Anna edged through the bathroom door, opening it as little as possible. Immediately, a figure rounded the corner to her right, tall and bulky; she tracked it for a few milliseconds before she recognized Caitlin. She quickly reached behind her, pulled the door shut, and stood with the handle gripped in her hand behind her back.

"Anna, what's going on?" She stared at the door as if trying to see through the blank steel surface.

"I'll explain as we go; the place is crawling with IO, we've got to get out of here. Where are the girls?"

"Food court." Caitlin started down the hall, with Anna following. "How many agents?"

"Two for each of us, seventeen covering all the exits, twelve in the parking areas, and lots more on the way, including our own specially-trained capture team,"

"Oh, shit."

The corner of Anna's mouth quirked; normally, Caitlin was a 'darn' and 'phooey' sort of girl, but when she was stressed or surprised, she used profanity as much as anyone else in the family, which everyone diplomatically overlooked.

"How did they find us? Where are the guys?"

"The boys are out skateboarding, luckily. Jack is elsewhere, and we'll have to make sure he doesn't go back home. But the thing Jack feared most was that they'd take us all together in a raid on the house, which they doubtless would have done if they'd followed us home. As for how they found us: simple bad luck, hon. They were here looking for someone else and recognized you, when you took those bags out to the car." As they emerged into the relatively open space at the end of the hall, she searched for the girls' shadows. She didn't speak again until they reached the girls' table, where Roxanne was watching Sarah finish her meal.

Caitlin started. "Guys, we're busted."

Sarah pulled the last swallow through her straw with a noisy slurp. "Just what I was about to tell you. There's a man watching us from the jeweler's across the aisle, and I'm certain his interest has nothing to do with my saucy walk." She looked up at Anna. "Any others?"

Without moving, Anna said, "Red starter jacket, your eleven o'clock, Caitlin; Roxanne, tan suit at the coffee kiosk; and, Sarah, see that couple four tables away? They're deep in conversation, but not with each other. They'll stay put when we move, report our movements, and hand us off to other agents positioned elsewhere in the mall. It's a lot harder to spot a tail if no one follows you for any distance. Thirty–odd agents sounds like a lot, but they're spread all through the building, to cover any direction we might move. This really isn't much of a team to surveill four individuals; most of these people are here to shadow one guy – whom they lost. Cheer up, things could be a lot worse."

"I know you want someone to ask, Anna: how?"

"These aren't Keepers or Black Razors; those are still twenty-six minutes out. As threats, these guys rate somewhere between security guards and undercover cops; they're not trained to engage Gens."

"But what do we do?" Roxy sounded frantic: thinking about Eddie, no doubt.

"The only thing we can do, sweetheart: we move suddenly and run like rabbits to the garage, mowing down anybody who gets in our way. We jump in the car, break contact with our pursuit and collect the boys, then try to make it to our new safe house unobserved. What we do not do is go back to the beach house – ever."

"Why? You said they spotted us here." Sara didn't seem doubtful, just curious.

"Because they've known the car we're driving for almost three hours. Plates won't tell them anything; the DMV records are bogus. But, see those?" She lifted her chin towards the black bubble of a security camera, mounted in the ceiling. "Those are everywhere: in the stores, parking lots, major streets and intersections. It's not like Big Brother, there's nobody watching them, mostly, but a lot of them record, usually for a day before the digital memory overwrites. And IO can use them to trace our path back to our house, in time."

"How much time?"

She shrugged. "Depends. How much manpower they put on it, how many gaps there are in the visual record, how much they have to cast about, picking up our trail again. It's just possible they're in the house now."

Sara's expression changed from cool to fierce. "We can't let the boys go back there." She stood. "Caitlin, we've got to reach them first."

"We will," Anna told her, "but we can't just go pelting out the door. We need to -"

Sarah's voiced stopped her. "When did you become our team leader?" A moment of uncomfortable silence followed, then Anna turned to Caitlin.

