The next gallery presented the first obstacle. A wide, side entrance opened out onto a larger, central gallery-- that was clearly occupied.  

Aishatu Ewaso could hear voices and the scraping of boots as she approached as discreetly as she could. Ducking quickly and edging forward against the left wall, she cocked the assault rifle sharply to the right, away from her hip, to avoid its short, snub nose being seen. 

Several men were in the central gallery, clearly. But were they alone, or were there visitors with them, too? She looked around for a reflective surface -- glass, metal --that would allow her to peer in without being seen, but found none. 

She did, however, spot a security camera. Were they being watched?

She glanced quickly at the seven people huddled behind her, pale and wide-eyed.  They were still too bunched up. Had they not listened or were they too frightened to follow sense? Two of the women where crying, glistening tears streaming down their faces as they tried to hold back sobs. 

"Quiet!" she hissed. But that did no good. The sobs just became slightly louder. 

Aishatu Ewaso suddenly realised that she would not be able to find the road if she had to herd sheep at the same time. The sheep would slow her down, make mistakes, get themselves caught up in gnarled roots, fall down and perish. 

She turned and addressed them in a whisper. "Have any of you been here before?" 

Five heads shook negatively. The married couple looked from her to the others uncomprehendingly. They don't understand French, she realised. 

"You three," she pointed at the young people, "will run to the next gallery as fast as you can. You two," she pointed at the woman in the track suit and the older man she'd shoved into the display, "take this these two by the hand, and run behind the vitrines when I give you the signal. They don't understand our language. Show them what they need to do." 

"How do you know this is going to wor--," the woman in the track suit started to say, but Aishatu cut her off. 

"Do you want to wait and find out? Other side of the room!" She gestured with the rifle. 

The man she'd shoved stepped forward and beckoned the foreign couple to follow him. The woman in the track suit's face twisted into a sour expression of displeasure, but she followed the other three. 

Suddenly, there were shouts from the way they had come. 

They've found their casulty. The time for strategy is over.  

She turned to the young people, "Run!"  They hesitated for a moment, but then rushed forward across the open gap in the wall almost all at the same time.  Aishatu gave the signal for the group on the other side to cross behind the flimsy protection of the displays and vitrines. 

Then she set the assault rifle to single fire, stepped out into plain sight from the cover provided by the beige gallery walls, and began firing into the central gallery.