The silver BMW sped down Interstate 5. Blake was directing Winter from his iPhone screen.
“One fifty meters up ahead.” John pressed on, looking ahead at the traffic. Trying to work out the vehicle they may be in.
“One twenty. They must be moving much slower.”
“I intend to swing past and make them slow from the front to minimise the risk of the kid using his powers. If we stop in front of him, we have him.”
“Ninety meters.”
The traffic was light. They were approaching the Dan Diego Naval base exit.
“Five vehicles in sight that are possibilities.”
“Seventy five.”
“Load your gun.”
“Already done, sir. Forty eight meters.”
“You’ll make you father proud, son. I sent him a message earlier. He is about three miles behind us. Tracking your phone – like you are tracking the girl’s.”
Blake shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“Thirty.”
“Where are you?” Winter whispered as he leaned forward in the drivers’ seat.
“Twenty two. Sir? You may want to slow down.”
Winter glanced over at Blake. “It’s the truck.”
“Sir?”
“The only thing moving slowly enough for us to be closing in on this fast. Time to call.”
Blake taped the screen of his phone and brought up Maggie’s number.
“It’s me.” He paused for a moment. “It’s time to give yourselves up to us.”
Winter had pulled over in front of the truck, and slammed on the brakes.
Fifty three
Maggie was dozing on the bed in the sleeper cab. She was listening to Bobby, Joe and Skylar. They were talking animatedly and excitedly about music. Bobby was telling Joe and Skylar about bands that he liked, and Joe and Skylar were regaling him with stories of their time on the road. All three of them were laughing out loud at Joe’s stories. Maggie felt content knowing her brother was happy.
Her phone started to vibrate in her pocket.
She slid it out of her jeans and looked at the screen. She sat bolt upright and quickly answered it.
“H-hello? Blake?!” The level of distress in her voice stopped the laughing at the front of the truck. Skylar turned to look at Maggie.
Maggie’s eyes widened and turned puffy with tears as she listened to the voice on the other end.
“Oh my god is that you?! Thank god you are al... What?!”
Maggie’s face turned to a picture of anger and confusion. Bobby turned in his seat to look at her.
Skylar shouted from the front seat. “Joe look out!”
A silver BMW pulled across the front of them and slammed on its brakes. Its tires smoked as it came to an almost dead stop in front of them, causing Joe to stamp on his brake pedal as hard as he could.
The truck was much heavier than the car, and so as they lurched forward he realised they were going to plough straight into the car in front.
But at the last second, the car swerved out of the way of the lurching truck to appear alongside it.
The passenger window was down and as it pulled alongside the truck, Blake’s arm extended out. He caught a glimpse of Joe’s face as he leant out of the window. He was holding a gun in his hand and he aimed it at the tyres and fired.
There was a loud bang as they blew out causing the truck to swerve left and right along the tarmac, with Joe wrestling with the wheel to keep them on the road.
Skylar screamed. Bobby sat there in frozen terror, while Maggie shouted from the sleeper section. “What the fuck is happening?! Blake just phoned me! He’s alive! Was that him just then?! Joe! Tell me!”
“Some kid with a gun shot out the tyres! An exit is coming up – We can get off there.”
“And then what?! They have a gun!”
“Well we can’t carry on on the freeway like this!”
Joe man handled the heavy truck towards the exit marked San Diego – Main St / National City Blvd. The rubber had left the wheels and sparks were flying off the rims as they grinded along the tarmac.
The noise was excruciating, but Joe was set on keeping the truck stable and his passengers safe.
The car had pulled back behind them, knowing they had to get out of sight of Bobby.
As they screeched off the exit, Joe started accelerating.
“What are you doing?!” Shouted Skylar, her face pale with fear.
“I want to get to the docks – More people, naval base and the police all down there. Less chance he will try and shoot us!”
This seemed to temporarily satisfy Skylar, who sat back in her seat, and turned to check Maggie was still there. “You OK hon?” Maggie didn’t respond.
As the truck revved up, the sound from the wheels indicating the must be doing serious damage to themselves, and the road beneath.
They raced down the exit ramp into town, still being followed by the BMW, even though it was tracking back at a safe distance, waiting for the moment to pounce.
Ahead of them they could see the coastline, but between them was a busy crossroads. Cars, trucks and lorries were criss crossing through the junction in front of them – there was no way they would get through without serious harm to themselves or other drivers.
Joe glanced in his mirrors. “They are still following” said Joe. “Hang on.”
Joe hit a button on the dashboard that was shaped like the devil’s face. A loud air horn emitted from the roof of the cab, as they charged at the melee of cars moving in front of them.
Joe pumped the horn harder, and flashed all of the lights festooning the front of the cab.
Cars and trucks started to brake and swerve out of the way, as several tonnes of angry metal raced headlong towards them.
They ploughed through the junction, cars swerving to narrowly miss them, rear ending each other, sounding their horns loudly and shouting abuse at Joe, but somehow allowing the raging truck through.
Joe wiped his brow and checked his mirrors. The BMW had made it through behind them.
As the coastline raced towards them, Joe started to apply the brakes. Light at first, but as he felt no response from the pedal, he pushed harder and harder.
