Double Helix Ch. 20

"Ram them with the truck?" Alice suggested.

"Good plan," I said. "I'll go with that."

"Nock, I'm here," Sharon's voice came over the radio.

"Hold on, I see you coming. Be right down," Nock said.

"Shit!" Sharon said, "He just...dropped. Oh, he's okay." I could imagine her surprise, if Nock had dropped four stories from the top of the parking garage.

"We're coming, boss," Nock said.

Nonna didn't bother to contradict him this time. My guess was that she had her hands full helping to keep Stanley alive.

I slowed as I approached an intersection and heard a few chatters of suppressed rifle fire. I rolled down the window, which, surprisingly, wasn't even cracked, and listened. The sound was coming from somewhere up ahead, past the domed, ornate church on my left.

I hit the gas again, very conscious of the growl of the engine as it surged forward. There was almost no steam now, but the needle of the temperature gauge pointed all the way to the right, in the band of red, which could not be a good thing. I turned left at the next intersection, following what I thought to be the direction that the gunfire had come from, taking me back towards James. I had gone about a hundred feet along the street, listening intently, when I realized that the sounds of the guns had ceased. I winced at the squeak of the truck's brakes when I came to a stop.

I had the church to my left and a six-story building to my right and could hear the high-pitched drone of a motorcycle engine approaching from the front. I leaned my head out the window to get a better look, thinking that it must be Nock. I couldn't see who was on the bike, though, because of the glare of the headlights from the black SUV that was barreling up the street behind it, easily doing seventy. Then the lights abruptly winked out.

"Behind you, Sharon!" I practically shouted over the comm. The front wheel of the motorcycle lifted a foot off the ground as the engine suddenly shrieked, and though the SUV was still closing the distance and accelerating, the bike was rapidly increasing in speed to match it. I could just make out two figures on the big, a smaller, slighter one in front. Nock was behind my sister, arms looped around her waist. I was terrified for a split second that both of them were about to go tumbling off the back, but she must have eased off slightly the gas, as the front wheel touched down again.

"I am getting so sick of you bastards," I hissed, as I grabbed my gun. I couldn't steady it with my left hand, but I propped it on the bottom of the open window and aimed down the sight. The motorcycle blasted past me, so quick that I felt the air kicked off from its body as a hot wind on my face.

Grinning behind my mask, I started squeezing the trigger as fast as I could. The assault rifle barely bucked, and I ran a line of neat holes across the windshield's lower left side, and even put a few in the side windows as the SUV roared past.

The vehicle kept going down the street for maybe fifty yards, but then it swerved suddenly to the left and scraped across a parked car. It rebounded and continued to roll down the street, losing speed. Suddenly, the brake lights flashed on and it screeched to a stop. A second later, the driver door flew open and a body fell out in a lifeless heap. One of the rear doors opened and a tall, black-clothed figure stepped out. The figure jogged towards me as the SUV peeled out, slamming the open door shut.

"Shit, shit, shit," I said, dropping the gun on the other side of Nissi and stepping on the gas again. The truck didn't leap forward this time, like I had expected it to. Instead, it began to make a raucous thwack-thwack-thwack and slowly pulled away from the curb. "Shit!" I said again, and turned the truck right to take the cross-street, which ran downhill.

The truck shuddered, springs creaking, as something banged behind me. I looked back to see the shadow of a human figure cast by the streetlamps over the nearly opaque glass. The butt of a gun struck the window behind my head, sending pebbles of tempered glass careening through the cab. The truck was only moving maybe twenty miles per hour when I slammed on the brakes. It wasn't enough to dislodge my attacker, but it stopped him from shooting me since he had to grab a handhold, if only for a moment. I hit the gas again, but as before, the truck moved sluggishly. I could hear his feet moving on the metal, no doubt taking the time to line up a shot at the back of my head.

Instead of a gunshot, though, I heard a splat, a grunt, and a clatter as the truck rocked again. The echoing report of a shotgun blast came an instant later. I turned to see my would-be attacker, possibly the Nock I had seen earlier, lying against the side of the truck bed. He struggled to lift his rifle, but his right shoulder was a bloody, mangled mess, and I could only guess that things were even worse inside his chest where the slug must have penetrated. Tilly's voice came over the comm. "Norm, keep going. I'm on my way."

