a novice was imminent. One false move, one pebble or road divot caught wrong and her Guardian brother and sister were dead. No helmets. A thousand and one horses were running for her under the hood. She had to get past Dan and Heather and get to Nuit. Slow down, Dan, she prayed. Hold the bike steady, don't drop that girl. Jesus. But as the funnel cloud thundered in Dan's direction, she knew they'd die, Dan couldn't turn off. It had to chase her. Damali's foot stomped the accelerator at the same time she turned on the launch mode. The centrifugal force thrust her back into her seat so hard that it felt like someone had body slammed her chest. She vaguely felt the car drop down low to the ground. Whatever was outside whirled by in shadowed blurs. On the opposite side of the road from Dan, she realized that if she rocketed past him just the wind-drag coefficient would be enough to wreck him - but she couldn't see.
Opening her third eye, the huge roadside concrete drain pipe and construction site became a target. Thread the needle, see it in slow motion ... she turned the wheel slightly as the vehicle left the road just before she would have buzzed Dan and Heather, but the car kept rolling, over and over and over in a spiral, driving upside down inside the concrete tun nel to fly out the other end, hit the ground with sparks right side up, and still moving at two hundred and fifty miles an hour.
Her body was instantly covered with sweat. She plowed through Nuit's funnel and came out the other side with his face pressed to the windshield. Immediately Damali charged it with white light, making him lift his face, yelling. Furious, he raised a fist to smash the crystal windshield, but the open motor hood sucked his body down and burned him, making him roll off the hood of her car, hissing. In the rearview she saw a red Saleen S7
skid in what seemed like slow motion, becoming a red diagonal blur in the road as the
driver's-side scissor door flew up and white light pulses fired, torching the ground, and burning out Nuit's black shield. She slammed on her brakes, taking almost a half-mile to slow down enough to turn the wheel without flipping over. Screeching, she burned rubber and skidded to a stop where Carlos was standing and cussing in a rage.
"I almost had that motherfucker!"
She knew exactly where Carlos was at. She wanted Nuit's neck so bad her hands were trembling.
* * *
"no, she didn't get nicked, either," Marlene said, holding Krissy's hand. "But she hit her head good when she went down in the ladies' room - corner of a sink got her." Marjorie stroked her daughter's hair and after a moment, at Berkfield's gentle insistence, let J.L. get in next to his wife.
"She was trying to grab my hand when he pushed her," Heather said, tears streaming. "He knew we were trying to join hands to combine our energy against him."
"But why come feeding in a place like that - a council man?" Dan shouted, pacing in the living room as the team tried to steady their nerves. "It doesn't make sense!"
"He wanted a hostage," Carlos said. "Plain and simple. But he came away empty-handed."
"A hostage for what?" Dan snapped, his nerves raw.
"I don't know," Carlos muttered and leaned back in his chair then wiped his palms down his face. "Maybe as pay back since we kicked their asses so hard in Nod." Silence strangled the group.
"You rode like a pro, Danny boy," Rider said, glancing at Jose and trying to diffuse the new layer of tension that had just been added to the group.
"Yeah, man, but if you're gonna snatch a bike as your get away transpo, me and Rider gotta show you how to lay it down so you don't kill yourself." Jose smiled and kept a steady gaze of support on Dan.
"Yeah, man," Dan finally said, chuckling nervously. "All that was holding my bike to the road was tactical charge, then D blew past me and I started slowing down." He looked at Heather. "Precious cargo ... it wasn't just me on the bike."
"Been there, and can appreciate where you were at," Carlos said calmly, glancing at Jose with silent thanks in his eyes. "Look, why don't we all just chill for a minute. Everybody in here is left of center. Then J.L. - so