7:37 p.m.
We left the hospital on foot, my stride long and fast. I didn't want to share with Captain the reason for my haste but felt each passing second ticking away with the urgency of a woman on her deathbed. Which is exactly what I was, whether I wanted to admit it or not. Stop it, I scolded myself. You'll fight this. You'll win.
"Are we walking to Clonesville?" Leo asked.
"We'll take the precinct zoomer," Captain panted. "We park it outside Old Town. The locals still prefer donkeys or walking to vehicles of any sort, including zoomers."
"The zoomer?" I asked, shocked. "Didn't you watch my video? Doctor Morgan has a Stingray, remember?"
"Detective, I don't know what things are like in the States, but over here no one would dare hack a police zoomer," Captain said dismissively, barely breaking his stride. "Besides, our zoomers are practically unhackable."
"But Captain—"
"Listen," he cut me off. "We need to escort back Doctor Morgan, so we're taking the zoomer. Now, do you want to join me or not?"
Leo cast me a worrying glance. I nodded at him, keeping my thoughts about Captain's decision to myself. All around us, in an eerie repetition of yesterday's Epitaph, people walked slowly toward a plain white church with a dome the color of the sea surrounding the island. Just like yesterday, they were dressed up. Only, their candles were not lit and the sound of the bells was missing, an expectant silence having replaced it.
"Is it still the Epitaph?" I asked.
The captain let out a small chuckle, sounding relieved we had moved on from the subject of the zoomer. "No, not today. Today, we celebrate the Resurrection. Years ago, we did that at midnight. Nowadays, the custom is to do it as the sun sets." He pushed through the thickening throng of people. "Excuse me, police business."
"What happens when the sun sets?" I asked as I followed him.
"Christos Anesti," he said with a grin. "The Resurrection. The priest shares the light of the Resurrection and people chant Christos Anesti. Oh, and fireworks. Lots and lots of fireworks."
I almost bumped into a black-clad woman, old enough to have witnessed the Resurrection first-hand, as the excited crowd barely opened up to let us through. I sniffed the air to enjoy the lovely scent of jasmine incense. I definitely have to come back for this.
After a few minutes, we left the worshippers behind and reached the municipal parking lot. I spotted the police zoomer at the back. It blinked its lights on as we approached. Its canopy slipped open. Captain invited us in. He pulled out a thick jacket hanging in a glass compartment and pulled it on.
"How can you wear that in this heat?" I asked.
"Protocol. Thank goodness, the armor has a cooling unit. Now, strap in." Captain pressed his hand against a panel. A light scanned his palm.
"Destination?" a woman's soft voice asked.
"This is Lisa," Captain announced. "Our zoomer's AI." He turned his attention back to the zoomer. "Destination: the Manor."
"Destination: Clonesville," Lisa confirmed. "Doctor Morgan's residence." The zoomer lifted into the air with a gentle sway.
"Siren, on," Captain ordered. He winked at us. "Let's make an entrance, shall we?"
I scoffed. The man I had seen had murdered someone in cold blood. He hardly seemed like the sort of person to let a police siren trouble him. Still, I decided against raining on Captain's parade, so said nothing.
It only took us a few minutes to reach our destination. We drew a slow circle around the Manor, ignoring the surprised faces staring at us from outside the tall walls.
A man was sitting on a chaise longue at the pool. He was alone, Xhristina presumably somewhere in the building.
I pointed at him. "There he is!" The image of him murdering Sergeant in cold blood flashed in my head. My fingers tightened their grip on the soft armrest.
Captain guided the zoomer a few yards from the pool, sending ripples on its surface. "Speakers, on," he ordered. "Doctor Morgan." The words echoed outside the vehicle. "We have a warrant for your arrest for the murder of Sergeant Morgan. Meet us immediately at the entrance of your building."
Doctor Morgan lifted his hands in surrender. With quiet, measured steps, he disappeared under the umbrella.
"That's where the Stingray—"
Before I could finish my sentence, the zoomer shot up in a juddering motion that almost made me empty my stomach. I leaned back on my seat, sinking my nails deep into the armrest. "Wang bad an," I cursed.
Captain grabbed the steering wheel with both hands and rammed it down as hard as he could. "Lisa," he shouted.
No response.
"It's the Stingray," Captain cried out in shock. "We've been hacked."
I swallowed my told-you-so as we blasted backward, our zoomer swaying in a mad dance like a leaf caught in a hurricane. Only our straps kept our bodies from crashing against the canopy and floor. I ground my teeth to stop myself from screaming.
Captain's face was a white mask of pain, the strap digging deep into his wound. The wheel was spinning wildly. Every time he tried to grab it, it banged against his hand, jerking it away.
Just as suddenly, our zoomer froze in midair. A split-second later, we sank toward the sea, like our ride could not wait another moment to dive into the sparkling waters.
My eyes almost popped out of their sockets at the sight of a sharp reef jutting out of the sea, mere yards away. I squeezed my eyelids shut. My arms rose against my face with a mind of their own. An involuntary scream escaped my mouth.
With a violent shudder, the zoomer froze in midair, inches from the reef and the sea.
I turned to Leo. His face was as taut as that of a monk battling the devil. His eyes were flittering like he was dreaming awake.
"Leo?" I whispered.
The zoomer lifted gently and started toward the island again.
Leo's eyes focused on me. "I've restored our firewalls and locked him out for now. But we need to land. I don't know how much longer I can block him."
"Take us as close to the Manor as you can," Captain said with a trembling voice. The zoomer quivered violently. He doubled over, clutching his wound. "Fly low," he groaned. "If you feel he's winning, turn off the engines. Drop us to the ground. Just don't let him regain control."
Leo nodded, his eyes still fluttering.
