Read Online Hide and Seek by Jeff Struecker - Free Book Online

police officers, one firefighter. Osh reports about twenty injuries. The hospital emergency rooms are filling up.”
    Boris was a good man. Trustworthy, but his age and health limited his days. At seventy-two, he still projected confidence and intelligence flashed in his eyes. It occurred to Meklis he hadn’t seen the man smile in the last two years. Boris was never a drunk, but he was well acquainted with vodka, both domestic and that produced in his family’s homeland of Russia.
    Meklis rubbed his chin, striking the perfect blend of dismay, shock, concern, and courage. “Ethnic?”
    “Too early to tell, Mr. President, but I suspect some of that is going on. So far the protests have been aimed at government buildings. Osh has seen the worst outbreak. Talas is not far behind.”
    “My officers have been able to keep the crowds from growing too large but they are overwhelmed.” Emil Abirov served as chief of police for Bishkek. Normally he would not be in Meklis’s panel of advisers but the situation demanded it. His officers would be the first point of contact with the mobs. They were the first line of defense. “On two occasions we’ve used tear gas. Our goal is to keep the groups under two hundred people in one place. After the last outbreak of violence we undertook a study on mob management and control.”
    “How effective has it been so far?” Sariev Dootkasy’s words were low but pointed.
    “Not as well as we hoped, Mr. Prime Minister. In the first hour it seemed to go well, but then unexpected results came about.”
    “Such as?” Dootkasy pressed.
    Abirov cleared his throat and leaned his elbows on the wide conference table. “The principle is this: Large groups—say groups of a thousand or more—become a danger to themselves as well as innocents nearby. A group psyche develops.”
    “Mass hysteria?” Meklis asked.
    “Not exactly, Mr. President, but the principle is the same. It begins with chanting and marching. Then someone starts shouting insults about the government. Others join in. Inevitably a counter-group forms to protest the protests. More insults. Someone throws a punch; another throws a rock; then come bricks and bottles. In ethnically mixed countries such as ours, a protest against the government becomes a racially or religiously charged one.”
    “Our greatest fear,” Meklis said.
    The police chief nodded. “One can’t help but think of Rwanda or Serbia. The list is long.”
    Prime Minister Dootkasy pushed Abirov to continue. “So by keeping the mobs small you hope to remove the psychological aspect?”
    “That was our hope.”
    “Is it working?”
    “No, Mr. Prime Minister, it is not. It has helped some but as the numbers grow the ability of my officers to divide the group declines. And now we’re seeing too many groups. I do not have enough officers to make the system work, not with a crowd so intent on violence.”
    “But we’ve only seen a small number of injuries,” Meklis said.
    “I believe that is about to increase.” Abirov sighed. “The smaller groups—let’s call them cells—simply round a city block and meet up with another group. It’s like swatting at hornets. Knock one down and another comes at you.”
    “How many do you estimate are in the streets?” Meklis shifted in his seat.
    “When I came in to the meeting, we were estimating three thousand.” The chief picked up his cell phone and activated it. He stared at it for a moment. “I was going to ask for an update from my leaders in the field . . . I don’t have a signal.”
    As if orchestrated, the half dozen men around the table looked at their phones. No one had a signal. Meklis tapped the intercom button on the conference room phone and called for one of his assistants. “Find out if our cellular system is down.”
    “Yes, sir.” The aide was a fresh-faced young man who looked like he should still be in university.
    Meklis looked at the landline phone. Something that felt like a small