Renegade

Chapter eighteen

He, however, should have realized something was wrong when the psychic ability wielding Ochers appeared or when the morphed Umbers stampeded by, as he had been aware they were imprisoned on the lower levels. He was the most experienced field agent in Freakshow, he should have known something was bound to go awry.

Noelani made another unannounced, sharp turn, Blaise hot on her tail. In his haste to keep up, Wake almost lost control of the vehicle, the rear swaying dangerously. The brunette drove without sparing a thought to those following her, while the fire-wielder seemed to consider every drive a race. Wake hated following either one of them.

Diana's head lolled back with a light snore, unconcerned with what had just transpired. The comm nudged inside his ear came to life, Brad's smooth voice sending a shiver down his spine. No matter how long they've known each other and how often they communicated through comms, hearing Brad's deep baritone so close always elicited the same response.

"Titan here," Brad said, capturing all of their attention, including Diana's, who stirred sleepily. "Gremlin has a visual. He's sending it now."

"It's Eros," Gale corrected, ignoring the fact that none of them would ever call him by that code name. "And you can check your specs, ladies."

The dark tinted glasses they wore weren't merely to hide their faces, they were another creation of their resident Technopath. They had small ingrained cameras that recorded everything, delivering the live feed back to one of the many screens Gale used. They could also receive whatever data the ginger chose to send them and view them on the inside of the glass.

Brad had decreed early on in an authoritarian tone that only information of the official kind may be delivered through the specs, effectively halting whatever practical jokes had been running through Gale's head when he smugly presented them with his new invention.

Wake left Diana to check the data they were sent, as all of his attention was taken up by his companion's reckless driving. She pursed her lips and scrunched up her nose in the particular grimace she made whenever she was deeply focused on something.

"Got it. Thanks, Boss, thanks G," she said, tapping on the frame of her glasses to clear the info away. "Raijû, slow down a bit, I'm opening a tunnel."

Noelani did as she was instructed and soon enough, all three vehicles were smoothly passing through the white-edged circle. The scenery on the other side was much the same: a barely visible dirt road, rocky slopes and the odd outcropping here and there, the brownish scenery peppered with drying shrubbery.

"Oh, shit," Noelani cursed over the comm.

They had all spotted the rusty green vehicle in the distance that they assumed was their target. They had also taken note of the four black SUVs following closely behind in perfect formation. Apparently, the Civilian Security was as eager to get the fugitives back as they were. Shit, indeed.

* * * * *

Billie cursed softly, hurriedly wiping sweat from her brow. Mara – her Rover/RV hybrid child – was an old model, much, much slower than the four CS SUVs currently catching up to them. She shot a swift glance at her passengers. They were both securely strapped in, the boy tightly grasping the pouch wrapped around his small frame.

He seemed to be around ten years old, sickly thin and pallid with colorless lips and sunken cheeks. He had pale blond, buzzed hair and barely visible eyebrows hung over slim, green eyes. They were very expressive, betraying every emotion he felt.