"You're right, Sarah. Jack made Caitlin the team leader, and for good reasons. I'm just an employee, and my only responsibility is the household. Clearly I've overstepped." Anna's voice was small as a child's, and as trusting. "Caitlin, what should we do?"

The tall redhead looked down at her with an unreadable expression, then, as the other two girls stared, she touched her thumb to her tongue and rubbed it against Anna's earlobe. "You've got these guys figured out – what they can and can't do, what they plan?"

"Yes. Solid information." Her voice was all business again.

"Do you have a plan?"

"In outline only; we'll need to improvise a bit on the way, but there are already…preparations made."

"Fine then. Anna, get us out of here. You're in charge until I say different." Quietly, she added, "Let's go get our men."

"Once we start, the faster we move, the less opposition we'll face. We engage any agents we see on the way, and take them down, even if they don't move to intercept us; that way, we deal with them in small groups, instead of letting them follow us out the door. We don't want to fight thirty of them at once in the parking lot. We'll see two agents, minimum, on the way to the door; probably all four from the parking garage, since we'll be made by then. We'll take out at least one of the rolling units before we clear the lot; otherwise, we'll have to do at least two on the run."

She reached into her purse. "But first, in case we get separated: Roxanne, cell phone; to be used for one and only one call, so use it only in direst need. For now, we have to assume our phones and credit cards are compromised. So take these cards, three each, all different names; they're good for up to five thousand each, but use them only once and then destroy them – thoroughly. These are 'rabbit' resources, meant to keep us all mobile if we get separated; otherwise, I'll want them back later. Likewise this cash -" She counted bills swiftly. "About two thousand each, for bus fares, food, whatever."

"What do you think is going to happen?" Roxy said, wide-eyed, as she stuffed her items into her own purse.

"I think we're going to go through these guys like an axe through Cool Whip, but plans seldom survive contact with the adversary." She grinned at them as if none of them had a care in the world. "Sarah, can you tase somebody without fireworks? Just make 'em fall down twitching, without anyone seeing you do anything?"

"Subtlety's not my specialty, but I think so."

"You're on point, then. I'll unmask your targets as they come into range. Remember, we want to leave people staring at your victims, not us. Roxanne, keep an eye on our rear, but try to be unobtrusive about it. If somebody moves in too close, nail his foot to the floor. Can you?"

"Just trip them?"

"Hard. A broken leg would be just about right."

"Gotcha."

"And me?" Caitlin said, tight as a coiled spring.

Anna smiled up at her. "Well, hon, somebody's got to carry the bags."

"Huh?"

"You're a moving diversion. About half the people in this mall are going to turn and look at you as we move through the crowd; you can guess which half. Until we need you, your job is to look casual, hang on to those bags and look as harmless as possible. You'll likely get your turn at bat before we clear the lot." She took a final glance around. "All right, let's roll."

-0-

Sarah led off, then Anna, with Caitlin and Roxy side by side at the trail. "Kat, is it just me, or … is Anna coming on all Black Razor suddenly?"

"I see it too. I think it's a skillset file."

"A what?"

"That's what she calls the files in her memory that show her how to do new things, as if she's done them for years; she calls them her 'skillset' files. They sound almost like post-hypnotic suggestions. I've got a hunch somebody thought she'd need to be a commando someday."

"It's a little creepy, Kat."

Anna turned her head back. "Roxanne, sweetheart, that guy about ten feet back?" It was the man in the red starter jacket, pushing through the crowd to close with them. He raised his left hand to his mouth, and then abruptly threw his arms out in a vain attempt to catch himself as he hit the floor like a flyswatter. People clustered around his prone form, and the scene disappeared behind them.

"Sis, you spiked him like a volleyball. How'd you do that?"

"Ten gees on his feet, just before his forward foot became his rear one, then five to his head as he tipped over. Dancing gives you a good sense of when you're balanced and off–balance."

"Sarah, one o'clock, the grubby looking specimen in the watch cap and pea coat."

