Chapter 33

At first the crowd actually clapped when they heard they heard the sound of gunfire. Barbara had to admit that, at first, even she had no idea what it was. She had been just sitting in a fold out chair next to Amy, holding the nervous girls hand, and pretending to listen to the Governor’s speech when the first pops echoed over the park. Barbara had suspected it was some kind of weapon but, had never quite heard anything like it before.

It was Horst, sitting on the other side of the platform, that Barbara took her cue from. He most obviously knew what was making that noise and he went from half asleep to fully alert in no time flat. Then his men rushed up and pulled him off the stage. They were yelling at him as they surrounded the man and ran him away towards the palace.

Suddenly Barbara felt someone grab her. The next thing she knew, she was laying on the ground, behind the stage, right next to Amy. Then she saw Kent kneeling over both of them, “judging by what I just heard, ladies, I think we had best start moving in that direction.” He pointed towards the far lawn where the VIP entrance was.

Amy, quite suddenly, no longer seemed to be so meek. It was like the scent of danger suddenly woke the girl up. Barbara had wondered how it was that the girl could do something like jump into a raging sea while, on the flip side of the coin, she would cower from standing up in front of a crowd. Barbara was glad to see the girl filled with life instead of the meek little child that had just been sitting up on the platform.

After Kent suggested a line of retreat, Amy added, “there’s a bomb headed this way.”

Barbara winced in confusion, “that sounded like a gun.”

“It’s both,” Kent said as he helped Barbara too her feet. “Amy’s right. I heard the German’s talking, yelling it, as they rushed Horst away.”

Barbara nodded and then told them, “Shannon’s inside. I’m going for her. You two stay together and get to safety. I don’t care which direction it’s in.”

Kent only nodded and he did comment, “she should be safe there Barbara, at least, for now.”

“Not taking the chance,” Barbara replied in a matter of fact way as she ran off.

That left Kent looking at Amy who suddenly switched back to meek and asked, “what?”

“Good call on the bomb Agent Hiller,” Kent told her. “That’s all.”

Once she was directly out of the vicinity of the stage, Barbara took off at a dead sprint. She found herself having to dodge a lot of people who had similar ideas about how fast they should be moving. These people also seemed to be going in every direction at once.

It was inevitable that she slammed into one. She even realized what was happening before she even hit the guy. That let her get back up on her feet rapidly. The problem started when Barbara tried to run again. Her arm stopped when the rest of her body did not. She almost fell again but the grip that had brought her to a halt also kept Barbara on her feet. The hand that had her arm began squeezing until it hurt.

Conner pulled her close to him and said, “now are you willing to listen to me?”

Barbara tried to jerk her arm free but, she failed. She locked eyes with Conner and told him very slowly and seriously, “let go.”

“Not this time I’m afraid,” Conner replied. “I’m tried of playing games with you Barbara.”

“Or what Conner?” She acted angry but Barbara was really afraid, “you’re going to let the other’s have me? It’s getting old.”

“There isn’t going to be any of that,” Conner told her. “It’s really simple. I’m not letting go and you and Shannon are coming with me. You no longer have a choice.”

Some woman, with a horde of children in tow, came running right at Barbara and Conner. Barbara could have sworn the woman was yelling for a cab but, knew that couldn’t be right. The woman was not moving very quickly but she was big enough to have the necessary momentum to knock all three of them down. When Barbara was running for away she could have sworn she heard the woman yelling and kicking Conner as she screamed, “you ain’t getting my ride bitch!”

Conner only got back up again when a couple of his security people found him on the ground. They pulled him to his feet and said, “we have to get you out now.”

Conner looked off towards the palace. Barbara was now lost in a sea of humanity. He told himself it was only a matter of time. She could not run and she could not hide. He was now going to make this his personal business and one that he planned on disposing of quickly. He huffed and told his two guards, “let’s go.”