2041 Sanctuary (Let There Be Light) (39 page)

‘We’ve been shot at by a GMRC drone. Sound familiar?’

Is it still following you? _

‘Yes.’ Jessica lowered her voice as Brett rummaged around at the rear of the truck. ‘This better not have been you, Bic, or so help me God—’

It was not me. I would not try to kill you or Eric, you know that. When I hacked into the drone in Germany I saved your life with it, remember? _

Jessica did remember. She also remembered Bic admitting to calling the GMRC in the first place to get her moving in the direction he wanted. Sometimes she didn’t know what to think. He had her right where he wanted her and there was nothing she could do about it except tag along for the sake of her family. She looked back at the unmoving form of the man on whom so much rested. ‘The professor still hasn’t woken up. What did you find out?’

I am worried. I have found something ... odd _

‘Odd , how?’

The dosages administered back at the prison should have worn off without the need for injections, but with them he should have regained consciousness almost immediately. I checked the records in the prison and it seems our replacement vials were never used _

‘Then why isn’t he dead?’

Because neither were the prison’s fatal drugs _

‘Then what was he given? If they didn’t use our replacements, and they didn’t use their own, what
did
they use?’

I am unsure. It is strange, but the only explanation is that someone else ensured his survival _

‘What?! Like who?’

Who indeed, Jessica Klein, who indeed _

‘What can we do?’

‘We wait.’

Jessica jumped at the sound of Brett’s voice, the FBI agent reading the screen over her shoulder.

Brett Taylor is correct. We wait and hope _

Chapter Forty Four

Red and white pulsing lights lit up the dying tree line along Route 199. One – two – three police cars whooshed past, dry grasses bending as they sped on into the night, sirens wailing. It wasn’t long until their target came into view, a large blue and white truck with its own lightbar flickering in the dark. Above and just behind it, a cluster of black GMRC drones cut through the air, shepherding the vehicle like a swarm of flies.

The lead patrol car drew closer, its driver resuming manual control. ‘Dispatch, I have suspect vehicle in sight.’

‘Copy, Officer. What’s your twenty?’

‘Still eastbound on 199. Speed in excess of one hundred miles an hour, suspect’s driving is erratic, holy—’

‘Say again, Officer?’

‘The truck just forced a car off the road. I’m going to make a PIT manoeuvre.’

‘Copy that, ambulance services are en route.’

The police car accelerated.

♦

‘He’s going to kill us!’ Brett said.

‘Not helping!’ Eric swerved the truck back onto the road.

‘Eric, let me take the wheel.’ Jessica grabbed onto the dashboard as they swept past another intersection.

The young German computer hacker shifted over and Jessica grasped the steering wheel and slid in to take his place.

From her position in the passenger seat, Brett pointed ahead in alarm. ‘CAR!’

Jessica let out a shriek and hit the brakes. All four wheels locked up before regaining traction. Engine roaring, obstacle missed, the truck sped on.

Behind, tyre smoke covered the highway and in her door mirror Jessica saw a police car draw closer.

♦

Eric fell backwards into the rear of the truck and let out a string of curses.
And they thought I was a bad driver
?!

He held onto the gurney, the dead body rolling towards him as the vehicle swayed again; pushing it back, he heard Jessica shout a warning.

‘Hang on!’

BANG! The truck shuddered. Tyres squealed and Eric flew sideways and smashed into a cupboard. Debris flew everywhere and something hit him in the head. Pain exploded and Eric found himself lying on the floor in a daze as he slid from one side of the truck to the other, along with the gurney and everything else not tied down.

A canister rolled toward him and big letters on its side read:
NITRONOX
. He grabbed its transparent mask, put it to his face and breathed deep.

♦

Jessica held onto the wheel, hair streaming out behind her in slow motion. Mouth agape, she made eye contact with the officer in the patrol car that had rammed them. A screech of tyres, a shout from Brett and the truck continued on its three hundred and sixty degree spin. A fleeting vision of the road behind merged into a streak of trees before their vehicle resumed its forward motion.

Jessica slammed her foot back on the accelerator and they surged forward once more. Another police car attempted the same tactic, but Jessica braked and swerved into them, forcing them back.

