In the Shadows (Metahuman Files Book 3)
Page 22
The highway up ahead looked like a stretch of straight road through an urban valley of buildings. Sean didn’t know how much longer they could keep going with one tire lost. Declan’s people were still coming up from behind, not stopping, and getting closer with every second that passed.
“Bones? Can you reinforce the frame of the SUV?” Sean asked.
“From the inside. Easier to manage the motion of the vehicle that way,” Trevor said.
“Do it. They’re closing in.”
Most of the civilians had pulled over to the slower lanes, clearing the way once they realized crazy people were on the road. Sean hoped the NSPD had issued a warning alert about the highway.
A motorcycle cut between two cars, coming their way. Sean saw the rider weave from side to side, drifting in and out of the SUV’s mirrors as it came up on them. It leaned to the left, coming around with a burst of speed on the driver’s side. Automatic fire sprayed against the side of the SUV as the rider tried to overtake them. Sean’s family screamed, most of them ducking down low, not aware that Trevor’s telekinetic shield would keep them safe. Still, Sean didn’t appreciate the asshole rider’s attempt at murder.
“Bones, think you can do something about the fucker on our left?” Sean said.
“Keep driving,” Trevor replied. “I got this.”
In the rearview mirror, Sean watched as Trevor made a flicking motion with his fingers. The motorcycle flipped high into the air, as if it had hit debris in the road, sending its rider flying, only to crash into the ground up ahead, sprawled across both lanes. The crash happened way too fast for Sean to swerve in time. The SUV plowed over the rider with a heavy thump, everyone bouncing hard in their seat.
“Ten points,” Madison said, sounding sweetly venomous.
Sean barked out a surprised laugh, amused at her viciousness in an odd sort of way, despite the situation. “You’re unreal.”
“She was worse in the desert,” Trevor told him.
“I’d believe it.”
The highway had cleared ahead of them. Every civilian vehicle had pulled off to the far right lanes and the shoulder, leaving two lanes open for them to maneuver through. People were getting off at every exit they passed, which meant it would be impossible for them to exit the highway in the event they needed to.
Madison twisted around in her seat, peering between everyone to look out the rear window. “They’re trying to box us in. Can we go any faster?”
Sean grimaced. “Trying to.”
In the rearview mirror, a black car gunned its engine and sped forward, a hole opening up on the hood of the car. Sean’s eyes widened as he watched a mounted machine gun rise up and lock into place.
“Bones!” he shouted in warning.
The torrent of bullets that slammed into the rear of the SUV were armor-piercing rounds that managed to shatter the window. Sean’s brothers and parents screamed louder and didn’t stop as Trevor held up a telekinetic shield between everyone and certain death. Sean jerked the wheel to the right, trying to get clear, but the car followed.
Madison yanked open the glove compartment and came up with both a smoke canister and a signal flare gun. She slammed her hand against the control screen on the dash, shouting, “Nova to Apollo! Calling for close air support! Targets are north of blue smoke!”
“Wraith, you need to phase her,” Trevor said, most of his attention on their six.
“What about the civilians?” Sean asked.
“Viper will make sure they don’t target any.”
Sean grabbed Madison by the shirt over her stomach as she got a leg beneath her, pressing his clenched fingers against her body to phase her and help keep her steady. She raised both arms over her head and stuck her hands through the roof. The loud sound of the signal flare gun going off was followed by the clatter of the empty gun on the roof as she tossed it aside. Seconds later, a billowing cloud of blue smoke cascaded behind them, blocking the view of oncoming threats. Up in the sky, a trio of bright red lights exploded and burned their way back down to earth. He caught a glimpse of a couple of news helicopters that were following the chase. Sean only hoped they didn’t have high-resolution cameras pointed at them.
The SUV juddered hard as the second rear tire exploded from a direct hit. Trevor leaned forward between the seats and activated the emergency traction for that wheel on the dash. Sean’s teeth knocked together a couple more times before the traction kicked in and smoothed out their passage.
The smoke wasn’t enough to hide the enemy for long. With two tires gone, their speed started to drop. Sean swore as Madison sank back down in her seat, one arm still raised, blue smoke following in their wake. Behind them on the highway, a car cut to the right, getting free of the smoke. A man stood up through the sunroof, an RPG perched on his shoulder, aiming it their way.
“Bones!” Sean called out in warning.
“I see them!” Trevor said.
The man launched the RPG, the flare of the release a bright halo around his head. The cracking boom of the grenade exploding in mid-air before it even reached them was drowned out by the roar of an X-17 Hermes combat jet as it flew overhead so close Sean’s ears popped. It arced in a barrel roll that looked stomach-churning before coming back around to target several of the vehicles behind them, strafing them and only them with ruthless precision. Two cars exploded before crashing into the highway barriers, coming to a hard stop. The burning vehicles got smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror as Sean put distance between them.
