She Bleeds for Us: The Galactic Consortium 3

Chapter 56

"You've got spirit, kid, I gotta give you that," the woman said as she cleaned his eyes. The cloth she used was damp and had been soaked in some medicine that helped take the sting out. Her name was Binti and she said she was a "street medic."

She worked with the Black Masks. That is what the men in the dark clothes with the bandanas called themselves, The Black Masks. They weren't "official or anything" but they consider themselves a political party devoted to revolutionary change.

They had escaped the protest and crackdown downtown with the help of a sympathetic bus driver who drove them through a half dozen checkpoints. The police had their hands full with the crackdown downtown and hadn't entered the bus or looked under the seats where Gabriel and the others hid.

He had dropped them off in the southern part of the city, in a lower class neighbourhood that was mostly sympathetic to their cause. Mostly. Not enough that anyone had taken them in, but they left them in peace. The group had found an abandoned mosque and set camp.

They had sprawled out to rest. Binti had called Gabriel over and made him lay with his head on her lap so she could clean his eyes. It was nice, kind of like he imagined what having a mother might be like. Now she was shooing him up. "Off with you, others got gassed too."

Gabriel nodded. He blinked back tears. "Does feel better," he said. "Thank you."

Gabriel found a place to sit near the entrance. His family was nominally christian but they didn't go to church ever. Still he was nervous to move to deep into the mosque. Who knew what god would think of the grandson of the Blind Witch? Nothing grandma did was black magic, but still some of the missionaries acted like any magic was a sin against god.

One of the men, a man named Tamba, was the leader of the men. He took a rag from Binti but then waved another man into her lap to be treated next. "What now?" he asked as he dabbed his eyes.

Everyone shrugged, unsure.

"The consortium won't let the crackdown stand," Gabriel said. "They'll move against them now."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Tamba said.

"They will," Gabriel insisted.

"And how would you know, boy," Tamba challenged.

Gabriel fell silent. He liked the group but he wasn't sure how far to trust them.

"We need a revolution," another man said. "Today is proof of that." Others around the room were nodding in agreement.

"We are twelve men," Tamba reminded them. "We are not a revolution. Unless..." he looked at Gabriel. "The boy is partially right. The consortium would move if there were violence. Or even the threat of violence." He glanced towards the back of the mosque.

"What are you thinking, Tamba?" Binti asked, her voice nervous.

"I'm thinking the president's estate is just up that hill. Capture the head of the snake."

"Or even make the Consortium think there's a violent revolution underway."

"You'd go to jail for that, even if you succeed. The Consortium would put you in jail for violence, too."

"I'd go, gladly," Tamba declared. "We've seen their jails. I ain't afraid of that. And if it gets them here, then they will have no choice but to negotiate a truce with... someone else. I ain't got no desire for power. You know that. That was never what this about. But if we can force their hand."

"But you can't do that," A new voice said. "Not from inside Freetown municipal jail."

They all turned to the speaker. It was the young cop that had chased Gabriel earlier. How he had found them here was a mystery to Gabriel. He stood in the doorway to the mosque with his hand on his still holstered gun. "Everyone just stay right where you are," he cautioned the men.