Chapter 25
The city streets flew by as Blitz pushed the van to the limit, weaving in and out of evening traffic. I steadied myself against the van's side and stooped toward the pile of gear on the floor, picking up my Colt M21A1 rifle. I hefted it to my shoulder and disengaged the safety before stuffing a pair of extra clips in my jacket pockets. Diana climbed into the front seat as I looked up at Blitz.
"How long until we catch up?"
He shook his head, datajack cord slapping against his neck. "They've got a head start. It will take a few seconds to find a way to cut them off."
"Coordinate with Sugar and find a route to intercept them."
The rigger nodded and turned his attention to his task as the rest of us held on for dear life in the back of the madly swaying vehicle.
I switched commlink frequencies and spoke into the receiver. "Viridian, you there?"
"Still here, omae," came the gruff reply.
"Michelson is on the move. He'll be headed your way shortly."
"Alright, we're in position and standing by."
"What about your boys at the ambush site?"
"Ready to roll and waiting for your command."
"Good. I'll be in touch. We're going to try to herd Michelson in your direction."
"Good enough for me."
"Gotcha!" Blitz suddenly cried aloud.
The van swerved around a corner, rocking precariously under the G-force. I had to brace myself against the wall to keep from sprawling on the floor. Blitz yanked the wheel, and the vehicle shuddered with a screech of metal as it broad-sided the last car in the motorcade. A jolt ran through the van, and suddenly the Landcruiser jerked ahead of us, engine screaming as the driver of the glossy black SUV fought to keep up with the rest of the convoy.
"Open the door!" I shouted to Rei, clutching my assault rifle in both hands.
She dutifully hauled open the door, and a flood of frigid air rushed into the van. I could already feel my face start to go numb as the biting wind howled past.
"Grab my jacket!" I shouted to Bullnose over the rushing air.
He gave me a quizzical look. "What?"
"Just do it!"
He grunted and grabbed the back of my coat, wrapping as much fabric as he could around his fists. I leaned out the door, using the green-haired youth as a counter-balance. As soon as I stuck my head out the door, the rushing wind intensified. I fought to stay somewhat upright and keep a hold on my rifle as Blitz swerved around traffic, trying to keep pace with the Ayanami vehicle just ahead. I lifted the rifle to my shoulder, squinting against the wind as I lined up the shot. The weapon's smartlink software imposed a red dot over my vision as I sighted the rifle over the Landcruiser's tires.
I squeezed the trigger, the Colt yammering wildly in my hands. Despite the madly swaying vehicles, the shot was perfect. But as the bullets tore into the rubber, nothing happened. The tires refused to burst. I should have known—they were runflats.
I quickly switch targets and opened fire at the rear of the vehicle. The bullets slammed into the rear windshield, spawning a spider web of cracks along the armored glass, yet it refused to shatter. The driver swerved, trying to evade my fire, but I stubbornly kept it up, peppering the back of the Landcruiser with precise bursts from the Colt. As the SUV started to pull away again, one of the passengers leaned out a window, the machine pistol in his hand sputtering angrily.
"Pull!" I shouted to Bullnose.
The ganger heaved, bracing one leg against the van wall as he grunted and strained to move my weight. He got me back inside just in time as bullets pinged and whined off of the van's armored skin.
I leaned out again, this time targeting the man leaning out the window. I laid on the trigger and used the rest of the weapon's clip to force the Ayanami goon back inside the vehicle. As the magazine ran dry, I mentally keyed the circuitry in the rifle with my cybernetics and switched firing modes to the underbarrel grenade launcher. An expanded red crosshair appeared in my vision, and I centered it over the backside of the Ayanami vehicle. Then I fired. The minigrenade leaped from the muzzle with a soft bloop sound, and the next thing I knew, the rear window of the SUV blew apart in a ball of high-explosive force. Bits of flaming debris showered the pavement as the car veered violently to the side, sideswiping a streetlight before the driver regained control. Smoke poured out the back, but still the vehicle kept pace with the rest of the convoy.
Again I fired. This time the grenade flew through the shattered back window and ricocheted off the Landcruiser's interior paneling before going off. It filled the cabin with a wash of flames that shattered the windows and sent the vehicle careening out of control. It sideswiped a truck and then plowed head-first into a storefront. I didn't see much after that as we whizzed by after the rest of the motorcade.
"Hold on!" Blitz screamed.
