The woman in the cage let out a scream, and Ana held her ears. She summoned the strength to march toward the stairs and paused, staring at Roy and the woman. In her mind, she pictured everything she’d found upstairs. No weapons, no tools... nothing to save them.
She glanced at the equipment Miguel had strewn about in his desperate attempt to find something to release Daniel’s and the suit’s prisoners.
The sweltering heat suffocated her, and she coughed, waving away smoke with her hand. The woman’s scream filled the air, accompanied by the crackle of fire as Ana scoured the contents of a toolbox. She found needles, tweezers, and other tools meant for lab experiments but discovered nothing suitable for freeing Roy and his fellow prisoner.
She limped up the stairs and flung herself against the closed hatch. It didn’t budge, and no amount of pounding opened it. She couldn’t even make it outside to call for help or find another way to let Roy and the woman out.
“Ana!” Roy’s voice called.
She hobbled back down the stairs and across the room toward him. “I’m sorry, Roy. I don’t know how to get you two out of here.”
“Save yourself,” he said, his hand reaching out toward her. He grabbed her arm, his grip strong and sure. His eyes seemed vibrant, glowing in the light of the flames. Now she could tell for certain his face no longer exhibited the signs of whatever abuse he’d taken before. The vessels in his arms dilated.
“Roy, did they inject you?”
He nodded.
“What was it with?”
His eyebrows rose, and a smile tore across his face. He pointed toward a cooler on the opposite side of the room. “More. Get me more.”
“More of what?”
“That man’s gene mods... he said he mixed it with something... a drug, steroid, or something... I don’t know, Ana. I was pretty out of it. Until now.”
Ana cocked her head. “What good will that do, Roy?” She coughed. “We don’t have much time.”
“Just get it.” He spoke more lucidly than she’d ever heard him speak before.
She went back to the laboratory area and grabbed up a couple of the remaining bottles in the cooler.
“Needles, too!” Roy said, his voice piercing through the chattering fire.
Ana tossed open the drawers until she found a hypodermic needle and syringe. Her forehead scrunched in wrinkles as she shambled back to Roy.
“All right, let me see them.” He squinted at the bottle Ana held before him. He pointed toward a small glass vial in her right hand. “That one, I think. Inject me.”
“What?” Ana ducked under the smoke. “What the hell is it?”
Roy’s eyes narrowed, and he crouched to meet her at eye level. “Look, we don’t have time. That Daniel guy spoke about two different solutions. He injected the first into me, and he was about to use that one.” He pointed to the vial again. “But you and your buddy spooked them, so they stopped. It’s supposed to react together and make your body work overtime or something. I didn’t get all the techno-babble, but Daniel said the first two subjects escaped when he dosed them. So stick it in me and maybe I can get us the hell out of here.”
She had no idea what the solution did and wasn’t about to cause him any undue harm. The thought of hurting Roy, of potentially killing him, was repugnant. “I’m not going to fill you with poison. Maybe backup will get us out soon.”
“This place is burning up faster than my ass in July. We don’t got the time to wait.” Roy held out his hand. “Give it to me if you’re not going to do it.”
Ana clenched the hypodermic and medical concoctions near her chest, out of Roy’s reach. She’d never seen the man so clear eyed, so coherent. Maybe whatever Daniel had first injected him with was working; maybe Roy was right. She filled the syringe and brought the needle near Roy’s skin. For a moment, she thought she might be no better than Daniel, about to use an unknown solution on a live human being, and she froze.
The scream of the woman in the other cage and the crackle of the enveloping fire shocked her back to her senses. She held her breath and stuck the needle into Roy. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he said. “Worst-case scenario, the streets lose another beggar.”
“When’s this supposed to kick in?” Ana coughed. A haze fell over her mind, begging her to sleep. She gasped for air.
Roy stood, the vessels in his arms bulging. He shook the chain-link partition. He grunted and pulled at the metal, but it didn’t give.
