1 Life 2 Die 4 (5 page)

“TLGM: Target-lock laser-guided missile,”
Veronica explained shortly. “Nasty little buggers.”

A heartbeat later, she had me back on my feet
and we were once more bolting across the bridge. When I glanced to
the side I noticed a faint red beam spearing through the air.
There’s not much smog in Brisbane, so I couldn’t see it all that
well, but it seemed to be pointing at the side of the bridge up
ahead. A moment later, when I heard the distant, tell-tale whoosh,
I knew it was really bad news. I could get by without my hoodie,
but right now the bridge was the only thing between us and a killer
drop to the River, perhaps thirty metres below. If at all possible,
I was particularly keen for it to stay in one piece for the next
twenty seconds or so!

I turned to give Veronica the bad news, but
realised she already knew. Her worried eyes were flicking nervously
between the bridge ahead and the incoming missile, carefully
judging our chances of getting past the impact zone before the
missile hit. I thought they were non-existent, and she seemed to
reach the same conclusion. I felt her slowing and wondered whether
she was crazy enough to think we had a chance of getting back the
same way we’d come before Snake Eyes cut us off.

“Stay close!” she ordered, peering intensely
into my eyes. “And don’t be shy!”

I wasn’t sure what she meant, but the firm
note in her usually calm voice left me in no doubt we were in a
very tight spot with precious little room to manoeuvre. Whatever
she had in mind, it was clear there would be no margin for error
and no second chances.

The moment she’d finished speaking, I felt
her accelerate forwards, dragging me with her while she glanced up
at the multitude of thick posts jutting skyward at various angles
from the bridge. I’d just decided she must be trying to beat the
missile after all when she caught me completely off guard by
veering sharply to the left and leaping up over the railing, taking
me with her over the side of the bridge!

I was pretty sure the fall to the River would
kill us both. By the time we reached the water, we’d be travelling
so fast it would be a lot like landing on dried concrete! Even if
we lived, we’d probably be knocked unconscious. Then, assuming we
didn’t drown, we’d be sitting ducks for the next TLGM!

My heart sank as we sailed out through open
air. On top of my despair I couldn’t help feeling cheated that I
still had no idea what all of this was about! What did all these
guys have against Veronica? And who was she really? A wave of
bitter disappointment washed over me as I glanced sideways at the
glamorous mystery woman and tried to accept that I would never
discover the truth. In just a few seconds, it would die along with
the two of us.

Then I caught sight of Veronica’s determined
expression and noticed she had her arm raised, her gaze fixed
firmly on a point high on the bridge. The next moment I heard a
sound like a powerful electric discharge and something shot from
her sleeve at enormous speed. It took me a moment to notice the
hair-thin cord trailing behind as the mystery projectile hurtled
upwards.

Despite accelerating toward the brownish
depths of the river, I found myself cautiously daring to hope.
Moments later, a distant metallic
clunk
told me the
projectile had struck one of the uprights poking out further along
the bridge. And out of the blue I understood Veronica’s earlier
advice to me. I flung my arms around her narrow waist, thankful
that the sensual widening of her hips made it impossible for me to
slip down so long as I kept my hands locked together behind her
back. I barely had time to register that the side of my face was
now tucked tightly in between her breasts … before the killer
missile found its target.

Instinctively, my head spun towards the
massive BOOOMMMM and I swallowed hard as a huge, orange fireball
engulfed the section of bridge just ahead of us – the section we
would have been standing on if we’d kept running. Pieces of metal
railings and chunks of concrete pathway hurtled out in all
directions, several whizzing by within a couple of metres of us. At
the same time, I felt our motion change as the cord took our weight
and we began swinging round in a wide arc past the devastated
section of bridge and up towards the railing on the other side. As
we looped round and up like Tarzan and Jane swinging on a jungle
vine, I couldn’t believe the narrow cord connecting us to the
upright would possibly hold our combined weight much longer.