"Are you sure?"

"Quite. Zap him."

"He's not even looking our way."

"You don't want him looking our way. Do him now."

The man turned abruptly, bringing up a weapon from under his coat: some sort of rifle, with a folding stock and a huge bore; he stared straight into Sarah's eyes, his own dead as a shark's. Anna popped in front of him, placing herself between the girl and the gun's muzzle. She twisted it from his grip effortlessly and brought a tiny fist up to his face. Blood sprayed as he spun backwards. Someone screamed, followed by several someones. Anna turned towards the door, ignoring the girls' shocked expressions. "Run."

They ran. They could see the sliding glass doors to the parking garage a hundred yards away, the entire distance filled with panicky pedestrians running for the nearest doorway. Anna no longer needed to spot agents; half a dozen armed men pushed towards them, making no attempt at concealment.

Caitlin said, "Enough already. Get behind me, Rox. Where'd Anna go?" She loosened her grip on the shopping bags, preparing to let them fall to the floor.

Two incredibly loud shots rang out, then two more, then another, all in five or six seconds, filling the corridor with sound. Sarah dropped to the floor, looking around wildly; Caitlin crouched low, pushing her sister down behind her.

Anna stepped from a nearby doorway, pointing a huge, wicked-looking pistol towards the ceiling. "Pick the bags up, hon; I think we're clear." She safed the pistol. "Desert Eagle, fifty-caliber. What a cowboy. Just the way he was holding it, you know he never fired it in his life. I did him a favor, taking it away from him." She tossed the weapon aside. "You know, they must've figured we were unarmed, but it was still sloppy, breaking cover like that. These guys don't even know what Gens are." Two still forms were partly visible in nearby doorways; otherwise, they had the corridor to themselves.

Caitlin picked up the bags again. "Did you kill anybody?"

"Not if they get medical attention in time, but that's not going to happen while we're here. Let's go."

Anna took point, trotting towards the door, with the other three following more slowly; Roxanne's breathing was labored. "Kat … did you know … she could do that?"

"Which 'that' are we talking about, I'm losing count."

"You know … it isn't usually … hard to think … of her … as human. Stretching … my credibility … today."

They reached the doors. Anna halted them with a gesture, just short of the electric eye that would open them. Roxy bent over, hands on knees, gasping.

Anna looked at the girl with concern. "Roxanne, you really should cut down on the cigarettes. They're ruining your health."

"Oh, yeah … kill me someday … if I live long enough."

Anna bent close to her. "And on that note, the next time you infer that I'm not really human, you'd better be rolling your eyes and sampling my pasta primavera." Roxy's head jerked up, eyes wide, to see Anna's face an inch from her own. Anna placed a hand at the girl's neck and touched foreheads. "Joke. Jeez. Love you, sweetie. Take a breath." They both straightened.

Anna turned to the doors. "I don't know if that was the garage patrol back there; I'm going to poke my head in and look around. If I'm not back in five, get out of here; if you hear shots, come a'runnin." Just before the doors opened, she turned back to them and said, deadpan, "Oll bee bock." The sliding doors whooshed open, and she was gone.

"I think I'm more worried about her than I am the goons chasing us," said Roxy. "What's happening to her?"

"I think she's trying to come to grips with her true identity," answered Sarah. "The harder she tries to be just like everyone else, the more it points up her differences. The conflict is causing her to exhibit contradictory behaviors."

"Uh huh. That's deep, Sarah. You're taking Psych this semester, aren't you?"

Caitlin said slowly, "She's not that hard to figure out. She knows we're scared so bad we can't make spit, and the things she's doing are weirding us out; she's just trying to break the tension, reassure us that it's no big deal, just another day at the mall. It's not working because she's scared too."

"We talking about the same android? She acts like she's having fun. Unless they've got a tank in the parking garage, I don't see how they could stop her."