Fire licked up from the lab benches and spread into the rafters. The ceiling groaned, and Ana backed up against the bottom of the stairs. She would die down here, die in the flames of a failed rescue attempt and after watching her partner’s abduction. There was no way Miguel would make it through this night alive, either.
Then the shriek of tearing metal pierced the wild roar of the fire. Roy stepped from his cage and moved to the woman’s. He tore the lock off it and hurtled past Ana to the top of the stairs.
“Stand back!”
Ana grabbed the woman, who was still screaming, and tried to calm her as Roy lowered his shoulder and charged the lab entrance. He threw himself into the underside of the wooden hatch door until it burst open in flying splinters.
Her fingers around the woman’s wrist, Ana guided the freed prisoner up the stairs and out to the house’s main floor. Smoke rose between the floorboards and filled the space.
Roy stepped into the dining room, headed for the gaping hole in the rear of the house beckoning them to safety. His foot hit the hardwood floor, and it gave way.
Flames spouted out from the fresh break, embers and rafters tumbling to the concrete floor and burning lab equipment below. Roy lost his footing and fell. He grabbed the edge, and Ana dove. She wrapped her hands around his right wrist as he grasped at the splintered hardwood floor with his left hand. Heaving her bodyweight backward and mustering all the remaining strength in her injured body, she pulled him from the void, and they tumbled back into the main hall.
“Thanks.” Roy gripped her shoulder, and his eyes darted as they searched for another escape. He charged and dove through a window. Ana helped the other woman through the broken window before she followed.
The sirens of the approaching emergency response teams filled her with all the relief of a marooned sailor boarding a ship for home. She took deep breaths of cold air, savoring it, and led Roy and the woman toward the street, away from the heat of the burning house.
“Thank you, Roy,” she said.
“No, thank you.” His dark skin glowed, not solely because of the fire, but, she suspected, because of the rejuvenated energy and whatever else the solution had bestowed upon him.
A thought struck her, and she grabbed Roy’s wrist. “If Daniel said two others escaped tonight after his tests, then why were they doing the same thing to you?”
Roy’s jaw clenched. “They were going to kill me. Shoot me like a dog right after they proved it worked. Weren’t going to be taken by surprise like they were with the two guys before me.”
A patrol car squealed to a stop, and two officers hopped out. An ambulatory drone descended, clearing away a patch of light snow as it hovered above the middle of the street, and it was soon followed by an ambulance with paramedics rushing to attend to Roy, the woman, and Ana.
As a paramedic pressed an oxygen mask to Ana’s face, one of the officers, Jay Mishra, rushed to her side. She’d never been on patrol with him, but she was thankful to see a familiar face from the force.
“What the hell’s going on?” Jay said. The orange glow of the burning house lit up his dark hair and brown eyes.
Ana glared at him and she pushed the paramedic aside. She’d breathed enough fresh air to awaken her senses, and her mind clicked into overdrive. Every passing second meant another second closer to Miguel’s death. “We need to go.”
“You’re in no shape to go anywhere,” Jay said. “Just tell me what happened.”
Ana dropped the oxyge
n mask and strode toward Jay’s idling patrol car, each step sending waves of pain up her leg. “You two want to come along, or you going to let me borrow your car alone?”
Jay ran after her. “We can’t just leave these people here.”
“Fine.” Ana pointed to Connor McMurray, the other officer, and the security drone hovering above him capturing holofootage of the scene. A couple more sirens wailed in the distance as blue and red lights filled the street. “Connor stays here, waits for the others running late to the party, and we move.” She ducked into the driver’s seat of the car, and Jay hopped into the passenger seat.
He grabbed her shoulder. “Seriously, Ana, tell me what’s going on. You need medical attention.”
“Screw that.” She tapped across the car’s holodisplay and gestured until she found Miguel’s call sign. The GPS-based holomap projected his current position. “Miguel’s in danger. You can call backup, but I’m going to be there, one way or another.” She flicked off the car’s autodrive and smashed down the pedal, and the patrol car’s tires squealed as they caught hold on the slick street. “I’m not letting him die.”
