Chapter 24: You should've seen this one coming

By Dinner

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The rules of suspense are that you do know, and you just don't know when. In the Hitchcock rules of suspense, you are supposed to know that there is a bomb on the bus that might blow up, and then it becomes very tense - but if you don't know that there's a bomb and it just blows up, then it's just a surprise.

~Gus van Sant

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In a small street, just two turns away from the Castle Renée called home, two men were walking. They were dressed in their uniform black pants and white dress-shirts. On the left walked the younger of the two, his uniform tightly hugging his body. In this heat you could see the wet stain down his back from sweat. On his left shoulder there was a black piece of cloth neatly folded, and sewn on his dress-shirt there was one Silver Star. It was the star of a Lieutenant.

On the right the elder walked; unlike the younger man, he had been promoted a few times in his career. His body was no longer in its physical peak and he had developed some fat around his middle. He wore the same uniform. Only, while the younger of the two was a Lieutenant, he was a Captain and on the piece of cloth on his arm was not one or two stars, but a set of three. Normally the Captain wouldn't have had to patrol the streets, but for the sake of morale, he'd scheduled a day to walk with this platoon as they kept his part of Cairo safe.

The two were part of a squad tasked with keeping the Zabaleen in check. After the plane crash of last week tension had almost been palpable. Even just walking through Mokattam Village made the pair of policemen nervous.

But with their weapons - a wooden stick, a gun on their right and a sabre on their left - they at least felt safe. After all, who'd dared to attack someone so heavily armed? The police were respected still, or if not respected at least feared.

"Sir… They are scared of us." Lieutenant Al'Jahar commented as they walked past three young girls.

It pained Waïl to admit that, yes, even children seemed to be aware of what the weapons on their belts could inflict. In the last two days alone he had gotten more reports on his desk of violent skirmishes. He'd suspended two of his First Lieutenants for acting outside the mission parameters as set by him personally, but he was unsure how much good it would do.

"I'd rather have them scared and peaceful than the other way 'round." As a Captain he had a district under him. It was just his luck he had been stationed in Mokattam Village during this crisis. And it was just his luck that the Mayor and Major General were pressuring him into heavy handed tactics to keep his part of Cairo safe and quiet.

The Lieutenant shook his head. "I did not join the police to suppress my people."

Waïl stopped the boy, he didn't have the time for such nonsense, but then again, this was exactly why he had decided to walk the streets for a day. "No one likes the way things have turned out lately, but there is a difference between suppressing and making sure nothing untoward happens."

The Lieutenant ground his teeth but kept his mouth shut. They walked their round and met up with the six others of this patrol group at the meeting point. They were the last ones to arrive.

"Anything of note?" Waïl asked. With his right hand he stroked his moustache twice. It was a habit he'd gotten from his father, whom had gotten it passed down from his father. The Abouali men were famous for their thick moustaches.

"There was a group of teenagers that were becoming… loud." First Lieutenant Aboul-Nour started. The man was about the same age as Waïl, which meant he should've retired years ago. But he knew the man well, he'd joined the force a few years later than himself. And unlike his solid body and posture, his voice was unusually soft. "But with a warning, Lieutenant Akharraz and I solved the situation without it escalating."

The four others told him nothing special had happened. "Good. Let's do another quick round, and call it a day."

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Renée and Fatima were sitting on the steps of the Castle's front door. Fatima had asked all about the Village and what it had been like. Renée had answered factually. Walls were red, pretty lights, it was big, Maarika seemed nice, and the library was impressive…

But while talking with Fatima was nice and all, in her head Renée was thinking about other things. Candra had been eerie. Like the old aunt you'd never quite get a read on, will she be nice or angry, sweet or cruel? She hadn't been able to read her, at all. And the things she had said, so flippant, as if the consequences had no meaning to her.

Renée cursed as Lima stepped on her toe.

"Oh! Sorry, Renée." The girl said running into the Castle, she was inside for only a few seconds before she ran back out. In her hand something black was dangling as she hurried out of the street.

"What do you think she's up to?"

Fatima shrugged. "I don't' know."

"Want to find out?" Renée stood up stretching out her hand for Fatima to take hold.

