CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
The College, Eastern UT, December 10, 2308 09:11:09 (T-Minus 02:20:48:51)
Hotaru paced the living room of the Dwelling she had been assigned. After the incident with the Emissary after her, she had headed straight for The College. The Superintendent had been more than happy to grant her access to one of the extra rooms in Radius II, as well as a new hover - especially after she had chicken winged him in his office.
The viewing screen showed a split view - the left half showing the hover 0247893 was using parked by the Palmyra Municipal Complex, and the other half of the screen showed possible locations 0247893 could be hiding, places that he had remained at for more than thirty minutes at a time in the past two days. A glance at her chronometer indicated less than two days remaining. She would have to track him down today.
There were five locations the computer had extrapolated based on previous movement of the chronotag 0247893 was using. Looking at their location on the map, Hotaru decided that she would hit the furthest first, and then work her way back to The College. If all five locations turned up nothing, she still had a day to consult with Control and gather new intel.
She picked up her Tablet, transferred the data from the viewing screen to the memory, and activated the tracking system. There was a flashing blue dot that was stationary at the grocery store she had tracked him to yesterday. There goes that plan, she thought to herself. There was no way he was going to need groceries two days in a row, was there? Municipal building it is. Muttering to herself, she donned her coat, made sure she had extra charges for her Boom Stick, and headed to the garage.
As she pulled out of the underground parking garage, she input the coordinates for the grocery store, and initiated Auto. Dividing her windshield workspace in half, she placed her five target locations on the left side, and called up an open internet window on the right. Something had been bothering her for the past day. She typed in her search terms: Wheeled vehicle, driver, accident. In less than a second, Hotaru had over thirteen thousand results, but only the first mattered. It was a link to the Times' account of yesterday's incident.
She quickly scanned the story, and felt a rush of joy when she found out where they had taken the truck. Her Target must have gone to collect the truck. For what purpose? Hotaru wondered. As her hover turned onto Oleander, heading into downtown Palmyra, she wondered if there was a reason that the hover was left in plain sight. Surely he would be running and hiding instead of being available for her to catch, wouldn't he?
Her train of thought was brought to an abrupt halt by a man standing in the middle of Oleander with a rifle. The hover came to a stop, and she was shocked to realize that the man holding the rifle was her Target. He raised it to his shoulder, taking aim with the sight. She lowered the driver's side window.
"Emissary," He called to her. "Please step out of the hover with your hands above your head."
"I can't do that, 0247893." Hotaru called back. "I have no guarantee you won't shoot me."
"I don't want to shoot you, Hotaru Kogame. I want information. Information that I believe you have."
The use of her name shocked her. He had obviously done his homework. She absently checked her Boom Stick, calculating in her head the chances of drawing it and firing before he pulled the trigger on the rifle. The numbers didn't look good. She needed to stall him.
"Okay. I can give you information. But I'll do it from here."
Turning her head to look in the rearview mirror, she activated her chronometer.
"Voice Activate, Kogame, Hotaru, 0256773 Alpha. Record and monitor. Prepare sonic defense."
"Confirmed." Came the reply from her wrist.
"Not good enough," Slade called and fired a shot at the hover's left headlight. There was a loud crack and the sound of plastic fragments hitting the pavement beneath the hover. She flinched in horror.
"What are you doing?" Hotaru screamed at him. "I'll come! Stop!"
Slade pulled back on the bolt handle, discharging the spent casing, loading another round into the chamber. He raised the rifle again. Hotaru opened the hover's door, and stepped out. The chill air assaulted her throat as she breathed deeply, calming her nerves and seeking her mental center.
"Put your hands above your head, and walk slowly toward me. If you try anything, I will put a round through your leg and take you with me anyway. I prefer your cooperation."
Clasping her hands behind her head, Hotaru walked slowly down Oleander towards her Target. When she was within five meters of him, he lowered the rifle, and reached quickly into a pocket, pulling out a pair of black zip ties. Stepping forward, he grabbed her right wrist, looping a zip tie around it, cinching it tight. The left wrist was next. As he brought the two together behind her back, Hotaru pressed the center button, and a harsh wailing siren emitted from her chronometer.
Slade put his hands over his ears, and Hotaru reared back with a foot, catching Slade in the leg, knocking him off balance. She used the moment of confusion to take off in the direction of her hover, pumping arms and legs as fast as they would go to get away from him. Silencing the alarm, she rounded the door to get in the hover. Another shot rang out from the rifle, shattering the mirror into pieces, and Hotaru ducked to avoid the debris.
She could hear footsteps coming closer, and she reached for her Boom Stick. Popping up quickly, she discharged its energy in the general direction she had last seen him, but it flew harmlessly down the street. She rapidly scanned left and right, trying to discern his location. Another crack in the air, and the front windshield blew into the hover, causing her to duck behind the door yet again.
I need to get to that truck. It's the only thing I can use as leverage on him.
She saw an alcove across the street and ran for it, colliding with the wall as Slade fired yet another round at her. If she kept this up, he'd just wait and pick her off, then bring her back to get whatever information he wanted out of her. This had to end now. Hotaru charged up her Boom Stick, then tossed a spare power cell out onto the street by her hover. She fired the Boom Stick at the power cell, and was rewarded by a spectacular explosion as the cell disintegrated, igniting the hover's fuel source in the process.
Hotaru dashed out of the alcove and ran down the street, toward the truck. She had made it had the distance when she heard the roar of the truck's engine and the chirp of the rubber tires on the asphalt. She reversed direction, running as fast as she could away from him. Hotaru dodged onto the sidewalk, weaving around lampposts and racks displaying wares from the mom and pop stores along the avenue, hoping it would give her an edge.
Slade bounced in the cab of the truck as the tires mounted the curb and he began to drive down the sidewalk, chasing Hotaru. The email from the stranger said that she had answers. Clothes and baked goods flew over the truck as he crashed into, and through, the carts that lined the path. There was a crash and the sound of metal on metal as he crashed into the open door of the bank, sending deposit slips into the air like confetti. As the truck cleared the bank, he jammed on the brakes, then slammed the gas pedal to the floor as he saw Hotaru angling across the intersection, heading for the park.
They had crossed almost to the edge of the city now, and trees and brush replaced the buildings and planters of the manicured retail areas. Hotaru ran a few meters ahead of him, using trees and benches to block a direct path to her. Ahead, the trees grew thicker as nature became more prominent. He yanked the wheel to the right, angling the truck up onto the grass, and gunned it, tires spinning on the grass before finding purchase and propelling the truck toward its goal.
Running as fast as she could, Hotaru scanned the area ahead for some miracle as the air in her lungs burned with the exertion she was putting her body through. She could hear the loud roar of the engine as he came for her, but she couldn't give up. Just then, she saw a large hole ahead, and off to her right. It was mostly grown over, but the indent was still visible. She cut to the right, causing him to veer recklessly in her direction to keep up.
The truck was less than a meter away when she leaped into the air, jumping over the two meter wide depression in the landscape. Landing hard, she rolled three times before coming to a stop. As she rolled, there was a loud thud as the left front tire of the truck entered the depression and brought the speeding truck to a halt with all the force of a train hitting a rock wall. She could hear the airbag go off, but she started running again, this time toward the copse of trees that marked the entrance to the forest.
As she neared the first of the dense group of trees, she glanced back as the sound of breaking glass heralded the chase - he was alive, and still coming for her.
"That's it!" She heard him scream at her. "Now I play dirty.”
Death's Twilight Page 40