The Dark Edge Chronicles - Hardwire

Diversion

Which gave Mohammed the strange vantage point of watching the crumpled bumper of the van, smashed in by its impact with the cordon patrol cars, miraculously straighten itself and resume its previous shape. All without a sound.

"By Allah!" he husked softly, not wanting to believe what his eyes were telling him. Then he was being thrown roughly back as high-powered slugs stitched across his bulletproof vest, miniature battering rams impacting with enough force to catapult him sprawling against the Plexiglas barricade.

Lash frowned as he looked at the holographic display dancing just above the silvery case that Mordecai had named 'Paladin'. It currently showed the doppelgangers and their duplicated van as it sped north along Bay Street, a long stream of police cars in hot pursuit with lights flashing and sirens blaring.

"It would appear, my friends, that the local law enforcement have taken our bait," he relayed, looking up from the display and over at Mordecai and Jeriko where they were talking in low murmurs with the two human detectives, Dee and Duffy a couple of meters away.

"Good," Mordecai replied as Jeriko fished a similar silver case out of her pocket, a globular holographic display flaring to life above it as she activated it with a thought. "Now, all we have to do is make sure the coast is clear! Jeri?"

"Excaliber, display the police cordon blocking our planned escape route," the blonde hardwire commanded in a soft voice.

"Uplinking to remote probes in the area, Jeriko," Excaliber's soft, male voice replied as the display rippled in response to the uplink, "and downloading relevant data streams, formatting and displaying."

With a flicker of blue light, the intersection leading along Front Street to where it intersected with a cross street that carried traffic to the Gardiner Expressway, the fastest land route to the airport, was displayed. And that display showed none of the heavy police presence that it had but two minutes previously.

"It would appear that our exit has indeed been cleared," Jeriko reported with a lupine grin, her fangs clearly visible. She looked up at Mordecai, who nodded as a satisfied smile turned up the corners of his mouth.

"Excellent." Then he was looking over at Lash. "We have a green light on the evac, commander."

"Acknowledged." The big Qos Viran commander was abruptly all business as he deactivated Mordecai's tiny, hand-held A.I. and tossed it to the man in black before turning to Tahsis in one smooth motion. His second-in-command was standing by the actual van they had not only used to assist in their penetration of the Brotherhood command nexus, but had also duplicated for the doppelgangers.

Together, the vampires, the psionics and the two humans were standing close to the van in the alleyway behind the hotel they had been using as a command center, waiting for the diversion to initiate. An event they had just witnessed.

"Tahsis, we are go for an immediate evac!" Lash hissed in the vampires' tongue, the sibilant syllables dancing through daytime air for the first time ever in the Dark Edge's history as they made their instant way to a waiting Tahsis.

Nodding, Tahsis turned away from Lash to make a tight series of gestures towards the shadows clustered deeper into the alley. In response, fairly exploding from those self-same shadows came the rest of the Qos Viran team, carrying their assembled gear and equipment. The back doors of the van flew open and the gear and equipment were quickly loaded, the team members quickly clambering aboard in pursuit.

With the gear stored and the Qos Viran loaded, Tahsis turned to give a thumbs up to Lash. Who immediately spoke up.

"We're loaded, psionics and humans," he reported crisply in English. "Time to hop aboard our Qos Viran airport shuttle, leaving immediately!"