‘You won’t be able to keep this up!’ Brett said.

Jessica’s knuckles whitened as she grasped the wheel tighter. She glanced at Brett, stuck the manual transmission down a gear and floored the pedal, and the truck leapt forward in response.

♦

Eric lay on the floor in a daze. The vehicle rocked and rolled this way and that as they careered down the highway. In tune with its movements, the youthful hacker rolled over to his front and then back again. Something soft and heavy fell on him. Focusing, he saw the pallid features of the professor an inch away. A machine hit the floor with a crash near his head, its beeping suddenly increased and the old man’s eyes flared open. Eric’s own eyes widened in shock and horror, and he let out a scream and kicked out.

♦

Thump, thump, thump. He could feel his heart beating, his mind racing, his body aching.
Where am I? Am I dead? Is this heaven? I can’t move!
A loud crash sent a shockwave through his mind. Professor Steiner opened his eyes to a fearful mask. He wanted to scream, but couldn’t. A second later he was flying through the air. Something hit his head and everything went dark.

… beep … beep … beeeeeeeep …

A flash of light.

‘You need to shock him again, Eric.’

‘
Da Muss Ich
, where are you?’

‘Eric, you need to concentrate or he will die.’

Someone giggled. ‘I am concentrating, centrating,
konzentrieren
.’

‘Eric, listen to me!’

‘Charging! Clear!’

Thwump.

Noise roared and a burst of chaos.

‘Again!’

… beeeeeeeeep …

Thwump.

… beep … beep … beeeeeeeeep …

‘One more!’

‘Charging,
klar
!’

Thwump.

… beep … beep … beep …

A roar of noise and Steiner opened his eyes to gut-churning mayhem. Debris clattered in all directions. Sirens wailed. Things screeched and loudspeakers blared. A strange face leant over him and laughed.

‘Professor Steiner, you’re alive!’

Steiner couldn’t move and he eyed the stranger with trepidation as he danced a jig above him. The man lent down to him, his face going from distant to massive in a heartbeat.

‘I know who you are, GMRC man!’ He shoved a mask on Steiner’s face. ‘Have some of this, it’s really good!’

Steiner sucked in the gas.

‘
Aussehen
!’ The man whisked the mask away, turned round and pulled down his trousers.

Steiner’s eyebrows raised in alarm.
Perhaps I’m in hell?
If it is, it isn’t at all what I’d envisaged
.

The man looked back and slapped his left buttock. ‘I was injected like you! Terrorists!’ He laughed merrily and lowered his bum closer. ‘If you look close you can see the puncture wound, look!’

‘Eric!’ a woman called out, ‘what the hell are you doing?!’

Another person appeared, someone he thought he recognised.

‘The old man’s awake!’ she said, then bent down to pick him up from the floor.

Steiner felt himself strapped to a table and he tried to raise his head.

A firm hand pushed him back down. ‘You’re a tough bastard,’ the woman said.

Steiner frowned.
That voice
. ‘Agent Taylor?’

The young man’s face reappeared inches from his. ‘
Ja! Ich bin Eric!
’

Steiner’s heart raced at the sight of him, a beeping machine nearby replicating the rhythm.

Brett Taylor yanked him away. ‘What’s the matter with you?’

The person identified as Eric grinned at her. He held up a canister. ‘It is good, no?’

Brett snatched the Nitronox from him and put the mask over Steiner’s face. ‘Stay alive, old man, I want to hear what you have to say.’

The FBI agent disappeared again and Steiner looked up at a strange ceiling and realised he was in a moving vehicle. The gurney rolled across the floor and Steiner closed his eyes as sleep took him. He’d been wrenched from the arms of his wife, Amelia, for this.
Why can’t they just leave me be? All I want to do is rest, that’s all I want.

♦

Brett returned to the cabin and shoved Eric into the passenger seat.

Jessica checked her mirrors. ‘They’ve dropped back.’

‘They’re regrouping,’ Brett said, ‘or there’s a roadblock ahead.’

Eric chuckled to himself and a tear rolled down his face.

