"We're not allowed," he said, and he sounded sad.
"You're not allowed to have sex?"
"Just not with you."
That was interesting. "Then what do you want with me?"
"My master is outside. Simply put down your weapon and walk out the door to him. I will release the girl and follow you."
Laila said, "Don't do it, Anita!" She yelled it, and then she screamed for real. Edward and the other marshal were next door. Help was coming.
The cloak rose up, and I saw the white mask, but Laila was held in front of him like a shield. Her eyes were fluttered back in her head, but she was alive. I raised the gun barrel higher so I'd hit the white mask and miss her. Then he was gone; I swear that he moved so fast Laila simply stayed in the air where he'd held her, and he was through the door and gone before she began to fall.
Edward shouted, "Anita!"
"I'm okay, did you see that?"
"I saw something," he called back.
I kept an eye on the doorway as I searched for Laila's pulse. Edward was in the doorway: shirtless, boxers, with a gun in each hand. I let him watch for bad guys and looked down at Laila. Her arm was broken at the wrist and maybe higher up. There was blood, too, and it wasn't from the arm. Fuck.
I heard the other marshal go back toward the room. "I'll call for an ambulance, and then will someone tell me what the hell just happened?"
Edward kept watch out into the night, but said, "Her warrant is vacated. I guess we have our warrant of execution."
"I didn't want it this way," I said.
"She's alive, Anita. It could have gone the other way."