Jennifer Government Part 47

79 Loss

The NRA soldiers marched Jennifer out onto the street. She was so numb from the news of Kate's kidnapping that at first she didn't realize what was happening around her. Then the NRA soldier nudged her and said, "Ma'am? You should go now."

She looked up and shook her head, trying to clear it. She felt slow and stupid. She felt beaten.

"Ma'am? Please."

"Right," she said. There was a mall across the road, with a McDonald's on one side and a Burger King on the other. In between the two was a riot. A bunch of kids in baggy clothes were looting the Burger King: pulling down posters, smas.h.i.+ng cash registers. She caught a glimpse of Calvin trying to separate a fight, then lost him.

She stepped onto the road. A horn blared somewhere, but by the time she realized she should turn her head, it had stopped and the driver was yelling at her. Jennifer kept walking. When she reached the other side, two black vans jumped the curb and flung open their doors. Police officers spilled out, jostling past her. They ran toward the rioters.

"Jen!"

She saw Calvin again and tried to head for him. Calvin would help her.

"Move away from the store!" one of the Police shouted, and then somebody fired a gun, either the looters or the Police, either the US Alliance people or the Team Advantage people; she didn't know which and it didn't matter anyway. A lot of people hit the deck, which made it easier for her to spot Calvin. She wound her way toward him between red and yellow plastic tables and chairs.

"For f.u.c.k's sake," Calvin said when she reached him. "Get your a.s.s down!" He pulled her into the doorway of a stationery store. It had a sign on the door which said PROUDLY INDEPENDENT, and another below that that said GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE! "What's the matter with you?"

"He took Kate."

"What?"

There was another, longer rattle of gunfire. The Police had formed a cordon around the Burger King. The looters were retreating to the McDonald's. NRA soldiers were reinforcing them, taking positions behind the counter and cash registers. There was a lot of shouting going on. Then someone fired again, and a bullet ricocheted off a Burger King cash register with a clang. clang.

"Kate," she said. "He took my daughter."

Calvin stared. "Kate's here?"

She shook her head. "In Melbourne. He says he'll kill her unless I let him go."

"Oh, Jen."

"Calvin, I don't know what to do."

"Okay," he said. "It's okay, Jen, wewe'll arrest him. We'll make him let her go. We can" His words were lost in one of the loudest sounds Jennifer had ever heard. The Police had mounted a machine gun on the Burger King counter and it was chewing up the McDonald's store. Shreds of red and yellow plastic spiraled into the air like confetti.

"I'm going back in."

"Jen, you can't! Get down! We'll work something out!"

"I should have shot him," she said. "When I had the chance."

"Jen, wait! Did you see Billy?"

"What? Billy's here?"

"I had to bring him. Then I lost him. For Christ's sake, get down down!"

"I have to go," she said, and stood.

She'd taken ten steps when she heard it: a spitting sound, like air hissing out of a tire. She noticed a puff of white smoke at the top of the US Alliance tower, like the world's smallest cloud. Then something sleek and metallic drew a white line from the cloud to the Burger King and an invisible fist hit Jennifer in the chest and she was deaf.

She wasn't sure if she pa.s.sed out. She became aware that Calvin was above her, shouting. She read missile missile from his lips. The Burger King was on fire. Everything was drenched in black smoke. She looked around. She could barely see the base of the US Alliance building. She could barely see the gla.s.s lobby doors open. She could barely see John Nike come out of them. from his lips. The Burger King was on fire. Everything was drenched in black smoke. She looked around. She could barely see the base of the US Alliance building. She could barely see the gla.s.s lobby doors open. She could barely see John Nike come out of them.

"Calvin?" she said. "Can I have your gun, please?"

His lips said: What What?

"Just" she said, and through the smoke John saw her.

She tore Calvin's gun from his holster and started running. She leapt over bits of ex-Burger King and dodged stunned Police officers. The smoke curled and drifted, hiding John from view and revealing him again.

John stepped onto the road and held up his hands. She thought he was surrendering. Too late for that Too late for that, she thought. Then she saw the cab. John flung open the door and jumped inside. He must have said something highly motivational, because the cab took off, its tires smoking. She was too far away to stop it. She was much too far.

"No!" she screamed. "No! No!" Then she just screamed.

80 Reciprocity

Billy and the coupon girl were cowering in a doorway a few shops down from the McDonald's. This wasn't so bad, since he got to snuggle right up close to her, but there were also a lot of bullets flying around. Billy wasn't so comfortable with that.

"This kind of s.h.i.+t never happens in Colorado," the coupon girl said. "Never."

"It doesn't happen so often in Texas, either." There were about thirty feet between them and the road, with the US Alliance building rising beyond that. Billy weighed their chances of making that distance without intercepting a bullet. So far he wasn't confident. The Police were strafing this whole side of the mall with a machine gun, and he didn't think the coupon girl's employment history would make any difference.

"This city," the coupon girl said. "I swear."

"You know, this is all your fault. Why couldn't you just say McDonald's had better burgers?"

She glared at him. "Why should I let them intimidate me? You let people push you around, you spend your life trying to keep everybody happy."

