BOOT

Many thanks to Cee for the edits and suggestions.

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Chapter 14

Mark was the first to reach Blair after he'd been propelled back through the door. Picking Blair up from the floor, Mark asked, "What happened?"

Blair wiped his hands on his trousers and shook his head. He looked at the door anxiously. "Don't know. Just got outside when that Frank guy came running down the corridor and told Stuey to follow him."

Mark frowned. "Why?"

Blair grimaced. "Frank said he'd heard a shot.'" Blair accepted the water bottle that Adam held out for him and took a large gulp of water to wet his suddenly dry mouth.

Mark swore under his breath. "Did you hear anything?"

Blair shook his head. "I was only just out of the door when Frank appeared." The others accepted this in silence. Mark and Martin went back to their usual spot and continued their conversation, every now and then casting watchful glances at the door. Adam retreated back to his place. The young guide drew his knees up to his face and wrapped his arms around his knees. Blair knew he should go and calm Adam's anxieties, but he had his own to get rid of first. He went and sat next to Dan.

Dan opened an eye when Blair sat down and said, "You did the right thing."

Blair swallowed. "What if something's happened to her? I mean, what do I say to Niven and her husband and … Jim? They've already killed a guide. How could I be so stupid?"

Dan stretched out his good hand and shook his head. "You can't think like that, Blair. The others are looking to you; you're the dark guide, the leader. Tina's a guide to an experienced police officer. She knew… knows the risks." Blair opened his mouth to contradict Dan, but Dan's voice strengthened, "Or are you saying that all Tina does all day is follow her sentinel around deaf, dumb and blind? That she doesn't know how to handle herself in a situation like this?"

Blair blinked at Dan trying to process what the GDP man had said. He whispered, "No, of course not, but…."

Dan smiled a little. "Ask yourself this: would you have sent her out to speak to the sentinel if you thought she couldn't handle herself?"

Blair frowned and then shook his head. "It should have been me."

Dan shook his head. "Whichever of the gang is her guide wouldn’t let you get near her unless she was supervised. Only Tina or Adam would have been able to get close to her without someone else being there. Anyway, we don’t know what's happened to her. Be optimistic."

Blair sighed. He supposed Dan was right. It wasn't easy being in charge, being responsible. To take his mind off the situation he asked Dan, "What's Adam's history? He's interesting."

Dan looked over at where the young guide was sitting and answered after a moment, almost reluctantly, "Yes, he is."

Blair commented blandly, "He said his files were sealed."

Dan made a face and then grimaced as he coughed and jolted his shoulder wound. After the pain had died down, Dan said, "Yes, the GDP knows how to bury the corpses."

Blair raised an eyebrow. "He did say people died." Blair paused, "He said children… I don't remember hearing about that in my courses on GDP history." The Guide Prime's voice had become harsh and sarcastic.

Dan shook his head, "You won't. Monumental screw up by the local GDP Commander. The case file is held in Claydove's safe."

"Tell me what you know," Blair demanded.

Dan laid his head back and said, "There was a commune once, in upper state New York close to the border with Canada. It was very new age, totally different social order, children living separately from the adults, didn't believe in … many conventional structures. " Dan looked at Blair and continued, "For a long period it had been suspected of operating an underground railroad for rogues. Never any actual proof though; we could never get anyone on the inside." Dan shifted his position slightly. Blair made sure that Dan's blanket was still tucked around him. Dan continued, "Then about ten years ago, the local GDP were approached with some information about the commune. Information that was said to conclusively prove that there were rogues present in the commune." Before Blair could ask, Dan shook his head. "That's part of the sealed information. There is no public record of who or how the information was obtained. Well, anyway, the local area commander decided to make an example of the commune now that he had concrete proof."

"That's where it all got messed up." Blair and Dan looked up and saw Mark standing over them. He put his hands in his pockets. "Josh and I were on the raid." He looked away, "I'm sorry, Commander, for butting in but I, we," Mark gestured to Martin who was standing behind him, "have been chewing some things over, and I thought this would be a good time as any to talk to you about them."

Blair glanced at Martin who shook his head slightly. Blair inclined his head in the direction of Adam. Martin glanced in the same direction and without looking back at Blair, went over to the younger guide, spoke to him for a moment, and brought the guide back to the group.

Once Adam was settled next to Blair, the Prime spoke to Mark, "What have you got to say?"

Mark settled on his haunches and clasped his hands together, "This whole thing doesn't make sense."

Blair frowned and asked, "Why not?"

