duty Trojack fire fighter’s found her with a piece of wood sticking out of her back. The next thing she knew she was in the school’s infirmary with a worried Sergeant Green sitting beside her.
Every Last Mother's Child Page 195
