Crystal Keepers (17 page)

Tapping a button on his wrist, Cole issued the command “Board on” and dropped the warboard. Instead of landing on the grass, it hovered just over a foot in the air, still and stable. There had to be metal under the turf somewhere.

Stepping onto the board, Cole felt the magnetics take hold of him, sealing his feet in place and stabilizing his posture. He tilted forward and used his forefinger to press the accelerator built into the palm of his glove. The warboard surged forward, and magnetics kept Cole in a comfortable forward crouch. Air rushed over him as he leaned forward a little more, his finger firmly on the accelerator.

Cole tilted to one side, and the warboard banked, turning onto a walkway heading west. A good distance down the walkway, three men dressed in black gear tromped around a corner. Their outfits were similar to what the patrolmen wore, but with more padding and armor, as if they might be members of an elite unit. Did City Patrol have a SWAT team?

As the men knelt and raised trapguns, Cole slowed and
leaned hard to the side, U-turning abruptly to head back toward the greenbelt. Something whizzed past him close enough for the wind of it to tickle his cheek. Up ahead, a sticky mass of gray webs appeared where the projectile landed.

Crouching low, Cole avoided the webs and turned hard at the end of the walkway to zoom along the greenbelt. The elite patrolmen had been pretty far away and on foot. It would take them some time to get into position for another shot.

“Jace, veer north, patrolmen are cutting off your eastward escape,” Forge advised over the communicator.

Cole pressed the button to talk. “Where were you for me?”

“I told you to go west,” Forge said.

“I did and three guys almost took me out,” Cole complained, glancing over his shoulder. He guided his warboard to keep trees between himself and the mouth of the walkway.

“I don't have City Patrol west of you for some distance,” Forge said.

“How do you know?” Cole asked.

“We're overhearing their comms and I hacked into their tracking program,” Forge replied.

“These guys looked a little different,” Cole said. “All in black. Extra armor.”

“You may have run into Enforcers,” Googol said urgently. “Stay well away from them.”

“Jace, head west up the next walkway,” Forge said. “It's getting ugly north and east of you. Looks like you'll have to cross Flag. Cole, try the next westward walkway. If those Enforcers saw you head north, you need to take some turns.”

Cole fought the temptation to panic. It sounded like lots of patrolmen were converging on the area. Forge and Googol both had a flustered edge to their voices. He was going fast on the warboard but knew that wouldn't help him if he got hit by a bunch of webs or drenched in quicktar. He had a couple of the smaller freeze-foam tubes, but those were only for emergencies. If he resorted to fighting, he was going to get caught. His best chance was to run.

Heeding Forge's advice, Cole started to turn onto the next westward walkway but pulled out when he saw another trio of Enforcers running toward him. He left the walkway behind before they could shoot at him, continuing north along the greenbelt.

“More Enforcers on that walkway,” Cole reported into his communicator.

“You've seen too many,” Googol said. “That means there are many more Enforcers that you haven't seen. It's a major operation.”

“Slow down, Cole,” Forge said. “If you keep going north, you'll reach a big mob of patrolmen.”

“I'm running out of options,” Cole said.

“I'm clear,” Trickster reported. “Underground and unfollowed.”

“Me too,” Roulette said. “Need me to go back for them?”

“Negative, Roulette,” Forge said. “By the time you found them it would be over. Cole, Trickster said you're good with the battle suit. It opens up options. You can take to the rooftops and escape by jumping. If you ditch the warboard, I can destroy it remotely. Your call.”

Cole decelerated. The building to his west had a low enough roof to jump up to. The battle suit wouldn't let him travel as quickly as with the warboard, but it would enable him to move like he used to with the Jumping Sword. If the walkways were getting sealed off, it might be his best option.

“I'm in trouble,” Jace said. “Enforcers.”

“He's just east of you, Cole,” Forge said. “With Enforcers on both sides and behind you, now might be a good time to hit the rooftops.”

Jace screamed briefly and went silent.

“Jace?” Cole asked. “Jace?”

Speeding up, Cole peered down the next eastward walkway. It ran between two buildings on the way to Flag Street. About a hundred yards down the walkway, a figure leaned against a wall encased in freeze-foam. Two Enforcers approached Jace, who lay motionless on the ground, looking like a statue of himself dipped in dark chocolate. His warboard idled nearby.

Cole hesitated. For his own survival, the safest bet was to jump onto the roof of the nearest building and run like mad. Even then, his odds of escape might not be great. If he tried to help Jace, they would both probably end up imprisoned.

But no way could he leave Jace behind. The Enforcers were facing away from him as they approached his friend. After readying a freeze-foam tube in one hand, Cole leaned forward on his warboard and hit the accelerator.

C
HAPTER

16

DRONE

B
y the time the Enforcers turned to face Cole, it was too late for them to act. Approaching them rapidly, he pressed the button on the silver tube, and freeze-foam enveloped one and then the next. He emptied the tube onto them to make sure they were both totally stuck.

“Jace got hit by quicktar,” Cole said into the communicator.

