Values & Virtues
I was happier than I had been for a long time.
Everything was crashing down around Dana. Finally I was getting some justice. But I wanted a bigger
helping, this wasn't enough. I had to do something.
I went into the washroom and dug a marker out of my pencil case. I drew a box and a couple of circles with lines for a flash going off on the outer wall of the first cubicle. No one would be able to miss it. It didn't look exactly like a camera, but it would do. And for the finishing touch I wrote SMILE DANA, with a happy face right beside it.
The chute opened and Nellie hit the threshold to the maze at a full run, body gliding like a snake, eyes alert for movement, any shadow that looked too dense or too oddly shaped. Once inside the small entrance lobby she paused, pivoting side to side in the gloom, one hand hovering at the stun gun in her belt, but the maze's opening section remaining quiet, nothing to be seen or heard except the sledgehammer thud of her heart.
"So, what do you say?" said Peter. "You guys ready to put a stop to it?"
"Put a stop to it?" said Whisper. "Are you kidding? You've been watching too many Bruce Willis videos, man. What can the four of us do?"
"They must be punished," said Birgit quietly. "And it will be a warning to others. Word will get around. It will no longer be the law of the jungle. It will be law and order, decency and dignity."
"You're out of your mind," said Whisper.
"No, I'm not. I know I'm right."
"So we're to be, what? A high school SWAT team? A hit squad?"
I followed them into the living room and was met by a mass of people. My sudden courage seemed to deflate. How could I ever get this many people to leave?
Just then I heard the sirens.
