Goon on the motorcycle wasn't slowing down, or turning, but his body did look tense on his saddle. I guessed that he wanted me to lean first so that he knew I wouldn't try to hit him. Maybe he wanted to lean in hard against me or try to knock my rear wheel loose while I engaged in the turn.
I held the line.
"Sue Zay!" Hogan screamed.
There was a bar over the entrance to the parking garage ahead. There was a possibility I could slide under it, or maybe I could crash through it? I also saw an exit that didn't seem to have a bar, just the reverse driving spikes that would flatten most tires. Maybe I could pop Funakoshi over them and enter safely? Both ideas sounded all sorts of bad. I had no idea how sharp the turns would be down in the structure.
Dickbag leaned.
I threw out my right arm and felt the piece of rebar connect decisively with the man's helmet. As soon as it hit, I let go of the metal pole and then focused on leaning my bike left through the sharp turn. I was going way too fucking fast, and I felt Funakoshi's rear wheel break from the road. My gyros kicked in, I let off the throttle, and I tried to focus my eyes on the ending curve of the turn instead of the face of the parking garage.
"Errrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" I felt the growl leave my throat with a sense of desperation. I saw a bouncing helmet on the road behind me, but I attempted not to pay too much attention to what had happened to the goon after I'd hit him. If I couldn't make this turn, I doubted that he could after I smacked him.
Funakoshi's wheel hadn't grabbed yet, and his tail was swinging out to my right. I forced my handlebars in the same direction in the hope that I could keep from laying him down, but now my turn angle was all fucked, and I was heading right into the adjacent sidewalk. I let off the throttle, wiggled my ass left, feathered my brakes, and prayed again to all the religions I could think of in half a second.
The tail of the ancient motorcycle started to slide back, and it was just in time. Another half a foot and it would have hit the curb and probably sent me into a tumbleweed of a crash. I straightened out on Lark and then glanced into my rear camera display to assess the situation.
The black car had slowed significantly to take the turn, and I didn't see the motorcycle-riding jerk-off. He had probably plowed into the entrance of the parking garage. If he wasn't dead or heading to the hospital, then he'd have to spend a few precious minutes navigating the garage before he caught up to me again.
Then the asshole slammed into me from my left side.
I hadn't expected the attack. I hadn't even seen him, but I accounted for the hit instantly, and the cocksucker didn't push me into the curb. That wasn't the end of my problems though. His right hand closed around my shoulder, and the fucker tried to pull me off my saddle. I turned to look at the goon and gasped inside my helmet.
It was Hael.
His eyes were a stream of tears, and there was blood on his face. I couldn't believe he'd taken the hit that had knocked his helmet off his head, managed the turn, and then come right up next to me. The asshole was a fucking murdering-terrorist-mercenary-bastard, but I had to compliment his riding skills.
For half a second after he grabbed me I fought against the dueling respect for his riding ability and panic that he was still alive. Then I got control over my emotions and tried to come up with a plan. He wasn't wearing a helmet, and that was bad news going the speed we were. The next turn was a hard right onto Winchester Boulevard, and it was coming up in a few short seconds.
"Steer, Hogan!" I let Hael pull on me, and then I pushed off my left peg. I aimed the top half of my helmet at his nose, and I felt the kitty cat dome slam into his face with a wet, snapping sound. He let go of my arm because the front of his bike started to wobble and he had to use both arms to grab onto the bars. I had one piece of rebar left across my own bars, and I grabbed the end of it with my left hand and swung it out toward his bleeding nose.
The fucker ducked with Pavel-like speed, and my swing passed harmlessly over his head.
"Turn up ahead!" Hogan warned. He could have controlled the bike through it, but I knew he didn't want to risk anyone seeing him handling the controls.
I ignored Hael for a second and went down hard on my brakes. Funakoshi slowed to a less-than-totally-insane speed, and I rolled through the corner without even screeching a tire. The tall, bearded man mirrored my turn on the outside, and I looked over to see him scowl at me.
