In a Right State by Ben Ellis

Author:Ben Ellis [Ben Ellis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ben Ellis
Published: 2015-01-27T00:00:00+00:00

Estelle had utilised the heel reduction facility in her shoes and was running down the side street. Behind Estelle were three security personnel, and behind them was Gerard, puffing and panting.

They stopped at the end of the street and surveyed the square before them. The square had retail shops all around the edge with a fountain in the middle containing a large crowd of people cheering and shouting.

“They stopped here, ma’am.” The lead tracker kept his eyes on his device to avoid any eye contact with Estelle, confirming his perpetual submission.

“And where are they now? I don’t wish to simply chase them.”

The tracker played with his device, somewhat confused at first, quickly descending into blind panic.

“Well?” Estelle inconveniently piled on the pressure.

“They … err … there are loads of them.” He looked up at the crowd around the fountain. “There are about twenty Poppys over there.”

Estelle grabbed the device and looked at the screen. There were indeed twenty red dots in the square signifying twenty DNA matches. Estelle threw the device to the floor, angry she’d let modern technology blind her.

“OK, we need some good old fashion scare tactics and CCTV.” Estelle engaged her mobile device and contacted the town’s security department. “Re-activate facial recognition on all cameras in this square and the surrounding shops. Let me know when you get a match. Do you have a speaker system here you can plug me into?” Estelle waited for the reply. “OK, connect me into it.”

Estelle instructed her security personnel to cover the main exits out of the square. “Gerard, you stay here with me.”

Connected to the surrounding PA system, Estelle announced her presence. “Attention shoppers, this is a customer announcement.”

Estelle then spoke covertly to the lead security guy. “Fire two shots into the air.”

BANG! BANG!

Shoppers ran everywhere. Estelle watched the commotion spread as people criss-crossed each other, not knowing where they were running to or what they were running from. This was a rare moment of job satisfaction for Estelle; causing mass panic was such a bigger buzz than scaring people individually, one-on-one. Estelle made a note of the time so when she was back in the office she could download the satellite video footage and watch this again.

The wet t-shirt show abruptly came to an end. Duncan lost Poppy in the panic but saw Amy and ran over to her.

Amy had her hands over her face, squinting through her fingers to find Duncan and Poppy. She saw Duncan approach. “Quick, cover your face! This is a ‘crowd flush’. They’re using facial recognition software to track us. Find someone!”

With that last command, Amy led by example and latched onto one of the young male revellers and hid her head in his chest and arms, the noble gallant’s automatic reaction was to cover her up and lead her into one of the shops.

Duncan quickly followed suit and saw an older woman with a small sun umbrella. He played the gallant hero and put his arm around her, leading her into the same shop whilst keeping his head hidden.

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