Taking her hand and pulling herself upright Fatima nodded. "Sure." They ran, or in Fatima's case limped at a quick pace, around the corner and saw Lima doing the same. They followed her for what must have been two minutes before they caught up.

Lima had stopped once she had found Menefer, Neneth, and Ubaid. The three bigger girls circled around Lima. It didn't look nice, not at all. With the slightest lowering of her empathic shields to prevent being overwhelmed, she could also feel something coming from them. She narrowed her eyes. Something was not right.

It was Menefer who noticed Renée and Fatima. "What are you two doing here?" she asked, her tone snappier than usual.

Fatima seemed frozen to the spot, but Renée didn't feel intimidated by the bigger girls' antics. Though she was easily two heads smaller than Menefer, Renée gave the girl the look. The look that said, you don't want to mess with me. It was the look Ino had perfected a long time ago. "What are you doing here?"

Nenet butted in, almost physically stepping to the forefront. "We're just having some fun, aren't we Lima?"

Lima nodded, a big smile on her face. "We're going to play a game."

Renée eyed the younger girl, she was but four years old - only one year younger than she was supposed to be. The gap between her and Lima was much greater than that though, and the girl was so naïve. The feeling from the bigger girls was not playful at all. "Shouldn't someone from the Al Mi'raj be here too then?"

The question was aimed at Lima, but the older girls knew it was actually meant for them.

"Neneth said we could do this without them, it's ok because we're together."

Fatima shuffled uneasily beside her. "We should ask one of the grownups to come too, Oom was very specific."

"Oh don't be such a goody two shoes." Menefer said, her words cutting into Fatima and making her almost flinch back.

"Well, we could always ask Oom what she thinks about all of this." Renée motioned at the three girls and Lima. "I'm sure no-one will get in trouble, right?"

While Menefer and Neneth seemed unsure, Ubaid huffed, actually huffed! "Yeah sure, go run to Oom. You're such a bore. Come Lima, let's get rid of these two." Ubaid turned and grabbed Menefer's hand and ran. The other two girls followed.

"Bye Renée, Fatima." Lima cheered, running after the girls.

Renée turned to Fatima. She looked ready to run after them, if only to see where they were going and what they were going to do. But right now this part of Cairo wasn't safe… They had been assigned guards for a reason. Last time they had been a big group and that hadn't protected them from the police, at all.

"Fatima, you go to the Castle and warn a grown up. I'll go after them."

Fatima looked unsure. "Maybe we should both go to the Castle, it isn't safe…"

"Don't worry." Renée said shaking her head. "I can kick ass, remember?"

That seemed to do the trick, Fatima turned with a nod and started running to the Castle. Renée yelled after her. "Also, tell Oom about this."

Fatima raised her arm and gave her a thumb up in confirmation.

Turning around Renée could hear the girls' laughter, she didn't need her empathic sensory skills to track them down. She raced after them, quickly catching up. And when she did she knew the game they were going to play. The thing that Lima had gotten from the Castle was a pebble shooter.

The streets were not empty at this time of day, here and there a lone person or couple walked, but if there were ten people in sight, it would have been many. Yet it wasn't the amount of people she worried about. But the kind of people.

Ten maybe fifteen meter in front of her and the girls walked two police officers. Renée with a strength and speed that belied her age pulled the pebble shooter out of Lima's hand. "Are you four crazy? Do you want to get killed?" She yelled at them.

"Hey, give that back, that's mine!" Lima tried to pry the makeshift weapon out of her hands, but her fingers couldn't pry Renée's off the thing.

"Lima, stop." Renée shoved the girl aside. "Listen to me, if you shoot the police with pebbles you'll get in trouble, big trouble." Having said her piece she looked towards the three girls. "And you three! How could you even think of something like this-. This-. This stupid."

Neneth laughed it away. "We're just trying to have some fun."

"Yeah, Renée don't act like that, we weren't actually going to let her shoot them." Ubaid said, her tone seemed off. Slowly her hands travelled into her pockets. "Dirty coppers deserve a bullet not a pebble." And from her pants' pocket Ubaid retrieved a firearm. A pistol. The kind they trained with at the range.

