Out of the Black - Lee Doty [29]
The woman approached Ahmed from behind. She put a hand on his shoulder. He put his hand over hers. Ping continued.
"Probably before two, Lutine's car was rounding the corner when a sniper's shot came through the driver's widow. He died instantly."
"The driver? You mean Lutine's dead?" She interrupted.
The way she said "dead" made it sound like this was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. It also struck him as sounding somehow wrong. It seemed almost as if she was shocked that a sniper could kill him.
"No, the driver was a man named Peter Sieberg." Ping said. She looked puzzled.
Ahmed looked up at her, "Honey... I think it was Roy."
Some kind of tremor passed through her as a disproportionately large shock registered. "No." she said. She moved to her left, stumbling absently around the couch until she finally collapsed onto it next to Ahmed.
"So where's Ivo?" She asked both of them. Ahmed covered his eyes with his hand and clamped his mouth shut.
"In the back seat." Ping met her eyes. She understood.
Grief seemed to wash over her, pooling in her eyes. Her face softened with a deep, deadening sadness. But as he watched, her face tightened again with realization. Fear sharpened her eyes, raised gooseflesh on her arms. She looked around the room as if searching for lurking attackers. Her eyes settled on Ping, full of obvious distrust. Her right hand strayed casually toward the holster on her hip.
Ping resisted the impulse to move his hands closer to his own weapons. He didn't want to provoke another confrontation. These people had information he needed. That information was leading them directly into an intense and immediate fear for their lives. He needed to understand.
He continued, "When I say I have absolutely no idea what happened next, I hope you can accept that. What I do know is that the car came to a stop against a concrete wall beneath an overpass near the intersection. There something took the top of the car off- we found most of it, along with what might sum up to one or two bodies, fused to the bottom of the bridge overhead. When we got there, the area around the car was strewn with what might turn out to be between ten and thirteen more corpses. We found Lutine in the back seat. I'm sorry."
"They're dead." She seemed to be trying the words on, not liking how they fit.
"How did he die?" It was Ahmed, eyes still concealed by his hand. The voice was rough with emotion, his muscles stretched taught with internal pressure. "I've got to know."
Ping shook his head, "The less we dwell on that, the happier we'll all be."
The woman was crying now, tears but no sobs, hand still near her holster.
Ahmed removed the hand from his watery eyes and met Ping's gaze. Ping had expected tears and sorrow. He was mistaken. What he found in Ahmed's eyes was fury.
"Shot, slashed, burned... eaten?" He held Ping's eyes.
Eaten? Boy, he hoped that last part was sarcasm- probably not. "Slashed. Shot."
"No. This was hours ago!" The woman said, realization fueling new panic. "Why aren't they here yet? We've got to go now...right now." She said, expediency reigning in the fear that still colored her voice.
"If you feel it's too dangerous here, I can take you into protective custody." Ping said.
Neither liked this idea, but it was the woman who was first to speak. "Detective, believe me, there's nothing you've got that could protect us. There's nothing grunts like us can do against these people."
"Which people?"
"The kind of people who could kill Roy and Ivo." Alex said.
"This isn't a game show." Ping said, "Stop giving me answers that require more questions. I can't help you if you won't trust me."
"You don't get it!" The woman said, "You can't help us. No one can. We've got to get out of here!"
"You are going to have to do better than that. Talk to