Between Burning Worlds (System Divine #2) - Jessica Brody Page 0,159

had gone rigid and his gaze was anxiously darting over the monitors on his console.

“Is something wrong?” Marcellus asked just as a massive high-powered tracking beam cut through the darkness in front of them. He glanced out the window, where he could make out four ominous crafts in the dark sky, glimmering like knife blades cutting through the air.

“What are those?” Gabriel asked, all evidence of his former easiness vanished.

“Aerodrones,” replied Dr. Collins in a grim voice.

“What the fric is an—”

Dr. Collins jabbed at a switch on the console and the aerocab lurched forward, boosting them into top speed as they soared toward the massive metal hangar in the distance. Marcellus grabbed on to the edges of the seat for balance.

“What’s going on?” Cerise asked.

“It was a trap,” said Dr. Collins, peering back at the crafts retreating behind them. “My security clearances were evidently only active because they hoped I’d lead you right to them.” He wrenched down on the contrôleur and maneuvered the vehicle into a sharp turn just as a shower of bullets sprayed across the back window, shattering it. Gabriel and Cerise screamed and ducked onto the floor.

“Bloody hell.” Dr. Collins jabbed at another switch on the console. A second later, every light inside and outside the vehicle extinguished, plunging them into darkness. “Aerodrones are unmanned crafts,” he explained. “They rely on light and movement to improve their aim.”

“Oh my Sols, we’re going to die!” Gabriel shouted.

Cerise groaned. “Don’t make me punch you again.”

“Don’t worry,” Dr. Collins assured them, pushing harder on the throttle. “I am going to get you to that—”

There was a sudden cracking sound, and the vehicle started to spin out of control, whipping around in circles and flinging Marcellus right off his seat.

Then someone screamed.

He couldn’t be sure who it was. Cerise, Alouette, maybe Gabriel. But when Marcellus was finally able to right himself and look back at the driver’s seat, he suddenly understood.

Dr. Collins was slumped over the console, his head shoved up against the contrôleur. Blood leaked in a sickening river from his right temple.

Before Marcellus could react, another round of cluster bullets exploded around them. The window beside him shattered. Marcellus glanced out through the broken plastique to see the glinting aerodrones circling overhead, like vultures waiting for something to die.

Adrenaline charging through his veins, Marcellus pushed the canister into Alouette’s hands and then shoved Dr. Collins off the console. He maneuvered himself into the driver’s seat and took a quick inventory of the controls. They weren’t entirely like his moto, but they were close enough. He grabbed onto the contrôleur and yanked the vehicle out of its spin.

Through the splintered windshield, Marcellus saw another cluster bullet whiz by, barely missing the front of the aerocab. He jammed his hand against the throttle, and they exploded forward toward the hangar.

Shots rained down around them, one finding its way through the ceiling. Cerise and Alouette both screamed and jumped as the cluster bullet wedged itself into the seat cushion directly between them.

“Zigzag! Zigzag!” Gabriel shouted in his ear. “It’s the best way to avoid getting shot.”

Marcellus did as he was told, pulling the contrôleur left, then right, then left again. He was certain he going to be sick, but it was working. The aerodrones kept missing. Concrete burst up from the ground, creating a dust cloud of confusion, but most important, concealment.

“There’s the ship!” Cerise exclaimed, leaning forward to point through the broken windshield.

Marcellus squinted. Cerise was right. Through the gaping mouth of the hangar, he could just make out their voyageur with its sleek wings and distinctive silvery shell.

So close …

He evened out the contrôleur and thrust the throttle as far forward as it would go, his gaze bouncing between the hangar and the rearview monitor.

“Wait,” he said, staring at the dark, empty screen. “Where did the aerodrones go?”

Just then, one of the menacing crafts descended from the sky in front of them, blocking their path. Two others swooped in on either side while the fourth descended from above, until they were completely boxed in and Marcellus had no choice but to ease up on the throttle and allow the aerocab to drift to a stop and sink back down to the ground.

He glanced at Cerise, Alouette, and Gabriel, who all shared the same defeated expression. Their voyageur was so close. Marcellus could see it through the cracked window, less than twenty mètres away.

“Stop in the name of the Queen!” someone shouted, “Or we will fire.”

They all turned to the