Chapter 9
Jay gripped the edge of his seat as Ana cranked the steering wheel hard to the right. “So these assholes just took Miguel and left you guys for dead?”
“Right,” Ana said through gritted teeth. She stole a glance at the holomap displaying Miguel’s coordinates. She prayed it was accurate and his comm card was still tucked into one of his pockets. As long as Miguel had it, they could follow his position.
“You’re sure this is actually him, right?”
Ana said nothing. Their patrol car careened between two lumbering semi-trucks. Jay’s words echoed in her mind. She truly didn’t know if it was Miguel or not. She didn’t have any other leads, though, and there would be only one way to find out.
She took another left, her foot heavy on the pedal. The tires slipped on asphalt slick with fresh snow. The holomap indicated Miguel was four blocks away. She slammed her foot down, and the car barreled forward through the drifting snow.
The sun still hadn’t peeked over the horizon, and traffic remained light on the city streets as they passed through the south side of Baltimore’s industrial district. She squinted at the two red taillights glowing in the distance before her.
“Think that’s them,” she said.
On the holomap, a couple more shining dots indicated other patrol cars descending on Miguel’s reported position. An ember of hope burned in Ana. At least she wasn’t alone.
They gained on the silver sedan. In response to the patrol car’s spinning red and blue lights, the sedan rocketed off. Ana gripped the wheel tighter and followed.
The silver car hit an on-ramp, careening onto the interstate toward Washington, DC. She closed the distance between them, and two other patrol cars joined in her pursuit.
One unit sped past and approached the silver car’s rear quarter panel. Several bright flashes exploded in the dark night, followed by the crack of gunfire. The patrol unit careened out of control and slammed into a concrete partition.
“Holy shit,” Jay said. He tapped on the holodisplay. “Dispatch, shots fired on patrol unit. Suspect headed south on I-95.”
“Assholes.” Ana tailed the car. She stayed far enough away to reduce the risk of gunfire. The suit had run out of rounds back at the row house. But they apparently hadn’t just stored extra ammunition in the car. The bullets that had put the other patrol car out of commission were too powerful to be 9mm rounds suited for a handgun. They were something else, something more damaging.
“We need to stop these people before they get someone killed,” Jay said.
“They’ve already killed someone tonight,” Ana said. “Now it’s a matter of taking them out. I’d press them harder, but if Miguel is in the car... Can you get a read on the license plate? See if we can do a remote shutdown on their electric motor.”
Jay gestured in front of the holodisplay and then shook his head. “Nope. They’re off grid. Definitely know what they’re doing. This isn’t some petty criminal.”
“Didn’t think so.” She wracked her mind. The longer they remained on the road, the more desperate Daniel and the suit might become. They’d use Miguel as a hostage to gain leverage, and she didn’t intend to negotiate with these men. “Get your stunner ready. Flick it up to max charge.”
Jay did as she said. “And what’s your plan?”
“We’re going to stop the vehicle in its tracks. If we can shut down the car’s computer, they won’t have any control over it, and we can guide them where we want.”
A spatter of gunfire rang out. Bullets slammed into the hood of the patrol car, and Ana let off the gas pedal. Jay and Ana ducked. Their car drifted back a couple dozen yards from their quarry.
“So you want to slow them down before we do a spin maneuver to reduce the chance Miguel gets hurt, right?” Jay asked.
“Exactly.”
The interstate opened up before them. Two autodrive semi-trailer convoys carried on, and the silver car wound between them.
“Get ready,” Ana said, gesturing over the holodisplay to lower Jay’s window slightly. She slammed her foot down and put the convoy between her and the silver car. When they passed the lead trailer, their target drove beside them. “Now!”
Jay fired, and a blue arc of electricity hit the suspects’ car. Sparks flew, and the vehicle’s lights shut off. The whine of its electric motor ceased, and the car decelerated. A passenger responded with a volley of gunfire riddling the side of Ana and Jay’s car.
Ana flicked on autodrive and crouched as glass sprayed around them. The sound of the salvo resounded in the cabin, and their patrol vehicle slowed in unison with the silver car.
