Chapter 23:
It was a while before Mark was convinced that John wasn’t to be found. Hadn’t he pressed the black button himself, and seen the graph lines cease? He’d done his duty, but when he thought that maybe he really had escaped, he felt a surge of hope. The last thing he wanted was to kill John. And maybe - should the graph lines have ceased? Shouldn’t they just have flattened out?
He didn’t mention to anyone that he thought he’d seen the man glowing - like an angel maybe. No-one else said anything about that either, fearing to be laughed at. It had all happened so quickly at the end, and each witness put it down to imagination, especially as the camera didn’t show it.
He was not the only one who was hoping. The soldiers’ resentment had been scarcely hidden. But as they searched, combing the Compound, and then the larger area, walking almost arm in arm, there began to be laughing and joking. There were sidelong, triumphant looks at the commanding officers, as they became convinced that John, in spite of all that could be set against him, had escaped.
Film was scanned again, the area of trees where he was last known to be. The hawk was ignored at first, Mark scarcely even noticing it to begin with. On the fifth viewing, he suddenly thought that he’d never seen a hawk in that area before. Could it be? Impossible! But disappearing was impossible, too. All the same, he didn’t admit to anyone else that he thought it possible that John had turned himself into a hawk and flown away.
When a larger search was mounted, with orders to shoot on sight, they teamed a B Force man with each A Force man. A Force couldn’t be trusted. John’s vivid personality, like the bright, bright, shirts that he wore, seemed to have permeated the whole of Facility 19.
Liaison with the State police was cautious. They couldn’t say to these, Shoot on sight, so they said instead that a very dangerous man was loose. That while he could appear harmless, fits of homicidal mania were frequent. No chances could be taken. Stun guns were effective, but Colonel Bedville or General Buller should be advised as quickly as possible if he was sighted or detained.
John was sighted, they thought. Or rather, a thin, naked man was sighted by two women who were walking in thick forest. The women hurried away, but rang the police as soon as they could. Most of A Force and B Force were trucked the seventy kilometers, and started combing the area. Greater manpower was considered, but it would have meant a further compromise of secrecy.
John was collapsed in exhaustion. He’d flown on and on, in spite of fatigue and pain, calling on his last reserves of energy in order to get away, far away. The RAB in his arm was small, but far too large to be in the wing of a hawk flying long distances. There was an enormous black bruise on his right upper arm.
Claude from B Force was teamed with Jimmy, from A Force. The two soldiers quite suddenly spotted him, just ten feet away. He was still naked, lying on his back under a tree, legs bent as he’d collapsed. His face was turned toward them, his eyes closed. Claude aimed his rifle, the orders were to shoot on sight. Jimmy moaned, “No.”
John opened his eyes, and looked at the two. He didn’t move. Claude dipped the barrel of his rifle, and when he heard a shouted query, called back, “Nothing here.”
Jimmy breathed a deep sigh of relief, and they moved off, rejoining the strung out line of searchers. John tried to move, but it seemed he was just too tired. He made a hole instead, with his magic, and hid himself before closing his eyes again. Searchers came close a few more times as they combed the area, but no others saw him. Claude and Jimmy didn’t speak of it, even to each other, but later, off duty, Jimmy bought Claude a very large beer. Sometimes, soldiers do think for themselves.
Two days later, there was another report. It seemed that a funny man with funny clothes, had been in the grounds of a primary school, and several children had given him some of their lunches. He’d run away from home, he told them, and was very hungry.
There was nothing further.
The End.
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