Jessica frowned at him. ‘What’s going on? Is the Professor alive?’

‘Seems laughing boy here saved his life,’ Brett said.

Eric let out of whoop. ‘
Das Gespenst
to the rescue!’

‘He’s also been helping himself to the gas you saved for the old man’s revival.’

‘Eric did well, Jessica Klein,’ Bic said, as Brett placed the cyber criminal’s touchscreen device on the dashboard.

Jessica switched off the truck’s flashing light bar. ‘It will have been for nothing if we all get caught.

A GMRC drone flew over them, its cameras aimed in their direction, and Brett moved back into the truck, staying out of sight.

‘
Hallo
!’ Eric waved at the UAV.

Speeding along, they rounded a long bend and Jessica let out a curse. Two miles ahead a massive roadblock spanned the next junction with lights and police galore. ‘Bic, now would be the time to do your stuff.’

Silence.

No answer,
wonderful
, Jessica thought and slowed their travel.

‘Ram them,’ Eric said. ‘Big truck, small cars,
das ist einfach
.’

‘That’s not simple,’ Jessica said, ‘that’s crazy.’

‘Do you have a better idea?’

It looked like a fairground in her mirrors, so many lights. More patrol cars had joined the party. They were trapped.

The hacker’s device beeped. ‘Eric,’ Bic said, ‘show me the road ahead.’

Eric picked up the touchscreen and pointed it forward.

‘Eric is right; you must smash your way through. The vehicle you’re driving weighs four point two tonnes. At a velocity of ninety-five miles an hour, the energy created will carry you through this section of the barrier.’

Eric turned the screen to show Jessica an image of the roadblock. Bic had placed an arrow on it where they needed to break through.

She frowned. ‘How did you work that out?’

‘Software is a powerful thing, Jessica Klein.’

‘They’ll shoot at us.’

‘Correct, but not to kill you. They believe an FBI agent is on board, they will attempt to take out the tyres, but all federal vehicles are fitted with run flat–inflate mechanisms. Also—’

‘Also what?’

‘You have no other choice.’

‘Ride or die,’ Eric said, ‘like the films. Sweet!’

Jessica rubbed her temples.
What do I do? I’m no use to Evan and the girls dead, but if we’re caught I’d be equally useless
. She sucked in a breath. ‘Buckle up.’

Eric punched the air. ‘Go, Jessica!’

♦

‘Everyone fan out!’ Police Chief Denton cocked his rifle. ‘We stop them here!’

A collective preparation of weapons greeted his order as the blue and white truck picked up speed. Behind it, the patrol cars dropped back and stopped.

Denton picked his spot. ‘Concentrate on taking out the tyres and front grille!’

Faster and faster the vehicle barrelled towards them and then a thunderous horn sounded from behind.

The police chief looked round to see lights blazing.

A massive articulated lorry bore down on them. Its horns sounded again and he dived out of the way as the enormous vehicle ploughed through their barricade.

Patrol cars flew into the air, tossed aside like matchsticks, and moments later the coroner’s truck shot past in the opposite direction, powering through the fiery carnage without slowing. Denton caught sight of someone laughing and waving at him through the passenger side window. Bewildered, the police officers around him managed to get off a couple of wayward shots.

‘What now, sir?’

He looked at one of his men and at the wrecked patrol cars scattered around them. He gestured at a single GMRC drone that shot past in pursuit of the federal vehicle. ‘It’s the GMRC’s problem now; get me whoever’s in that semi-truck.’ In the distance the lorry had come to a stop. ‘I want their head on a fucking stick!’

Chapter Forty Five

‘I don’t see it anywhere.’

‘That doesn’t mean anything, it could be shadowing us.’

‘She’ll know.’

Jessica turned to Brett. ‘What do you think?’

Brett’s expression was noncommittal.

Eric made a noise of displeasure. ‘What’s the point of her if she isn’t going to help us?’

‘Bic, are you there?’ Jessica said.

‘I am.’

‘Have we lost the drone?’

‘I believe you have. They can travel far, but they have their limits like anything else and you’ve followed my directions to the letter.’