by Gareth Lewis
*
He'd covered half the distance, still five minutes out, by the time her mind groggily responded. You okay? he thought with urgency.
Not sure yet. Everyone went down at once. Her thoughts sounded shaky, and he sensed her fighting for a fragile calm. What happened?
Explosion at SPI.
She emanated dull shock, but said nothing.
Probably a bomb, he thought. So it's likely the Hive'll be the next target.
Her shock solidified. Here? You think there's a bomb here too?
Not a bomb. It'd be harder to get in undetected. And they'd have set them off together. No, the one at SPI would disorient the telepaths, leaving you vulnerable. How many of you are still active?
Not many. A few were resting, and there's some whose partners mustn't have been there at the time. The others... Lydia's thoughts ebbed a moment, but he still felt the connection, if not as strong. She was probably trying to compose her thoughts. She returned moments later. The agony cascaded, and... A couple are dead, and we've no way of knowing if the others will recover. If there are telepaths coming, I don't know that those of us still conscious are in a state to defend ourselves.
Then get out.
Her thoughts grew distressed. We can't leave them unprotected.
Backup's on the way. Whatever they're doing, they probably need all the telepaths out of the way. You just said you can't do anything to stop them, so you, and anyone that can, need to get out of there. Use the rear entrance. If they send anyone to cover it, it’ll be a smaller force. If you work together you may be able to deal with them. I should be there in a few minutes. Unless you're in danger of being caught, stay inside until I'm near.
Your car can't take more than three or four passengers, and there's six of us.
My car's toast, he thought. I've got a police unit. It's a bit bigger, but you'll just have to squeeze. Unless you want to try running for it.
What about trying to deal with the intruders? The hope in her tone sounded forced, as though she knew it'd be a bad idea. If they are rogue telepaths, you can use a couple of screamers while we're close-minded, then we can deal with any kinetics.
I don't know if I've got any screamers. There might be one in the boot, but that's unlikely. Our primary arsenal was under the SPI building, so until we can access it, I don't want to use up a limited resource unnecessarily.
She didn't respond immediately, her attention on moving the others with her. Jack focussed his attention on the road, alert for signs of suspicious activity.
He'd barely a block to go when he caught the spike in her anxiety. There are intruders in the building. I can feel the security personnel being shut down at the front entrance.
Are you nearly at the rear?
Almost. There's only five of us. Adrian insisted on staying to help the others.
Okay, can you sense any trouble at the rear entrance?
Not yet, but if there's telepaths there, we wouldn't necessarily.
He flashed her his view of the front of the building. Unless there's trouble inside, stay out of sight until I come into view, then look out to see if you can see anyone. Keep me shielded, and deal with them when I've got their attention.
Okay. A nervous tightness came through in her thoughts.
Jack focussed on his surroundings as he neared the front of the Hive, moving fast, but not suspiciously so. A seven storey oval structure, widening as it rose, the Hive was a couple of storeys taller than the surrounding buildings. Around thirty metres separated it from its nearest neighbour. Knowledge of its occupants tended to give it a wide berth from pedestrians, and Jack had always felt the mirrored glass surrounding it gave it a vaguely ominous feel.
He spotted a few strangers keeping casual watch, but no signs of what must be happening inside. A couple of vans stood near the front entrance, their drivers also keeping watch. A moment after his gaze met one, Jack felt a slight pressure in his head. His training allowed him to resist such casual searching with ease, but it'd alert them to the presence of someone with such training.
His car moved out of their sight, and turned down the rear street, familiar enough from the times he'd collected Lydia. He didn't catch a glimpse of any intruders at first, but the psychic barrage arrived with Lydia's warning. It failed to break through her protection, but not by much.
He spotted them a moment later, three figures in an alleyway between the adjacent buildings. A pair focussed on the group Lydia led from the Hive. The third stared at Jack, and from the way he held out his hand, he probably wasn't a telepath. Confirmation came in the form of a trashcan, ripped from its moorings and hurled against the car. A telkin. Fortunately, the trashcan was lightweight enough that it did little damage, but while he couldn't see more useful debris around, Jack didn't want to risk his attacker finding anything.
The telkin disappeared as Jack returned his attention to the other two. Not a good sign. As Jack approached Lydia's group moments later, the telkin returned, launching a fire extinguisher at the car.
The thing smashed through the side window. The bullet-proof glass slowed the impact so the missile only slammed Jack's side rather than doing serious damage. As it was, he barely controlled the car enough to avoid hitting Lydia. The impact numbed his arm, and once he'd stopped the car he had to reach his uninjured arm across with his gun to fire at them, catching one of the telepaths squarely in the chest as they dove for cover.
One of Lydia's group grunted, hopefully just picking up on the fallen telepath's pain. Not as strongly as the other rogue telepath, who fell, grasping his head.
His passengers loaded, Jack hit the gas, but the car lurched to the side instead, and a glance showed the telkin straining to hold them in place. Releasing his good hand's hold on the wheel, Jack grabbed the gun. He sent a couple of quick shots at the telkin. He missed, but the distraction broke the man's concentration, and the car shot forward. Dropping the gun, Jack grabbed the wheel.
The car juddered again as the telkin tried to resume his strategy, but their momentum stopped him getting a solid grip, and they soon turned from sight. Jack was anxious to get a fair distance away before doubling back to the safety of the police headquarters.
"Anyone hurt?" He said.
Despite their shock, none of his passengers seemed to have been injured in their flight. He exchanged a glance with Lydia. While dressed more casually than she'd usually be outside of the Hive, her shoulder-length dark hair remained immaculate. Neither her posture nor face gave an indication of the stress he felt through their bond. Her eyes, however, didn't do as good a job of concealing her distress, although they seemed to be relaxing, to mirror the relief Jack had started to feel.
Then the van hit them, emerging from the intersection to slam the front of the car. He jerked forward, colliding with the exploding air bag, and quickly recovered his senses as the thing retracted into the dashboard. His senses didn't return fast enough, and he barely reacted to Lydia's cry in time to see the fist shooting through the missing window.