“Use the mister on your left arm,” Forge responded.

Cole knew he had antidotes to quicktar, the fake webs, and the freeze-foam but wasn't sure which button to press. “How?”

“Hold out your arm,” Forge said.

Cole did, and pink spray spurted from the brace on his wrist. The black tar smeared off of Jace wherever the mist touched him.

“It was faster to trigger it remotely,” Forge explained. “You had to hit three buttons in sequence to activate the mist.”

Jace gasped and slapped at the tar over his face. Cole soaked his face with the mist. Still blind from the tar and the antidote, Jace reached for his own silver tube.

“No!” Cole shouted. “It's Cole!”

Jace looked up at him, and the rage left his eyes. “What are you doing?”

“You needed help,” Cole said. “Could you breathe?”

“Barely,” Jace said. “That goop got up my nose. A little air seeped through.”

“Get to the rooftops,” Forge urged. “Patrolmen are closing in. Probably more Enforcers, too.”

Cole stopped spraying Jace. Tapping a button on his wrist, he commanded, “Board off.”

The warboard dropped to the ground, and the magnetic connection disappeared. Cole stepped away from the warboard as patrolmen appeared at one end of the walkway and Enforcers at the other.

“Jump,” Cole told Jace.

The building on one side was eight stories tall, the other four. Cole sprang with all his might and soared up past the four-story roof. He was aware of trapguns firing below him, but nothing hit him, and he landed comfortably atop the building. Jace arrived beside him.

“We left the boards,” Cole said into his communicator.

“I'll destroy them the noisiest way possible,” Forge said. “Add a little confusion.”

Cole heard explosions down below but didn't risk glancing over the side. A glimpse of his warboard going up in smoke wasn't worth a face full of tar.

“We have to split up,” Jace said. “Two targets will be harder to track. Go like mad, Cole. Get reckless. It's do or die.”

“What directions?” Cole asked.

“The east is flooded with patrolmen,” Jace said, talking into his communicator. “I'll go northwest. Cole will go southwest.”

“Sounds like your best bet,” Forge answered. “Hurry.”

Cole took off running toward the southwest corner of the building, his speed augmented by the battle suit. Jace ran for the northwest corner. “Thanks, Cole,” Jace said over the communicator, his tone a little shy.

“Any time,” Cole replied. He felt like he did a good job making the response sound casual and brave.

The corner of the building came up fast. Since he was already four floors up, Cole didn't want to jump up too much, or the battle suit might not be able to handle the landing. Plus, if he jumped high, he might make himself more of a target.

Focusing on distance, Cole leaped outward from the edge of the roof. He launched forward, rising only slightly, the greenbelt blurring by below. He began to lose altitude, gradually at first, then quickly as his forward momentum failed. The grass came up to greet him. Off to both sides, Cole saw Enforcers and patrolmen. They were all looking north, trapguns raised. Apparently Jace had come into view first.

Cole landed in a stumble and then jumped for the building on the far side of the greenbelt, a three-story structure. He soared upward with plenty of power to make it. Nobody
even fired at him until he had almost landed on the flat roof. But then a brusque, blunt force hit his legs, whipping them out from under him and causing him to collapse in a wild roll, the guardcloth in his battle suit stiffening against the impacts.

Rattled by the jarring impact, Cole tried to scramble to his feet but found his legs immobile below the waist. A hasty glance revealed that they were bound together by quicktar, down to the tips of his boots.

“My legs got hit with quicktar,” Cole said into the communicator. “Do I have more pink mist?”

“Be glad the goo missed your arm,” Forge said. “The misters don't work so well after a direct hit. Point the mister at your legs.”

Cole obeyed. “Okay.”

The pink spray showered his legs, and he could move again. Cole hopped to his feet and started running southwest, ignoring where he felt sore from the tumble. He had to keep going. His one hope now was to outpace the patrolmen and Enforcers and get underground. The longer he stayed out of sight on rooftops, and the faster he moved, the more chance he had of slipping through their net.

As the corner of the roof drew near, he saw that the walkway to the west was too wide to jump across, but the walkway to the south was narrower, and the next building was only one story taller. Whether he could make the jump was questionable, but there wasn't time for second thoughts.

Racing to the edge, Cole put everything he had into the leap. His stomach dropped as he reached the apex of
his flight. Given that he had started three floors up, he had probably sprung too high—if he missed the next roof, it would be a serious drop to the walkway below, even with the battle suit.

As the next roof came closer, Cole realized he would fall just short, so he leaned forward and stretched out his arms. His hands barely caught hold of the rooftop's edge. Without the battle suit he wouldn't have had a prayer of holding on, but with the added strength the suit provided, he got a good enough grip to resist his momentum. For a moment he dangled, legs swinging, and then Cole heaved himself up.

He wanted to roll over onto his back and recuperate. That had been close. He wouldn't try another leap quite that far. He couldn't afford a fall.

And he couldn't afford to pause.

Back on his feet, Cole dashed across the flat rooftop. His heart was beating hard, even with the help his muscles were getting from the battle suit.

