Darkstar6

Darkstar Rising, Chapter six: Chase Scene

Author's Notes: Lying in bed in the wee hours of the morning, I realized that I had taken a rather hard-line with my other Author's notes. Let's get this clear: I realize that I have about as much chance to get a staff position writing for Dark Angel as a guy playing fantasy football has of getting to play in the NFL. (Cue up Rocky theme song)But if Kurt Warner can go from stocking groceries to a superbowl championship and then to being the number one rated quarterback in the NFL, maybe, just maybe, I can be a writer. Hell, maybe I can be a football player! If I stand on the Denver sidelines long enough, they'll put me in at running back. I'll have an incredible season of 100+ yard games, courtesy of the offensive line, then I'll injure my knee and have to watch the next two seasons from the sidelines while assuring the coaches and the media that I'll be back anytime. I'll join that fraternity of Terrell Davis, Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson... SnowCrash. Oh, who am I kidding--this whole plan requires a few years languishing away in the Canadian Football League. Then, and only then can I write for Dark Angel. Wait...I got confused, I think...

Uh, and I'm thinking about changing the rating of this piece to R. I'm not sure if this is really a PG-13. Lots of violence and cursing, but no sex so far. I said so far, you horny bastards! Input? Comments?

And this one is longer, too.

This is my first car chase scene, so, let me know what you think. I tried to get all the details right, but I wish I could've done what Neal Stephenson did in Snow Crash :...after that, it was just a chase scene. Chase scenes are hard to do. That's why this took so long in coming.

Thanks go out to James, for the rides in his 72 Hemi-'Cuda; Daryl, for the rides in his 69 Mustang Mach 1; Fletch, who drove from Tacoma WA, to Canada via I-5 last week and was willing to tell me about it; Jesska, for the talk about Snow Crash and for sharing some of her Master Drive instructor secrets with me; Curt Rich, author of Drive to Survive; and last but most certainly not least, Monica, pooh_bah, and everyone else who's eMailed me with suggestions. Thanks especially to bk, who was kind enough to beta this piece (and did a great job, I might add).

Disclaimer one: All these characters belong to me. To ME! Do you hear me, James Cameron?! Do you hear me, Mr. Aliens? Mr. Terminator 2? Mr. Titanic? To MEEEEEEE!!! Go back to driving trucks or to directing movies, cause Dark Angel's mine.

Disclaimer two: Kids, don't try this at home. Don't try it on I-5, either. The police will arrest you. I'm not kidding.

Disclaimer three: Everything said in Disclaimer one is patently false. The people responsible have been sacked. Enjoy the rest of the show.

oxygen
a whisper fades in the wind
just oxygen

12/31/96

Darkstar Rising chapter six: Chase Scene

Max was weaving the Aztek through a variety of traffic--street people, refugees hawking basic goods, and the more usual cars and trucks. God, it was a miracle that anyone ever got anywhere in this city on anything other than a bike. Guess that's why, even in the depressed economy, Jam Pony was still going strong. Speaking of going strong,two of the Hummers behind her were right on her tail while the other vehicles had fallen back slightly. Their mission wasn't to kill civilians.

Max had seen enough pre-pulse TV tapes to know that The World's Scariest Police Chases rarely ended with the perp getting away. She knew that, in this case, she was the perp. Her best hope was to get to Canada, about 100 miles away, where Lydecker would be out of his jurisdiction. He wouldn't risk an international incident, would he? As long as she could get some nice mounties on her side, everything would be fine. Hopefully, Logan wouldn't screw up her Get out of Jail Free card by losing the girl to Lydecker. Hopefully, Lydecker would actually want to trade. It was really anyone's guess at this point. What went on in Donald Lydecker's head was not Max's specialty. One thing was for sure, though; since Lydecker now knew where she lived (and where Logan lived, for that matter), nothing would ever be the same around here again.

Max's eyes glanced at the gas. Full. Thank God Logan was anal about keeping it that way. If only he was as anal about some other things--like shaving. Max knew Logan had to shave sometime, because he never had a real beard, but she'd never seen him clean-shaven. Except for in her dreams.

Now all she had to do was get on I-5 headed north. That would take her straight across the border. Behind her, a hummer accelerated, looking to ram her.

