Back in the streets of the Old City again, they made it some three or four blocks--difficult to judge from the irregular, almost haphazard layout of the streets--before pursuit caught up to them again. Then it was back to the old game, running, exchanging fire, never a rest as the enemy kept on coming.
With Eti and Naira now armed, the odds were a little better for them; so they paused now and then to duck behind cover and pick off some of their pursuit. No more stun shots now--the distance was too great, and the pursuit too heavy. The sisters weren't much better aim than Becki had expected; but, at least, they were managing not to shoot either her or one another, and at this hour of the night there were fortunately no innocent bystanders to worry about. If not a great many of the enemy actually fell to the sisters' shots, at least the sheer wildness of their fire encouraged the men to keep back.
After one such brief exchange, the girls retreated once more, ducking down one side street, so narrow they barely had to stretch their arms out to touch walls on both sides, turning right onto another, then left, up a short stair and over a low wall, around a building whose stone felt cool on their hands as they swung past it, down a little hill, past another building, into another street, around another corner--
And then they had to pull up short, finding themselves in a short alley with no exit. "Uh-oh," Becki muttered, turning back; but it was too late. Blaster bolts shot by the mouth of the street before she could even peek around the corner to see if it were safe to retrace their steps. She stuck her head and hand out past the building just long enough to snap off a few return shots, then ducked back behind her cover. "Come on," she hissed to the Neris sisters, "help me keep them busy."
"Lieutenant," Naira asked anxiously as the girls moved to join in the fire, "how are we going to get out?"
"That is a lovely question, Naira," Becki muttered. "If you happen to think of an answer, do tell me."
They held their ground, keeping up enough of a return fire that their pursuers remained cautious; but it was only a matter of time. A pattern emerged in the steady volleys of fire passing from one side to the other, but that pattern would have to change soon. Becki was beginning to ponder the irony of ending her last moments stuck in an Old City alley with these two ladies-in-waiting who had shadowed Terra Group's steps ever since they reached Jerusalem, when suddenly the change came.
A flurry of shots broke out, and the three girls instantly flattened themselves back against the wall that was their cover: until they noted that, though the shots continued, no glowing bolts were now flitting past the open end of their hiding place.
And then the shots stopped altogether.
Grand pause; silence that seemed to last the space of an hour, though the unusually rapid beating of the girls' hearts may have lengthened the moment.
And then, dread sound that had haunted them all that night: footsteps approaching.
Eti, with a panicked cry, flung herself forward, out into the open street, pointing her blaster back toward the sound of the steps. But just as she made to shoot it, Becki, echoing her cry, dove for her arm and knocked her aside, and the shot went wide.
Eti wailed; Dohrnaira gasped from back in the alley. But Becki, turning away from Eti, froze in place when her own eyes locked with the brightest pair of eyes she had ever known.
He stood frozen, too, regarding her with a grim look she couldn't quite read. At last, speech returned to her; but all she could whisper was: "You!"
Thayer Atner nodded briefly. "Are you all right?"
"Oh!" she said. "Yes--well, that is, now we're fine, but . . ." She shook her head. "How did you--When did you--?"
"That'll have to wait," he said. "I'm glad I got to you before they did, though--anyway, I think I can get you back to the others now, if you want to follow me."
"Right," she nodded. Then suddenly the pent-up shock of the night's chase hit her and her strength melted. "Oh goodness, Thayer, I can't believe you . . . I don't know how you found us . . . but I'm sure glad you did . . . and then you rescue us, and Eti here--" She rounded on the lady, who had dropped her weapon to throw her hands over her mouth and now stood thus, wide-eyed, staring at the Dictator as one face-to-face with the headlights of a train at full speed. "For pity's sake, girl, don't you know better than to shoot without knowing what you' re shooting at?" Becki cried. "If you--if it hadn't missed--you could've . . ."
Thayer took a step closer, frowning in recognition. "Etidorhpa Neris?" he asked. Then, catching sight of her sister hovering nearby, "And Dohrnaira too? Whatever are you doing in the midst of this?"
But neither sister could find voice, so Becki sighed and spoke for them. "Good question. We've been wishing they'd answer it for days, but . . ."
Thayer nodded. "Perhaps after tonight, answers will be found. Anyway--we mustn't linger here. Let's head back and regroup, and then--well, there are many things to be explained." And at that he looked at Becki in a way that seized her heart in a chill of dread.
"Ready?" he asked, and they nodded and followed him back out into the streets. He didn't glance back, but Becki's eyes never left him for all the length of that walk, as she wondered just what had brought him to her at that moment, so soon after they had parted ways, so soon after she had given up hope of seeing him again, and least of all here in Jerusalem.