“Fucking right!” Madison whooped, tossing the smoke canister away and drawing her arm back into the car. Sean released his power from her and put both hands back on the wheel.
“Icarus to ground squad, get ready to board. Apollo will catch you,” Annabelle said over the SUV’s comms.
Even as she spoke, she was flying the combat jet low to the ground in front of them, wings almost skimming the top of the cars lined up along the lanes on either side of the highway. The ramp was already opening, the edge of it sending up sparks that turned into miniature streaks of fire as the metal edge dug furrows into the asphalt. Annabelle kept the combat jet as steady as she could. Sean could make out Jamie standing braced in the back of the jet while Katie stood at the opening, pressed against the side of the jet to stay out of the way.
“Get ready to bail,” Trevor told everyone.
Sean pushed the SUV as fast as it would go, the vehicle shaking when it drove off the highway and onto the ramp with a couple of hard jolts. Sean slammed on the breaks, but sheer momentum kept them moving forward. They drove right into Jamie’s waiting hands, the front of the SUV crunching in his grip. He barely moved an inch, easily absorbing the kinetic motion of the vehicle and keeping it in place. Sean was thrown forward, his face smacking against the marginally softer wall of an air bag instead of the hard steering wheel. His foot slipped off the brake as he straightened up, breathing in chemical dust and coughing it right back out again.
The air bags immediately started to deflate. Madison slapped her hand at the control dash between the two bags, killing the engine with a press of a button. “Everyone out!”
Sean got his door open somehow, the space tight within the jet, but adrenaline kept him moving. He threw himself out of the SUV, slamming the door shut behind him. Trevor had gotten out on his side and was helping his father, Caleb, and Parker out of the SUV.
“Strap in!” Katie yelled from the other side, loud enough to be heard over the roar of the engines without even using her telepathy.
Trevor moved to help his brothers while Sean grabbed his dad, yanked down a flight seat, and shoved him into it, pulling at the harness to buckle him in.
“Keep your legs and arms tucked in close, okay?” Sean told him loudly.
His dad nodded, pale-faced and a little wild-eyed. Sean felt a momentary stab of regret for putting his family through this mess before he forcibly shook it off and got himself in a seat as well. Snapping the harness on, he looked over at where Jam
ie was still holding the SUV in place, mouth curled in a tight snarl beneath the opaque darkness of his tactical goggles and hard helmet.
“Clear!” Katie shouted seconds later.
The jet rose up at a sharp angle that had Sean lurching sideways toward the open ramp and the ground that was rapidly falling away from them. Someone screamed—he didn’t know who—but that didn’t stop Jamie from using his enhanced strength to shove the damaged SUV out of the jet.
Trevor made sure it made it all the way out, the vehicle spinning end over end a couple of times before flattening out on its final fall. Even before it reached earth, the combat jet’s weapons system targeted the vehicle and blew it to pieces with one shot, sending the remains falling to the mountainside below.
The red light near the ramp flashed on, the ear-piercing noise of the warning siren blaring loudly until the ramp closed and was sealed against the atmosphere. The light flashed green and the siren cut off.
Sean closed his eyes and took a deep breath as the combat jet climbed into the sky.
They were safe.
12
Wash These Ghosts Clean
Alexei shifted in his seat, forcing back a grimace of pain that came with every movement of his body. The wound in his side throbbed with an ache he couldn’t ignore. The dressing Trevor had put on it hours ago was in need of changing, but there was very little anyone could do for him beyond that right now.
A low pulse of artificial gravity kept everyone stable as Annabelle flew them at high speed into the upper atmosphere. Jamie had given the order earlier to not skip atmo, which meant Annabelle was aiming for the stratosphere on a high plotted course back to D.C. Alexei was a fan of that order. The sooner he got the tiny pieces of bullet shrapnel out of his body, finished up a regen regime, and slept off the after-effects of the debilitating neuro-jammer gun, the better he would feel.
On the other side of the jet, he could see Sean and some of his family, the latter looking more than a little freaked out. Sean looked tired, a tightness to his mouth that spoke of a tension Alexei wanted to wipe away with a kiss. He wanted to go over and see how Sean was doing, give him some support, but the second he tried to get out of his seat, Kyle yelled at him.
“<
“<
Kyle shot him an unimpressed look as he made his way over, pushing Alexei gently back into his seat. “<
“Let me take a look at your wound,” Trevor said from where he sat between Sean’s brothers.
He unclipped his harness and stood up, making his way over to Alexei. Behind him, Alexei saw Sean undo his own harness and stand up. The two of them crossed the flight deck, with Trevor making a beeline for the med-kit stashed in a storage compartment while Sean came to stand beside Kyle. He gripped the back of the empty seat next to Alexei, looking down at him worriedly.
“How are you holding up?” Sean asked.
“Fine,” Alexei replied.
“That word doesn’t mean what you think it does,” Kyle retorted.