And then it all happened so fast. Ubaid raised the thing with trained ease and mumbled, "This is for my brother." Her left hand supporting her right and with aim as true as a hawk catching a mouse - fired.

All Renée managed to do was pull Lima back behind her.

One of the policemen screamed, the white dress shirt changing colors like a chameleon, slowly from white to red.

The man's partner had turned around and quickly drawn his gun in retaliation. It was an older man, heavy build and thick moustache. And as quick as Ubaid had been, the man was twice as fast. Luckily his aim was off and the bullet, instead of going through Ubaid, went into the ground. Ubaid was about to shoot the man in return but Menefer and Neneth had started to run, so so did she.

They had barely started running out from the street they had come in earlier when Fatima showed up trailing behind Sokolov and Oom. They'd probably heard the gunshot, and now their faces were tight in a mix of worry and anger. Another shot was fired, this time Ubaid fell to the grown letting go of the pistol and grabbing her leg with both her hands, curling up as her friends dived for cover.

Renée grabbed Lima's wrist and yanked her along as she darted away. The younger girl stumbled and overstepped a few times but before another shot was fired they had turned the corner and were out of sight. Renée dropped her hand and tried to get her breathing under control. Lima, usually bubbly and full of energy just stood there trembling.

Was she in shock? Of course she was. "Lima, listen carefully. Go to the Castle. Hide. Lock the doors and don't let anyone you don't know in. Can you do that?"

Lima nodded but remained standing where she was. Renée slapped the girl on the cheek. "Can you do that?"

The slap seemed to have knocked her back into this world. She blinked up at her before nodding slowly. "Back to the Castle… yes."

"And lock the door."

Lima nodded, sharper this time, before she turned around and ran.

Which left Renée with space to move.

Looking back into the street, she could see Oom and Sokolov trying to diffuse the situation. Oom looked all kinds of fierce while she stood over Ubaid, and Sokolov had his arm outstretched as if to tell the greying cop to hold still. Fatima must've run away, she couldn't see her. But she could see Menefer and Neneth, they had hidden themselves behind a particularly large heap of garbage bags.

Renée slowly walked back into the street. The cop that had been shot by Ubaid was lying on the ground and it looked like he couldn't reach the bullet wound himself to stop the bleeding and with his gun raised his partner wasn't of much use to him. To show she meant no harm Renée raised both her hands, palms forward to show they were empty, and walked to the fallen policeman.

Sokolov was talking loudly over the cries of pain Ubaid let out.

Deciding she'd come close enough the elder cop trained his gun on her, the 'Don't do anything foolish' was very clear.

Renée knelt down beside the bleeding man. She didn't have anything that could actually alleviate the pain he was in, or help him other than pressurizing the wound, but a long life of battle wounds had taught her something. She could slow the bleeding while they waited for the medics to show up. It was usually enough for first aid.

"I'm going to help you." Renée helped rip open the dress shirt so the wound was visible. The man had been shot in his shoulder, but clearly the bullet was still inside as there was no exit wound. The man was lucky, from the way the bullet had entered it had missed any vital organs, and by hearing the man's breathing Renée could tell that it had missed his lungs too.

While Renée was helping the cop, asking his name and pressurizing the wound with her jacket, other policemen started to come too, some of them breathing heavily, having run great lengths to come to their comrades' aid.

Glancing up she spotted that Oom was doing the same thing for Ubaid as she was doing for the cop: Yusuf. Then her hands slipped and she focused back on the wound. Stopping the bleeding was vital if the man wanted to live.

Renée was shoved aside by one of the policemen that had decided her help was no longer needed. There was a murmur of a thank you hidden between the expletives the newly arrived cop rattled off.

The elder policeman must have contacted his base, for by the time Renée had walked over to Ubaid to help Oom medical aid had arrived.

Renée saw the ambulance personnel making quick work of the wound. There were two of them, and while Renée thought it odd that they didn't split up to help both people shot, she could understand it. Two people working on one person was quicker.

Oom and Ubaid were talking, with Ubaid stopping every other words to cry or shriek in pain and Oom trying to calm her down.

One of the two paramedics went back into the ambulance and got out a wheeled yellow stretcher. With the help of some of the cops they got Yusuf on it and put him in the Ambulance.