I took Leo's hand and kept glancing from his face to the approaching island. Every now and then, the zoomer shuddered like two opposing forces were pulling it apart. When we entered Clonesville again, I nearly cheered.
I let go of Leo's hand when we flew over the Manor. As we zoomed over the pool, I saw the doctor furiously punch the Stingray's controls.
"I'll kill the bastard when I catch him," Captain hissed.
"First...we...must...land," Leo said, every word interspersed with sharp inhales of his breath.
"You can do it," I said, not sure that I believed my own words.
We were about to touch the grass when the zoomer jerked to the side, like a fly swatted by a giant hand. We crashed into the Manor's wall, leaving a huge crack on its side.
Thick foam filled the cabin, blinding me. I opened my mouth to scream. The foam entered my mouth, suffocating me. Blind panic consumed me. A muffled scream escaped my lips.
Our zoomer overturned twice and bounced like a ball rolling down a hill. I choked. My hands wanted to flail about but the foam kept them locked in place.
When we finally stopped, the foam dissipated, leaving an acrid smell behind it. It couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds but it felt like an eternity.
I spat to clear the taste of the foam from my mouth.
"I hate airbags," Captain said between hungry gulps of air. "Why do they even call them that? Nastyfoams would be more appropriate."
"They did save our life," Leo pointed out.
I liked that in the guy. Always ready to see the bright side. Me, all I could think about was getting my hands around the doctor's neck and squeezing.
"Let me get this open." Captain grimaced in pain as he pushed a button on the cockpit. The glass canopy started to slide open, then shuddered stuck with a loud screech, leaving a foot-wide gap through which the airbag fumes escaped.
Bang!
I ducked. "What was that?"
Captain pointed at the sky. "Fireworks. Christos Anesti." A multitude of colors lit up the zoomer as the sky filled with color. "A little help?" He released his straps and pushed the canopy with one hand, his other still clutching his ribs.
Rat a tat tat.
For a split second, I thought it was more fireworks. Then, Captain scrunched his face in agony and collapsed, letting out a loud cry. Leo and I dropped to the floor as a hail of bullets flew through the opening or ricocheted against the canopy. Leo pushed himself on top of me, putting his hands over my head. The bullets stopped as suddenly as they had started.
I flipped around, facing Leo, and pushed his hands away. "Now what?"
Leo popped his head up for a split second to glance outside. "Robodogs," he whispered. "At least half a dozen."
"Captain. Is he alive?"
We both scrambled to the fallen man. Fearing the worst, I peeled away the armor protecting his chest, careful not to move him too much. I studied my hands. There was no blood.
Leo placed a finger on Captain's throat. "He's just unconscious. Probably from the pain. Some of those bullets hit him right next to his wound."
I leaned against the foot of my seat. Even though my metasuit's clima control was working on full, cold sweat dripped down my back in thick drops. "We need weapons."
Leo opened a metal closet at the back of the zoomer. He pulled out two handguns and looked at them with dismay. "These won't be much use against the robodogs' armor."
I took one. "They're still better than nothing." I grabbed a hip holster from the closet and fastened it to my leg.
Rat ta ta tat.
Another barrage of bullets sent us scuttling back to the floor. Most of them missed the opening but a dozen bullets decorated the inside of the cockpit with some brand new holes.
"Ta ma de," I hissed. "We must close the canopy."
Leo slammed the button on the cockpit. The canopy shook and groaned. He lifted his hands and yanked it back. With a quiver, it slammed shut. More bullets ricocheted against it, but none made it into the zoomer this time.
"Thank you," I said, rising from the floor. I patted dust from my metasuit as I looked outside. We had crashed on the garden under the pool, not far from the bush that was slowly killing me. A tree had stopped us from slamming against the wall. Six robodogs—no, seven—were making slow circles around us, no doubt looking for an opening.
I checked the zoomer's controls. "Surely this thing has weapons?"
Leo pointed to a machine gun lying on the grass, smoke rising from its twisted base. "It did."
Another curse escaped my lips.
"At least we're safe from the robodogs," Leo—ever the optimist—said. "The canopy can take their bullets. As long as we stay here, we're good."
"I guess."
"Surely others must have seen what happened," Leo said, beaming me a reassuring smile. "Someone like Guide will have alerted the authorities. I'm sure that help is on its way."
The zoomer was painted red by a particularly exuberant firework. 'Look at me, I can go bang,' it seemed to say.
"Unless they think it's just fireworks," I said through gritted teeth. "While we wait for them to realize what's really going on, Doctor will have escaped."
Movement caught my eye. A small fleet of drones, highlighted by the continued fireworks, flew from the house and hovered over the zoomer, no doubt transmitting everything back to Doctor Morgan. They were all identical to the one that had been following me on the island.
My gaze darted around the still smoky cockpit. "There's got to be something here we can use."
One drone flew straight for the canopy, hovering inches from my face. Its camera, red like an angry eye, focused on me. I made a rude gesture and gave it a mocking smile.
As if in response, the drone threw itself on the reinforced glass, the loud bang making me jump back with a yelp.
"What the..." My voice trailed off as a metallic arm popped out from a small opening on its side. A blinding light flashed at its end.
The drone touched the light against the canopy, which started to melt away.
"Wang bad an!" My heartbeat quickened as all the drones threw themselves against the canopy one after the other like a furious swarm of bees. They formed a circle and started cutting.
"They're cutting the glass," I cried out. I usually hated people who stated the obvious. This time, I was ready to make an exception.
"Yes," Leo agreed, his face grave. "At this rate, I estimate they'll cut through the canopy in under ten minutes."
It looked like I needn't have worried about the toxinin my blood. In ten minutes, we'd be target practice for half a dozen robodogs."Ta ma de!"