So, you want to play? thought Max. Let's play.

She jinked right, then left, drawing the closest of the following hummers into the path of an oncoming truck. That was one down. Max had the pedal to the floor, and it was only her enhanced senses and reaction-time that kept her from getting smoked and rolling this ugly ass Aztek onto its wrong side. Max didn't know why Logan drove this crusty thing. But she had an idea: he was the last American who still believed in the American dream of bigger cars, bigger burgers, and liberty and justice for all. So he had to have an American car. But it had to have good gas mileage: the Green American dream. Typical Logan.

Suddenly, it was raining, hard and constant. Seattle weather. This would make the upcoming recreation a little hairier. Max liked it. It would probably throw deck's pukes into a spin. Literally. There was an intersection coming up. Lets see how they handle this, Max thought.

She braked smoothly, letting up as she turned the wheel to take the corner, gently but quickly giving the Aztek more gas. Smoothness, in a car chase, always comes before speed. If your tires screech, you're losing traction, and that means you're losing speed. The second hummer behind her didn't know this, and wrapped his fender around a street light. Dumbass. Two down.

Corner smoothly, brake later, and hit the gas sooner. Those were the rules, and this was Max's game. Speed was all about going in and coming out of turns.

The rain was really coming down now. Everything was darkened by the cloud cover, and the visibility was getting worse. Good, thought Max, this ought to be interesting.

The third driver was a little smarter than the first two, and managed to stay with her through a few turns, despite falling behind slightly because of the Aztek's better acceleration. Max decided to turn it up a notch. She saw a bombed-out Starbucks ahead that had been turned into a small shop, like almost every other Starbucks in the city, and picked that for her turn point. She popped the transmission into neutral and engaged the parking brake while she jerked the wheel to the left, swinging the back of the Aztek around. Then she disengaged the parking brake while popping the Aztek into drive, then jammed on the gas. The 185-horsepower 3.4-liter V6 sent 210 foot-pounds of torque through the all-wheel drive. As soon as the wheels stopped skidding, it sent the Aztek hurtling forward. She flashed the Aztek's brights, blinding the driver following her. Her hands became light on the wheel while the car fishtailed a little, straightening itself out. Try that with your wide wheelbase, Max thought. The Hummer's driver did, but couldn't get his big all-terrain assault vehicle around fast enough, with his eyes suddenly struggling to compensate for their blindness thanks to Max's brights. The Hummer slammed directly into the bombed-out Starbucks. Max was already doing 45 going the opposite way when the driver finally realized exactly what had happened.

She was on Olive Way, headed northeast. One of the vans had turned himself sideways, trying to block her escape. Max slowed almost to a stop, acting like she was going to stop, popping the Aztek into low gear. Then she clenched her teeth and slammed on the gas, pointing her vehicle at the van between the rear wheel and rear bumper. The van spun crazily, teetering and finally falling sideways, spilling its electronic guts onto the road like some kind of demented cyber-insect.

The Aztek's airbags deployed. Max kept the pedal to the floor, swimming through the already deflating bag, and popping the tranny into drive. The Aztek was surprisingly unhurt... just scratches and a big fender dent. Trust Logan to have a bulletproof car. Within a second of the airbag's deployment, it was completely deflated.

There it was, up ahead: the entrance to I-5. The entrance ramp curved up onto the highway. That wasn't a problem. The cars on the onramp were, though. Max pulled the Aztek onto the side of the onramp, passing a fifteen-year-old rust-red minivan filled with kids and a brand new glossy-black Audi TT driven by a young Indian guy bumping some mad Hindi-pop music. She waved in the rearview as she blasted by a third guy driving an ancient Honda Accord and giving her the bird.

Hey, he was kinda cute...

Just two left, now. A hummer and a van. Lydecker's goons didn't have it as easy: lacking the heightened senses and reflexes of Max, they were forced to slow way down on the freeway entrance. It didn't help that the Hummer's wheelbase was too wide to pull the same maneuver she had just pulled, either. They were going to have to wait for the three cars in front of them to merge. This did, however, allow the command van containing Lydecker to catch up.

In the back of the command van, Lydecker was being attended to by one of his medics, the bumpy ride making it difficult to bandage his eye without causing any more damage.

