With the trickle of water as an accompaniment, Hallie tucked into the food on offer, adding a little bit of each dish to her plate from the common bowls. She liked this way of serving a meal. It felt relaxed, somehow.
“This truly is remarkable,” Manju said, closing his eyes as he took the first bite of food. “A gifted cook is worth his or her weight in gold.”
“I agree,” Girard said.
“My best friend is a very gifted cook as well,” Hallie said, deciding the keep the conversation light to start with. “So I have been very spoiled.”
“But no, good food is never something to feel spoiled about. Only to be savoured,” Manju said.
The sincerity in his words took Hallie by surprise. She was used to his act of being a charming rogue, and the mischief that seemed second nature. The quiet truth was startling. And made her like him more.
“We were on the Lucien Islands a few days ago,” Girard commented, as if he, too, had decided to keep the conversation light. “We had some amazing grilled fish.”
“Oh, the islands,” Manju said, as if remembering a particularly wonderful time. “Yes, their seafood is extraordinary. Did you try the tentacled squid?”
“No, I did not,” Hallie said, trying not to flinch.
She hadn’t hidden her revulsion well enough. Manju laughed. But it wasn’t a mocking sound, more a rich tone that invited her to join in. “An acquired taste, I grant you. But, deep fried, with just a squeeze of lemon? Perfect.”
“I am finding that I don’t like my food to be able to look at me. Or seem like it might try and strangle me,” Hallie said, and drew another laugh from Manju.
“Something we share,” Girard added, smiling.
Of course, Manju took that as an invitation to begin to describe some of the worst things he’d ever eaten. Rather than finding it revolting, Hallie found herself charmed again, and laughed, along with Girard.
She was almost bent double with laughter at Manju’s description of a snake dish he’d been served somewhere in the desert when thezauberat her hip flared a warning.
Not a moment too soon. As she straightened, laughter dying, the door at one end of the room opened and a shadow appeared.
Hallie opened her mouth to cry a warning. Too late. There was a dull cough and Manju crumpled sideways, eyes open and unseeing, a small, dark hole in the centre of his forehead which had not been there before.
Hallie moved, scrambling to her feet, Girard with her, fumbling at her back to reach for the gun.
Girard was quicker. He fired. Three shots in quick succession, past Hallie’s shoulder. The bullets hit the door jamb as the shadow ducked out into the corridor. He ran, Hallie close on his heels.
The shadow hadn’t gone far. There was another soft cough and Girard whirled, bringing his gun up and firing again, blood blooming on his t-shirt. He slumped against the door jamb, the hand that was holding the gun trembling.
Heart thudding, mouth dry, Hallie pressed herself against the wall just inside the door, gun held in both hands, and watched as Girard slid to the floor. He was still breathing, but the blood was spreading. Hallie clamped her jaw shut against a useless cry of alarm or worry. She wanted to go to him, make sure he would be alright, but dare not move. The gunman was still loose and could kill both of them before Hallie made it to Girard’s side.
Where is he?- Hallie asked thezauber.
The artefact gave her a confusing impression of dark and light, that cleared quickly to indicate a bright spot of light just behind Hallie’s shoulder. She turned and fired through the wall. Three shots. Obscenely loud in her ears. There was a cut-off cry of pain from the other side of the wall and she ducked through the doorway, moving fast, not stopping, heading for the other side of the corridor where she knew there was another open doorway she could take refuge in.
She lifted her gun, ready to fire again, and saw that there was no need. The shadowy figure was crumpled on the ground not far from Girard. Dressed from head to toe in close-fitting black,with its head and hands completely covered, Hallie couldn’t be sure if the intruder was alive or not. She slowly edged her way across the floor and nudged the nearest foot with her toes, ready to fire again. Nothing. She crouched down, pulling the weapon out of the intruder’s hand and then quickly patting them down, drawing out another gun and no fewer than three knives. She threw them all to the other side of the corridor, out of reach, then pulled off the dark, knitted face covering, and stared into the dead eyes of a complete stranger. Pale skin and pale hair, she noted, so unlikely to be local.
Satisfied that the intruder was dead, she turned to Girard, horrified to see the pool of blood around him. He was still breathing, though, skin pale, eyes losing their focus. He was holding his gun in one hand, the other pressed against his side.
“Medkit,” Hallie said to herself. “Keep breathing. Stay there,” she added to Girard, probably unnecessarily, and ran for the office. There were medkits in there.
She hurtled through the door of the office and into another dark-clad figure standing just inside the door. Yelling in surprise and outrage, Hallie swung the gun she was holding as a club and connected with some part of her new attacker. A blow to her midsection sent her staggering backwards, crashing into the table and chairs and almost falling to the ground. She managed to keep hold of her gun, and moved, heading straight for the attacker again. It was too dark to see any detail. All she could be sure of was a human shape and then the gleam of light against the metal barrel of a gun pointing in her direction.
Hallie hit the attacker with her full body, sending them both back against the wall and then sliding to the ground. Her eyes had adjusted better to the low light and she grabbed for the attacker’s gun, twisting it out of their hold and then using it to club them again, following that up with a hard kick in the direction of what she judged to be their groin. A low, painedgrunt told her that she’d probably hit something that truly hurt. Good. She scrambled to her feet again, throwing the attacker’s gun away and using both hands to level her own weapon at the person on the ground.
“Stay there. Don’t move,” she said, breathing hard.
The attacker didn’t listen, instead surging up from the ground towards Hallie. She fired. Three shots, straight into the centre mass of the person charging towards her. It barely slowed them down. Body armour, Hallie realised, and scrambled to move backwards, to get away from the attacker.
A bolt of energy charged with what felt like fury filled the air in front of her, slamming into her attacker and sending them flying back, into the wall again. Thezauberwas bristling with temper. If it had possessed a voice it would have been hissing with rage.