"Yeah, I guess," Billy said. "Yeah, you're right! That's what's been happening to me for weeks weeks."

"I don't believe anyone could push you you around," the coupon girl said, and her lips curved. Billy smiled back. Then a line of bullets scored the wall a few feet above their heads and the storefront window imploded. Billy s.h.i.+elded the coupon girl from the falling gla.s.s. "Thanks," she said. around," the coupon girl said, and her lips curved. Billy smiled back. Then a line of bullets scored the wall a few feet above their heads and the storefront window imploded. Billy s.h.i.+elded the coupon girl from the falling gla.s.s. "Thanks," she said.

He looked up. "We really have to get out of here."

"No s.h.i.+t," she said, and then there was a whoos.h.i.+ng and the Burger King across the mall exploded. It felt like an earthquake.

"Now!" Billy said. He hauled the coupon girl to her feet. "Come on!"

He took her hand and they ran blindly through the black smoke. The coupon girl stumbled over a piece of rubble and Billy caught her from falling: it was just like a movie. They cleared the smoke and there were NRA soldiers everywhere, but no one was paying any special attention to Billy. Then someone familiar came out of the US Alliance building. Billy stopped in surprise. It was John Nike, the dude who'd ordered him to shoot the Government President in London.

For a second he was tempted to walk up to the guy and slug him. But Billy had other priorities, like getting the h.e.l.l away, so he started running again. John pulled over a cab and got inside.

He heard a scream, and turned. For a second he didn't know who the figure stumbling out of the smoke was. Then he realized. It was Jennifer Government.

"Billy! Stop him!"

He looked after John's cab. It was a bit late for that, he thought. He looked back at Jennifer.

"Please!"

"Aw, s.h.i.+t..." He looked around. "I need a gun."

"Um...okay." The coupon girl bent over and picked up a piece of rubble from the gutter. "Here, use this."

"No, a gun. gun. Something to shoot with." But the coupon girl was already hurrying to an NRA soldier. Billy looked at the chunk of rubble. It didn't offer any clues to him. Something to shoot with." But the coupon girl was already hurrying to an NRA soldier. Billy looked at the chunk of rubble. It didn't offer any clues to him.

The coupon girl grabbed the soldier's shoulders and screamed into his face. "Help me, help me!"

"Hey! Calm down! Miss!"

"Please, please!" She tugged him in a half-circle, so his back was to Billy.

"Oh," Billy said, understanding. He stepped forward and hit the soldier on the head with the rock. The soldier yelled and clutched his head. Billy grabbed his rifle.

"Geez," the coupon girl said. "I thought you were never going to get it."

"Shh," he said. He spread his feet, balancing himself, and lined up the retreating cab. It was a ridiculous shot, really: the car was already a block and a half away and there were about a million people running in and out of the way. "Just...be quiet."

She fell silent. Billy inhaled. You had to fire during a slow, controlled exhale: it was when your body was steadiest. You had to squeeze the trigger between your own heartbeats. The world dropped away. He fired.

"Holy s.h.i.+t s.h.i.+t!" the coupon girl said.

The tire blew: he saw the spray of rubber. The cab veered ninety degrees, was clipped by a delivery van, and rammed into a storefront. Billy lowered the rifle. The girl was staring at him.

"How good are you?"

He looked back for Jennifer, but the smoke had obscured her again. "Let's get out of here."

"Yeah, good idea." She took his hand. "Where to?"

He smiled. "You like skiing?"

"Are you kidding?"

"Why?"

"I live in Aspen," she said. "Aspen, Colorado. In the winter I work as a ski instructor." She s.h.i.+fted. "What? It's not so weird."

He found his voice. "I..."

"You like skiing?"

"Yes," Billy said. "I really do."

"Cool," she said. "Let's split."

81 Fort.i.tude

Today is a great day, Buy thought.

The funny part was that only a month or two ago he'd been ready to kill himself. He was still walking around only because he didn't know enough about guns to locate the safety on a Colt .45. Everything since then, you could argue, was borrowed time.

I am a great person.

His legs were shaking as he entered the Chadstone Wal-Mart mall, and he felt like he might throw up soon. That was funny, too. He wasn't scared of dying, not even a little, but the idea of taking the escalator up to level four terrified him. He couldn't believe that when he got there he wouldn't see a girl sprawled on the floor in a spreading pool of blood.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

He realized he'd swayed; almost fallen. A girl was looking at him with big, concerned eyes.

Buy turned away. "I'm...fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes," he said, and it was a gasp. He couldn't breathe. He felt her eyes on his back as he pushed through the crowd. The elevators rose before him, a fusion of steel and shopper.

Every obstacle is an opportunity.

He wasn't expecting to see Violet on this level, and so he stared at her for entire seconds before he realized who he was looking at. Then he started toward her.

She saw him. "Oh-oh," she said. She produced a gun. Buy almost laughed. "Okay, you just stop there."

"Gun!" somebody shouted. The shoppers around him scattered. Buy kept walking.

"Hey! I'm not kidding. Look, I'm sorry about your kid and allhey! Stop! You want me to shoot you?"

"Where is Kate?"