Where is she? Lydecker said, the words somewhat clear, thanks to the medical attention.

We've got her, sir. She's just three cars ahead. There's no way she can outrun us for long, said another soldier, hunched over some radio equipment in the back of the van.

Good. Try to box her in with the HUM V's--one to the back, front, and sides. Then slow down in unison.

Sir, three of our HUM Vs are down. said the radioman.

Then bring the other van to the rear, sergeant.

said the radioman, relaying these commands to the other vehicles.

Sir, the other van is down, too.

Then have the remaining HUM V cut her off, and move this van alongside! barked Lydecker. Things definitely were not going as planned.

Max was ahead, weaving between cars, passing in all of the lanes. She passed a sign that said 100 miles to the Canadian Border. Here goes nothing, she thought. Here goes nothing.

Most car chases don't last very long. Within five miles of starting, one or the other of the cars was usually in a ditch or wrapped around a stop-sign. Max knew this--it was clear that the trailing cars hadn't known this, and had suffered the consequences. If she could get the last two to wreck, it would be a lot easier to make it to Canada. After all, it's hard to get in line for customs when you're being chased by two, large, military vehicles.

All the traffic around her was slowing down. Max slid into the breakdown lane, still going 75. Dammit, Max thought, I forgot about the city limits. There, up ahead, were the city limits, posted with guards and gates.

Here we go again. She put the hammer to the floor and blew through the chain link that had been erected. The chain link wrapped around the front of her Aztek. Max braked and swung the wheel to the right once she was clear to throw the chain link free.

A guard was shaking his fist at her. She waved at him, and put the hammer back down. The V6 roared underneath her, and the round, brushed-aluminum speed gauge leapt to 85.

This is kinda fun... maybe I should get one.

That's when Max heard a siren behind her. There... about ten car lengths behind her was a police cruiser. The hummer was still about five car-lengths back, and the van was more like seven. But the police cruiser was faster, designed for these sorts of chases. The tactics that Max had for fighting a smaller car were a little different: she could take the Aztek off road or she could let the cruiser catch up, and then play some contact sports with him. Off-road really wasn't an option at this point: the hummer would eat her alive off-roading. So Max braced herself for some contact.

The police cruiser was roaring up on her, doing probably 100 mph and still accelerating with the throttle wide open. Max let off the gas just slightly. She'd need some acceleration at the top end of her range. As the police car pulled along side, the driver shouting Pull over your vehicle, over his megaphone, Max tapped her brake, and pulled the Aztek in behind it. The police car, confused, slowed down. That was exactly what Max was looking for. She floored the accelerator, tapping the police car on his right bumper as she pulled into the right-hand lane. The police car spun, its momentum sending it flying into the median.

Oops,Max thought, another dent. I hope Logan won't be too pissed off.

This slight contact had allowed the Hummer and Van to close with her. The Hummer was a mere three car lengths back, and the Van just five. She couldn't play the same games with the Hummer, ramming it would only get her in trouble. So she put the throttle back on the floor, hoping that the Aztek could outrun the Hummer on the straight-aways.

Thanks for keeping your car in such good shape, Logan, Max thought, I'll buy you a new one... if I live. Next stop: Canada.

It was going to take her at least an hour to get there, if she could keep this monster from dropping below 90, but she didn't think that that was going to happen. She couldn't relax, become complacent and allow the car to overheat, or take a turn badly and risk losing control. The six-cd changer in the dash went from Rage Against the Machine to some Bach.

That's more like the Logan I know, Max thought, flipping the 10-speaker Harmon system to the next CD. It was Michael and Janet Jackson singing .

I'm tired of injustice/I'm tired of the scheme/Your lies are disgustin'/ directly to me/you're kickin' me down/I got to get up/jump to the sound/hooked up and such...

Will wonders never cease? she thought. Logan's a little more diverse than I thought.

Max, weaving in and out of traffic to try to put off her pursuers, glanced at the phone. He'd better call soon, or I'll kill him.

Somebody please have mercy, cause I just can't take it, Michael and Janet sang.

Her mind snapped back to the chase at hand. No time for love, Doctor Jones, she thought.

Her pursuers were falling back: the larger van and Hummer couldn't compensate for her tactics. Of course, most of the people on the road were cutting her a wide berth, now.

