He slapped her hard across her face, and then turned around to inspect the now-open vent – and his eyes widened with surprise as he saw Ranomi’s face staring out at him.
‘What the fuck?’ he gasped, scrambling to unholster his revolver.
‘Sa wa dee kha,’ Ranomi hissed in Thai, and then she squeezed the trigger of her Uzi, spraying the hapless guard with a burst of automatic fire. The submachine gun’s heavy suppressor made the firing sound like a jabbering pneumatic machine, and the surprised guard staggered back as the bullets ripped through his body, kicking him again and again until he hit the wall. At that point Ranomi stopped shooting, and the guard’s limp body slithered down the wall until he lay slumped on the floor, dead.
Adriana squeezed her hand over her mouth, trying – and failing – to suppress a scream as she stared wide-eyed at the crimson-oozing bullet wounds that peppered the man’s chest.
‘Here, take this!’ Ranomi commanded, holding out the Uzi for Adriana and ignoring her shriek of fright. ‘Quickly Adriana, take it! I need to get out of here!’
Adriana gripped the corner of the wall and used it to heave herself to her feet. Trembling with fear, with her cheek burning from the guard’s slap and her ankle throbbing with fiery agony, she limped over to the open vent, grimacing and whimpering, and took the Uzi from Ranomi, shuddering as her fingers closed over the weapon’s hot muzzle. Ranomi, meanwhile, pulled herself out of the vent and dropped to the floor, landing with the catlike grace of a master acrobat.
‘You … you k-, you killed, you killed him,’ Adriana stammered, her eyes bulging and her mouth hanging open.
‘Yes, I did,’ Ranomi answered calmly. ‘Self-defence, my dear, self-defence. It is unfortunate, what I just had to do, but this is a war you’ve stumbled into, and he was an enemy soldier who would have killed me, you, and my friends. Now, my Uzi, please.’
Adriana gave her back the gun, happy to be rid of it. She hated weapons with a passion, and even though they now represented her only hope of escape from this place, she could not reconcile herself with the concept of an object designed solely to maim and to kill. Her relief in this regard, however, was to be short-lived. Ranomi knelt down next to the dead guard and unholstered the man’s revolver.
‘Know how to use one of these things, sweetie?’ she asked.
Adriana shook her head, staring at the firearm as if it were a coiled rattlesnake, ready to strike.
‘Here’s a quick lesson then, as we don’t have any time to waste. This is a 38 Special revolver. It’s got no safety, so for God’s sake don’t put your finger anywhere near the trigger unless your life or mine is in danger. Are you right-handed or left-handed?’
‘R-, r-, right,’ Adriana managed to stammer.
‘Okay. You’re a complete newbie, so you need to use two hands to shoot. Forget the stuff you see on TV and movies with people firing off pistols with one hand; that comes with a lot of experience and practice, and you’ve got none of that. So for a novice like you, you take your dominant hand, your right hand, grip the revolver like this, and put your right forefinger on the trigger, like this. See?’
Ranomi demonstrated and Adriana nodded.
‘Then you use your weaker hand, your left, to support this hand. Lock your arms out straight in front of you. Don’t fire with bent elbows. This gun isn’t the strongest around, but it will still pack a kick that you need to be ready for. Squeeze the trigger firmly and progressively, not abruptly. And don’t try to aim for the head, because you’ll probably miss. If you’re in a position where you have to shoot someone, aim for their torso. It’s a much bigger target so you’ll have a better chance of hitting them. Got it?’
‘I, I think so,’ Adriana murmured nervously.
‘I hope so, girl,’ Ranomi muttered as she handed Adriana the pistol. ‘Now follow me and stick with me no matter what. I’m your only chance of getting out of here alive, and you’d do well to remember that.’
Without saying another word, Ranomi raised her Uzi, her vision punctuated with its sights, and headed off into the red-glowing corridors, moving with swift and deadly intent. Adriana hobbled along behind her, gripping the revolver in trembling hands, uncomfortably conscious of its deadly mass. She couldn’t help but bite down on her quivering lower lip as she followed Ranomi, trying her best to suppress the doom-thundering panic that threatened to engulf her completely.
51
NJINGA
Roxana trailed behind Mr Wang, her eyes locked on the ground and her shoulders slumping lower and lower with each step she took that brought her closer to the presidential suite, where Mr Ma was waiting.
Mr Wang grabbed her wrist and yanked her forward when she failed to maintain his pace.
‘Hurry up!’ he snarled, speaking Russian. ‘Mr Ma has taken two doses of Viagra, but you know even then how short a window he has for performance!’
‘I’m sorry,’ Roxana whimpered between sobs as tears started to stream down her cheeks. ‘I’ll do my best to m-, m-, make him happy, sir.’
‘You know by now what he likes,’ Mr Wang replied coldly. ‘I expect you’re getting used to the cuts, the burns, the bruises, and the … internal damage.’
Roxana sniffed loudly and nodded, and then wiped the back of her hand across her nose, catching a thick globule of snot on her knuckle. Mr Wang stopped dead in his tracks and slapped her hard across her face.
‘You uncultured little peasant!’ he spat, virulent in his disgust. ‘Use a tissue or handkerchief for God’s sake! You know how seriously Mr Ma takes cleanliness and personal hygiene! Stupid shit! Ignorant bloody subhuman!’ He fumbled around in his suit pocket and pulled out a tissue, which he shoved into her hands. ‘Wipe that filth off of your hand and your