"Hogan, where the fuck are the police?" I almost couldn't believe I was asking the question.
"It's only been two hundred and sixty seconds since you called them," Hogan answered.
The black car behind me took the turn, and Hael started to drift away from me. If there was too much distance between us, I knew the car would try to shoot me, and they definitely weren't going to risk shooting Hael.
"Oh, no you don't, fucker." I braked to match pace with him and then leaned close so that I could swing my piece of rebar at him. He raised his arm and winced when my steel connected. He tried to grab it, but I was too quick, and I pulled the pole away to smack at the edge of his handlebar. If I connected, it would make this motorcycle spin into Funakoshi, but I was running out of ideas to put an end to this chase, and I knew I couldn't go toe-to-toe with this guy.
He slowed to avoid my hit, and I matched his speed so that I could hit him again. I noticed the black car behind us had closed the distance, and it was only a few feet from scraping on the tail end of my massive motorcycle. Fucking shit balls, this wasn't looking good. He was too slippery for me to deal with, and the car would soon fuck up Funakoshi's rear tire.
Hael did something I hadn't expected, but maybe I should have. The tall fucker jumped up on the top of his saddle like a stunt rider, glanced over to the car trailing us, and then jumped onto the back of Funakoshi.
It wasn't until he made his leap that I realized what he intended, and by then he was already sitting behind me. His hands came up to my hair, and I felt him tug painfully back on my long mane. Pain exploded through my scalp, and I pushed my back against his chest to make it harder for him to pull on me. The tactic worked somewhat because he ended the tug and then brought his fingers up under my helmet to grasp at my neck.
"Drive, Hogan!" I screamed and then let go of the bars. I did my best to pivot forward and around away from Hael. It worked partially, and I seemed to have shrugged off his right hand, but his left was still pinching my throat painfully. I had enough space now, and I threw my right fist at his face.
His bloody nose made a good target, and my punch caught him squarely. I couldn't put much strength behind it because of the way I was sitting and twisting, but I figured it must have hurt like hell because it was already smashed.
His head snapped back, and I could have sworn I heard him grunt through my helmet. He let go of my neck and grabbed onto the back of Funakoshi so that he wouldn't fall. His left leg came up, and a loud cracking noise accompanied the world spinning. My left hand seemed to have a mind of its own, but I was glad it did, since I was suddenly hanging onto only my right handle while the rest of my leather-covered body dragged on the pavement.
"Sue Zay!" Hogan screamed with terror inside my helmet.
"Flick me up!" I didn't feel any pain from my legs or boots, but I suspected that the asphalt would eat through my suit in only a few seconds. Funakoshi's handles twisted, and I kicked off the pavement as best I could along with the movement. The effort threw my body into the air, and I collided with Hael. We were both weightless for an instant, and I saw panic fly across the bearded man's face.
Then we smashed into the windshield of the car trailing us.
Hael took most of the hit on his back, but my head also hit part of the windshield. I had thought that the glass would have been armored, and maybe it was, but the whole thing turned into a piece of cracked spider webbing when we collided with it. My helmet took the brunt of my smack, so I was able to sit up quickly, but Hael's tall body had made a small indent in the glass, and it looked like the fall might have knocked the wind
out of him.
I kicked him in the face with the heel of my boot. He screamed with the impact, and I did too. I'd forgotten about the fucking piece of metal jutting out of my right thigh and had decided to use that leg to stomp Dickbag in the grill. The pain had been numbed until now, but the quick movement and impact with his jaw released a shocking agony that seemed to crawl up from the hole in my leg and resonate in my teeth. Even my nose hairs stood on end with the agony, and my vision started to swim.
"Police drones have our position. I brought Funakoshi to the side of the car. Jump on him, and we can exit the scene." Hogan's voice came across my helmet and brought my attention back from the dizzy spell of pain.
"I'm not done with Hael yet." My words were slurred, and I attempted to stomp him again, but with my left leg this time. He got one of his hands up to block, but I managed to push through the attempt and connect with his face again.
