MEIBOCH™: $540,000
I jerked the wheel to turn, but did it harder than I should have. We skidded and swerved, bashing into an Ad station, but it didn’t slow me. I tried again, with a little more control on the next turn. We zoomed down a narrow side street. Mr. Skrip, my driving teacher, would have been proud.
Kel shook her head. “Focus.” She swiped at her Pad and looked uncertainly out the window. “The Twenty-Second Radian and Ring 12.”
“You look like that actress,” Henri said to Saretha.
My brain tried to understand that Kel, Margot and Henri had never met my sister. I glanced back at them in the rearview mirror.
“Henri, you idiot,” Margot said, forcing him to switch places and shuffling herself next to my sister. A fake smile masked, or failed to mask, Saretha’s agony. Margot kept her eyes on Saretha and held out her hand to Kel. “Nexbuprofen™.”
Kel passed back something that looked like a small red bean. Margot injected it into my sister’s arm.
Thank you, Saretha mouthed, her eyes going a little dim. Margot began to wrap her leg. I kept glancing back, despite myself.
“Focus on the road!” Kel warned, then, less harshly, “She will be okay. Jumping to get away from Rog was probably a smart move. Her legs will heal.”
Between my sister and the Meibochs™ on our tail, it was hard to concentrate on where we were going. I couldn’t let myself worry about Saretha right now; Margot would take care of her. I had to keep moving. I had to be brave.
Where were we going? I gripped the wheel to keep my hands steady. Driving at this speed on these interior streets was beyond reckless. I swerved around a line of cars and blasted through a light. Rog’s Ebony Meiboch™ was clipped just behind me. It skidded sideways and smashed into the side of a parked car. The wheels smoked as his car tore off after us once more. Farther back, at least three others followed.
“We should take the Western Exit off the outer rim,” Kel said, thinking ahead.
Henri checked his bag. “What if we shot a grapple line out...?” he started excitedly.
Margot shook her head. “You will lose your hand.”
Henri looked at his grapple with disappointment.
No matter how many sharp turns I took, Rog and his crew would not be shaken. On the sidewalks, people were out, but I was going too fast to gauge their reactions. Did anyone have a clue what had just happened?
There was a thundering crack from the center of the city. It sounded like when the dome was struck by lightning. My heart skipped a beat, terrified the damage might be bad enough to take down the dome. People on the street staggered and cowered.
“Left, then right. The Twentieth Radian is wide,” Kel said, unphased. I swerved into and out of each turn.
I tried to glance up at the city’s roof, but a shot rang out behind us. It ticked off the bumper and zipped off with a cartoonish whir. In the rearview mirror, I saw the indigo brother hanging out the passenger window of Rog’s car, his tongue in his teeth. He was alive. That was disappointing.
He fired again and again. Rog’s car pulled up and rammed us from behind.
Henri laughed at him.
“Eventually he’ll shoot the tires,” Kel said, frowning. “Or knock us off the road.”
Margot threw her bag to the floor in frustration. There was nothing in it to help us. Henri bit his lip. I feinted a turn, and the Meiboch™ dipped right, then came back after us, gaining. Henri’s window motored open.
“Henri!” Margot shouted. Saretha groaned.
Henri leaned out and fired his grapple. His gun whipped out of the car, slamming out of the window, then bounced out onto the road, where it beat around and around Rog’s driver’s side wheel until the gun was pulverized.
“Yes!” Henri shouted, shaking his hand out and laughing.
“You idiot!” Margot screamed.
Kel clucked her tongue. Saretha groaned.
“See, I can have good ideas,” Henri announced proudly.
Kel squinted back and shrugged. “Maybe it will slow them down.”
“Let me have your grapple,” Henri said to Margot with a wild gleam in his eye.
In the rearview mirror, I could see the wheel he’d hit wobbling swiftly.
“Here!” Kel jabbed her finger at the road. We were coming up on the entrance to the outer ring. I took the curve hard, remembering too late that I shouldn’t accelerate into a turn. We slid into the wall with a metal screech.
Rog’s car slammed us from behind. My body jerked back and then forward. More gunfire peppered the car. My heart was pounding—I couldn’t let Rog catch me. It wasn’t just my survival instinct; it was a powerful need not to let him win. I floored it, and Rog’s driver kept right after me.
On the outer ring, the speedometer pushed past two hundred miles per hour.
“We’ll take the Western Exit,” Kel said.
“Out of the city?” Henri asked.
The thought turned my stomach to knots. I had no idea what was out there. Plus, there were people who needed me inside the dome. Nancee was here somewhere. There was Penepoli and Mandett, not to mention all the Silents. They would be gathering, or had gathered.
Kel didn’t answer. Where did she want to go? We sped past Falxo Park and under the bridge just beyond. Above us, dozens of people looked down. In the rearview mirror, I saw the bridge and the park and the crowd. I couldn’t see how many. Were they all Silents?
Rog’s cars had spilled out behind us and fanned across the wide lanes of the outer ring. Without the streets to contain them, they could move in against us. I pushed the pedal to the floor, and the Brute™’s fat wheels hugged the curve of the road.
Falxo Park and the long, arching bridge receded in the distance, dotted by the silhouettes of people seemingly jostling to see down. Behind the black glass of Rog’s car, I could see nothing of the man I wanted to destroy.
“It’s coming up fast,” Kel warned. The Western Exit was in view, on the opposite side of the road. I couldn’t make it, or perhaps I didn’t want to. I let my hands make the choice. If we left the city, we might end up someplace where the WiFi was functioning. Rog could call for help—he could coordinate. I needed to stay here and see this through.
“Speth?” Kel asked.
I dipped the wheel, crossing all eight lanes, skimming the outer edge of the wall toward the exit. I wanted them to think we were leaving. Rog and his men took the bait. They followed, but I peeled off at the last moment. One of Rog’s cars panicked and slammed right into the sharp wall. Two others disappeared down the tunnel so that only Rog’s Meiboch™ Triumph remained behind us.
Despite my efforts, his Meiboch™ continued to inch closer.
I made a snap decision and turned fast, whipping up the next exit. Rog was caught off guard, and the Meiboch™ shot past us. As we went up the ramp, Rog’s driver slammed on the car’s brakes, but the ring traffic kept coming. He couldn’t back up through the onslaught. The Meiboch™ peeled out, clearly heading for the next exit, and I quickly turned the car back, taking us toward the park.
“What are you doing?” Margot demanded, then, realizing I wasn’t going to answer, she asked Kel, “What is she doing?”
“Shh,” Kel shushed, because she could see what I saw up ahead. It wasn’t just a few dozen people who had gathered—it was more like a thousand, and despite the WiFi being out, they were all totally silent.