Meanwhile more of the Al-Mi'raj had started showing up and the street had started to look like something out of a western movie. The street was divided in two parts: on the left the police, on the right the Al-Mi'raj. Renée thought it was all a bit much… It wasn't like the cops so far hadn't shown proper restraint considering the circumstances.

After all, Ubaid had started shooting.

Realization kicked in when she mulled that thought over. Ubaid had shot someone. That was… it didn't fit with her image of the girl. Sure she could be a hothead. Sure she could be selfish and all kinds of nasty when she felt like it. Actually harming someone though?

'This is for my brother.' she had mumbled… Ubaid had mentioned her brother before, wasn't he in prison? Renée found herself staring at Ubaid and wondering how she had not seen or felt that the girl was this... messed up. You didn't just shoot someone out of nowhere like that.

Right now the girl didn't look the part of a child soldier, she looked like a child in pain. The image of this and the truth about this whole situation didn't match up.

Renée took off her belt. "Oom, we can use this. As a- tourniquet!" She wasn't sure of the word, but Oom understood what she meant. She took it and grimly tied it around the girl's leg.

Yusuf, lying on a cart was pushed into the ambulance. One of the cops joined him, stepping into the back. They closed the doors and were about to step in and ride away when Renée realised what was happening.

She stepped forward angrily, this was wrong! "Wait, you can't leave, Ubaid is wounded too! She was shot!"

It was Oom who pulled her back, her face serious. "They won't take her. Mokattam is on lockdown."

Renée felt fury build up, sure, Ubaid did something stupid, illegal and wrong, but she was a child, and wounded. There were laws about this, weren't there? Human rights?

"This. Is. Wrong."

Renée turned to stare at the elder policeman. She spit on the ground. "Politics has no place in this. Call them back."

The lines on his face didn't move. He didn't even look at her, he was focused on Sokolov. The man had gotten his own rifle off its sling and into his hands.

"SHE NEEDS HELP TOO!"

Renée's hands balled into fists and her arms trembled, but the old man ignored her. How could he just ignore her? This was unfair.

By now there were at least ten cops and hearing the sirens in the distant, more were on their way. Behind her were about a dozen Al-Mi'raj.

This was going to end in a bloodbath.

The man with the moustache barked something to a cop behind him and pointed at Ubaid. And then four policemen started moving, one of them taking out his handcuffs.

Oom held Ubaid's hand, but looked the other way as the cops untangled their hands and cuffed Ubaid.

She was shot, she was as dangerous as a declawed kitten right now.

Renée wanted to do something, but Ubaid had shot a cop, of course they were going to arrest her. They made her stand up, even though she was wailing in pain and the wound was still pouring out blood like an open faucet. Even though the tourniquet had helped and she wouldn't bleed to death any time soon, Ubaid was a frail girl… She couldn't lose too much blood.

The sirens got closer and within seconds Ubaid was pushed into a police car. Renée couldn't do a thing for her. Oom, who'd been sitting on the dusty road stood up and took Renée's hand in her own.

"There is nothing we can do, child. Come."

Renée felt her nails digging into Ooms' flesh as she glared. A lifetime ago she could've done something. But once again, the decisions were made for her.

She knew there was something she could do. She could give in into that rage that was still building up inside- Renée blinked, her shields weren't up. It took a second, maybe two to do so, but the rage that had built up lessened as her shields fortified.

She'd felt Ooms' rage.

The tears on her face, tears of anger. For Oom to act so calm while feeling such things... the woman was truly impressive.

Being blocked off from the feelings of those closest to her gave her room to breathe. Her hands grip on Ooms' hand lessened, but she could see the imprints of her nails left behind.

"What do you think is going to happen, back there?"

The Al-Mi'raj were heavily armed, but so were the police, and so far neither seemed willing to back down. Even though Sokolov had allowed the police to take Ubaid.

"Fear not. Sokolov is one of the best." Oom quickened her pace.

Renée paused, her eyes widening. "Wait, Menefer and Neneth, they're still there! They hid behind the trash!"

Oom cursed under her breath, quite colorfully but turned right back around.