Jamie turned his back on the street and headed into Boston Common, tossing aside a couple of police crowd control gates to clearapath.
He needed to find hisfamily.
* * *
Kyle cameoff the bridge and veered right on Atlantic Avenue, the body of the motorcycle leaning hard into the turn as they passed underneath an aerial pedestrian walkway. Both he and Katie adjusted their weight, moving with the motorcycle as Kyle straightened it out again. Maneuvering through Boston’s notorious traffic was easier on two wheels than four, but it took a little more concentration than if they’d been in a car. The X-17 Hermes combat jet hovered high in the air over Boston up ahead, tracking Cillian inrealtime.
Looks like they’re hitting traffic,Katie said telepathically to keep their conversation offcomms.
Kyle had minimized everything on his HUD except the route that would lead them to Cillian.They’re not theonlyones.
Boston had released a citywide warning to shelter in place in the face of Splice chemical bombs going off. The traffic was terrible, but Kyle knew it wasn’t just because drivers were ignoring pretty much all traffic laws to reach shelter. This was just how Bostonians drove. He’d grown up jaywalking like a pro and learning that merge was a dirty word when other people tried todoit.
Traffic like this was easy for him to drive through, especially when he ignored the road in favor of turning onto the greenway that separated Atlantic Avenue from John F. Fitzgerald Surface Road. The greenway was broken up into small parks, with pedestrian pathways winding through the dull winter greenery and plazas overlooking the waterfront. Crisscrossing overhead were aerial pedestrian walkways that linked the waterfront to some of the buildings on the other side of the street. On a Thursday afternoon, the greenway wasn’t horrendously crowded, but Katie still used her telepathy to clear Kyleapath.
He pushed the motorcycle as fast as it would go, cutting a direct route through the pathways and dried winter grass. Loud honking and yelling voices whipped past them as they stayed on course. They were rapidly closing the distance between their position and the red dot on his HUD that was Cillian’slocation.
The buildings and docks on the waterfront flashed past in a blur to their right as Kyle expertly navigated them closer to their target. Some of the cars on the street looked like they’d been sideswiped by another vehicle, and part of the ground near the curb was torn up from tire tracks. It seemed as if Cillian had gone off-roading like they were to get clear of thetraffic.
How do you want to play this?Kyle asked.Do you want to get control of everyone in the SUV and walkthemout?
They’ve picked up an escort during our teleport back to base. Too many on the field for me to controlcompletely.
Complete control meant getting mental hooks into every aspect of their mind, down deep even into a person’s subconscious thoughts. It took effort and power, something they couldn’t spare right now for every enemy they crossedpathswith.
Then how about you strip what you need from Cillian and relay it to Apollo? I’ll deal with the fuckerafterward.
It would be cleaner if Kyle let Katie rip Cillian’s mind to shreds and leave him a blank-eyed, mindless piece of garbage for Kyle to take care of. Bringing Cillian in alive wasn’t an option for him. Kyle would gain no satisfaction from that, and he wanted his pound offlesh.
I’ll leave him for you,Katie replied, easily reading Kyle’s surfacethoughts.
He didn’t mind, because he had nothing to hide, and Katie was onhisside.
Which meant she had his back when he drove off one island and crossed an intersection, missing getting clipped by a car by mere inches. A historic, red-bricked building to the left touted kitschy trolley tours on a holographic advertisement across the face of the building. Cillian’s SUV with its escort was passing an open-air pavilion on the greenway in a pedestrian plaza just up ahead. Kyle could see people moving sharply out of the way in jerky movements, courtesy of Katie’stelepathy.
She shifted her weight, grabbing at the back of his tactical vest and coming away with the handheld grenade launcher he’d borrowed from Madison’s weapons locker in the ready room when she wasn’tlooking.
She’s going to be mad you took it without asking,Katie said as she aimed over hisshoulder.
Like she needs one. She’s a walking demolitionsfactory.
I’m telling her yousaidthat.
Joking aside, Katie had most of her attention on the SUV to the left that wasn’t carrying Cillian. Kyle slowed their speed just a little, keeping room between them and their target. Kyle felt her arm bump against his shoulder and he tried not tojarher.
The thin, rectangular explosive jettisoned away from the gun and went spinning through the air to attach itself to the SUV. Not even a second later, the vehicle exploded, rising into the air from the blast as glass and metal erupted outward. Nearby cars on the street swerved away from the explosion while the SUV carrying Cillian careened through the mostly cleared plaza before crashing into the historic Greenway Carousel Kyle remembered riding as a kid with his biological family beforetheydied.
No one was riding on it now, Katie’s telepathic pushes having moved people out of the line of fire. The SUV came to an abrupt stop against the ride, several broken carousel animals falling onto the hood with a loud clatter, front wheels spinning uselessly in the air. Doors were shoved open and five Sons of Adam fighters staggered out, weaponsinhand.
One of them wasCillian.
You get what you need from Cillian?Kyle asked, clenching histeeth.
Yes. I’ve relayed it toApollo.
Kyle would ask for details later, knowing he wouldn’t like what put that heavy echo in her mental voice. He hit the brakes, the motorcycle’s back wheel skidding out to the side as momentum kept them moving forward. Kyle kept them upright, one boot dragging against the ground for support as they screeched to a stop in the pedestrian plaza. Katie flung herself off the bike and ran forward, firing asshewent.
They were out in the open, with little cover, but Katie’s telepathy helped with that. She couldn’t hold all of them, but she slowed their reflexes enough that she could take them out with quick, preciseshots.
