It was quiet. Outside there were the sounds of children playing and men working, but in here the only ones she heard came from the few goats. They walked approximately three hundred feet inside the township without speaking.
Maintaining a northern direction, they followed a pathway toward the heart of the township. It wasn’t quite a road or an alleyway. Most of it was covered in some way or the other. But it was definitely a main pathway from the south to the north of the city, which meandered its way in a disordered approach through a multitude of mud houses that were interlaced throughout. Elise started to feel like she was walking down an old western town, where a shootout was inevitable and the townsfolk had all gone inside to avoid the fight.
Elise glanced at Genevieve. “Does it seem a little too quiet around here?”
“No. I think everyone’s outside working.” Genevieve spoke loudly and then whispered. “They’re following us.”
Elise felt her heart race as adrenaline engaged her fight or flight response. Her eyes darted between each opening and her ears strained to hear her attackers. It disconcerted her to know that Genevieve had already picked up they were being pursued, but she still couldn’t hear or see anything to suggest so. There was nothing but a feeling. A sense like you were being watched. She let it go and picked up her pace, following the warren of low clay buildings which meandered through the salt plains in a random and disordered way. Up ahead there was an opening in the roof where the town shifted upward and an old saline pan had previously been excavated by hand.
That was the goal. From there they might be able to defend themselves against whoever was following. Also, the opening on the side of the hill would allow Veyron to witness a firefight if it came to that. Not that he could do much to help.
“There,” Genevieve whispered.
Elise scanned the series of openings in the building on the right of them. There were eyes staring out at them. They were brown and focused.
Elise asked, “You got a plan how you want to do this, Gen?”
Genevieve smiled. “No. I’m here with you. I kind of figured you’d thought this thing through.”
“That was silly of you.”
“All the same, what do you want to do?”
Elise sighed. “Get to the end of this main drag until we’re up against the wall and then we confront them.”
“That’s a stupid plan. That wall looks more like a place to stand for a firing squad and there’s no exit route available.”
“You got a better idea?”
“No.”
“Then I guess we’ll stick with mine.”
Elise stopped at the solid wall and turned around. Her eyes scanned the area in front. No one had faced them yet, but she could see all the eyes staring at her. She breathed in and reached for her weapon, but felt Genevieve’s hand on her shoulder. Genevieve didn’t say a word, but her eyes told her enough — they said, there’s too many to win this if it comes to a firefight, so keep your weapon hidden for as long as you can.
Elise raised her hands. “You can all come out now.”
Nothing happened. She changed to French, the only other language she knew. “You can come out now.”
Genevieve followed and whispered. “This is your idea of a plan?”
“I’m still waiting for a better one.”
They waited and nothing happened.
Only silence.
And then a crowd of more than a hundred people approached.
Chapter Fifty-One
Elise watched as the crowd approached slowly. There was no yelling. No war cries. They all stared at her face as though they were possessed. They moved toward her, taking a single step at a time, in perfect harmony. There were men, women and children amongst the crowd. The children were at the front of the crowd, followed by the women and then the men. No one held a weapon. Individually, the mob were no match for their Uzis, but their bullets would run out long before everyone was dead.
Despite its extreme poverty, the town of Bilma experienced little to no crime. Why would it? Poor people have nothing to steal. The families lived in a commune, sharing a common roof and water supply with the rest of the inhabitants of the town.
The adults stopped.
But the children continued in utter silence.
Elise left her Uzi holstered and greeted them all with the palms of her hands held out open. “Hello. My name’s Elise and this is Genevieve. And we need your help.”
The children slowed their progress, if that was even possible. They took one, simultaneous step, every tenth second. Their eyes fixated on Elise and completely ignoring Genevieve.
Genevieve said, “This is pretty weird.”
Elise smiled and removed her headdress to show her face. “Hey, at least they’re not pointing guns in our face.”
The children stopped.
A moment later the children’s mouths opened wide and identical to each other. The women behind stood up as though they were about to guard something precious, while the men locked arms and formed a semi-circle around the entire group, trapping her and Genevieve against the wall.
Elise said, “Okay. Now this is getting weird.”
Genevieve replied, “You think?”
A strange and powerful sound erupted from the still mouths of the children. Their eyes, wide and possessed, fixated on Elise. The eerie noise continued for at least two minutes. Never changing volume or pitch. It was sharp, and poignant, and beautiful at the same time. The sound, although terrifying given its situation, would have been worthy of the Monteverdi Choir.
When it stopped, the kids advanced toward them.
Elise glanced at Genevieve. “Don’t kill anyone.”
Genevieve smiled back. “I’ll do my best, but if they start with the singing again, I might have to reach for the Uzi.”
Elise watched as the children pulled at Genevieve with surprising strength, driving her to the back of the crowd. Once there, the women made her stand with them.
“Back the fuck off!” Genevieve swore.
But the women ignored her. They didn’t hurt her. Instead they simply grabbed her every time she tried to move and forced her to stand still.
Elise breathed in deeply and then slowly exhaled. She forced herself to relax and held the palms of her hands outward. The children reached for her hands. Their touch was gentle. Each child taking it in their turn to make contact and then swap with another child.
Their eyes told her everything she needed to know. They weren’t dilated and fixated because they wanted to hurt her, they children were mesmerized by something about her. They wanted to reach out and touch her fingertips, as they would their God.
But she wasn’t anybody’s God.
In the middle of the crowd, where the women were still trying to force Genevieve to stand still, Elise saw something that made her heart skip a beat.
No, Genevieve, can’t you see these people don’t mean us any harm?
Genevieve was once a deadly assassin. No one knew it as a fact, but everyone on board the Maria Helena had long suspected she’d left a violent past behind her. Watching her now, Elise knew it for a certainty.
She moved like an assassin. A single, agile movement. The outcome of which, found Genevieve with her right arm hooked around one of the women’s throat and her Damascus bladed knife resting at the point of the woman’s carotid artery. “All right everyone. I said, back the fuck off!”
But nobody moved.
Elise watched as the entire crowd remained fixated on her alone. Even the woman now held prisoner, hadn’t taken her eyes away from her.
Elise leaned forward and then stood up, taking a solid stance. In the process her sunglasses dropped to the mud floor. “Enough. Stop this!”