She Bleeds for Us: The Galactic Consortium 3

Chapter 52

Daniel Koroma watched the crowd cautiously. Sergeant Musu had given him strict orders to keep searching for the boy. Apparently the captain and their military contact had dressed him down "something awful" for letting the boy escape.

Daniel had thought it was a fools errand. The boy could be almost anywhere.

Then he spied him, eating and talking to one of the vendors on the edge of the crowd. A group of men had approached and said something to the boy.

Those were the type of men that Daniel should be following, he reflected. He could just tell by their stances, the way they moved as a group and by the bandanas stuck in their back pockets. As soon as things started getting rowdy, they would cover their faces and set to looting.

But for now the crowd appeared peaceful and festive. He could barely hear the drone of the sound stage, several blocks away. He couldn't hear the speeches but he could guess what they were saying. "If Burundi steps down, things will get better. Life will be better. We will be free at last."

The reality was rarely that simple. Barlay, Burundi's main opposition was no saint. It was the same everywhere wasn't it? What was the line, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

He thought about going down, blending into the crowd and continuing his search. Two things kept him back. The crowd looked peaceful now, but how would they see him? Especially if he tried to apprehend a boy in their midst. He knew what it would look like if the boy threw a fit. And that boy would.

Besides, he thought, as he eyed a group of riot police nearby, it might not just be the civilians that might misread his intent. Many of the police were unhappy with how things were going. Their captains were putting a lot of pressure on them to tow the line, to stay loyal. If they saw a uniformed officer in the crowd they might take it as a sign that he'd defected.

He didn't want that. So he skirted the protest entirely. He decided to case out the streets nearby, see if there was an obvious path for the boy to leave.

He stopped at a cafe to buy a water. The man gave him a long look, as if trying to weigh where Daniel fit into the protests, or the crowd control police. "Just want a water. On patrol, you know."

The man nodded and handed over a bottle of water and accepted the bill Daniel handed over.

He saw several groups of riot police in tight formations down several side streets, completely blocking traffic. He kept walking. On one of the main avenues out of the area a large number of police were setting up for what appeared to be a major operation. In addition to riot police, they had a large number of regular officers and even military men as back up. Down to his left a captain was pacing out the avenue and gesturing, showing his men how to form up. To his right several police vehicles and even a couple of civilian buses were parked.

They would let the protestors leave through here, he guessed, and pull out and arrest any problem causers. There was a rumble as a military transport joined the buses. Just how many people did they expect to arrest?

Another captain walked past, on his cellphone. He gave Daniel one curt look, but seeing the uniform, ignored him. Daniel caught snatches of the conversation.

"We are almost ready... yeah mostly peaceful...have to do something about that...I'll talk to...."

Daniel scowled and moved on, not wanting to get caught up in what was happening here. Those were the wrong answers. The phrase "peaceful protest" should only be followed by "watch and wait" or "we'll see what happens" and never by "have to do something..." Did they mean to provoke a response and then arrest everyone. The number of police and vehicles seemed to indicate that. Maybe Barlay wouldn't be so bad. He had too many rich supporters for Daniel to trust him, but financial corruption was better than political violence in Daniel's book.

The sound of gun shots told him that the operation had started just as Daniel reached the next side street. It was the deep pop, pop of tear gas canisters. The crowd reacted, the sounds of yelling filling the air.

Then came the crack of small gunfire. Over their heads, he prayed, They are shooting over their heads.

The skittering of a tear gas canister brought his attention closer to home. A protestor had thrown it back at the police, an impressive throw too, far behind their line. Daniel pulled a handkerchief from his pocket to partially cover his eyes, he hated tear gas.

Pain pierced his eyes regardless and they began to tear up, even though most of the gas was being blown the other way. He looked down the street to see a massive wave of protestors coming his way, having over ran the line of police meant to contain them. He back-pedalled quickly.

The men in the lead were masked in large black bandanas and quickly turned aside heading down another side alley. The throng continued straight ahead.

Following a hunch, Daniel pushed his way through the crowd and headed for the alley. Those men were thinking tactically, they had led the rush. They were trouble.

Just as he entered the alley he saw a bus pull up a stop on the far side of the alley. The men paused, their way temporarily blocked.

Then the bus door opened. The driver took in the scene quickly and then gave a small nod of his head. The men filed on. At the end of the line was a small boy, Daniel's target.

Anger burned in him. It was bad enough that the consortium would use a small boy to do their dirty work, now these men too. Not on Daniel's watch. He made for the bus.

It was gone when he reached the next street. He ran half a block and climbed into the back of a taxi. "Follow that bus," he ordered the driver.

The driver dropped his phone, he'd been scrolling through some social media, and looked back at Daniel and then ahead at the rapidly departing bus. "But, but.."

"Just go," Daniel said, swearing.

"Yes, of course," The driver said, starting up the cab.