The Persona Protocol - By Andy McDermott Page 0,152

northbound street, the cars heading east and west were also moving . . .

Bianca gasped as an SUV pulled out of the side road on a collision course, halting abruptly as the speeding Hyundai cut in front of it. ‘Oh my God!’

Adam looked in the mirror. More vehicles were crossing the junction behind him, stopping sharply in panicked confusion as their drivers realised that traffic was still coming the other way. The police car skidded under hard braking and slammed into the side of a van.

‘What the hell happened?’ Bianca cried.

He turned his eyes back to the road ahead. ‘I think someone’s giving us some help.’

41

Race and Chase

Bewilderment spread through the Bullpen. The symbol representing one of the MPD vehicles was right behind the green triangle on the map . . . then came to a sudden stop, Adam’s Hyundai leaving it behind. ‘What’s going on?’ demanded Morgan.

Holly Jo was monitoring police frequencies. ‘The cops just crashed!’

‘Have we got the traffic cameras yet?’ said Tony as he put on a headset.

‘Coming up,’ said Levon, hurriedly closing the window on his monitor from which he had been overriding the traffic lights at the intersection. A view appeared on the video wall. Cars were scattered like a bored child’s toys across the centre of the crossroads. The police cruiser tried to move, but one of its tyres was flat, battered bodywork cutting into the rubber. ‘Damn! That’s a mess.’

‘Yeah,’ said Tony, giving him a tiny nod of thanks.

Kyle ran back in and hurried to his workstation. ‘Man, there’s a lot of water upstairs!’ he said as he brought the UAV on line. His screens lit up, displaying the roof of the STS building. The viewpoint rose sharply as the drone took off. He looked up at the traffic chaos. ‘Did I miss something?’

‘Way too easy,’ said Holly Jo quietly. A couple of people smiled at the joke even through the tension.

Morgan was not one of them. ‘Minds on the job, people!’ he snapped. One screen now showed the view from the drone’s camera; his gaze fixed on it. The vehicles on the streets below were little more than coloured specks. ‘Kyle, why are you flying so high?’

‘So I don’t crash into anything,’ Kyle replied, as if it were self-evident. ‘Sir,’ he quickly added as Morgan’s glare turned on him like a laser.

‘What?’ said Kiddrick incredulously. ‘The buildings in DC have a height limit – there’s hardly anything more than seven storeys. You’d be looking down on the Washington Monument from that altitude!’

‘I told him to go that high,’ said Tony. ‘So we can use the computers to tag and track all the vehicles involved in the chase. We need maximum situational awareness to avoid any more incidents like that.’ He jerked a thumb towards the scene at the intersection – not adding that with the drone flying far higher than necessary, it would make the job of tracking Adam and Bianca much harder if they left their car.

Morgan appeared dubious, but accepted the explanation. ‘Just find them,’ he said, before turning back to the map. The three green triangles representing the positions of Baxter and his men were now racing diagonally through the city along Rhode Island Avenue. The tactical team’s SUVs were fitted with strobe lights and sirens to help them carve through the Washington traffic.

They would not catch up with the Hyundai before the police did, however. Two more MPD cruisers were rapidly closing on the green square from different directions.

Holly Jo gave Tony a conspiratorial glance, then her hand moved to the button for the emergency bleeper.

Adam twitched as a tone sounded inside his ear – three shrill beeps, a second of silence, then a repeat. Bianca saw his irate reaction. ‘What is it?’

‘Someone’s using the alert beeper, and they won’t shut up.’

‘Can you switch it off?’

‘No. I’ll just have to not let it distract me.’ The pattern continued, more insistently.

A pattern . . .

The rising sound of a siren elbowed the thought aside. The police were getting closer – but he couldn’t tell from which direction, the electronic wail echoing off the surrounding buildings.

The Hyundai was fast approaching an intersection. The siren didn’t sound close enough to be coming from one of the side streets, so the police car was probably at least another block away. If he turned now, he had more chance of evading it.

Which way? Left or right?

He chose the former, braking as little as he dared to sweep the station wagon through the apex