"Because it doesn't," Mark said. He looked at the rest of the group before speaking. "They've told us that we're to be traded." Mark paused to let people interrupt but no one spoke, so he continued. "I can understand that in the case of the Prime and maybe Tina," Mark swallowed, "and Adam. But not Martin and I. We don't fit the profile; I mean given our age, we're not of much value. That's why I thought they'd killed Jonas. And the commander, taking the commander doesn't make any sense whatsoever. I mean that just guarantees that the GDP will come out in force to try and rescue him."

Blair mulled this over for a moment and said, "So you're saying there has to be another reason?"

Mark nodded. "Another connection, yes, but I don't know what."

"You were there at Larchwood?" Dan asked.

Mark grimaced. "First assignment out of training school for Josh."

"Larchwood? But that's…" Adam queried.

Dan looked at the young man, "Yes, your commune."

Martin spoke up, "I wasn't. Were you commander?"

Dan said cautiously, "I dealt with some of the fall out afterwards. Neither Blair nor Tina were there ."

Adam turned to Mark and asked, "What happened? Why did the children…."

Mark looked at his hands for a moment, and then said, "It was chaos. We arrived at the commune and split into two groups. One, the lead group, went towards the main house to conduct the main assault. Our group, the one with Josh and I, circled around the back. Classic textbook manueveur. Josh had been ordered to protect a civilian that had come with us. We never found out his name until we saw a picture of him in a paper a few years later on another matter. " Mark licked his lips nervously. "Anyway, we were at the back. Gunfire erupted from the area of the main house; I could feel the guys at the front of our group get pumped up. The adrenaline you know. Next thing that happens is that the door of the building in front of us opens. It all happened so fast from then on. Josh could see that the group was just a bunch of kids. Josh yelled at me to take care of the civilian and he started to go forwards to inform the front that they were only kids. He was too late; he was only a few yards away from us when they started shooting." Mark stopped and took a ragged breath. "Josh must have had his senses wide open because he dropped to the floor. For a moment I thought he'd been shot, but he had zoned. Deeply as it turned out. I was no help to him; my barriers got hit by everything."

Silence fell in the room for a few moments after Mark had finished. Blair was the first to rouse himself. He turned to Dan to ask him something but saw that the commander had his eyes closed and there was a pale pinched look to his face. He turned to Mark and asked, "What happened to the civilian?"

Mark shook his head and replied, "I don’t know. We were moved out with the first casualties. By the time Josh's senses were stabilised, we'd been told to forget it ever happened." Mark looked at Dan, "How can you forget something like that? The officers that came to see us said the operation was a success, they retrieved five rogues and shut down the railroad."

"I felt them die."

Everyone turned to look at Adam. Blair stole a glance at Dan who still had his eyes shut, but his expression had turned into a grimace. Blair idly wondered whether it was from internal or external pain. Turning his attention back to Adam, Blair touched the younger guide and gently asked, "The children?"

"She was zoning, she must have heard something as soon as we got out of the building. She was taking us to the woods to be safe; she said she'd heard someone nasty coming. I was helping her to concentrate, we helped each other like that all the time; she made me feel better and I helped her concentrate. Anyway, I must have had my barriers right down; I got hit by everything. Then I was falling, and then I lost her, and then it went black."

Martin put a hand on the younger guide's back. "Well, that's the connection between Adam and Mark. What about Blair, Tina, and Jonas?"

Mark worried at a fingernail, "Jonas's sentinel was in the squad that hit the main building. From what I remember Sentinel Smith got an award for bravery. One of the commune had pinned a section of the assault squad down; killed and wounded of them before Jonas's sentinel could take the woman out."

"Peace, love and harmony," Blair muttered ironically.

"They were defending guides. It was what they believed in. They wanted to do something concrete, not sit around and talk about it as an abstract concept like…" Adam picked himself up and said, "when you've decided what to do, just do it." He turned away and walked to the dimmest corner of the room that he could find.

Blair wondered just who the bitter words were aimed at but put it aside for the moment. After a few moments, he looked at Mark and asked, "This civilian. Do you remember who it was?"

Mark nodded, "Of course. He's one of the biggest businessmen in the state. Roger Courcy."

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Mancini stopped at the open door to his girl's room and looked at the chaotic scene in front of him. 'What the hell had happened?' he wondered. There was a body sprawled on the floor. Mancini recognised it as Sean's sidekick, David something or other. He curled his lip in distaste; it looked like someone had blown his head off. Dismissing the body, he focused on Stuey who had Sean pressed up against a wall. He switched his attention to where Frank, Deke and Pete were struggling with his girl on the floor. His expression darkened as he said softly, "Sentinel."