I kept the pedal to the floor, ignoring the unholy noises coming from the engine, and gravity pulled the truck along as much as the drivetrain. I saw Tilly coming, a patch of black darting out of an alley on my right. I was doing maybe twenty-five as she came alongside and vaulted into the truck bed. I heard a hard snap as she kicked the genemod still lying in the bed, then she let out a grunt of effort and I heard his body hit the pavement. She climbed in through the back window again.

"We have to quit meeting like this," I quipped.

"Oh, thank God, you got her" she said, on seeing Nissi unconscious in the front seat.

"Yeah, but we need to get her to Mike before she bleeds out. The driver of that other car was a Stansy."

"The two who came after me were Stans, or something similar. I had to get away and reload. They're still out there somewhere."

No sooner had she finished speaking than pings of metal striking metal sounded behind my head. I looked back to see the suppressed muzzle flashes of a gunman on top of the hill about a hundred yards back. "You just had to say it," I said, and weaved a few times to hopefully throw off the gunman's aim. The bullets abruptly stopped, and I chanced another look back to see that our newest attacker was now crumpled on the street.

"That's another kill for me," Nock said over the comm. I realized that he must have gotten off Sharon's bike and doubled back. "Norm, you got Tilly with you?"

"Yeah, though this thing is barely moving. I think Tilly can run faster on her own."

"I'm on my way back," Nonna said. "The injured are safe, and I've got two other able-bodied gunners with me. Just keep moving as fast and as far as you can. I'll get you out of there."

"I hear sirens getting closer," Nock said. "You'd better get here fast. Gena, did you lose the one on you?"

Sharon's voice came on along with the sound of rushing wind and howling engine. "Yeah, he turned off a few blocks back when he realized he couldn't catch up to me. I was about to circle back and come get you."

"Alright, we haven't gone far."

Suddenly, a new line of holes punched through the windshield. I felt a white-hot lance of pain and heard a buzz go past my ear. I whipped the wheel reflexively to the right, but the whole world jolted the next instant and blackness folded around me. It took me a few seconds to realize that the truck's airbags had deployed, giving me a few new bruises and cuts on my face. The engine had died, and the truck sat diagonally across the lane. I tried the ignition, but the engine just gave out a series of clicks. My foggy brain struggled to piece together what had happened as Tilly fought to open the rear driver-side door. She kicked it a few times, grunting with effort, and it finally came open with a screech of protesting metal.

"Stay down," she said, grabbing her shotgun. "Better lay Nissi down too. I'll draw him off." She took off at an inhumanly fast sprint, drawing a burst of gunfire from down the street.

I forced muscles to move, in spite of my pain and shock, unstrapping the seatbelt from both Nissi and myself, and laying us both as low down as I could on the seat. The windows on the passenger side had shattered, and I could see the parked car that we had struck at a shallow angle. I lay there for several seconds, listening to the distant, muffled pops of the attacker and Tilly's answering shots coming from somewhere close by.

I heard the sirens now, coming from up the street. Given all of the confusion that we had left in our wake, I thought it likely that they would head to the site where we had attacked the transport, but those sounded like they were heading right towards us. Why can't we deal with one problem at a time? I thought.

Headlights shown through the cracked glass of the windshield, painting the roof of the truck with white lines. "Norm! Get out of there," TIlly's voice shouted over the comm. "They're-ahh!" And she cut off abruptly. I heard the chatter of gunfire a split second later.

I grabbed the door handle and pulled, but it jangled loosely, as though something inside had broken. I drew my left leg up to kick at it, but it wouldn't budge. I looked out the open driver window and saw the headlights of the remaining SUV moving up the street the wrong way, heading straight for my door. I could also see the reflections of flashing blue and red lights reflecting from the windows of neighboring buildings as the police crested the top of the hill. I thought of trying to climb out the window of the truck, but the SUV would be on me in just a few seconds, and there was no way I could get Nissi out that way. I looked at Nissi and then threw myself down over her. I might not survive, but maybe my body would shield her from the crash.

But then something strange happened. The sirens that had been getting louder and louder abruptly dropped in pitch as both cars flashed right by at high speed. I risked a look out the window just in time to see both police cars hurtling towards the SUV. The first impact crumpled the hoods of both cars and spun them to the side, and the second impact, just behind it, hit the side of the SUV so hard that it folded partly in the middle, bending around the police car.

