Cryoburn - Lois McMaster Bujold [126]
Jin's mother slid out of bed and came to the wall of her booth, standing with her hands pressed against the glass. "Jin, maybe you'd better run downstairs and tell them what's going on. Was the fire spreading very fast?"
"We couldn't tell yet."
"Maybe I'd better find a room with a window and look," said Leiber-sensei.
"Where's Stefin gone?" asked their mother. "He was supposed to look after you two!"
"I think he went to look for more ninjas," said Mina.
She touched her hand to her lips. "Isn't that the sort of thing that Armsman Roic fellow is supposed to do?"
"He's probably with Miles-san," Jin called over his shoulder, heading toward the door again. "Mina, don't let Nefertiti get out!"
Leiber-sensei followed close on Jin's heels. And then cringed backward as the door was kicked open from the corridor side. Mina shrieked.
So did Nefertiti. "Foes, foes!" she screamed, flapping madly around the room and up onto a table.
Oh, Nefertiti, you're so right, thought Jin, backing up as Chief Hans and Sergeant Oki shouldered into the recovery room.
The pair seemed out of breath, and angry, and much, much bigger when looming vertically than when they'd been laid out on the floor of the garage office, drooling as they snored. They'd changed their clothes from the rumpled blue medical smocks they'd worn earlier, and were now dressed in uniformlike gray trousers and heavy cloth jackets, with equipment belts and big clumping boots, but without any insignia or name tags or identifying markers.
"There you are, you stupid turd! Finally!" growled tall Hans to Leiber-sensei, who'd backed up against a table and turned pale.
"What the hell . . . ?" said broad Oki, staring around at their audience. "What are these kids doing here? That jerk Akabane didn't say anything about kids."
"Never mind, just grab him."
Oki strode forward and did so, yanking Leiber-sensei around, doing something with the policeman's baton he carried in his hand, and hauling the scientist's arm up behind his back. Leiber-sensei yelped.
"Let him go!" cried their mother through the glass.
Hans's head turned, and his eyes narrowed. "I'll say what the hell! It's that bitch Sato! They must have woken her up. Isn't this the jackpot! Grab her too, Oki!"
"You'll have to. My hands are full," snapped his companion. Leiber-sensei tried to resist by going limp, and almost succeeded in slithering out of his captor's grip, but Oki jerked him upright once more, freed the hand with the baton, and slapped it with a loud electric pop against Leiber-sensei's thigh. Leiber-sensei yelled really loud. With a surprised gasp, Oki flinched and almost let him go, as the electric jolt evidently traveled through his victim's body and bit his gripping hand. But he renewed his clutch before the shuddering scientist could escape it.
Hans strode toward the booth and hit the lock control; the door slid back, and air puffed out.
"No!" said Jin, panicking so much that his vision blurred. "She's not supposed to come out yet! She'll get sick!"
"She's going to be a lot sicker when Akabane gets done with her," Hans snarled. He lunged for their mother, who hopped up and across the bed, and almost made it around the end to the door and freedom before he lunged again, caught her by the arm, and swung her against the glass wall with a sickening thud. He manhandled her out of the booth, stumbling, her long hair tumbling down all over.
"No, you can't have my mommy!" screamed Mina. "We just got her back!" She grabbed the folding chair, flopped it shut, and swung it as hard as she could. She might have been trying to hit the security chief in the stomach, but Mina was pretty short, and her aim was rather blind, as she whirled around. Instead, the chair legs took him square in the crotch-but not quite hard enough.
He bent over, saying really horrible words, but didn't let go of their mother's arm. With his other fist, he backhanded Mina, who fell on her butt, crying. Their mother tried to kick him, more accurately than