"It's us she's scared of, Sis. What we're going to think of her now, whether we'll look at her the same way." She looked back down the corridor; the two fallen agents were gone, pulled inside the stores, apparently. From one of the doorways, a head eased into view, and then withdrew. "I don't think we can stay here much longer. How long has she been gone?"

Anna reappeared at the glass doors and beckoned. They entered the garage, a large, low-ceilinged concrete structure which stretched away on either side, nearly filled with vehicles. Light came from sodium bulbs overhead, as well as late afternoon sunlight from the wide, low openings at either end; nevertheless, the space seemed dark and oppressive.

"It seems clear, but they could be lying really low, if they're getting smarter. Hope they haven't disabled the car." She looked from Sarah to Roxy, as they set off towards the van. "Be ready. Caitlin, how are you doing?"

"I'm getting tired of being a pack mule, Anna."

"That ends at the car, hon. After that, you're our ace in the hole."

"Someday, we're going to laugh about me running through a gun battle with an armload of your shopping bags."

"I sincerely hope so. Uh oh, picking up radio chatter; we're not alone in here. Look sharp, here's the car."

Caitlin still had the keys; she touched the key fob button, the doors unlocked, and Anna shouted, "Sarah! Next row over - two men."

Lightning struck inside the building, momentarily flooding the structure with light; weapons clattered to the concrete, and the attackers sprawled, their clothes smoldering as they lay twitching.

Caitlin dropped the bags at the rear of the car and opened the hatch; Roxanne started tossing them into the back with the others. "Um, Sarah, what just happened there? That looked like rather more than a taser shot."

"Rather." Her hair floated around her head in sinuous strands, making her look as if she were under water. "I got a bit … wound up. It's the second time someone's pointed a gun at me in the last ten minutes."

"Right." She looked at Anna. "Where's the next crisis?"

"Probably at the exit downstairs. There's only one way in and out of here, and it's easily blocked, so that's where the rolling units will be. Your turn at bat, hon. Clear the entrance, and we'll pick you up there."

"Okay. Just disable the cars?"

"If you can, that'll be fine; otherwise, don't be squeamish."

Caitlin tossed the keys to Sarah, but the girl's hand closed on air. Anna stood between them, keys in hand. "I'll take these, for now. We may need some fancy driving, and I'm a lot better at it."

"Since when?" Sarah's voice held, not challenge, but exasperation: what new surprise do you have for us; what secret are you about to reveal?

Anna blinked at her. "Since about five seconds ago."

-0-

Caitlin trotted down the aisle, vaulted through the opening, and dropped out of sight. Roxy was already in the second of the minivan's three rows of seating; Sarah took the shotgun seat. Anna settled into the driver's position, adjusting the seat, shoulder harness, steering wheel, and mirrors. "Sarah, there's a scrunchie in the glove box for your hair, if you want it. Sweetie, take the back seat; you sit with Eddie when we pick him up. Okay, everybody buckle up."

"Anna," Roxanne said, "We just faced down a football team armed with machine guns. You can't be worried about a ticket."

"Suit yourself." She backed out and sent the car down the decline leading to the garage's first turn. As the car rounded the bend, a commotion began in the lot outside the garage: a flurry of gunshots sounded, then a car alarm began whooping. The racket ended suddenly with a sound like a head-on crash, but without the usual initial squeal of brakes. The small arms fire dwindled away. They started the final decline to ground level; the bright rectangle of the exit loomed ahead. Caitlin leaned into the doorway and waved, and they slowed at the entrance to pick her up. The brief pause gave the others a moment to regard a black Suburban parked next to the entrance, with an expensive-looking convertible sticking out of its top like a sail.

"Parked in a handicap spot with no sticker." Caitlin slid in the side door and into the second seat. "I hate it when they do that." She looked at her open denim jacket, which was peppered with holes in front. "Drat. Should've buttoned this up."

Anna rolled the car down the aisle, scanning the lot for danger. "Where are the agents?"

"Bugged out when they saw me pick up another car."