"Did I make it in time?" Sam's synthesized voice said over the comm.

"Sam!" I said. "Did you just ram those two police cars into a black SUV?"

"Lidar does not detect color," Sam said. "But that sounds like a confirmation. Gaudeamus hodie! I thought maybe I should warn you I was coming, but our lovely commander told me to cut down the chatter."

"Then yes, you made it in time. Sam, you're a fucking miracle. I think you may have killed the cops though."

"Oh, no, I'm not heartless. I unlocked the doors and let them out a few miles from here. They took off running as soon as their feet hit the ground."

Still smiling, I said, "Tilly, are you there?" I waited for a few seconds. "Tilly!"

Instead of an answer, I heard a sound like an impact over her comm, and she gave a choked cry.

"I'll be right back," I said to Nissi. I left my rifle where it lay and climbed out through the truck's window, managing to keep a grip its edge and not quite tumble onto the street, though a stab of pain went up from my injured hip. I limped as quickly as I could in the direction she had gone, across the street and down the hill. I glanced at the wrecked black SUV as I approached, but there was no movement.

I could hear something else, though. Tilly yelped in pain and there was the crinkle of glass cracking. I reached back and silently tugged my Colt from its holster. I had to hope that he wasn't sense-upgraded like Nock and Tilly, otherwise there was nothing I could do to stop him from hearing me coming. I edged between two parked cars, moving onto the sidewalk and saw them, thirty feet away.

He held Tilly up by the neck with one hand, her feet kicking out uselessly against his armor while she fought to peel his hand from her throat. Blood streamed from her nose, ran over her chin and down her neck. One leg of her pants was soaked with blood, starting just below her knee. "Stop fighting me," the man hissed. He shoved her backward, slamming her head into the glass pane behind her. Cracks already spread from several impact points. "I can hurt you a lot worse if I have to."

I pointed my gun at him one-handed, but hesitated. Whether from fear, exhaustion, or my injuries, my hand was shaking violently. I would be more likely to miss, or even hit Tilly instead of him. So I did something incredibly stupid. "Hey, put her down," I said.

The man turned to me, and I felt a jolt of recognition at seeing the greenish glint in his eyes. He flashed a grin as he whipped a handgun from a side holster. I dove for the ground between the cars, but he fired off two shots before I got out of sight. One of them struck me high in the chest, but was stopped easily by the ceramic plate there. I crawled on hands and knees to the other side of the car.

I had managed to hang onto my gun and now turned to sight over the car's hood. Where the man had been standing, I saw Tilly alone, leaning against the cracked window. She clutched at her throat, and I could hear her breathing as a harsh rasp. "Tilly," I said, in as low a whisper as I could manage.

"He's gone," she said, her voice a harsh croak. Groaning, she got to her feet and limped towards me. "He just took off. Someone must have called him off."

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She touched her face near her mouth and looked at the blood on her fingers. "I'll be alright. My leg's not great, but I don't think I'll bleed out anytime soon. How about you?"

I pulled off the balaclava, which was soaked in my blood out to both ears. I groaned. "I've had better days."

She winced. "You're bleeding pretty badly." She turned her head suddenly and rose to look over the car. "Nock's coming," she said.

"Help me up?" I asked.

Tilly grabbed me by my vest and hauled me to my feet. I put my good arm around her and just held onto her for a moment, getting my balance after the sudden shift and the nausea that followed.

I heard running footsteps approaching and turned to look. "Nock! You beautiful bastard," I said. "You saved our asses back there."

"You look like hell, boss. How's your head?"

"Still hurts," Tilly said. "He definitely has a concussion at least."

I hit my comm. "Nonna, how far out are you?"

"Almost there. What's your position?"

I gave her the street name and the cross street as we walked back to the truck. Nissi was stirring inside, mumbling and making feeble movements. When I tried the door, I found that it was just as stuck from this side. Tilly tried pulling it open, but after straining for several seconds, the handle simply popped off in her hand.

"Ow!" she hissed and shook her hand. Blood ran down from grazed knuckles.