Alexei scowled at him. “Not fix anything until we get to base. Is fine.”
“Make a hole,” Trevor called out.
Sean and Kyle dutifully shuffled aside. Trevor set down the field med-kit next to Alexei’s feet and opened it. He washed his hand in sterilization gel before snapping on a pair of latex gloves. The med-glove went on next, the flexible machine snapping into place around Trevor’s hand and forearm. It came online quickly, the screen flickering through a dozen different command sequences.
Kyle grabbed a flashlight from the med-kit and switched it on, shining it onto Alexei’s side to better illuminate the wound. Trevor peeled off the pressure bandage, left hand hovering over the wound. The scanner embedded in the machine over his palm projected a holographic image above Trevor’s forearm, showing off the deeper aspects of the wound.
“The shrapnel pieces are small, but it doesn’t look like they’ve shifted position all that much,” Trevor said.
“Gracie knows,” Alexei said. “Reported in.”
“Good.” Trevor glanced over at where Sean was pulling down a flight seat to sit down. “How’s your head?”
“Headache,” Sean replied.
Alexei poked him in the thigh. “Not good to lie to medic.”
Sean rolled his eyes. “I learned my lesson as a kid with my mom. Trust me, I know.”
He froze as the words left his mouth, eyes darting across the jet to where half his family sat. Alexei followed his gaze, noticing Sean’s brothers and father were watching them with wide eyes.
“<
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“<>”
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Alexei scowled at him. He knew what his brother was doing—distracting him from the doctoring going on—and anger or humor always proved a better focus than the pain.
“<
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Kyle rubbed at his arm where Alexei had hit him more than a little forcefully, feigning injury.
“<
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“Quit antagonizing my patient, Brannigan,” Trevor warned without looking up from tending to Alexei’s wound. “And you, Dvorkin. Quit moving.”
“What happened to using our code names in front of an audience?” Kyle asked.
“The audience in question is going to get put through a metric ton of NDAs, so at this point, it’s moot,” Jamie said as he approached.
Alexei watched as his captain undid the buckle keeping his hard helmet strapped on and took off his tactical goggles. The thrum of the jet’s engines wasn’t enough to drown out one of Sean’s brother’s shocked shout of “Holy shit! Jamie Callahan is a metahuman?”
Kyle glanced at Sean’s family before doing a double-take. “Uh, aren’t those the members of Atomic Grace?”
“Yes,” Alexei said. “Tatyana and Valentina will want autographs.”
“I already called dibs to be first in line,” Madison said from where she sat on the other side of Sean.
“Of course she did,” Kyle muttered.
Jamie smiled thinly at his team before jerking his head at the flight deck. “Agent Delaney, the director is on the line for you.”
Sean grimaced as he stood up. “Debriefing?”
“Since you’ll be ensconced in Medical once we land, yes, consider it a short debrief.”
They all knew better than to ignore an order given by their captain, much less the director. Even if Sean wanted to stay by Alexei’s side—and Alexei would’ve preferred that—they both knew their duty. Sean didn’t look back as he disappeared into the flight deck.
Alexei let his head fall back against the fuselage of the jet. He closed his eyes, swallowing a little against the queasiness in his stomach as Trevor finished bandaging his wound.
“It’ll hold until we get dirtside and get you into Gracie’s care,” Trevor said.
“<
“<
Kyle brushed back his hair with steady fingers and Alexei couldn’t help but lean into the touch. The silent support was exactly what Alexei needed right then. He dozed fitfully off and on for the two hours it took to return to D.C., Kyle remaining by his side. By the time they began their descent, he was more than ready to get his feet on solid ground.
“For y’all who’ve never flown with us before, stay seated until we’re wheels down and have lowered the ramp. We got medical personnel who need to come up,” Annabelle said over the public comms.
Alexei rubbed hard at his eyes, making a grumpy, wordless sound of protest as Kyle got him into his seat harness, careful of the wound. Alexei let him, knowing that it would keep Kyle calm to have something to do. Neither of them handled the other being wounded very well.
He blinked blearily at everyone in the belly of the jet, not seeing the one person he wanted close by. Jamie and Katie were talking to Sean’s family on either side of the jet, reinforcing Annabelle’s earlier order.
He felt the descent in his stomach, in his ears, as Annabelle deftly guided the combat jet to the MDF’s airfield in a vertical landing. The moment the wheels touched the ground, jolting everyone, the red warning light flashed on. Alexei winced at the sound of the siren, the noise piercing right through his head in a painful way. The ramp was quickly lowered, allowing Gracie and her medical crew access to the jet.
Gracie approached Alexei first, white coat swinging around her hips as she bent over him and placed one dark hand on his forehead. “You’re a mess, Dvorkin.”
Her power was like a cool flash through his body. The sudden absence of pain left him lightheaded, almost reeling in his seat, as Gracie used her healing power to manipulate how his body processed pain, blocking him from feeling it.