Battle for the Known Unknown Ch. 22

"There's nothing special about you, but something like this had to happen to someone and that someone just happened to be you."

"It can't be just as simple as that."

"Yes, it can."

"I don't understand," said Paul in his dream.

"Fucking wake up will you!" said another voice intruding into Paul's dream world and it wasn't the old man's. The woman to whom it belonged was vigorously shaking Paul's shoulder.

"Whassup?" wondered a bleary-eyed Paul.

"Didn't you hear the alarms?" asked the blue-haired, polka-dot faced nurse when she dragged Paul into full consciousness. "Or for that matter, the explosion!"

"Explosion?" asked Paul. "What? Another one!"

"I'll take him, nurse," said Beatrice who suddenly materialised by Paul's side and took his arm in hers.

"What's happening?" asked Paul, still unsure whether he was still dreaming.

"I don't know," said Beatrice. "I heard a huge bang while I was in the toilet and when I got out there were smoke and alarms and people running everywhere."

"Fuck! Not another assassination attempt!" groaned Paul.

"I can't be sure," said Beatrice. "It could be anything. Do you know what happened, nurse?"

"This way. This way," said the nurse directing them along the smoke-filled hallway where their path was only navigable from the emergency lights that dotted the way toward the exit.

Paul could see nothing through the smoke beyond the shadowy silhouettes of the robots that were handling the emergency. He was more concerned about his survival than in finding an answer to why he was in this predicament. It was only later when he was sitting down and coughing up the smoke that choked his lungs that his thoughts returned to such issues.

"What happened?" he asked.

"All I know was that there was a sudden blast," said the nurse. "Do you know any more?" she asked Beatrice.

Paul's wife shook her head. She raised her head towards a security guard who was walking by with a laser rifle. "What caused the explosion?"

"Intruders," said the security guard. "We don't know how they got in. Probably an inside job. They were dressed as doctors. We don't know what they were doing or why. Video footage shows that they were carrying an explosive device that they set off just outside the women's toilets. There doesn't appear to be a good reason for it."

"Perhaps they didn't like women's toilets," said Beatrice disingenuously.

"Whatever," said the security guard. "But the only casualties were the perpetrators. And for our lucky survival we can only thank Allah."

"Indeed," agreed Beatrice with a small smile.