"Let me try," Nock said. He reached in through the open window, pulled the door handle open, grabbed the window frame with the other hand and braced one foot against the frame of the truck. The metal creaked and made tick-tick-tick noises as he strained.

With a loud grunt, he pulled hard and something snapped, sending shards of metal tinkling over the pavement as Nock quickly backpedaled to stay on his feet. He leaned into the open cab to unsnap the seatbelt.

"Careful with her," I said, as he cradled Nissi in his arms. I pulled down the tailgate and spread my coat on the cold metal.

"Gena's here," he said, and hurried to meet her as she pulled up on the bike.

When I looked back, I saw that Nissi's eyes were open. She was breathing hard, pain and fear twisting her features. "It hurts, Martin," she breathed, tears streaming down her face.

"I know it does," I said, taking her uninjured hand and giving it a squeeze. "We're going to get you help and you're going to be fine. Now, I need to check your injuries." I let go of her hand and Tilly replaced mine with hers, talking to Nissi in a low, comforting voice.

I checked her pulse and found it elevated, but not dangerously so. Next, I looked at the bullet wounds. The one on her leg had passed through the meat of her calf. They must have been armor-piercing rounds, and small caliber, because it was a neat through-and through, the exit wound barely larger than the entry. The bullet that had struck her arm had gone through her triceps and hit the armor plate on her torso, burying itself in the ceramic. The last one worried me the most. It had gone in just above her left hip and apparently buried itself in meat. The vital organs were much higher in the torso, but there was a good possibility that the bullet could have damaged her intestines.

Gena and Nock had arrived while I worked, and I set them to find the first aid kit in the cab of the truck. With my left arm useless, I instructed the others in cleaning and bandaging her wounds. "You're going to be okay," I told her again.

She nodded very slightly and closed her eyes.

"Nonna's here," Tilly said. "We need to go."

We got Nissi into the SUV. Nonna had brought Stan and one of Mike's people, a bushy-bearded bear of a man who introduced himself as Silas. Nock and Tilly placed Nissi across one of the bench seats and she and I piled in. Nonna started away, Gena and Nock following behind us on the bike.

"How bad is she?" Nonna asked.

"She's stable for now," I said. "Just get us to Mike."

"He's going to meet us up on the mountain."

Alice and Stanford had arrived well ahead of us, and she and the others had set up cots for the injured, which included me. Alice and Dawn patched us up while we waited for Mike. He showed up about half an hour later in his own vehicle, bringing Stanley, who had a bandage and a thick wad of padding on the side of his neck, and Stansy, who had her arm in a sling.

"Where is she?" Mike asked as he approached. He held a large bag in one hand.

I waved him over to the cot next to mine. Tilly sat on the ground beside Nissi, holding her hand. I told him about the bullet in her side as he checked her over. "I bet you're in a lot of pain," he said, and produced a prescription bottle. "I brought you some of the good stuff."

Tilly helped Nissi to rise enough to take a few of the pills and a swallow of water. She settled down and went to sleep after just a few minutes. He put a band on her arm and swabbed her, then inserted an IV and hung a saline bag on a collapsible pole.

"That's all I can do for her for now," he said. "Her blood volume is a little low, and we don't want it to go down any more. You did well with the bandages. She'd be in a lot worse shape if you hadn't gotten the bleeding under control.

"What about the bullet?" I asked.

He nodded. "I need the proper equipment and a sterile operating environment. There's a place I can take her. I'll wait until morning, though, after things calm down a bit."

He looked at me next. When he unraveled the bandage I had put on the back of my head, his eyes widened. "Christ, Norm, you've got a compound skull fracture. I don't see that it's depressed, so there's a good chance it'll heal on its own, but I'll need to monitor you for a few days to be sure. I was already planning on riding with you to keep an eye on Nissi."

"We've got an MRI machine," I said helpfully.

Mike nodded. "We'll want to use it. We need to see if there's any brain damage."

"That would suck."

Mike rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it would, Norm. Your shoulder was dislocated, your elbow sprained, and you have some deep bruising and tissue damage on your right hip. The hit to your ear is superficial, but it took a little chunk out of the lobule. It looks like a really badly-botched piercing job. Should heal up on its own after I stitch it. Now let's deal with that shoulder."

"How about some of those pain meds?" I asked.