The Last Horizon (23 page)

“Let’s get the preflight started…”

Scott accelerated
to one hundred and thirty miles-per-hour and hit the cruise control. Thankfully oncoming traffic inbound to Fluture was nonexistent this morning. He lifted his shirt and looked at the extent of his injuries. The Tavara had definitely done a number on him with its claws. There were several deep gashes on his side still bleeding and there was nothing he could do about it now. He was in a world of hurt, but his wounds weren’t fatal.

The sound of sirens startled him. He looked up into the rearview mirror and saw three police interceptors flashing their lights i
n pursuit. They were closing on him fast.

“Shit!” He cussed as he unzipped the backpack and rummaged with one hand as he steered with the other. He had six miles left to go and the heat was on.

Scott rolled the window down and grabbed one of the pyrogen grenades. He glanced back up and accelerated to one-sixty when he pulled the pin, dropped it out of the Avarno, and punched it to one-eighty.

He looked back
in the rearview in time to see the frag detonate. The lead interceptor swerved to the left and rolled from the explosion as it was lifted off the road and slammed onto its side. The car tumbled and sent parts flying high into the air before it blew part and sent the other two interceptors into a spin. The second car came to a stop in the center median while the other flipped off the highway and came to a rest in a cloud of dust.

It wasn’t enough. Scott could hear more sirens coming after him.
Four more interceptors blazed through the smoking wreckage and were on his ass when he barreled into Cybelle at a hundred and sixty.

He raced
through a four lane avenue that cut through an office area half-a-mile from the airstrip and was forced to slow down to eighty as he wove through other drivers. Horns honked and cars skidded out of the way as he tore by them. The interceptors were right behind him the whole time.

Scott forced a couple of cars off the road when
he careened off their sides and tore a panel off the SS-2. He smoked his brakes to avoid hitting a car in front of him; Scott cut a hard right to get past the swerving vehicle and saw the other driver give him the finger as he wheeled by.

“Fuck you
too and the ground you walk on, cheesdick!” Scott growled through clenched teeth as he returned the gesture.

One of the squad cars pulled up to the passenger’s side and
started to side-swipe him. Scott hit the brakes and jerked the steering wheel a hard right and slammed into the interceptor’s side. The squad car smashed into a row of parked vehicles along the boulevard and spun as another interceptor t-boned him and they both came to an abrupt stop as other cars screeched and plowed into them.

He saw the main parking lot entrance to the strip and
veered into it. The SS-2 fishtailed and slammed into some parked cars as he punched it and accelerated toward the hanger where the Zephyr was sitting. He started laughing loudly as he thought about how badly this was going to end.

Scott gunned the sedan and forced a security guard to dive out of the way as
he smashed through the swing gate and skidded on to the maintenance road that ran behind the hangers. The sirens wailed.

He drove down the side of the hanger and spun the Avarno sideways to a complete stop just outside the open bay doors
where the Zephyr was sitting.

Scott grabbed the backpack and Trinity as he opened the driver door and rolled out onto the pavement. Squad cars screeched to a stop forty feet
away from him as police troopers took cover behind their vehicles with their weapons drawn.

Scott took the Kirsten Auto and fired a controlled burst that riddled several interceptors and forced the officers to keep their heads down. They returned fire with a volley of rounds that thunked heavily against the SS-2 and shattered its windows.
He looked to his right and saw Nikki with another girl duck for cover…

W
e were in the middle of the avionics check when we heard the sirens outside.

Doolie stopped and shot me a puzzled look. “Sounds like trouble.” He said with concern as he looked out the bay doors.

“Yeah, and it sounds like they’re heading our way.”

“We’d better finish this up, Nikki.”

We started to run the list again. Summer gazed at the Zephyr with awe as we walked to the back next to the cargo ramp.

“Nice job with the vertical stabilizer, Doolie.”

“Thanks. That was one of the easier repairs. The fiber optics were the real challenge.”

“Your ship looks fast, Nikki.” Summer smiled.

“She’s a good rig.”

The sirens
were just outside the hanger when we were startled by a sedan that screeched to a smoking halt outside. I saw Scotty roll out the door, crouch behind the damaged car, and start firing at the police cruisers that skidded to a stop across from him.

“Sc
otty! What the hell is going on?” I shouted as I watched in horror.

“Get in the ship and get out of here, Nikki!” Scott yelled as bullets sparked off the car.