“Brakes are fucked! Maggie! Get in your seat and strap in!”
But before she could move, the truck hit a concrete barrier separating the road from the pedestrians. The cab jerked violently to the left and jack-knifed with its trailer. The truck skidded across the concrete sending people scattering in all directions, screaming and running for their lives.
As the truck and trailer twisted, it slammed into a low wall, making it stop dead.
Maggie, who was on all fours on the bed, still trying to climb to the front to strap herself in, flew forward into Skylar. The two women hit the dashboard of the truck, Skylar cushioning Maggie, but in the process smashing Skylar’s head into the dash with a sickening crack as her neck snapped in two.
The two of them ended up in the foot well of the cab, Maggie slowly moved off of Skylar and saw blood pumping from her scalp, her body limp.
Joe unbuckled himself from his seat. “Sky! Oh shit Sky.”
“I’m sorry Joe, I, I fell – I couldn’t stop it.”
“Bobby – help me get her out.”
“Look out!”
The BMW screeched to a halt in front of them. Blake and John Winter got out of the car. They walked slowly and cautiously towards the front window of the cab. Both had a pistol in their hands.
Joe sat bolt upright in the driver’s seat and raised both middle fingers up to them. “Fuck you, gentlemen.” He reached up to the long sun visor above his head and pulled it down. A double barrelled shot gun dropped towards his lap. Joe caught it mid-flight in his right hand, his left hand simultaneously gripping the barrel and cocking it.
He brought the gun up and pointed it out of the front window and fired. Bobby ducked down with his hands over his ears and the front windscreen of the cab was obliterated as Joe started pumping the
trigger wildly.
Winter and Blake dropped down and returned fire. Their aim was deadly, and Bobby could only watch in horror as Joe’s body jerked and shuddered with the impact of the bullets.
Joe’s blood flew out from his chest, landing on Bobby’s face in the foot well, and soaking the floor of the cab.
Outside people were screaming, running for their lives.
Joe was not moving in the driver’s seat. He was still held in place by his seat belt. His eyes were open but lifeless.
The shotgun dropped down into the foot well.
Bobby stared at it for a moment, too scared to be able to move and grab it.
The passenger door opened. Winter stood there, gun trained on Bobby.
“Get out. You and your sister.” His voice steady and calm.
Bobby and Maggie slowly climbed out of the cab. When they stepped down, Blake was there, gun trained on them.
“You bastard.” Maggie’s voice was quiet and shaking. “I loved you.”
Winter chuckled. “I think she likes you playing dead. Kinda kinky.”
Most of the crowd had dispersed, apart from a few onlookers watching from a safe distance. In the background, a naval base and the USS Midway loomed over the water, where tourists normally flock, now eerily deserted.
“Now – the cavalry will be here any moment, so let’s make this quick. In fact, here they are now.”
The group watched as a hire car swung into the harbour. It parked with its headlights trained on them, leaving the engine running. Three men – Fisher, Church and Simpson Snr – stepped out.
“Time to move kids” said Winter as he gestured the twins to move with a flick of his gun. “Hey Simpson! Looks like your boy here did us proud after all! Not such a pussy now eh?”
Tom Simpson nodded approvingly at Blake. Maggie’s eyes brimmed with tears. “You bastard.” She said again, in a voice so small only Blake could hear.
“No.”
The group walked slowly towards the men waiting by the car. The sun was setting behind the city. Lights starting to twinkle in the buildings.
“No.”
In the distance, police sirens could be heard, presumably responding to the gun fire, but too far away to be there in time.
“No.”
They were walking towards the car with the nuzzle of guns pointing at their heads. Winter pointing at Bobby, Blake taking Maggie.
“No.”
“Excuse me?” said Winter to Bobby. “Come on, move it. Don’t want the cops catching up.” As he spoke he jabbed Bobby in the back of his head with the muzzle of the gun.
“I.”
“Said.”
“No.” Bobby whispered.
It was so inaudible that Winter wasn’t sure if he had heard him at all.
“Got something to say kid? Mommy ain’t here to help you little man.” He snorted as he said it. “And try not to piss your pants in the car.” He chuckled to himself, taunting his prey once more.
“I SAID NO!” Bobby stopped in his tracks. Blake and Winter stepped back and pointed their guns at his head.
“No? Now what?” said Winter, now weary of what the teenager was planning.
“NO! NO! NO!” Bobby wheeled around to face Winter. He looked him dead in the eyes, full of rage and confidence.
“I WILL NOT BE BULLIED ANYMORE!”
He turned back to face the car, where the three men advancing on them had stopped in their tracks, hands on their gun holsters.
Bobby took a deep breath, opened his arms and looked up at the sky.
Winter, sensing what was coming, shouted “Get down!” before covering his head and crouching down on the ground.
Bobby looked back down at the car, and gave it full power.
Whuuuummm.
The car that Simpson, Fisher and Church had stepped out of a moment ago screamed and wailed, then rose eight feet in the air. At first, Maggie thought that he had levitated it, but as she saw the flames from underneath, she realised the force of the explosion inside the vehicle had blown it straight up in the air.