There was no reaction from the girl. Shivers went up and down Mancini's spine when he heard the growls that were coming from her. He glanced around and saw that the female guide from below was huddled in the corner of the room. His face darkened when he saw a large patch of blood on her skirt and shirt. He crossed the room and asked harshly, "Are you hurt, Guide?" He waited while the woman attempted to calm her breathing.

"No, I, I don’t think so."

Mancini breathed out and relaxed slightly, then snapped, "Extreme."

Once the guide had obeyed, Mancini turned around to face Stuey. He pointed at Stuey's prisoner. "Get him out of here. Lock him in his room. On your way back, bring two leashes." Without looking to see whether his man had obeyed, Mancini went and knelt near the struggling mass of bodies in the center of the room.

After a few moments, Mancini put a hand out towards his girl's face but pulled it back when she bit at it.

Frank looked up briefly and said, "She's been like this since we got here. Think there was a struggle for the gun; it might have gone off by accident." Mancini watched as Frank pressed down on the girl's back as she tried to buck the man off "She should calm down when they're both out of the way." Mancini said and tentatively reached out and petted one of her shoulders gingerly. "Easy girl, everything's under control now, easy Meg." Mancini kept up the stroking and trying to link in to calm Meg down, at least to a point where he could get the leash on her. Once she was leashed, it'd be easier to check her over and find out exactly what had happened. He tried to link in, but he was faced with a snarling, angry dog. Again Mancini asked himself, 'what the hell had happened?' He eased back from the link and asked out loud, "What happened? Why is the guide up here?"

His subordinates all looked at each other and then Frank defensively commented, "She said she had woman things to attend to. I thought it was safe; the guide was dampened after all. I locked the pair in. I was just coming back for her when I heard the shot."

Mancini muttered under his breath and then moved over to the female guide. He stood over her and demanded, "Well, what happened?"

"Your sentinel gave me the things I needed. All of a sudden the two men were in here. She tried to protect me from them. She kept blocking the one called Sean. He told the other one to take your sentinel and he would have me." She gulped some air in. "He said they'd swap later."

Mancini turned to observe the body on the floor. He decided that Sean's life was only going to last until the buyer had been contacted. After making that decision, he turned back to the guide. "Then what?"

"Everything went too fast. She pushed Sean away from me and then went for David and the g…g…gun …."

Responding instinctively to the obvious distress of the other guide, Mancini knelt down and touched her back. "Its okay, I'm not angry with you." His voice was gentle. "Anything else?" he asked.

"Sean …"

Mancini demanded, "Did what?" When the woman just paled and closed her eyes, he grabbed hold of the guide's hair. Raising his voice, all trace of gentleness gone, he demanded, "What did he do?"

"The one called Sean, he said, he said that you were considering an offer for her."

Mancini let go of the guide's hair and swore under his breath.

Stuey burst back into the room. "Got the leashes, Boss."

Mancini stepped towards him with his hand outstretched. Stuey handed the leashes over. Mancini took them both and stepped back to Tina. He dropped one on the floor and proceeded to put the other one on Tina. As the guide tensed and moved away, Mancini growled, "I'm just like the GDP; co-operate and I'll be nice and make the wrap nice and lax. Fight me and I'll make sure it’s as tight as I can make it." Mancini patted the guide's back when she stilled. "You are obviously a model little guide. You'll fetch a nice price." When he'd completed the final loop, Mancini stood up and ordered, "Stuey take her into the kitchen. Stay with her."

Mancini turned to his girl who was still fighting attempts to control her. Picking up the leash, he said to Frank, "We'll get it on her and then maybe she'll calm down. If not we'll leave her for a while." Frank nodded and together the four men managed to subdue and then wrap the leash around her. Once he'd tightened the last loop of the wrap, Mancini leaned back on his haunches and observed his girl. The tight wrap had managed to still her movements but she was still making animal like grunts. Mancini looked at his men, "Go and get cleaned up, take the body, get rid of it. I'll stay here for a while."

Frank stood up, "What do you want to do with the guide in the kitchen?"

Mancini shook his head to clear it, "Keep her there for a while. Make sure she kneels. I want her to think about the consequences of thinking that she could meddle with my sentinel. "

"The deal?" Frank asked quietly.

Mancini frowned, 'can't he just go away and leave me to think?' "It’s still on. The sooner we get out of here the better." Mancini didn't notice when his men left with the body, he had fixed his concentration on his sentinel.