A second later, I was sensationally glad to
be proven wrong as we swung smoothly up over the rail and touched
down on the still intact southern section of bridge. I didn’t see
how Veronica released the projectile, but I heard the rapid whir of
a tiny motor as the cord wound swiftly back in and a couple of
seconds later I caught a glimpse of a small, silver hemisphere
disappearing up her sleeve.

Under cover of the explosion and its slowly
dissipating cloud of evil black smoke, we sprinted down the gentle
incline towards the far bank while my head reeled. This woman
didn’t just look like a goddess - to pull off a stunt like that she
must surely be one!

*****

8

Seconds later
we were racing down the spiral ramp at the southern end of the
bridge. Following the explosion, an eerie silence now hung over the
area, broken only by the sounds of traffic from the Riverside
Expressway back on the city side of the River, and by the distant
wail of sirens. Apparently the authorities had finally caught on
that the sphere of action had shifted.

“He made a mistake taking out that bridge,”
Veronica said calmly as we followed the path up towards the
imposing, gawkily-modern GoMA.

I knew she was talking about Snake Eyes and
the fact that the smoking ruins he’d created at the centre of the
bridge meant he was now going to have to make a detour. Even so,
she didn’t slow at all. After racing down the side of GoMA, she
followed the wall round to the entrance on the eastern side while I
ran at her heels.

“What are we going in here for?” I asked
between heaving breaths as Veronica headed for the doors.
“Shouldn’t we just … keep on running?”

When she stopped and turned back to face me,
she wore a sad but determined expression. “There’s nowhere to run,”
she told me with a level stare, sounding apologetic. “Or at least,
nowhere they can’t find us.”

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand
up.

Nowhere they can’t find us? For a moment I
wondered whether now might be the right time to say goodbye and
head our separate ways. But the thought had barely popped into my
head before I discounted it. There was just no way I could leave
Veronica to the mercy of those thugs. Despite knowing it was a
crazy move, I was determined to stay and do whatever I could to
protect her.

“What are we supposed to do then?” I asked,
struggling to keep my voice even.

“Stay alive … kill them,” she replied flatly
as she turned away and headed for the doors. When she glanced back
and realised I hadn’t moved, she turned and jogged quickly back
over to me, placing her hands comfortingly on my shoulders.

“I’m sorry, Dan. There’s no time to explain
right now. You just have to trust me.”

I stared into her beautiful eyes a moment
longer before finally facing facts. She knew far more about what
was going on than I did: I had to trust her judgement or we could
easily both be mince-meat before dinner-time.

When I nodded, she smiled that gorgeous smile
of hers and spun away. “Let’s go then.”

Dazed, I followed Veronica into the almost
vacant foyer. Ten metres in, she turned left, grabbed me by the arm
and began striding up a flight of stairs, dragging me with her.

While we moved, I couldn’t stop thinking
about our brief, but confronting conversation:

What are we supposed to do then?

Stay alive … kill them.

If I was to believe Veronica, the only way
these guys would stop was if we killed them … or they killed her,
and maybe me as well! Neither option offered much hope. Already
today I’d had more ups and downs than a yo-yo with bi-polar
disorder, and now I felt my hopes tumbling into the depths of
despair.

How had this all come about? And why did
they want Veronica dead, anyway?
I still had absolutely no
idea and as I puffed up the stairs beside her, I couldn’t even
spare the breath to ask.

While I vainly wished I hadn’t gotten out of
bed this morning, we reached the top of the stairs and headed left
towards the eastern wall where a walkway led across to the northern
gallery area. The walkway was one of two spanning the huge open
space that stretched up from the foyer floor to the ceiling three
storeys above. I’d just managed to catch my breath enough to ask
one of the hundred or so questions buzzing through my head when
Veronica abruptly dragged me to a crouch and fired up her
shield-field over my shoulder. An instant later, the wall of
windows behind us erupted to the sound of automatic gunfire.