It seemed to pause at it reached maximum height, but as it burned brightly it came crashing down to earth, crunching metal and shattering glass echoing off the buildings around them.
The blast has thrown the three men in front of it forward. All of them now lay splayed across the tarmac, unconscious and unmoving.
As the car hit the floor, it exploded with a force so violent that it blew the three unconscious bodies forwards and up.
They shot over the heads of the twins and the gunmen, and smashed into the truck behind them, punching through the front grill, mangling with the engine.
But Bobby wasn’t finished.
Growing in confidence by the moment, he turned to address Winter.
Bobby was relaxed, steady and in control. Winter was now the one with fear in his eyes.
Bobby spoke.
“You can’t take us away. You can’t drive us, or fly us, or make a call about us. You can never control us, or capture us. I can stop you whenever I like. I can stop all communications. I can turn cars and planes into useless lumps of metal. And I can take out cities at will. You will never capture me. You can never build a prison that can hold me. At some point you will need power, but that is one thing you can never have.
I am giving you one last warning. Leave. Leave us alone. And I will not hunt you down.”
John Winter was shocked. He had spent years hunting and tracking in the jungles and desserts, even in cities. But this was new – totally new.
It took a moment for him to compose his thoughts.
“Yes, that all maybe true. But you can’t stop a gun.”
“Your gun is pathetic compared to me.”
Bobby steadied himself. He once again opened up his arms. He took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, he let out a primal scream. A scream so loud, it made the normally unflinching Winter take a step back in fear.
“Aaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!”
WHUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMM.
A visible shockwave emitted from the front of Bobby. It looked like a heat mirage – a disturbance in the air. It rippled along the ground at a fantastic speed, kicking up dirt and leaves as it went.
When it hit the road, the cars it passed through blew out their electrics and shattered their windows.
But it was gaining momentum. Getting faster, bigger, more far reaching as it hit the city.
The first set of skyscrapers instantly went dark. The windows blew out, sending glass out into the air, shaking the structures as they went.
As it moved deeper, buildings shuddered and creaked as the pulse raged through them.
The pulse was getting stronger. The next skyscrapers were hit with a force so primeval, parts of their structures warped and blew out, as the electrical cables exploded with the intense flux and heat they experienced.
Cars were destroyed, street lights were melted, phones, laptops and gadgets all across the city exploded in people’s hands and pockets.
But more devastation was to come.
Behind Bobby, the majestic USS Midway let out a low groan. First, the top of the control tower started emitting sparks. Then the bulk head buckled. Then a crack appeared at the stern, and flames vomited out of it like liquid, pouring out into the night sky with a heat so ferocious it could be felt inland.
The whole front of the ship started to rise out of the ocean. Slowly at first, then with a sudden urgency. It raised to the point where it had revealed most of its under belly above the waterline, like a giant metallic whale leaping out of the water.
Succumbing to the laws of physics, the ship dropped back down, crashing hard into the sea.
As the ship smacked back into the harbour, a thunderous crash of water blew out from underneath, soaking the bay around it, sending debris flying into the air.
A tidal wave was sent out to sea, rippling out to the horizon.
Once it was over, an eerie silence had fallen over the city.
>
Bobby levelled his gaze at Winter.
“Now do I have your attention?”
Winter stood still for a moment, in shock at what he had just seen. Then in one swift move, leapt next to Maggie, arm outstretched, gun pointed at her throat.
“Now do I have yours?” He said.
The two of them stared each down other for what felt like hours. Neither wanting to make a move.
Blake, who had been standing there stunned for the past few minutes, turned to Winter.
“Sir.” He said.
“What? You aren’t going soft on this girl again are you?”
Maggie turned her eyes to look at Blake. She held her head high.
Blake was still holding his gun, but pointing it at the floor. He swung out and up, first training across Maggie’s face, but then pointing it at Winter’s head. “Leave her alone.”
Winter sighed, and then chuckled. “Well now, this is interesting. I thought that you might crack in the end.”
Blake looked at Maggie. “I’m sorry.”
Her eyes brimmed with tears.
“I’m sorry, Maggie – I had no choice. My father….” he trailed off.
“Is now engine lubricant” said Winter, sneering. “Good riddance, I say. Useless little….” Blake pulled the hammer back on his pistol.
“Don’t.”
“Come to think of it, now your father is gone, and all of the men who employed me with them thanks to our little powerhouse over here – I have no use for you either.”
The two men faced each other down.
“We can just say you got caught in the crossfire.”
Blake’s eyes widened. Winter pointed his gun at Blake’s chest. “No faking it this time.”
He fired into his heart, sending Blake flying backwards onto the ground.
As Blake lay on the road, blood pumped from the hole in his chest, his hand gripped around his gun. He twisted his wrist up towards Winter and pulled the trigger.
The bullet struck Winter in the hand, ripping his two middle fingers off, and sending the gun skidding away from him.
Winter bolted towards the truck, clutching the wrist as tight as he could, searching for something to stem the blood flow.
He had found a dirty rag on the front seat and was fashioning a tourniquet when he heard a rumbling from the stricken USS Medway.
Pulse Page 19