"He's at least five inches taller than you, outweighs you by sixty pounds, and is trained in martial arts. Don't be foolish," Hogan chastised.
"But I have him exactly where I want him!" I gasped and then attempted to kick him again. His fingers caught my boot, and he yanked me towards him with surprising strength. I went to punch him in the face, but he smacked my hand aside and tried to get his right leg over my left to keep me from kicking him again.
I kicked out with my right leg, screaming against the pain, but it didn't matter. He was slippery like a snake and had already leaned his hips down on top of mine. He brought his right hand up, and then I felt the air explode out of my lungs when he punched me hard in the stomach. Stars floated across my eyes, and I couldn't seem to get any more air.
It was as if I was dreaming, or having the nightmare of the forest again. I couldn't get away fast enough, and Hael's fingers moved back under my helmet to grasp my throat. His eyes were opened wide, and his face was covered with the blood pouring out of his nose. The fucker's teeth were clenched in something half smile-half grin, and his hands closed around my neck.
He started to squeeze.
I was still moving slower from his punch, but now I really couldn't breathe. I raised my gloved hands to his face and tried to push on his nose again, but he was covered with blood. He just shook his head a bit, and my hands slid off him. He was so fucking strong, and the edges of my vision started to grow darker.
And darker.
Hogan and Jae were yelling at me. What were they saying? Something about the drones. I was so tired. When was the last time I slept? I really wanted to just crawl into bed and not wake up for a few days. Every single muscle in my body felt beyond exhausted.
Suddenly the black edges of my vision were pushed away by a brilliant orange light. I felt Hael's grip loosen on my neck, and the man twisted to his left. His mouth fell open, and I turned as much as I could to see what had caused the sunlight.
One of the race cars had turned into a fireball on the road ahead of us. The car that Hael and I grappled on was still driving, and it had to swerve to avoid running into the back of the bouncing and twisted fireball that had been a car only moments before. I could still see Jae's pod a few hundred yards ahead, along with the other black car, but then I saw something fall from the air, twist, shoot fire out of its rear, and slam into the black car.
It was a fucking missile from one of the police drones.
The explosion was even more powerful than the first one, and Hael took his hands away from my throat to cover his eyes from the shock of the blast. My helmet had an auto-dimming function, and for half a second I couldn't see anything around me. I took a thankful breath and felt the pain of my lungs, stomach, and leg pound into my brain just like the missile had collided with the car.
Hael wasn't paying attention to me. In fact, he seemed absolutely shocked by the police's attack on his buddies. He was still sitting on top of me, on the hood of the speeding car, and I doubted that I'd be able to shake free of him quickly enough to escape. I needed a weapon, but I had no idea where the last rebar pole had fallen.
Then another spasm of agony reminded me of the piece of metal shrapnel in my thigh.
I tried not to think about the pain, or what could go wrong, or what Hael would do to me if he caught my plan mid-execution. I just reached down with my right glove, grabbed the protruding piece of metal, and yanked it out of my leg as quickly as I could.
I screamed, and pain filled the entire right side of my body. Hael even heard my screech through my helmet, and he turned away from the exploding fireball of a car in front of us. It was perfect timing; I'd already committed the movement of my stab towards his face, but when he turned, the bloody, jagged tip of the chunk of metal slammed right into his left eye.
He screamed, and I felt his pain shake through my hips from where he sat on me. I left the blade stuck in his skull, and he sat up in an attempt to move away from me. I drew my feet to my chest through the hole his legs made and then slammed both of my legs outward and into his chest.
My double kick knocked him free of me, and he tumbled across the hood of the speeding car. Even with the fucking blade sticking out of his face, he still managed to grab onto the side of the car's window frame and didn't entirely fall off the hood. His face was a catastrophe, and his uninjured eye fixed on me with an insane anger. He was just hanging on by a few fingers. All I needed to do was walk over there and kick him in the face, or at the piece of metal in his eye, and he'd fall off and get fucked up even more by the road.