I whipped my head round and saw a new bad guy
standing down in the foyer, getting rid of bullets in a hurry.
How many of these guys were there!
This one was stocky and
powerful like a weight-lifter, with bright red, crew-cut hair. Like
all the others, he’d obligingly dressed himself in ‘bad-guy’ black
… mostly leather, as far as I could make out from up here. Whoever
these goons were, they were obviously cocky enough to believe they
didn’t need any kind of disguise. At least that gave us a slight
edge, I thought, trying to stay positive. Of course, it wasn’t easy
with huge sheets of jagged glass cascading onto the walkway around
us and shattering over the outside paving three storeys below! And
it was even harder when I guessed his next move before he made it.
The gunfire stopped, and while I listened to the sound of huge
chunks of glass continuing to explode on the ground around us, I
watched him reach for one of those damned midget missiles they all
seemed so fond of.

We were running before I realized it …
sprinting back round the southern edge of the huge open space
towards the other walkway that ran across its centre and offered
better protection from our attacker. While we moved, the guy did
his best to lock the missile’s laser on to one of us. But he was a
fraction of a second too slow. Within a few strides, the floor had
hidden us from his line of sight and I felt a fleeting sense of
relief. While I listened for the sound of footsteps that might
signal his pursuit, I heard the whoosh of another missile and
realised my relief had been premature - he’d decided to take a pot
shot at us anyway, obviously suspecting we were heading for the
central walkway!

As we cut right onto it and raced across, I
pushed as hard as I could, yet once again Veronica had drawn that
tiny bit ahead, and was dragging me after her. The next thing I
knew, we were diving through the air, aiming for the relative
safety beyond the mouth of the large hallway at the northern end of
the walkway. This time I was ready to do my bit when we landed. As
the missile exploded at the edge of the landing behind us and tore
it to shreds, we hit the ground just inside the northern gallery
area and rolled smoothly to our feet without Veronica having to
help me much at all.

While we sprinted off down the hallway
leaving the flaming, shattered walkway behind us, she flicked me an
impressed smile.

“Fast learner,” she grinned approvingly. Then
her eyes focussed ahead and while my spirits lifted a little, we
did our best to break the indoor sprint record.

*****

9

At the end of
the hall Veronica turned sharp left and we raced into the large,
open area of the north-eastern gallery. It was filled with
paintings by well-known Australian artists, along with a mob of
terrified people who hurried past us, frantically searching for an
exit. I thought they had the right idea, but Veronica ignored them,
heading instead towards a series of pencil sketches of Brisbane
icons which hung in the far corner. I guessed she must know of an
exit up ahead, but a second later, while I peered about at the
solid walls confronting us, it became clear that she’d mistakenly
led us into a dead-end!

I slowed, preparing to backtrack and mentally
calculating where Redhead might be by now. If he’d been able to get
across the shattered walkway at the far end of the main corridor,
we’d be in deep do-do once we turned back onto it!

Then I saw a crack appearing where a dogleg
in the wall met the ceiling, and while I watched in amazement, the
entire section of wall slid smoothly down into the floor!

A few steps later, we were inside the
previously hidden area and climbing onto the meanest looking
motorbike I’ve ever seen. Like the bobtrain, it was made almost
entirely of raw, shiny metal, but its most striking feature was the
abnormally wide back wheel. At around three-quarters-of-a-metre
wide, this thing had to have phenomenal gripping power!

While I hurriedly secured yet another helmet,
I looked over Veronica’s shoulder and noticed an unusual sculpture
dead ahead on the far side of the adjacent display area. It had
curving slabs merging in towards a wider central one which appeared
to rise out of the floor and curve up towards a massive window
behind it. I felt a chill run through my body. I was sure I knew
what Veronica had in mind, and for a moment I couldn’t help
wondering if I’d be better off waiting here for Redhead!

My adrenaline surged as the engine suddenly
roared to life with a deep, throaty snarl that sent a nervous,
excited shudder through my guts.

“Hang on!” Veronica yelled over the noise,
and I willingly slipped my arms around her slender waist for the
second time that day. I almost lost concentration when I tightened
them and felt my body pull in hard against hers. I could sense
every bump and curve from her shoulders down to her award-winning
backside and it was almost impossible not to get lost imagining
doing so under very different circumstances.