He meant what he said.
Smiling at him, the girl vanished.
He pulled the trigger of the weapon. The bullets howled madly through the gallery. Zen dropped hastily to the floor. Death was too close for him to be amazed at the sight of an Asian officer shooting at nothing.
The lieutenant stopped shooting when the magazine was empty. As he clicked another clip into place, some measure of sanity seemed to return to him. He did not shoot the colonel.
Instead Zen found himself being prodded with the muzzle of the still hot and smoking rifle.
"If you go away—"
Zen got to his feet.
"If I knew how to do it, I'd be gone," he said.
"Where did they go? How did they do it?" Fine flecks of spittle were blown from the lieutenant's lips.
The sound of hot lead was still strong in Zen's ears. At any moment, the lieutenant might start shooting again, for any reason. Or for no reason.