“What about you?”

“I’ll catch up,” Scotty shouted as he picked
up a rifle and took aim. “Fire-up the Zephyr, I’ll be there in a second!”

Scott fired the rifle and a squad car explo
ded. The morning erupted with muzzle flashes as the police opened up with automatic fire.

B
ullets ricocheted off a panel above my head and Doolie collapsed as he took a stray round in the head.

“Doolie!” I screamed. “Oh Shit!
Get inside the ship, Summer!” I pulled out the Cobalt and squeezed off a few rounds. One of the police troopers peeked around the front of an interceptor and fired a burst that tore up the wall behind us.

Summer screamed as she put her hands over her head and curled into a ball
as debris flew everywhere. I grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. “Come on, girl, we need to get out of here!” We ran up the Zephyr’s ramp and through the cargo hold.

The forward bulkhead door slid open and I pulled Summer over to the flight panel and pushed her into the copilot
s seat.

“Strap in!” I ordered as I sat down and flipped the toggles tha
t initiated the start-up sequence. “So much for the preflight.”

T
he overhead console lit up as the critical  flight systems enabled, and
I started a systems check as I engaged the HUD in my helmet.
The VDU screen lit up and I charted our coordinates to Earth. The Zephyrs burners ramped to ten percent thrust and quickly increased to twenty.

I handed Sum
mer a flight helmet, she looked terrified and sat frozen in her seat as she stared out the canopy at the firefight outside.

“SUMMER! Put on the helmet!” I yelled sharply.

She snapped out of her daze and fumbled with the brain bucket, but she managed to slip it on.

I could hear the sharp rat
tle of automatic fire as Scotty faced-off with the cops. I disengaged the brakes and we started to roll forward…

J
ase showed up with a group of men carrying automatic weapons. They ran for cover in the hanger as they fired on the police.

The sound of more sirens pierced the air as
police reinforcements arrived at the scene and squad cars formed a barrier along the side of the bay doors. The stand-off had escalated into a full blown siege as law enforcement clashed with Charon’s men.

Bullets
shredded workstations in the hanger and several barrels full of chemicals exploded and killed two of Charon’s men.

Smoke from the chemical fire rose to
the structural steel supports of the hanger as Jase ran hunched over toward the riddled Avarno and slid painfully next to Scott. He crouched behind the chassis as rounds pounded the car.

“It’s about time you got
here, Mr. Scott.” Jase coughed.

“Sorry about the car, Jase.” Scott ejected a spent magazine from the Kirsten and slapped in a fresh clip.

“Why are the police after you? Did you rob a reserve?”

“I refused to pay a parking violation, and
now they’re a little upset with me. Do you always have this many men onsite?”

Another one of Charon’s men stood up from behind a tool cabinet and fired at the cruisers with a sustained burst.

“Eat this you sons-of-bitches!” He screamed at the top of his lungs like a madman as he sprayed the barricade of interceptors. “Die you motherfuc…” He was blown apart when two troopers leaned out behind their cover and simultaneously opened up with assault shotguns.

“They’ve got Jackhammers!” Jase yelled back to his men.
He looked at Scott and shook his head. “This is hopeless. We can’t win this.”

Scott looked over his shoulder when he heard the Zephyrs engines fire-up and the navigation lights on the wings blinked.
He could also hear another firefight going on in the parking lot.

“
We’re surrounded, Jase!” Scott quickly leaned over, fired three shots, and dropped back behind the Avarno.

“Why are you doing this? What do you care if we live or die?” Scott asked harshly.

“I’ve got a business to run. Inviting the police to this facility isn’t conducive to our operations.” Jase replied sarcastically.

“
There’s one way to put an end to this mess.” Scott glared as he reached into the backpack and pulled out a small device.

“I’m open for suggestions
.”

“I rigged this car with plastic explosives.” Scott held up the transmitter. “I push this button and the blast
will be powerful enough to kill god.”

The Zephyr began rolling forward through the smoke and Scott could feel the heat from the ships thrusters
deflecting off the back wall as tables and crates were sent tumbling across the floor from the jetwash.

The fire was spreading in the hanger, and muzzle flashes blinked from every direction as Charon’
s men stubbornly held their ground in the chaos.

“You need to get on that ship.” Jase pulled out his pistol and flicked off the safety.

“You and your men need to get out of the hanger before I blow the car!”