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She sat on the edge of the bed, watching her brother struggle into his uniform. She gave him a sour look, and looked at her own uniform, still hanging on its rack in the cupboard. "Why won't he let me go? It's not as if I were an invalid! Who does that Wilder think he is? They're neither my keepers." As she said that, she got up and dug out her gear from the cupboard. Her twin looked at her dubiously. "Nykki, there has to be a sane reason why you've been forbidden to join us, why not just leave it at that?" Nicholas pleaded for her to understand. "I'm coming with you." "Not if I tell the Director," he warned. Her grey eyes looked up at her steadily, the coldness in them was frightening. The challenge was there. She knew he would not dare to report her. And he knew deep within him that she would be needed. Her gaze bored into him for a few seconds more, then dropped, and she continued struggling into her gear. "Damn, damn, damn!" Nicholas swore under his breath.
Twelve cadets were squeezed into the bus, along with fifteen officers. She shared a seat with her twin, and kept her head covered with her helmet and lowered. The Director shouted out his orders, and the bus started to drive off. She cautiously raised her head. It was like a different world through the darkened visor of the helmet. Her fellow cadets were whispering to each other, a few were staring out of the windows. She could feel the nearly tangible anticipation in the air. She wondered what was going through their minds. Her twin was silent. Probably regretting his actions, she thought with an inner smile. She nudged him with her elbow and he glared at her. Yes, definitely regretting his actions. They drove into town, the ride took less than twenty minutes. She looked around, the roads were deserted. Maybe the riot's over. A mocking voice in her head spoke up. You wish! They were entering district twelve, nearly eight blocks away from where Christopher had been taken. The bus stopped. They filed out of the bus, and stood in two rows, waiting for their instructions. She wanted to know why they weren't looking for Christopher, but there was no way to find out without arousing the Director's suspicions. "The riot hasn't made it here yet, and hopefully it won't. All of you are to go around and warn anyone who is outside. Remain in radio contact with me, always. Report in every quarter of an hour, I want to know where you are. If the riot does progress into this district, radio in." The Director stopped then and looked at every single person. Even with the helmets on, he still seemed to look straight at their eyes. "Do not be imbeciles and try to stop them. We're here to monitor the riot and prevent any accidents from happening. Got it?" Nods with military precision answered him. "All right. You, you and you," Wilder pointed at the first three in the front row, "proceed east, down that street." They jogged off. She was standing at the back with her twin. The Director finally reached her. "You three, head down the street, northwards. Be very careful because from the reports earlier, the rioters are moving from that direction. Go." She hurried off followed by Nicholas and Leander Westfield, leaving the Director giving orders to the officers. She could feel her heart pounding. She had never been in a real situation before, she had just studied from books, learnt in the closed confines of classrooms and practised under controlled conditions. She wondered how she would react if the rioters did turn up. She kept her hand on her service revolver. Leander spoke up. "Who are the two of you? These visors make it bloody hard to see clearly." He fumbled at his helmet strap and jerked it off. Nicholas was taking his off and she did the same. "Oh hi, I'm glad it's you two, I don't know what I'd do if I was stuck with Brent, run straight into the rioters I suppose." He sighed theatrically. Despite her still fluttering stomach, Nykki felt some of the tension in her slip away. She grinned gratefully at Leander. Nicholas looked at the two of them smiling inanely at each other. His mouth twitched but he managed to keep his face straight. "Come on you two, you can go back to the academy later and smile all you want. We've got a job to do." That wiped the humour off their faces. They ignored the helmets, and held it in their hands, but the intensity on each of their faces was evident. They walked further down the street, everything was still quiet. Then, her ears picked out a low approaching roar, and Nicholas saw the moving figures getting closer and closer with each passing moment. "Lee," Nykki said to Leander hurriedly while pulling on her helmet, "radio back and tell the Director, they've found us."
The next few hours were a frenzy of noise. The rioters had attacked them with vigour, ruthlessly hammering away at them with stick and stones, some even tried shooting at them. Their blockade would have fallen if not for the timely arrival of several squads from the Met. Her ribs hurt. She had been hit by a club when she tried to help suppress and push back the rioters. She sat down and wiped her brow with a dirty handkerchief, ignoring the streaks it created on her face. She loosened the top button of her uniform and tried to cool herself. Her twin was walking towards her, and his expression sent warning chimes exploding through her mind. "What is it?" she asked. "Is it Christopher?" "They found him, the Director just got the message from the Met. He's being held hostage on the roof of one the warehouses in the old district. His kidnapper is a Harry Cray who was supposed to be charged in court tomorrow for attempted murder. The murder charge is his first, although he was suspected for being a party to at least another three murders — no evidence was found to indict him until now. He was already well-known for theft, arson and possession of dangerous firearms. He's homosexual, and has been jailed before for rape of a eighteen-year-old boy. The police were certain of his conviction until he took Christopher this morning. The warehouse is surrounded, but that man seems to have a full arsenal on him, he's been shooting down at the cops ever since they had him trapped. He knows he can't come down, but the police know they can't go up because of the hostage. Last I was told, Christopher had a gun pointed at him and was yelling at the cops to obey Cray." "You mean they haven't done anything yet?" Nykki asked incredulously. "No. The Director's going to the scene now, and he's taking two cadets with him. I came to get you. Best put on your helmet though, he still doesn't know you disobeyed orders." "Well, what are you waiting for?" She tugged on the stifling black helmet and rushed off through the mass of uniformed bodies. They met the Director. Distracted, James Wilder didn't make any comment about the helmeted cadet. "Ready?" he asked, and motioned them into a police car without waiting for a reply.
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