“Give me your stunner,” she said. Jay tilted his head. “They took mine.”
He handed the weapon to her and drew his Smith & Wesson. The car jolted to a stop, and she sprinted out the door. The pain in her chest and limbs reignited as she rounded the front of her car, her stunner leveled. Jay took point at the rear of his vehicle.
Ana aimed the stunner at the driver’s-side window. “Get the hell out of the vehicle with your hands up!”
In answer, bullets sprayed out. Glass shards flew, and rounds plunged into the patrol car.
A couple of other police vehicles stopped, and officers piled out with their guns pointed at the car.
“Jay, tell them to hold their fire!” Ana said. “There’s an officer in that vehicle.”
Jay mouthed something into his comm card, but the drone of gunfire spraying from the stopped vehicle drowned out his words. Miguel’s life was at risk, as were those of the other officers. Adrenaline surged through Ana’s blood vessels and, staying low, she sprinted to the silver sedan. Another burst of gunfire rang out.
But the rounds slammed into one of the other police cars. Maybe Daniel and the suited man hadn’t seen her. A gun barrel poked out of a crack in the driver’s-side window. Ana clicked her stunner up to full power—no other amount of charge would take down an enraged enhancer. She leapt up and thrust the weapon in. She directed an arc of electricity at Daniel, who was firing an assault rifle. His body fell back in the front seat, and she readjusted her aim, but no one else appeared.
She heaved open the door, its locks fried by the earlier electrical sabotage. With one hand, she yanked Daniel’s heavy body out onto the pavement. Her muscles burned, and her lungs screeched in agony at the effort, but she pushed past the pain and dove into the vehicle. Jay joined her, his handgun trained on Daniel. She peered over the back seat but still couldn’t find any evidence of the suited man.
Two more officers rushed to Jay’s side and cuffed Daniel, who lay paralyzed by the stunner’s blast. Ana ran to the back of the car and popped the trunk. Her heart leapt at the sight of Miguel’s bruised and bloodied face. An ambulatory drone descended near her, and the rest of the world seemed to fade as she focused on Miguel.
She held his hand, and he o
pened his eyes. Red covered his sclera, a sign of burst vessels in the whites of his eyes. Caked blood traced the corners of his mouth. But when his gaze caught hers, he managed a smile. She waved to a couple of lingering paramedics waiting beyond the police barricade. They grabbed supplies from the landed ambulatory drone and dashed toward Miguel.
Ana let go of him as the paramedics set to work. She rounded the car back toward where five officers now surrounded Daniel. “Where the hell is your buddy?”
Tremors from Ana’s stunner still shook Daniel’s limbs, but his genetically modded frame withstood the shock that would’ve sent a normal-sized man into a coma. “Don’t... know.”
“Bull.” Ana’s nose scrunched in a snarl, and she refrained from kicking him in the ribs. “Where the hell is he?”
Daniel’s lips trembled. “Told you... I... don’t know.”
“What do you want us to do with him, Dellaporta?” one of the officers asked. He laid his hand on Daniel’s shoulder as if such a weak gesture would keep the man under control.
Ana gritted her teeth and surveyed the scene before her. Red and blue flashing lights illuminated the dark highway. Snowdrifts accumulated near the concrete barriers, and traffic piled up beyond the police vehicles. She stared back at Miguel, now on a hovering stretcher with two paramedics escorting the floating device back to an ambulance. She pictured Roy, saved from his imprisonment and seemingly healthier than ever. She’d done what she’d set out to do, and her return to the station was long overdue.
“I want to ask him a couple more questions, but make sure you tie him down good.” At least she wasn’t going back alone.
Chapter 10
Ana folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the wall in the interrogation room. Aaron Browne, the Bio Unit detective who had attended one of their earlier crime scenes, sat across the table from the man they’d determined to be Daniel Wallace, a low-level biohacker manufacturing genetic modifications and chemical stimulants designed to over-activate a person’s normal nervous system.
The Black Market DNA Series: Books 1-3 Page 81