"So they are getting smarter. Too bad. Any sign of the other mobile units?"

"No sign. Do you think they're waiting for us at the exit?"

They turned onto the mall exit. Ahead, autos were lined up at the light that let traffic out onto the street. "No; too many exits. They're in the lot nearby, waiting for someone to report our position." She glanced in the rear view. "They're coming. Here we go."

Anna gunned the engine and wrenched the wheel to the right; the van bounced over the curb and onto the grassy strip that separated the driveway and the parking lot. Saplings went down in front of them as they hurtled towards the street past the line of waiting cars. Another teeth-jarring bump and they were in the intersection, cars coming at them from all directions. Anna turned the wheel hard left, and the back end slid around as they entered the traffic flow. Behind them, tires squealed. "Roxanne," she said amiably, "are you buckled up yet?"

A rustle and a click were her answer.

"Not my first choice for a getaway vehicle," she said, passing cars and gathering speed as she wove from lane to lane. "But it does have fairly high ground clearance, and easy egress; we'll need that."

Sarah was gripping the grab bar with both hands. "We almost got killed back there!"

"Oh, pooh. You mean that driver hitting his brakes? I was already past him. Inadequate reflexes." Another busy intersection came up; she looked, pumped the brakes in a brief hard application, and whizzed through against the light, with oncoming cars seemingly an arm's length away. The blare of horns chased them down the street. "Sharp right coming up." She reached for the radio, turning up the volume; Sara Maclaclan's voice filled the car. "I love this song."

The intersection and traffic lanes were packed with vehicles, impassable. The car took to the curb again, and a newspaper box in front of them leaped into the intersection as they cut the corner and regained the street. They accelerated again, weaving through traffic, several times swinging into the oncoming lanes and back again scarcely a heartbeat from a head-on.

"Anna, why are you driving like this? Oh Gawd, don't do that; you turn around to look at me again, I'm gonna pee my pants."

"Turn around, look behind us." All three girls looked; a black Suburban was so close behind that it filled the rear window briefly as its driver jinked wildly from side to side. "He's been right behind us since the first intersection."

"So, he's as good a driver as you?" Sarah couldn't help asking.

"Hardly. Take a closer look." The other vehicle looked much worse for wear: both side mirrors were broken off, the driver's mirror flopping at the end of its cable; the right fender was crumpled; and the vehicle's flanks were furrowed and missing paint. The Suburban was maneuvering much more erratically, steering later and harder. "He's got nerve. And fast reflexes, just good enough to follow me blindly through the holes I'm finding before they close up tight. If we could put even fifty feet between us, I'd lose him, but Bessie here just doesn't have the horses." The chase vehicle's front seat passenger lowered the window and stuck a pistol out, steadying his hand on the ruined mirror mount. Anna stamped on the brakes and jinked left; the Suburban's driver instantly did the same, spoiling his partner's aim and nearly running his car head-on into a delivery truck. "That one's been watching too many cop movies."

Roxy caught Anna's eye when she glanced in the rear view mirror. "Anna? If you can hold the car straight for a few seconds, I think I can take the car out."

"Really?"

"But I've got to pop the belt and then kneel in the seat, and we've got to stop bouncing around like this; straight line only."

"There's a shopping complex coming up; I'll go through the lot. Don't unbuckle till I say." At the next light, she swung the car hard left without slowing; tires screeched behind them. At once, they were in a vast expanse of blacktop in front of a big-box store. "Now."

Instantly, Roxanne was unbuckled and turned around, looking out the back window. The Suburban rushed up on them as their course straightened, apparently intending to ram. The girl stared intently at the vehicle, then pressed her forefinger down on the back of the seat, as if pushing a button.

A god's hammer struck the right front corner of the Suburban, smashing it nearly flat into the ground; sparks fountained as the rest of the car lifted, pivoted around the pinned and wrecked corner, and ripped free, now rolling backwards on three wheels towards the van. It scraped to a stop behind them.

