Fields under Heaven

“Stay with me, Lady.”
 Reacting to Cameron’s murmur, she automatically started to ask for the reason when he silenced her with a quick “shh!” When she turned to him, she noticed that Cameron was still observing his sergeant. It dawned on her that Van was trailing the major.
 She was conscious of the lieutenant’s firm hand holding her elbow as he guided her onto the train platform. Reacting to his urgent manner, she was now fully alert.
 She saw Wilfz, hunched in his overcoat, walking toward a kiosk selling hot beverages. He appeared oblivious to the activity of the team behind him. The thought of drinking something warm was most welcome to Monique, now that she was thinking about it. She took fresh notice of the two strange men as they altered their direction toward Wilfz. Van followed after the major as his men took up positions near the lieutenant and their lady.
 “Down, Major!”
 Monique watched as Van clapped a hand down on Wilfz’s shoulder and forced him down to the platform. The Constabulary officer was clearly startled by the sergeant’s sudden intervention.
 She saw him look around, but with the bench between him and the two men she couldn’t tell if he had seen them before he was dropped to his stomach. Feeling a sense of surrealism, she observed one of the men pull a pistol from beneath his jacket. She could not believe this was happening.
 “Stay down, Major.” Van was sitting on the major’s back and, having drawn his own pistol, used the solid bulk of the bench as a shooting rest.
 Monique thought that was an unnecessary order.
 “You’re the one shooting,” Wilfz responded. The man seemed remarkably docile considering the rough manhandling he had just received from Sergeant Van.
 As for Monique, she resisted Cameron’s direction, and she felt him use both hands to force her down onto the platform. She struggled fretfully, impatient to see what was going to happen next. The trash receptacle that Cameron had chosen for cover was blocking her view. The unexpected display of firearms did not frighten her. Rather than feeling terror, she was frustrated that Cameron would not let her up. She reached back to push at him while he drew his weapon, but her struggling proved ineffectual. Cameron held her down all too easily while he aimed his pistol over the trash container.
 “Get off me!” she hissed.