We piled into the Escalade. A man named Spider in the passenger seat handed me a stained up, white tank top. I held it under my nose and held my breath. Nathan sat next to me in the back, and I closed my eyes as his hands touched my face. It felt like hot metal on my skin for an instant. Despite wanting to appear calm, I let out a scream. Opening my eyes, I sat there ashamed as the white pain faded to a dull throbbing heat under my eyes. I caught a few drops of blood on the shirt. I stared at the gathering stains and said, "What went wrong?"
Robert was the first to answer, "Persim had the crowd bought before the debate began. I recognized one man in the crowd from the Speakeasy where we found you, Cora. I saw them watching Persim, waiting for the signal to start something. When she said fight, it was his mouth that took up the chant first. There were others planted in the crowd, too."
"I believe it," Nathan said. "I know this part of town. These people are scared, but they aren't fighters. They don't hit unless someone hits them first."
"But so quickly? I had them. I could feel they were on my side and they just flipped with one word from her," I said.
How could the power of both of you be turned so quickly by just Ethos? The siblings did not answer me. They were trying to figure it out, too.
CRUNCH!
We all flew forward and were choked a little by our seat belts. I whipped my head around to see a black police car so close to us that I couldn't see the headlights. And for an instant even through the tinted glass I could see two eyes so bright that I could have sworn the scleras were an azure blue instead of white. The officer pulled sunglasses down from his shiny head and covered up his eyes. Then he smiled as he accelerated toward us again.
"Floor it!" I shouted.
But it was too late, another hit sent the vehicle careening toward the sidewalk. The side mirror hit a light pole and shattered in all directions like a firework. Boss corrected the wheel a mere second before we would have collided with a fire hydrant.
Nathan unbuckled Ava and pushed her down to lay on the floor. Then I heard the click of several handguns as the clips were checked for ammunition. Boss continued driving, unphased by this new development as Snake, Sam, and Robert all rolled down their windows to take aim.
Boss used a light touch on the steering wheel and the center screen lit up.
"Call Mom," he said.
Immediately after the first ring a deep voice boomed, "Yeah, Boss?"
"Got a cop on our tail tryin' ta knock us off the road. Bring fire. Call Whiskey; he left the rally with the others in his car." Boss touched the screen, "location shared." He hung up.
A shot rang out and the windshield of the cop car spiderwebbed. Another police car came out of a side street at full speed and pulled up alongside us, cars in the opposite lane swerved off the road leaving the echoes of scraping metal ringing off the tall city buildings. Sam fired three rounds off in succession. The uniform in the passenger seat crumpled and blood spattered the driver, and yet as Boss took a tight corner the cruiser kept pace with us.
A gun was shoved in my face. I looked to see Boss holding his own gun out to me.
Dare I?
Gingerly I took it. Glass shattered as the back window was blown out. Ava cried from the floor as shards of glass rained down on her. I dared.
I pulled the trigger, aiming out the now wide open back. The shot went wild, and I saw a store window shatter instead of the car I was aiming for. The Escalade was hit again and Boss let out a stream of curses as a third cruiser came out of nowhere on our right. We were flanked.
Then I heard the bass. A Land Rover Defender with its music so loud the windows shook came racing up behind the police car. From the sunroof came one of The Disciples with a shotgun, but before he could release the safety blood spewed from his chest. A drone had joined the chase. It zipped around with its cameras unseen. No one knew where it was taking aim. All heads and hands disappeared inside the SUVs.
Nathan whispered a curse under his breath so low I was sure I was the only one to hear it. I could see the smile of the cop as he sped toward us from behind again. If only something could take them all out at once.
My mind raced, we needed a miracle. We needed a runaway semi-truck to smash into all of them at full speed.
Boss hit the gas and we lurched forward at a speed too fast for the narrow streets of the city. The two cruisers to the side of us came in line with the first one. The drone swooped down to their level in line for a clear shot at my head. This was it. Would Pathos and Logos find a new host? Would Persim regain full manipulation on the public?
A horn blared and headlights illuminated the drone and cruisers from the left side. A red big rig smashed into all four in the blink of an eye. I heard the Land Rover's brakes squeal to a halt before it collided with the semi.
All of us stared out the back as Boss sped away from the scene.
"What are the odds?" Robert said in awe.
No one had an answer but me, and I kept it to myself. I didn't know exactly how, but I knew I did that. One moment I thought about it and the next it occurred. Could these powers of persuasion inveigle people without even talking to them?