The bald man wanted to have them arrested for breaking into two animal enclosures and killing a large snake. He seemed resolute, and did not want to hear about further excuses. He certainly had no interest in the wild idea that they were hiding from assassins. Hector’s contribution had not helped their cause.
Other staff arrived to look at the Trogg family, and then nod in confirmation. It seemed as though their previous misdeeds were catching up with them. Eventually, the man who Mrs Warp had assaulted with the ice cream turned up to identify her, together with a number of people who had seen her sitting in a puddle. When the very hairy man turned up this seemed to trigger something in Mrs Warp, and she began to point at him as well as bob up and down.
‘He’s escaped. You need to put him back in his cage,’ announced Mrs Warp in a carrying voice.
‘I think I’d choose the planes, guns and near-death experiences to this,’ moaned Dad, ‘What I should have said was that we were on a holiday for people with mental health problems, and that we needed to get back urgently for medication. But, after this even that story wouldn’t work.’
‘Look on the bright side,’ said Mum, ‘Mrs Warp broke the rules, not us.’
‘Mrs Warp did what she did under Hector and Kate’s direction,’ hissed Dad.
‘Yes, and they may not be criminally responsible, and we didn’t know,’ suggested Mum with a tone that suggested advancing desperation.
‘I think the best thing is to say we are very sorry, explain that Mrs Warp is not human, and offer a large donation,’ suggested Dad, ‘They may be angry, but I’m sure there is something they are planning to build that we could offer some money towards.’
‘Like a new snake!’ suggested Hector, who had been eavesdropping.
‘No Hector!’ said Dad, making it quite clear that further help on the ideas front was not needed.
Andrè and Pierre turned up, but this did not help. They were dressed as staff, but no one knew them. This added to a mysterious day, and there was no way the bald man was going to accept the argument about pressing security concerns.
Dad approached one of the staff who they had not seen before, explained that he wanted to make a donation to the zoo, and took out his bank debit card. Ten minutes later the bald man was taking a more relaxed view. Hector could hear Dad using words such as ‘cruel,’ and ‘unforgivable’ and suspected he was speaking about the snake’s death.
Twenty minutes later the police arrived. After a brief conversation one of the officers recognised the cards Pierre offered them. They soon had the police on their side, and things were even more relaxed. Everything was being blamed on Mrs Warp’s psychiatric problems, Dad was offering to apologise personally to the man she had insulted and the one she had squashed an ice cream into, and Hector had deployed his large smile so that he could try on both the zoo keeper and police hats.
Cups of coffee were being handed round, and Hector was just building up to asking whether he could feed the lions, when the door opened briefly and shut again. Only Hector saw the metal ball roll in, so he quickly picked it up and with a few steps and one swift movement threw it into the next room. It was as if time had slowed down, and everyone had turned to look at him as he ran the four paces across the room.
‘It was probably only a toy one,’ said Hector, as the door was slammed shut and then partly smashed by an explosion that tore through the next room.
Everyone stood still, except for Pierre and Andrè, who had been already moving towards Hector even as he had been speaking. Hector had been pulled roughly to the floor just as he uttered his last word and the grenade went off.
They all looked at the holes made by the shrapnel in the door, and then at a man in the blue shirt who had blood spreading across his arm. Andrè and Pierre were already pulling guns from their jackets and yelling at everyone to get down. Seconds later a volley of automatic fire smashed the windows.
Andrè and Pierre both seemed to jerk and wave their arms. There were loud bangs and flashes as stun grenades went off outside, and Kate realised that Andrè and Pierre had just thrown them. Kate could see that Andrè had something small in his hand; he was pressing it and shouting clearly in French. Mrs Warp ran straight to the door and fearlessly out to meet whatever awaited. Pierre had a radio in his hand and was speaking quickly.
There was a strange silence for about ten seconds. Kate reflected that this was Mrs Warp’s purpose. She was fearless, possessed inhuman strength and was ultimately expendable. If she was destroyed there would be no funeral and no relatives to comfort.
Kate heard a scream from one of the zoo staff, and although she glanced in the direction of the cry, she could not help but be drawn back to Andrè and Pierre. They took no notice of the woman who had begun to cry; they seemed almost calm. Kate glanced again and saw that one of the policemen had a large amount of blood around him.
Pierre was speaking into his radio again, as to Kate’s horror two figures vaulted through the smashed windows and made straight for the two remaining policemen, both of whom had guns drawn. Andrè and Pierre were shouting at the policemen, one of whom had fallen backwards. Then there was a bang and a hiss as one of the attackers was hit square in the face by the powder from a fire extinguisher.
‘Hector! Hector! They are on our side,’ yelled Pierre.
‘Oh, are they?’ replied Hector, in his cheery voice, ‘Sorry!’
The soldier covered in powered muttered something that sounded like ‘imbecile’ as he wiped the powder from his face.
There was so much going on. The zoo staff were tending to someone else who had been injured, Dad was reassuring Mum, several people were crying. Only Hector seemed in his element, imbued with a firm belief in his own invulnerability.
‘Vite, Vite!’ came a cry from outside, and Pierre urged Hector, Kate, Mum and Dad to rush forward out of the door towards an armoured car waiting just beyond a door in the zoo perimeter wall.
‘We can’t leave these people,’ said Mum, pointing at the zoo staff.
‘They will be guarded. Now go!’ shouted Pierre, grabbing hold of Mum’s wrist and propelling her through the door.
‘Get her into the armoured car no matter what happens!’ Pierre barked at Dad.
While Mum and Dad ran ahead, Pierre and Andrè ran on either side of Kate and Hector. Kate noticed that Andrè had hold of Hector’s jacket; his other hand clutched a gun that was pointing at the ground. Then she realised that Pierre had hold of her jacket. His hand dug into her back when their strides were not in time.
Despite the forced run, Kate glanced back at the shattered office just as two loud cracks rang out. Kate turned to see Mum twist and fall to the ground. Kate opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. Hector yelled a guttural animal howl just as the fist in Kate’s back pushed her on and up, past her fallen mother.
‘Drag her,’ yelled Pierre to Dad, just as Kate realised that she had turned back to look at her mother, and was herself being dragged. Hector shrieked a furious ‘no,’ as he too was dragged away from his mother. A crimson bloom was spreading across Mum’s chest and she seemed to be gasping for air, while Dad’s face was a sea of blood.
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