I couldn't make out what he was saying over the screaming wind, but I soon figured it out anyway. Up ahead, the last car in the motorcade zipped through an intersection just as the light turned red. Horns blared and tires screeched as the other motorists tried to evade our hurtling van. Blitz tapped the breaks and expertly cut the wheel to the side, tossing Bullnose and me backward. We landed on our asses in a heap of tangled arms and legs as the van squirted through the intersection, barely missing the nose of another car.
My chest pounded after the close call. If Blitz had cut the wheel in the other direction, Bullnose and I would have been grease stains on the road by now. Not wanting to tempt fate again, I stood up and slammed the door.
As soon as the door slammed, I could hear again. I clawed my way to the front of the van, holding onto the front seats as the vehicle bucked and swayed down the street. Up ahead, I could see that the Ayanami motorcade had pulled away quite a bit after our near miss.
"Any idea where they're headed," I said to Blitz, still trying to catch my breath.
"Looks like they're following the detour route Sugar set up. We're almost on Viridian's position."
"Good." I went to the commlink. "Viridian, can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear."
"We're going to be at your position in about thirty seconds."
"Roger dat, Chummer. I'll pass along da word to my udder boys up ahead."
I started to switch the commlink off of active mode when suddenly Sugar's voice was yelling incessantly in my ear.
"That intersection was the nail in the coffin! There were so many calls on the telecom system that I couldn't stop them all. Patrol cars are going to be on the scene soon."
"Then we're going to have to make this fast. Blitz, did you hear that?"
He didn't answer as he threw the van into a hard turn. As we took the corner, I saw about half a dozen motor cycles tear around a side street up ahead, blazing just behind the last sedan in the motorcade. I saw Viridian in the lead, steel Mohawk glinting in the street lights and submachine gun chattering away at the cars ahead.
"They've got 'em," now I said, grinning. "Blitz, can you take a side street and get ahead to the ambush?"
The rigger nodded. "I'll see what I can do."
We took the next turn and whizzed by traffic, breaking about fifteen traffic laws in the process. Blitz took the next left and suddenly we were back at the downtown park, trees and buildings whizzing by as we raced along at breakneck speeds. The park stretched in a thin line through nearly all of Downtown, and by now we were just nearing the end of it.
I clicked the comm. to contact the other Razors who were waiting further down the road. "Michelson is almost on top of you. Lay out those spike strips now!"
"On it!" the ganger on the other end replied.
"Where are we on the pursuit?" I asked Blitz.
"We're almost on top of them."
"Look!" Diana shouted, gesturing ahead out the windshield.
Fifty meters ahead, the first vehicle in the motorcade, a dark SUV, tore down a side street. It tried to turn onto the main thoroughfare, but that became impossible as the spike strips that had been laid out across the intersection bit deep into the car's tires. The corporate vehicle may have been equipped with runflat tires, but the cross-weaved spike strips shredded through the rubber like a threshing combine. The SUV went into a skid as the bare rims sparked over the pavement. The driver spun the wheel trying to turn, but all he managed to do was present the Landcruiser's broad side toward the park. It hit the curb and tipped over on its side, skidding across the dry brown heath before it flipped. It somersaulted twice across the grassy expanse before coming to a rest on top its roof.
The other drivers realized what had happened and laid on the breaks, but it was too late. Tires screeched as they roared through the intersection right across the strips. The rubber tires fell away like so much chaff, and the vehicles vaulted over the curb. Without traction control the cars began to spin, gliding by several stands of trees that dotted the park landscape. One finally skidded to a stop next to a stone bridge that spanned an artificial creek, while the other nosed down directly into the water.
Blitz brought the van to a squealing halt by the curb, throwing nearly everything in the compartment up toward the front. Once I had regained my balance, I ejected the clip from my Colt and dug another one out of my jacket. I fitted it into the magazine and gripped the door handle, looking back at the others.
Diana had hauled her combat shotgun from between the seats and was busy affixing a large drum clip to it. Blitz had a pair of automatic pistols in his lap, and Bullnose cradled his Uzi in his arms, harboring a deep-seated rage in his young eyes. Rei mirrored that rage, fingering her Ingram Smartgun nervously.
"Are you ready for this? You don't have to if you don't want to. We can handle it by ourselves."
She shook her head grimly. "Yes, I'm sure. Let's end this once and for all."
"Alright then," I said, looking around at the group. "Lock and load people. This is it."
I wrenched the door open and jumped out, plunging head-first into the maelstrom.