"SIU. Ladies, step away!"
The two women looked up, relief etched across their faces when they spotted her. When both stepped away, she fired the stun laser at the creature's head. It looked up and snarled.
She kept firing. The creature rose, shaking its head as it backed toward the window. Then it turned and jumped out. She ran over. The creature was fleeing for the nearest tree, white flesh billowing in the breeze.
There was a fire escape to the left of the window. She clambered out and hesitated, glancing back. The nurses, their faces still white, were beginning respiration on the victim. Given the bloody condition of his face and chest, she didn't give them much hope, but at least they were trying, no matter how gruesome the task was.
"I'll call an ambulance," she said.
One nurse nodded. Sam rose. As she ran down the rusting metal stairs, her viaphone vibrated against her side. She pulled it out and hit the answer button.
"What?" She jumped past the remaining five steps and hit the ground running. The kite had taken to the treetops, jumping from one to the other like some great white bat.
"What wrong?" Gabriel's voice, instantly on edge.
She inwardly groaned. The man definitely had a knack for catching her at the wrong moment. "A kite just attacked one of the four men in the photograph I took from Lyle's."
"Where is it now?"
"Heading west up Racecourse Road"
"Where are you?" His voice had a resigned note. He obviously had a pretty good idea where she was.
"Right on its tail, figuratively speaking."
"I see you now."
He did? Why the hell was he in Kensington? A gray ford slewed to a stop beside her and the door flung open.
"Get in," he ordered.
She did. After securing her seat belt, she leaned forward and watched the kite jump across the treetops. "It appears to be heading for the race course."
"Probably has some type of escape route there."
"I thought you said these things were brainless."
"Brainless, but programmable. More programmable than we'd thought, obviously."
"Are you admitting the SIU doesn't know everything?" she said, slipping a note of shock into her voice.
His quick glance suggested he was not amused. She grinned and continued to watch the kite. If any of the pedestrians noticed the monster above their heads, they gave little indication. Nor did the passing traffic. Maybe monsters had become such an everyday event, or maybe they simply thought it was a sheet tumbling along in the breeze.
The creature leapt over the race course ground's fence and disappeared from sight. Gabriel swore, then spun the wheel and aimed the car straight at the nearby gates.
"Hang on," he said, almost as an afterthought.
The engine roared as the car accelerated. As the gates loomed close, she closed her eyes, braced her feet, and hung on grimly to the seat belt. The car slammed through the gates, the impact smashing the front of the car and throwing her forward, then back, as the air bags popped.
He swore as the car skidded sideways and came to a jarring halt. "Can you still see it?"
She couldn't see a damn thing above the white balloon of the air bag. She opened the door and climbed out. The kite was running through the trees, its white body dappled with shadows.
"I see it."
"Good. Catch."
She looked around in time to see him toss a laser rifle her way, and then he slammed the trunk shut.