Roxanne turned around and buckled up as the van accelerated towards the street. She caught Anna's eye in the rear view, lifted her finger like the barrel of a pistol, and blew on the tip. Anna intoned, "The Force is strong in this one. Does that little trick have a name?"

"I call it a 'gravity mine.' Does this mean you can stop sneering in the face of Death while you're driving?"

The car ran through a yellow light just as it turned red. "I'll try to show more respect for your bladder, but we're still in a desperate hurry; we have to get to the boys ahead of the Keepers, and they're due here now."

"Speaking of which, Anna: didn't you say that these people had orders to watch us until the Keepers got here? They weren't even trying to apprehend us; they were out for blood." Sarah's voice carried only the slightest tremor to belie her detached tone. "What do you suppose could have stirred them up like that?"

When Caitlin and Anna had appeared in the food court from the direction of the bathrooms, someone would have gone looking for Hale. "I'd rather not suppose; it's not important right now."

Caitlin said, "Where are the police? We should have police all over us by now."

"IO doesn't like jurisdictional disputes. Or publicity, or official witnesses. I'm sure they started pulling local law enforcement out of the area just as soon as you were identified."

"They ran the police out of their own town? What kind of story would they tell them?"

"The story wouldn't matter," she said, weaving through traffic at a pace that would have frightened the girls an hour before, but now seemed unhurried, "as long as it came from high enough up. IO has something on a lot of people." She slowed the car, and turned into a parking lot. "Here we are. The half pipe is just down that path. I'll take Sarah with me. Caitlin, get behind the wheel; you two wait for us." They exited the car, and took to the tree-lined asphalt path.

"Is this supposed to be a chance for us to have a little talk?" Sarah seemed suspicious and defensive.

"Do you have a subject in mind?" Anna increased their pace; Sarah, with her longer strides, kept up easily.

"The mall, when I almost got us shot?"

"Oh. Buck fever; could happen to anyone. You did fine, the next chance you got." She scanned their surroundings continuously; she didn't expect trouble, but trouble often came when you didn't expect it.

"How about the way I've been questioning your orders?"

"We're not soldiers, Sarah."

"Well, then, why did you detail me to come along?"

"Pragmatism. We're in a hurry; we need to stay ahead of our pursuit. Eddie will come with me and get the story later; but Bobby's stubborn, like his dad. He'll want to ask questions and decide the best course of action before he moves a foot, and we don't have that kind of time."

"Again - why me?"

"Anna glanced at her. "Don't be obtuse, Sarah. At the first scent of trouble, he'll want to go to you. Just catch his eye, and then turn back to the car; he'll run to catch up."

"I see." A few feet further, she said, "You don't approve of the way I treat him either, do you?"

"None of my business, Sarah; I just want to see you both happy. If you can't make each other happy, well, maybe it's just not in the cards."

"Very generous of you." Another few steps in silence. "How come I don't have a pet name?"

"What?"

"Caitlin is 'hon'; Roxanne is 'sweetheart' or just 'sweetie'; Bobby is 'baby'. Don't Eddie and I deserve little terms of endearment?"

"Eddie wants me to call him 'Grunge,' like Roxanne does; I can't bring myself to do it. As for you, I do have a name for you … I just don't say it out loud."

She snorted. "I'll bet."

"No, really. I'll trot it out someday … when I think you're ready to hear it."

Sarah looked as if she were about to say something, then looked away.

The path opened up into a large grassy space surrounding a concrete half pipe. Skateboarders rolled up one side, then the other, like liquid sloshing in a bowl.

"Hey. What are you guys doing here?" Bobby emerged from a restroom, tucking his board under one arm as he approached.

Anna traded a look with Sarah. "IO's on our tail; we've got to get out of here. Where's Eddie?" Sarah turned, looked at Bobby over her shoulder, and trotted back towards the car. The boy's answer was flung back over his shoulder as he pursued. "Grinding, back of the pipe." He disappeared down the path.