It took him a moment to realize that it was Sauer who had taken the
bullet, not him. Sauer who now lay dead, not O'Leary. But he realized
it when he rolled over, and looked up, and saw the girl with the gun
still in her hand, staring at him and weeping.
He sat up. The two guards still able to walk were backing Sue-Ann
Bradley up. The governor was looking proud as an eagle, pleased as a
mother hen.
The Greensleeves was back in the hands of law and order.
The medic came toward O'Leary, hands folded. "My son," he said, "if
your throat needs--"
O'Leary interrupted him. "I don't need a thing, Doc! I've got
everything I want right now."
VIII
Inmate Sue-Ann Bradley cried: "They're coming! O'Leary, they're coming!"
The guards who had once been hostages clattered down the steps to
meet the party. The cons from the Greensleeves were back in their
cells. The medic, after finishing his chores on O'Leary himself, paced
meditatively out into the wake of the riot, where there was plenty to
keep him busy. A faintly guilty expression tinctured his carven face.
Contrary to his oath to care for all humanity in anguish, he had not
liked Lafon or Sauer.
The party of fresh guards appeared and efficiently began re-locking the
cells of the Greensleeves.
"Excuse me, Cap'n," said one, taking Sue-Ann Bradley by the arm. "I'll
just put this one back--"
"I'll take care of her," said Liam O'Leary. He looked at her sideways
as he rubbed the bruises on his face.
The governor tapped him on the shoulder. "Come along," he said, looking
so proud of himself, so pleased. "Let's go out in the yard for a
breath of fresh air." He smiled contentedly at Sue-Ann Bradley. "You,
too."
O'Leary protested instinctively: "But she's an inmate!"
"And I'm a governor. Come along."
They walked out into the yard. The air was fresh, all right. A handful
of cons, double-guarded by sleepy and irritable men from the day shift,
were hosing down the rubble on the cobblestones. The yard was a mess,
but it was quiet now. The helicopters were still riding their picket
line, glowing softly in the early light that promised sunrise.
"My car," the governor said quietly to a state policeman who appeared
from nowhere. The trooper snapped a salute and trotted away.
"I killed a man," said Sue-Ann Bradley, looking a little ill.
"You saved a man," corrected the governor. "Don't weep for that Lafon.
He was willing to kill a thousand men if he had to, to break out of
here."
"But he never did break out," said Sue-Ann.
The governor stretched contentedly. "He never had a chance. Laborers
and clerks join together in a breakout? It would never happen. They
don't even speak the same language--as you have discovered, my dear."
* * * * *
Sue-Ann blazed: "I still believe in the equality of Man!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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