“Looking good, Jace,” Forge said over the communicator. “Keep going north. They came south too eagerly. Cole, head west as soon as you can. You're slipping through their net as well.”

Cole swerved west. The little bit of encouragement lifted his spirits. It sounded like now was the time to chance crossing the wider walkway to the west.

He wondered how Trickster and Roulette had gotten away so smoothly. Was it just a matter of experience paying off? Or did they have better exit routes planned because they had been more exposed? He was glad they were safe, but a
little jealous at the same time. He didn't want to give the Enforcers or the patrolmen any more target practice.

Since he was up pretty high, Cole jumped straight out when he sprang to the west. The entire area below was paved, and when he landed, he fell to his knees and slid several feet, the shock of impact making his teeth clack. Without the padding on the braces, his knees would have been mangled, but instead he lunged to his feet and kept running.

For the moment, no patrolmen or Enforcers were visible. The nearest buildings to the west were too high to reach—at least ten stories. Cole didn't think the buildings at either hand were near enough to each other for him to scale them by jumping back and forth off the walls. He took the nearest westward walkway.

“Well done, Cole,” Forge said. “That way looks open. You'll cross one wide plaza and keep going west, then if you turn south at the next walkway, you'll reach a place to go underground.”

“What about me?” Jace asked, breathing hard.

“Keep running north,” Forge said. “I'll tell you when to cut west.”

Cole took long, bounding strides, flinging himself forward with all his might. His lungs ached, sweat greased his body, and a steady pain began to bore into his side. Enhanced or not, there was only so long a person could maintain a full sprint.

But Cole refused to slow down. He raced across the plaza Forge had described, earning stares from the people walking there but not seeing any patrolmen or Enforcers. Cole entered
the walkway at the far side of the plaza and could see up ahead where the next walkway crossed it. He was almost there.

“South on the next walkway?” Cole asked into the communicator. He had studied a map of the area, but his desperate run had completely disoriented him. He didn't want to get this wrong.

“Yep, Cole, south, meaning your next left turn,” Forge confirmed. “And Jace, you want to turn west at the next walkway.”

“Finally,” Jace replied.

Cole reached the walkway and turned south, then skidded to a halt. Blocking his path was a lean, tall robot that looked like a high-tech cross between a human and a praying mantis. Made entirely of shiny black metal, the robot sank into a crouch, long limbs bent and ready.

The building on one side was low enough to reach. Cole sprang, but the robot uncoiled with the sudden speed of a mousetrap, and a weighted net slammed against him, interrupting his trajectory. Pulled by the net, Cole tucked his head and crashed into the side of the building and then fell to the walkway.

Even though his guardcloth had hardened against the impact, Cole lay on his side, shaken and dazed. The lanky robot sprang forward, landing beside him, and held up an extra-long trapgun.

“Don't move,” the robot said. “This chase is over.” The voice sounded younger than Cole expected, and so human that he would have sworn there had to be a person inside.

Cole held down the button on his communicator to help
the others catch on to what had happened. “Who are you?” Cole asked.

“I'm your best chance,” the robot said. “If City Patrol takes you in, you're finished.”

“You're not with them?” Cole asked.

“I've helped them,” the robot said. “And they think I'm with them. But I'm really working for myself here. You really can't guess who I am? I've been chasing you for some time. Who else did you think would catch you?”

“Wait,” Cole said, chills tingling through him. “You're the Hunter?”

“People call me that,” the robot replied.

“You're a robot?”

The robot laughed. “I'm no bot. This is a drone I'm controlling.”

“You're not here?” Cole asked.

“I can see you,” the Hunter said. “I'm free to act. That's good enough. I'm actually in a lab.”

“I'm going back for him,” Jace said over the communicator. “Where is he?”

“Negative,” Forge answered. “Stop talking.”

“I'm not letting him—”

Cole felt a hot flash on his forearm and smelled smoke.

“And there you have the loyalty of the Unseen,” the Hunter said.

“What?” Cole asked.

“They torched your communicator,” he said. “Fried the crystal. They didn't want me getting it. I can probably still figure out the harmonics from what's left, but don't tell them.”

“Why are you after us?” Cole asked.

“I bring in criminals,” the Hunter said. “It's a talent.”

“You sound young.”

The Hunter gave a snort. “I'm older than you, buddy. We need to get you out of here. My Enforcers are running interference, but City Patrol is getting closer. It wasn't easy to stage a clear path that would lead you to me. It won't stay clear for long.”

“I'm not going anywhere,” Cole said.

“Cole, you don't know it yet, but this could be the luckiest day of your life,” the Hunter said. “You got conned into joining the wrong side in all of this, and I'm going to give you something most criminals can only dream about. A second chance.”

“I won't sell out my friends,” Cole said firmly.

“You've been selling them out since you came here,” the Hunter said. “How do you think we found zerobase? My agents followed you from Hanover Station to Axis, and from there to the base. City Patrol almost messed it up, but my people were on you the whole time. Nice job slipping away from us at zerobase, by the way. We lost you for a while. Never again.”