The car was starting to slow underneath me, and I realized that it wouldn't be a good idea to still be on top of it when the thing stopped moving. There were probably another set of goons with guns inside the vehicle, and I guessed that the police drones were targeting us right now with another missile. I saw Funakoshi keeping pace with the vehicle on the right side, and I half stumbled, half sprinted to the edge of the car before I leapt onto his back.
My right leg really didn't want to work, and it screamed in pain when I landed on Funakoshi, but my feet found the pegs easily enough. I felt Hogan surrender control of the motorcycle to me as soon as my bloody hands closed around the grips, and I hit the brakes to slow down behind the black car.
Hael was climbing in feet first through the driver-side window, and he stopped his movement to glare at me. He couldn't see my smirk through my helmet, but I brought up my left hand and raised the middle finger so that he was absolutely clear about my feelings. Fuck that asshole.
He returned my middle finger and then made a cutting motion across his neck. His mouth formed words that I couldn't hear, and I shrugged my shoulders before putting my hand back on the handle of Funakoshi. Any second, a missile would fall from the sky and obliterate him, so I wanted to put as much space between us as possible. Funakoshi slowed to almost a crawl, and I waited for God to smite the black car speeding away from me.
The race car suddenly made a right turn into the parking garage of an industrial-looking business tower. It was lucky for Hael because, the street behind the car exploded into a fireball of orange brilliance a half a second after he turned. My visor dimmed to black, and I ducked behind Funakoshi's cockpit so that I wouldn't get a piece of shrapnel lodged in my body again.
"Sue Zay?" Jae's voice came across my helmet.
"Yeah?" I answered.
"We see you. Thank the stars you are okay. The police cars are coming; it looks like you took care of the motorcycles. Great job."
"All in a day's work." My head was spinning, and I took a deep breath to steady myself. "How do you see me?"
"I'll explain later. We will circle back via Camden Avenue east and then take the 17 south into the hills. Can you follow us?"
"Yep," I sped around the giant, flaming crater on the side of the road and opened up Funakoshi.
"Jae, he got away." I said.
"Who? Hael?"
"He was on the last motorcycle. He got into the car. He's in the parking garage I'm about to pass." It was still hard to breathe.
"We'll deal with him lat
er. We have his other terminal."
"What if he's got the code stashed somewhere else?" I asked.
"We'll figure that out when we get home. There is nothing we can do now. Police are going to arrive on the scene any second, and we need to be far from here."
"What about the tracking device? Is there one in this computer?"
"Caleb is pulling it apart right now," Jae explained.
"What about the drones?"
"We took care of them. We'll talk more when we get home. Do you see us?"
"Yes, I'm almost behind you."
"Great. I'm cutting the channel now. We'll talk more when we return home." Hogan displayed that the line had gone dead, and I set my speed to fall in behind Jae's car. It looked like the car was on its dying breath. There didn't seem to be an inch of metal that didn't have a bullet hole in it, and I wondered if anyone inside was hurt.
"Sue Zay, we need to talk about what just happened." Hogan's concerned Australian accent came through my helmet.
"Not now, Hogan. I'm tired."
"No, we need to talk now. This is important." His face glared at me.
"I know what you are going to say. It will be fine. Leave it alone."
"Section fourteen point eight of the International Artificial Intelligence Limitation Law states that 'no AI shall steer a motor vehicle' or 'engage in any sort of guidance outside of turning on or adjusting speed of non-AI self-driving systems.'"
"No one is going to find out." Fuck, I was really tired. I also felt nauseous. I didn't want to have this conversation with Hogan right now. I wanted to lie down on a bed somewhere. The clock said it was almost three fifteen in the morning. I had to be at class at nine. Maybe Jae would let me crash on his couch until then?
"Police drones recorded Funakoshi next to the car. The terrorist Hael Anders saw you jump from the back of the motorcycle. People will wonder how that happened." Hogan crossed his arms.
Concrete Chaos Page 18