That's when the phone rang. Max picked it up after turning the volume on the stereo down.

Talk to me, Max said.

Max... we're safe. Bling's at the hospital, and... Max heard some shuffling in the background, and it sounded like Bling was saying something. Bling sounded winded, but even Max's enhanced hearing couldn't make out the words. I'll call you back on this line when I can, Logan finished.

No. I want to know what's going on now, Max said. But it was too late. Logan had already hung up. She slammed the carphone down on its cradle. Damn. I wish I knew what was going on--it sounds like Logan's in trouble, thought Max.

She had to lose these goons. They were really cramping her style. She needed to talk to Logan. That was tough to do when you were in a high speed car chase, even if you were a biologically enhanced super-soldier killing machine. Oh, the high speed chase was no problem... it was just the talking that got her down. That was the hard part.

That was always the hard part.

The traffic was easing up, now. The Aztek was struggling to keep up this pace, but she managed to push it up to 100 miles per hour. The Hummer and the van couldn't hack it, and were falling back. Good.

The phone rang again. Max picked up.

Logan, I want to know what's going on there, Max said.

Max...the girl escaped.

She what?

She...she escaped, there was a pause before Logan said bitterly, You can't expect a cripple and a wounded man to be able to contain a Manticore soldier forever, Max.

Max winced at the mention of the word . She still didn't think of Logan like that. But he was right. What had she expected?

So what am I supposed to do, Logan?

Bling just told me that there's no way that you're going to be able to get into Canada via I-5. There's too much slow-down at the border. Lydecker will be able to get out of his car, walk up, and tap on your window if he feels like it.

Great. There goes that plan.

There's a town to the east, on the border, though. It's called... Max heard keys tapping. Logan was probably on the net, looking for the information. The internet--or what was left of it after the pulse--was like his second brain. he said.



A pause. More keys tapping.

Once you get to exit 256, hit WA-539 going north.

I thought this town was to the east!

Bear with me, Max. It's about 90 miles ahead on I-5. From WA-539, you turn on WA-546. It's called East Badger road. Then take WA-9 all the way to Sumas. I'll give you more directions in a bit, after I get the rest of the story from Bling. You got it?

She nodded into the reciever unconciously.

And Max?

she said hopefully.

Be careful.

Max started to say thanks, but encountered a dial tone instead. It was hard to be careful in a high-speed chase, anyway.

For most of the rest of the ride, things were fairly uneventful. As uneventful as high-speed highway driving can be, at least. Max gained ground while Lydecker's two remaining vehicles stayed back.

Lydecker must think that I'm going to go on I-5 all the way...that's the only reason he'd play it safe at this point.

It was an hour and change before she made it to the first exit. Max slowed down a little to get her pursuers closer. When they were within two car lengths, they started firing at her, trying to take one of her back tires out with small-arms fire. Max stayed in the left-lane, jinking back and forth a little bit to dodge the gunfire until the last second, when she swung across three lanes of traffic and onto the off ramp. She heard a chorus of horns, but she only saw Lydecker's van stay with her. She had spoofed the last Hummer.

The phone rang.

Max said tersely.

Nice work. You lost that last Hummer. Lydecker's furious.

I bet he is, Max said, smiling at her coup, What do I do once I get to Sumas?

Apparently, there are off-road trails that can take you into Canada. People use them to smuggle drugs. You should be able to get into Canada without too much hassle that way.

How do I get there? Max said.

I'm not sure. They're obviously not on my maps. They're going to be past the North edge of town. Keep your eyes peeled, and you should be able to find them. Once you're on them, Lydecker won't be able to follow. That van won't do well on the offroad trails.

said Max, And Logan?



Be careful, and she hit the button before he could say anything. One point to Max on the one-upmanship game, she smiled to herself.

Once Max made it to Sumas, the Van had already dropped out of sight. Max made her way north, and found a 4x4 trail-head, quietly thanking Logan for buying the all-wheel drive Aztek package.

As she slipped beneath the temperate rain-forest foliage, Lydecker was no where in sight. Max breathed a sigh of relief.

I wonder if Logan's okay, she thought.

She'd find out soon. Logan and Bling were already on their way north.